After earning degrees from North Georgia College
and George Peabody College for Teachers, Katherine Vickery taught psychology at
Alabama College (now the University of Montevallo) from 1922 to 1968. It was
during this period, as one of Alabama higher education's most revered teachers,
that she touched the lives of students deeply. Many of them have given
generously to a University of Montevallo memorial scholarship established in
her honor in 1978, appropriately recognizing the outstanding qualities of mind
and spirit which distinguished her career.
Dr. Vickery served as president of the Alabama
Psychological Association and was a fellow of the Alabama Academy of Science
and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. As national
president of Kappa Delta Pi, she was awarded the honor key, laureate - a
distinction given to only 50 living members of the national honorary
society.
Katherine Vickery, educator and innovator, was
more than merely a woman who made a name for herself in her profession
nationally. An outspoken advocate of women's rights, she chaired the
sub-committee of the Alabama Governor's Commission on the Status of Women and
during that time was instrumental in putting together a two-day conference held
on the Alabama College campus in 1950. The conference, the first of its kind in
Alabama, attracted outstanding speakers and professional women from all over
the nation and represented a milestone in the history of the Women's Rights
Movement in the state and the Southeast.
Her greatest contribution to the cause of women's
rights was her work as a charter member of the American Association of
University Women wherein she stood up for her female colleagues by ensuring
that positions of leadership were awarded based on the professional
qualifications of both male and female candidates equally. Later, she served as
president of the Alabama Division (1948-50) and vice president of the Southeast
Central Region, gaining thereby a nationwide reputation.
Dr. Vickery also maintained a lifelong commitment
to mental health. She played an active role in the Alabama Mental Health
Association from its earlier days and saw it grow into an important force in
shaping policy. After her retirement, she dedicated herself to researching the
mental health field in Alabama. her research culminated in the publishing of
her book, A History of Mental Health in Alabama, in 1972. This work is
said to have charted a course in the mental health field which placed the state
among the leaders in the nation in the development of programs and facilities
for the mentally disabled. |