Dorsey was the longest serving president of Goucher College and the first of only two women to hold the position.

[1] Dorsey graduated with a bachelor's degree Smith College, magna cum laude, in 1949.

She then attended University of Cambridge as a Fulbright scholar where she earned a bachelor's and master's degree.

In 1954, while completing her doctorate at University of Minnesota, she was hired as an assistant professor of history at Goucher College.

The next year, she was appointed as Goucher College's eighth president, becoming the institution's first woman to serve in this position.