Dr. Gordinier enjoyed an active career in higher education before coming to Millersville and was the first principal to hold an earned doctorate. He was a Latin professor at Shippensburg State Normal School, dean of Kee Mar College in Hagerstown, MD, and chairman of the English Department at Shippensburg prior to replacing the popular A. R. Byerly as professor of classical languages at Millersville in 1911. His title of principal was changed to president when the normal school became a state teachers' college. Following his retirement at the voluntary retirement age, he became head of the education program at Beckley College in Harrisburg and later the manager of the Central Teachers' Agency in Harrisburg.