Person: Russell (4), Beulah
Beulah Russell taught mathematics at several colleges in the United States including William and Mary. She attended the Edinburgh Mathematical Society Colloquium held in St Andrews, Scotland, in 1930 becoming the first female professor to attend the St Andrews Colloquium.
Mathematical Profile (Excerpt):
- All later documents give her name as Beulah Russell (or Bulah Russell) and she does not appear to have used the name Beatrice.
- Sarah Ann Russell died on 6 September 1855.
- It was in Boxville that Beulah Russell received her school education, after which she became a school teacher before beginning her College education.
- In 1900 Beulah Russell entered Randolph-Macon Woman's College.
- This College, with strong Methodist connections, had been founded in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1891 by William Waugh Smith who was the president of the College when Russell studied there.
- The College, which had opened in 1893, aimed to provide Virginia women with "an education equal to that given in our best colleges for young men." The academic standards were high and Russell majored in mathematics and graduated in 1903 with a B.A. She was then appointed as an Instructor in Mathematics at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
- This College dated back to 1832 when classes in mathematics and the classics began in a rented farmhouse on the south bank of the Lehigh River and the College buildings that Russell taught in began construction on College Hill in 1834.
- It had grown to have over 300 students when Russell taught mathematics there from 1903 to 1905.
- Russell left Lafayette College after two years when, in 1905, she was appointed Professor of Mathematics at Grenada College.
- Russell taught mathematics there from 1905 to 1909.
- In 1909 Russell returned to Randolph-Macon Woman's College, where she had herself been a student, as an Instructor in Mathematics.
- He had been appointed Dean of the College in 1907, two years before Russell's appointment.
- Also in the Mathematics department was Gillie Aldah Larew who had been an Instructor in Mathematics at Randolph-Macon Woman's College from 1903, and was promoted to Adjunct-Professor of Mathematics in 1909, the year Russell was appointed.
- While Russell was on the faculty of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, she also studied for a Master's degree at the University of Chicago.
- In 1925 Russell left the Randolph-Macon Woman's College and was appointed Associate Professor of Mathematics at the College of William and Mary.
- At the College of William and Mary, Russell taught five classes of mathematics, three freshman classes and two upper level courses.
- Miss Russell was noted for the amount of time she spent in giving students extra help in Mathematics.
- In 1930 Russell attended the Edinburgh Mathematical Society Colloquium held in St Andrews, Scotland, held from 19 to 30 July.
- Russell took part in this discussion relating the experiences of teachers in the United States, America, Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland.
- By taking part in this Colloquium, Russell became the first female professor to attend the St Andrews Colloquium.
- Russell spent another month in the UK before leaving on the Holland-American Line ship the Statendam from Southampton on 30 August.
- Miss Russell had been ill since last summer and became a patient in the Riverside Hospital in Newport News in August.
- Not many students have had the occasion to know Miss Russell this year, as she has been on leave of absence since September 1939.
- Beulah Russell Hall at the College of William and Mary has been named in her honour.
Born 22 October 1878, Boxville, Union County, Kentucky, USA. Died 22 February 1940, Newport News, Virginia, USA.
View full biography at MacTutor
Tags relevant for this person:
Origin Usa, Women
Thank you to the contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0! 
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- non-Github:
- @J-J-O'Connor
- @E-F-Robertson
References
Adapted from other CC BY-SA 4.0 Sources:
- O’Connor, John J; Robertson, Edmund F: MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
