Ida Smith

Ida Smith was the first female to register at the university, in the Teachers Department, in February 1892. Coeducation had ceased in 1807, prior to the trustees granting full admission to women in spring 1893. Smith was the daughter of Francis Marion Smith, principal of the UT Teachers Department. The University Magazine stated that she and her sister (Mary Smith) took courses in 1891, but the Registrar’s Office shows that she alone officially enrolled in February 1892. When her father was appointed state commissioner of education in 1893, she moved to Nashville with her family. She later married Dr. Charles Landis and moved to Chattanooga. She held many offices in the National Council of Catholic Women and was an active participant in the Democratic Party. In 1939 she stood in a receiving line at an open house in Barbara Blount Hall.