June Downey

In addition to her many published works, Downey held several prestigious positions. She chaired the Department of Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Wyoming and in doing so became the first woman to hold a head position at a state university. She was appointed to the American Psychological Association Council and became a member of the Society of Experimental Psychologists, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Biography

Early life

June Etta Downey was born in Laramie, Wyoming, to Stephen Wheeler Downey and Evangeline (Owen) Downey as the second child in a family of nine. Her father was a colonel in the Union Army and one of the founders of the University of Wyoming, and her younger brother, Sheridan Downey, served as United States senator from California between 1938 and 1950. Following education in Laramie public schools and the University of Wyoming preparatory school she entered the university to major in Greek and Latin.

Career

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1895, Downey taught in an elementary school for a year before obtaining her master's degree in philosophy and psychology from the University of Chicago in 1898.

In 1901, Downey gained interest in experimental psychology, while attending a summer course taught by Edward Bradford Titchener at Cornell University. Returning to the University of Wyoming, Downey taught English and psychology while also conducting some laboratory work for a few years, under the supervision of James Rowland Angell.

Downey continued her education of experimental psychology under Edward B. Titchener at Cornell University. She returned to the University of Wyoming in 1905, as a professor of philosophy. In 1906 she took leave from her work in order to complete her doctorate which she finished in 1907 and submitted her thesis in 1908, titled "Control Processes in Modified Handwriting", on the topic of handwriting as a measure of personality.

Following her graduate work, Downey was made head of her department in 1915; she was the first woman to be given such a position in a state university. She published a number of academic papers as well as writing and occasionally publishing short stories, poems, plays, and popular articles, including a volume of poetry titled The Heavenly Dykes. Downey's studies focused on themes of imagery and aesthetics and were concentrated in experimental studies rather than theory. She was one of the first psychologists to study personality scientifically and became an expert in handwriting and handedness.

Later life

As Downey grew older, she concentrated on her teaching. She published her last book, Creative Imagination, in 1929 tying together her interests in psychology and the arts. Downey gained membership to the council of the American Psychological Association between 1923 and 1925 and was one of the first two women admitted to membership in the Society of Experimental Psychologists in 1929, along with Margaret Washburn. Downey never married and had no children.

Downey died at her sister's home in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1932 after being taken ill with stomach cancer. Shortly after her death, Downey's family presented her private library to the University of Wyoming. The university held a memorial service for her, and in 1999 she was named a finalist of "Wyoming Citizen of the Century". James Rowland Angell, whom Downey worked under for her doctorate, described her as "endowed with an unusually alert and discerning mind and with a maturity of judgment extremely infrequent in students of her age."