E. Wayne Courtney Papers, 1952-2013

Title: E. Wayne Courtney Papers, 1952-2013

ID: MSS Courtney

Primary Creator: Courtney, Elwood Wayne (1931-)

Extent: 6.22 cubic feet

Arrangement: The Courtney Papers consist of nine series, most of which are arranged chronologically: I. Biographical and Genealogical Information; II. Educational and Professional History; III. Honors and Awards; IV. Administrative Reports; V. Consultant Reports (Evaluation and Assessment); VI. Technical Reports; VII. Studies and Surveys; VIII. Teaching Materials and Writings on Education; and IX. Other Writings.

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Series 1 contains a volume of genealogical information on the Courtney name and autobiographical information compiled by E. Wayne Courtney; information on the name Kurtenai; four volumes of photocopies of Courtney's military record from 1952 to 1987; and a 1966 soil and water conservation plan for Courtney's farm in Dunn County, Wisconsin. Series 2 includes Courtney's Ph.D. thesis, "A Comparison of Knowledge and Experience Levels Required in Three Agricultural Occupations" (Purdue University, 1962); a copy of the 1966 Stout State (Wisc.) yearbook; and faculty reports on Courtney covering 1985-1990. Series 3, Honors and Awards, includes Courtney's Burlington Northern Faculty Achievement Award nomination dossier (1986) and a report and plaque pertaining to his Fulbright Award in 1995.

Series 4 contains various administrative reports written by Courtney between 1973 and 1989 pertaining to the OSU Vocational and Technical Education program. Series 5 consists of Courtney's consultant reports (1973-1996) for various organizations and governmental units, including a consortium of six Eastern Oregon counties, the Springfield Exemplary Career Education Project, Lane Community College, the Math/Science Teacher Improvement Project (M/STIP), and the Linn-Benton Health Consortium. Series 6 contains three technical reports from July 1971 on professional education competencies. Series 7 includes statistical studies and surveys pertaining to industrial graphics, education, and bird populations of selected places in Wisconsin.

Series 8 consists of materials prepared and published by Courtney for his classes and workshops, as well as other writings on education. The series includes Elements of Research Foundations: An Introduction, with Lorry K. Sedgwick, 1969 (revised 1970); Inferential Statistics (The F Statistic), developed for OSU Ed. 507 - Seminar: Advanced Research Methods, Winter 1977; Laboratory Exercise Manual for Quantitative Applications, developed for OSU Ed. 515 - Quantitative Applications, 1977; Techniques of Research, 1982 (Thai translation, with Supitr Samahito, 1983); A Guide to Empirical Research in Education, June 1988; and materials for Total Quality Management workshops, 1992-1993. Series 9 includes Courtney's other writings, such as a history of the OSU Agricultural Education Department (1984), and various printings of his treatise on the Oregon coast, Under the Winds of Yaquina and The Indians of Yaquina Bay.

An addition to the Courtney Papers (Accession 99:016) includes reports and budget information on the OSU School of Education Vocational-Technical Division's Personnel Development Programs, 1976-1978; Rangsit International University Project (Thailand) reports, 1997; other reports and educational materials from to Thailand universities at which Courtney worked as a consultant; a grant proposal to the Oregon Department of Education, 1977; and a 1972 Stout State University yearbook.

A second addition to the Courtney Papers (Accession 2003:036) consists of reports generated from two projects administered by the College of International Development and Research and funded by grants from the Consortium for International Development (CID) and World Bank. Courtney worked as a consultant on both projects. One of the projects was a skills development project for the Government of Thailand (CID) and the other was an evaluation of pedagogical advisory and school networks pilot schemes in Laos (World Bank). Affiliated professionally with OSU since 1972, E. Wayne Courtney has served in the post of Professor in a number of departments, including: the Division of Vocational-Technical Education, Department of Statistics, Department of Educational Foundations, Division of Secondary Education (OSU/WOSC), and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. In 1993, Courtney became Professor Emeritus. Still active in the field, Courtney remains on faculty at Kasetsart University (Thailand) Department of Sports Science, where he teaches research design and statistics.

