Detail of the top of the Grecourt Gates in the winter

Founder’s Day

To mark the day Sophia Smith signed her will establishing Smith College and in recognition of International Women’s Day, Smith celebrates Founder’s Day on March 8.

Through free activities and programs across campus, we come together to honor the spirit of generosity within the Smith community. Generosity takes many forms, from Sophia Smith’s original bequest to the exchange of knowledge that happens in classrooms every day, from our shared commitment to making Smith better to the countless ways alums use their education to lead change in the world.

It is my wish that the institution be so conducted, that during all coming time it shall do the most good to the greatest number. I would have it a perennial blessing to the country and the world.
Sophia Smith

A Day for Community and Celebrating

Founder’s Day was introduced in 2025 with an array of events, talks, and volunteer opportunities to capture the spirit of Smith. Check out just a few ways we celebrated.

Period Product Drive

Smith Students for Reproductive Justice and the Office of Alumnae Relations and Development collected period and personal hygiene products for donation to the Northampton Survival Center during the week leading up to Founder’s Day.

Introduce a Girl to Engineering

The Smith chapter of the Society of Women Engineers hosts this annual event offering a glimpse into STEM fields and demonstrating how pursuing an education or career in STEM is possible and fun! This is a free, one-day event for girls and gender non-conforming students in grades 6–8. 

Founder’s Day Concert

How better to celebrate a momentous day than with some music? The first ever Founder’s Day concert featured Lyn Lapid, Hot Chelle Rae, and Chase Shakur. Tickets were free for Smith students and available for purchase for Five College students and Smith faculty and staff members.

Crosswalk in downtown Northampton

150 Years of Smith College & Northampton

A History of the College’s Founding

Smith President Sarah Willie-LeBreton and Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra ’96 hosted “150 years later—Smith + Northampton: A History of the College’s Founding.”

In 1869 Sophia Smith was committed to siting a future college for women in her hometown of Hatfield, but just three months before her death in 1870, she revised her will, shifting the location to Northampton. What had changed her mind? What were Northampton’s “superior advantages”? And what was Northampton like in the years after the Civil War and before the first class of Smith students entered in 1875? Laurie Sanders, Historic Northampton’s co-director and Smith College alumna ’88, took a closer look at the important connections between Northampton history and Smith College’s founding.