Isabel Harris
Isabel Harris was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, December 10, 1877, the daughter of Dr. Henry Herbert Harris and Emma Jane (Bibb) Harris. Her father was Professor of Greek in Richmond College for 29 years.
Miss Harris received her preparatory education in the preparatory department of the Richmond Female Institute, at the Richmond High School, and at the Miss Peers’ School for Girls in Louisville, Kentucky.
From 1896–1897, she attended Hollins College. In the fall of 1900, she entered Richmond College and studied there for two sessions, after which she taught for three years. She again attended Richmond College in 1905 and graduated in 1906 with a bachelor of arts degree. At Richmond College, she won the James D. Crump prize in Mathematics, and was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and a member of the Chi Epsilon Literary Society.
She received the degree of Master of Arts from Columbia University in 1921. She completed additional graduate coursework at the University of Chicago and at Harvard University.
From 1902 to 1905, Miss Harris taught English and Anglo-Saxon at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina. When she joined the Richmond College community as a professor, she started with the Woman’s College of Richmond ,where she taught mathematics from 1913–1915. She became one of the founders of the Collegiate School for Girls in Richmond in 1915 and taught Mathematics there until 1920. Between 1921 and 1922, she relocated to teach mathematics with the Woman’s College in Greenville, South Carolina.
Joining the faculty of Westhampton College, she became Associate Professor of Mathematics. She served Westhampton for 27 years as faculty, during which time she taught both mathematics and astronomy. She retired in 1949.
Miss Harris joined her brother and her father as the third member of her family to serve Richmond College or the University of Richmond in a teaching capacity. The terms of service of these three members of the Harris family totaled 96 years.
Miss Harris was an exceptional mathematician and teacher. More than mathematics and astronomy, Miss Harris taught “the value of hard work and self-discipline and the well-rounded life.” During her whole term of service with Westhampton, she lived in the College dormitory. Working and living closely with “the girls,” she was greatly loved and admired.
She was a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Mathematical Association, the American Astronomical Society, the Virginia Academy of Science and the Richmond Astronomical Society. She belonged to Phi Beta Kappa, Pi Mu Epsilon, and Mortar Board Honor Societies, and the Phi Delta Gamma Graduate fraternity. In her retirement, she taught with the Richmond Professional Institute and remained a member of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, the American Association of University Women and the Women’s Club of Richmond. She was a member of the Elizabeth Kates Foundation and Second Baptist Church.
On three occasions, Miss Harris represented learned organizations at international conventions. In 1925, she represented the American Association of University Women at an international convention at Oslo, Norway. In 1936, she was a delegate to the International Congress of Mathematicians at Oslo, Norway, and also a delegate the same year to the International Federation of University Women at Krakow, Poland. She was Chairman of the Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics section of the Virginia Academy of Science for one term.
She has published articles in School Science and Mathematics and in the Phi Delta Gamma Monthly. As a member of the Westham Research Club, she edited and prepared papers for them as well.
Miss Harris died on October 20, 1960, at her sister’s home in Lynchburg, Virginia. Her memorial service took place at Cannon Memorial Chapel on campus and her burial at the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.
- Adapted from: Faces on the Wall; The Collegian; A Gem of a College, The History of Westhampton College, 1914-1989