Description
Grace V. Bird was the CEO of Bakersfield College from 1921 to 1950. She was born in 1892 in Salt Lake City, and she graduated from the Univerisity of California, Berkeley in 1914 with degrees in architecture, French, and education. She taught at Bakersfield High School starting in 1917, and she became the dean of Bakersfield College in 1920. She also served as the associate director of the UC Office of Relations with Schools from 1950 until her retirement in 1960. In this interview, Bird discusses her career in education, the development of junior colleges in California, the statewide Study of General Education in the Junior College, her involvement in higher education surveys, her travels, and her friendships with Porter and Edna Garnett, Witter Bynner, Hildegarde Flanner, and others.