Dorothy Olsen

Dorothy Olsen (b. 1907 – d. 2002)

  • Dean of Women 1953-1972

  • Psychology Professor 1953-1972

Biography

“Dean Dot” was originally apprehensive about becoming Concordia’s Dean of Women. She had planned to stay just two years, but ended up falling in love with the college and its students. With a B.A. and master’s degree in history, she taught high school for 12 years before earning her Ph.D. in guidance and counseling in 1953 from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. That same year she accepted an offer from Concordia and moved with her mother, Ella, to Moorhead where they elected to live in the dormitories, first in Fjelstad and then Park Region.

As Dean of Women, Olsen didn’t try to “mother” the girls. Rather, she befriended them. Olsen’s priority was that students should enjoy their college experience as much as possible. At the time she came to Concordia, freshmen women had a 7:30 pm curfew. If a woman was two minutes late, she had one-fourth of a mark put on her record. Dean Olsen relaxed the rule stating that it was because she couldn’t add fractions. Until Olsen’s tenure, each dorm had a “Dorm Mother.” Instead, Olsen instituted the tradition of Resident Assistants. When asked once how she would like to be remembered, she replied, “A Dean of Women who enjoyed being a Dean.” In 1998, the Boe-Olsen apartments were named to honor her and her colleague, Dean of Men, Rev. Vic Boe.