A third addition to the Courtney Papers (Accession 2007:026) is made up of publications and reports that document Courtney's career as instructor and consultant as well as his ventures into prose writing. Primarily reflecting Courtney's teaching work before he came to OSU in 1972 and after gaining emeritus status in 1993, this accession includes textbooks relating to performance-based testing modules, reports of testing and evaluation projects in conjunction with Kasetsart University in Thailand, and yearbooks from two schools where Courtney taught before arriving at OSU. The literary materials consist of a novel, essays about Yaquina Bay shorebirds and Native Americans, and a short story about an "Indian Girl Named Sara." Also included in this transfer are newsletters and membership lists of the genealogical group, the Courtenay Society. In addition to articles penned by Courtney that appear in the newsletters, he is also reflected in the membership lists.

A fourth addition to the Courtney Papers (Accession 2013:045) contains publications written by Courtney on a variety of subjects. About two-thirds of the publications are oriented toward statistics instruction and include two textbooks on statistical analysis and the "statistics for educators" series with seven different volumes on sampling, reliability, scaling, qualitative methods, hypotheses, distributions, and empirical methods. The others are more narrative and story-like in nature. One of the volumes, "Sequah: An Indian Girl Named Sara," drew inspiration from Courtney's Native American heritage and culture. Two of the other publications pertain to the wildlife and landscapes around the Yaquina Bay area (birds in particular). "Hay River Notes" is largely drawn from daily log entries kept by Courtney that reflect his life living on the Hay River in Wisconsin for 6 years. "Devon's Niche" is a novel centered on the life on college professor facing personal hardships.

E. Wayne Courtney was born on April 15, 1931 in Elnora, Indiana. He was an Eagle Scout before the age of 16. After graduating from high school as class valedictorian in 1949, he enrolled in Purdue University, from which he earned four degrees: B.S., Forestry, 1953; B.S., Agriculture, 1957; M.S., Agricultural Education, 1958; Ph.D., Measurement, 1962. Courtney did postdoctorate work in statistics at Oregon State University in 1968.

After serving in the U.S. Army in Germany (1953-1955) and as a vocational education teacher and instructor in Indiana secondary schools (1958-1960) and at Purdue (1960-1962), Courtney was appointed assistant professor in the Stout State University (Wisconsin) School of Education in 1962. He remained at Stout State until 1972, when he became Professor and Director of Research and Development in OSU's Division of Vocational, Adult, and Community College Education. Courtney has held a number of faculty appointments at OSU: Professor and Director, Division of Vocational-Technical Education, 1973-1978; Professor, Department of Statistics, 1973-1983; Professor, Department of Educational Foundations, 1985-1989; Professor and Chair, Division of Secondary Education (OSU/WOSC), 1988-1989; Professor, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, 1989-1993; and Professor Emeritus, 1993-date.

Courtney has also been a visiting faculty member at North Carolina State University (1966-67), OSU (1970-71), Coleg Prifysgol Cymru in Wales and University of Exeter in England (1983-84), and Instituto Educacional F. D. Roosevelt in Lima, Peru (1984-85). Recently he has served as a faculty member in the Kasetsart University (Thailand) Department of Sports Science, where he teaches research design and statistics.

Courtney twice served in the OSU Faculty Senate, 1979-81 and 1986-88; was a member of the OSU Press Board of Governors, 1981-1984; and served on various OSU committees, including the OSU Library Expansion Faculty Advisory Committee. He received OSU's Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for 1985-86 and was a Senior Collaborative Fulbright Research Scholar to Thailand in 1994-95.

Related Materials: See the School of Education Records (RG 184) for administrative records and the School of Education Photographs (P 108) for photographs pertaining to the School of Education. Related files from the OSU Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC) include MC - Education, College of; MC - Education, School of; MC - Education, School of-History; and MC - Vocational Education.

Preferred Citation: E. Wayne Courtney Papers (MSS Courtney), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Other URL: A preliminary container list was created for this collection on or before November 19, 2015.

Courtney, Elwood Wayne (1931-)

Agricultural education--Oregon--Corvallis--History.
Community colleges--Oregon.
Courtney, Elwood Wayne, 1931-
Education--Research.
Education--Study and teaching (Higher)--Oregon.
Indians of North America--Oregon.
Natural Resources
Oregon State College. Department of Agricultural Education--History.
Oregon State University. School of Agriculture--History.
Oregon State University. School of Education
Teachers--Training of--Oregon.
University History
Vocational teachers--Training of--United States.
Yaquina Bay (Or.)