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Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts, is the largest women's college in the United States. The college remains strongly committed to the education of women at the undergraduate level, but Smith admits both men and women as graduate students. It is private, non-denominational and one of the Seven Sisters. Smith is also a member of the Five Colleges consortium, which allows its students to attend classes at four other Pioneer Valley institutions: Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College, Hampshire College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Five Colleges are geographically close to one another and are linked by buses which run between the campuses.
History The college was established in 1871 by a bequest of Sophia Smith. It opened in 1875 with 14 students and six faculty. In 1915-16 the student enrollment was 1,724 and the faculty numbered 163. Today, with some 2,600 undergraduates on campus, Smith is the largest privately endowed college for women in the country. The campus was planned and planted in the 1890s as a botanic garden and arboretum, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The campus landscape now encompasses 125 acres and includes more than 1,200 varieties of trees and shrubs. The college began its second century in 1975 by inaugurating its first woman president, Jill Ker Conway, who came to Smith from Austrailia by way of Harvard and the University of Toronto. Presidents Notable deans, administrators, and faculty (past and present) Academics Smith College is the first and only women's college in the United States to grant its own undergraduate degrees in engineering. The Picker Engineering Program offers a single Bachelor of Science in engineering science, combining the fundamentals of multiple engineering disciplines. The Ada Comstock Scholars Program is a bachelor's degree program for nontraditionally-aged students. Smith also has special one-year graduate programs for international students. One of such programs, the American Studies Diploma Program, was founded by prof. Daniel Aaron during the early 1960s, one of the hottest periods of the Cold War, to serve as a counterweight of international misunderstanding and violence. More than half of Smith's juniors study overseas. Individuals may also enroll as nondegree students by registering for one or more courses. Undergraduate majors and minors Both major and minor are offered in each subject unless otherwise noted. In addition, students can design specialized majors and minors with the approval of the College and related departments. Arts Humanities and language Sciences Social sciences and history Interdisciplinary Graduate degrees and study options Although little-known, Smith's graduate programs are open to both men and women. Each year approximately 100 men and women pursue advanced graduate work at Smith. The Smith College master of social work (M.S.W.) degree is nationally recognized for its specialization in clinical social work and puts a heavy emphasis on direct field work practice. The program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. The school also offers a Ph.D. program designed to prepare MSWs for leadership positions in clinical research education and practice. The college has a limited number of other programs leading to Ph.D.s, and is part of a cooperative doctoral program co-administered by Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Colors and mascot Smith College does not have college colors in the usual sense. Its official color is white, trimmed with gold, but the official college logo is currently blue and yellow (a previous logo was burgundy and white). Athletic teams have competed in blue and white (or blue and yellow, in the case of the crew team) uniforms since the 1970s, and selected Pioneers as the official name and mascot in 1986. Smith has a rotating system of class colors dating back to the 1880s, when intramural athletics and other campus competitions were usually held by class. Today, class colors are yellow, red, blue and green, with incoming first-year classes assigned the color of the previous year's graduating class; their color then "follows" them through to graduation. Alumnae classes, particularly at reunion, continue to identify with and use their class color thereafter. Residential culture Smith requires all first year undergraduate students, as well as most other undergraduates, to live in on-campus houses. This policy is intended to add to the camraderie and social cohesion of its students. Unlike most institutions of its type, Smith College does not have dorms, but rather 36 separate houses each with their own unique flavor, built in the style that was popular during the time they were constructed (a common misconception here is that Sophia Smith stated in her will that each house be constructed in the style of the period--this is only a fun rumor perpetuated by the college's Gold Key tour guides who provide tours to prospective students). It can be said that this housing system creates a great sense of community between students within each respective house. Smith College also has the largest art collection of any liberal arts college in the United States and was one of the first schools to get its own atom-breaker in a move to encourage women in science.. The campus also houses a Japanese tea house, a traditional rock garden and an exotic greenhouse with many examples of tropical plants. Also, it should be noted that Chapin House was the inspiration for Tara in Gone with the Wind (although it was not where Ms. Mitchell lived on campus. She lived in a nearby house that has since been torn down). A novelty of Smith's homelike atmosphere is the continuing popularity of Sophia Smith's recipe for molasses cookies. These are often served at the traditional Friday afternoon tea held in each house, where students, faculty and staff members and alumnae socialize. Sources: http://www.smith.edu/about_justthefacts.php (Scroll down to see "Housing" description.) Academic year events Mountain Day is observed early in the fall semester. The President of the College selects a crisp, sunny, beautiful autumn day when the leaves are in full color, and announces the cancellation of classes by having bells rung on campus at 7:00 AM on the chosen day. The eager anticipation of Mountain Day leads to intense speculation and an abnormally high interest in meteorology by students in the weeks leading up to the surprise announcement. Traditional observance of Mountain Day by students might involve New England road trips or outdoor pursuits, and college dining services provides box lunches to be taken off-campus. Otelia Cromwell Day, named for Smith's first known African-American alumna, began in 1989 to provide students with an in-depth program specifically addressing issues of racism and diversity. Afternoon classes are cancelled, and students are invited to participate in lectures, workshops, symposia and cultural events, centered around a different theme each year. In February 1876, the College began an annual observance of George Washington's birthday. In 1894, a rally became part of the day's events, and the focus of the celebration became primarily patriotic rather than exclusively social—though always with a women's college twist. Students that year staged a mock debate on the subject, "Does Higher Education Unfit a Man for Domestic Life?" In 1906 the celebration was first referred to as Rally Day (although the name was not used officially by the College until 1992). In 1944, seniors made Rally Day the first public wearing of their graduation caps and gowns; since then, mortarboards have been replaced by wacky, often homemade hats. Today, the Rally Day Convocation is centered around a historical theme, and features a distinguished keynote speaker and the awarding of Smith College Medals to accomplished alumnae. Rally Day is observed in the Spring; an all-college gathering honors distinguished alumnae, and a musical is held depicting life at Smith. Reunions and Commencement events
Campus folklore Smith has numerous folk tales and ghost stories surrounding the campus and historical events. One such tale holds that Sessions House is inhabited by the ghost of Lucy Hunt, who died of a broken heart after being separated from her lover, General Burgoyne. Another tale tells of a girl who haunts the basement of one of the houses near the river, after a tunnel which led down to the pond collapsed as she was sneaking out to meet a lover. Notable alumnae In 2006 15 Smith graduates won prestigious national fellowships for graduate study. The Alumnae Association of Smith College considers all former students to be members, whether they graduated or not, and does not generally differentiate between graduates and non-graduates when identifying Smith alumnae. Margaret Mitchell, class of 1922, left the college shortly after her mother's death in the 1918-1919 school year. Barbara Bush, class of 1947, did not graduate; she left the college in 1945 to marry George H. W. Bush. Fictional alumnae Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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