She was one of the first female graduates to receive a degree at the
University of Oxford when the first women's graduation ceremony was held there in 1920. She studied at
Somerville College, and in June 1920 passed exams in the School of Natural Science with first-class honours, leading to a BA. She then spent a year at
Radcliffe College, Massachusetts, and undertook research in the plant physiology laboratory at
Harvard. Next came a period in the Department of Botany at
King's College London. In 1925 she was awarded a PhD from the
University of Edinburgh. The following year, 1926, she was appointed as a lecturer in botany at
University College, Dundee, which at that time was part of the
University of St Andrews. Over the next decade Smith published various botanical papers, a textbook and an ecological report of a 1933 expedition to
South Rona with scientific colleagues. She spoke about her survey of the island at a meeting of the
British Association in Aberdeen. The report was illustrated with several of her own photographs. She told a newspaper that she was "official photographer and cook" for the South Rona team. She created her own "
lantern slides" for lectures, both for university lectures and for numerous talks to the public and to local associations, reported in the Dundee newspapers. One article said she was "well known as a brilliant and entertaining lecturer". She was also an exhibiting member of the
Society of Scottish Artists. In 1932 she started the Dundee
Soroptimist Club, a group for professional women interested in good citizenship and service to others. Smith was the first president, and in 1935 she was elected president of the National Union of Soroptimist Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland. After a year she resigned that post for health reasons. She was awarded a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1941 after presenting a thesis called
Stelar Structure in the Dicotyledons. Around the same time she addressed the
Royal Society of Edinburgh on
Studies in the Vascular Anatomy of Trees and Herbs. She became a fellow of the Society in 1953 and two years later was appointed Head of the Department of Botany at the recently restructured
Queen's College, Dundee. She retired in 1960 and died on 17 May 1976. == Family ==