Anna Hiss

Anna Hiss (May 11, 1893 – January 28, 1972) was a 20th-century American professor instrumental in improving physical education by professionalizing the field, establishing university degrees, and developing programs for preparing physical education teachers. She was also a professor of physical education at the University of Texas at Austin and older sister of Donald Hiss and Alger Hiss. She was a founder of Delta Kappa Gamma which became an international society for educators.

Background

Anna Hiss was born on May 11, 1893, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Mary "Minnie" Lavinia (née Hughes) and Charles Alger Hiss. She was the eldest of five children: Anna, Mary Ann (1895), Bosley (1900), Alger (1904), and Donald (1906). In 1906, her father committed suicide. In 1926, her brother Bosley Hiss died of Bright's disease. In 1929, her sister Mary Ann committed suicide.

As a child, she attended the Aloha Kanaka camp. She studied at Bryn Mawr School, then Hollins College (1911–1912), and graduated from the Sargent School of Physical Education in Boston (1917).

Career

Hiss taught briefly at the Friends School in Baltimore.

In 1918, her first role was to teach "physical training" to women. In 1921, she received a promotion to director. In 1925, her four-year curriculum to train teachers in women's physical education received approval. By 1948, she had become a full professor. Harry Ransom had her designed professor emeritus upon her retirement.

Delta Kappa Gamma

Hiss co-founded the Delta Kappa Gamma, a national teachers' honor society.

Personal life and death

Anna Hiss never married. During his imprisonment, she was one of only seven people with whom he corresponded.

Awards, honors, legacy

In summing up her career, Delta Kappa Gamma stated: "She was instrumental in the establishment of the professional degree for physical education and the program for the preparation of teachers in the physical education field." The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports was initially housed there, but moved to a facility on the 5th floor of the new North End Zone structure of Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium in 2008.