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Dorah Burnell & The Pasteur Pre-Medic Society

The 1926-1927 academic catalog is the first to show pre-medical as a possible major—described as a “composite major”—at Houghton College & Seminary. This coincides with the hiring of Professor Dorah Burnell, who came to Houghton in 1926 to teach chemistry.

A native of Nebraska and graduate of State Teachers College (1916) and the University of Nebraska (B.S. 1924, M.A. 1925), Professor Burnell single-handedly built the college’s chemistry department while fulfilling countless other roles on campus.

Along with colleagues in the Science Department, Professor Burnell helped students established The Pasteur Pre-Medic Society. In its inaugural appearance in the Boulder in 1928, the society described its aim as “…to promote a feeling of comradeship, to gain inspiration for future tasks, and to learn something more of the nature and extent of this their chosen field of endeavor.” The inaugural group boasted 27 members and by the 1950s, the club was one of the largest and most active on Houghton’s campus.

Today known as the Pre-Health Professions Club, the group remains one of Houghton’s largest and most active clubs. Their aim, similarly, is “…to serve as an information resource and generate opportunities for fellowship, career exploration and volunteer service for students interested in health-related fields.”

In the dedication of the 1954 Boulder, students observed of Professor Burnell that “[h]er influence was there… Lights were shining out from the meticulously kept chemistry lab until the early morning hours. On the desk were carefully graded papers—around the room was all the valuable equipment she had procured. From this lab alumni went forth to succeed… her influence was there.”

Professor Burnell’s influence remains—in Houghton’s chemistry labs, in the Pre-Health Professions Club, in the lives of service led by so many of our alumni. Professor Burnell’s influence has played a role in helping to shape thousands of doctors, nurses, researchers, dentists, pharmacists, public health servants, medical missionaries and more who have gone on to, as Willard J. Houghton would say, “fix up the world for Christ.”