Isabel Fothergill Smith

Isabel Fothergill Smith (November 15, 1890 – September 16, 1990) was a geology professor from Greeley, Colorado. She studied geology at Bryn Mawr College under her mentor Florence Bascom. Smith published various articles as a student and a memoir on Bascom later during her retirement. Beginning her career as an associate professor of geology at Smith College, Isabel later became the first dean of Scripps College, a prestigious women's liberal arts college.

Early life Isabel Fothergill Smith was born in Greeley, Colorado, on November 15, 1890, as the youngest of four daughters. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, in her early teens. Her father was a student of Cornell University, and her sisters had attended the University of Colorado, Stanford and Columbia University. In 1909, her father was killed in a horse and buggy accident. After her father's death, Smith's mother would be unable to provide funding for an education similar to her siblings, however a cousin with ties to Bryn Mawr College provided her the chance to pursue a bachelor's degree, guiding her along a path that would begin her mentorship under Professor Florence Bascom.

Education Given her family's background within education, Isabel thought she would have no issue pursuing her studies at any institute she saw as fit. However, after her father's death in 1909, financial hardships made any such opportunity uncertain. A cousin whose sister studied at Bryn Mawr College funded the opportunity for Isabel to pursue a bachelor's degree at the same institute. For the 1918–19 school year, Isabel Smith is listed as both the recipient of the President's European Fellow award and as a fellow in geology. Isabel Fothergill Smith gained her bachelor's degree from Bryn Mawr alongside the help of Florence Bascom, a professor known for her accomplishments as one of the first woman geologists, and the first woman in America to achieve a PhD in geology. She continued her studies within this circle and obtained her master's degree, publishing "A columbite crystal from Boothwyn, Pennsylvania."

Career Isabel F. Smith came to Smith college as a geology teacher in 1923 and quickly became a greatly beloved member of Smith College. For the 1924–25 school year, Smith is listed as an instructor, teaching the following courses: general geology, glacial geology, petrology, and special advanced work. For the 1925–26 school year, Smith is listed as an assistant professor, instructing the following courses: general geology, mineralogy, special phases of the quaternary ice age, petrology, and special advanced work. She taught these same courses for the 1926–27 school year. From 1927 to 1928, she again served as an assistant professor, returning to teach general geology, meteorology, mineralogy, petrology special advanced work, and this time, lithology. For the 1928–29 school year, Smith only taught mineralogy, lithology, petrology, and special advanced work. During the 1927–28 school year, Isabel was a member of the summer reading standing committee. She then wrote a memoir to her teacher, The Stone Lady: A Memoir of Florence Bascom (1981):

The Stone Lady was written and published by Isabel Fothergill Smith after her retirement from academic work. It was written as a way to commemorate her mentor, Florence Bascom, and the lessons she learned because of her. She brings attention to the ways in which she learned about teaching and learning through lessons she received from Florence Bascom, specifically about learning to appreciate the process of research and learning, more than the actual results. The scholarship was established in 1979, and is awarded to female students who attend Scripps College; they must be mathematics or physical sciences students who are also committed to the humanities. Anorthosite in the Piedmont province of Pennsylvania (1923) The Stone Lady: a Memoir of Florence Bascom (1981)