Virginia Beatrice Smith was an American lawyer, economist, educator, and eighth president of Vassar College

Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...

. Smith is the namesake of the Virginia B. Smith Innovative Leadership Award of the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

Smith was born in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 in 1923 and earned a bachelor's and law degree from the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

, entering as an undergraduate as a 16 year old.

Smith taught business courses at Berkeley in 1952, partly at the request of Clark Kerr

Clark Kerr

Clark Kerr was an American professor of economics and academic administrator. He was the first chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and twelfth president of the University of California.- Early years :...

, the former president of the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

 system. In 1965, Smith became the first woman assistant vice-president of Berkeley.

In 1963 Smith served as an associate director for the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education

Carnegie Foundation

The Carnegie Foundation is an organization based in The Hague, Netherlands. It was founded in 1903 by Andrew Carnegie in order to manage his donation of US$1.5 million, which was used for the construction, management and maintenance of the Peace Palace...

. President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

 appointed Smith the director of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education in 1973.

Vassar College, previously an all-women's institution, admitted male transfer students in the Spring of 1969, and amended its constitution to permit male students to matriculate to Vassar. Appointed in 1977, Smith was the first president throughout whose term Vassar was entirely co-educational. Smith served as the president of Vassar College until 1986.

In 1990 Smith became president of Mills College

Mills College

Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...

in California after the College's trustees had moved to admit men to the college. The trustees reversed their decision, which Smith supported.