Founder of Bryn Mawr's Geology Department Honored by Johns Hopkins University
Florence Bascom, the trailblazing founder of Bryn Mawr's Geology department, was recently honored by Johns Hopkins University, where her name now graces a building designed to foster undergraduate research.
Bascom, who founded Bryn Mawr's Geology Department in 1895 and taught here for 35 years, was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins, in 1893, and the second woman in the U.S. to earn the degree.
From the Johns Hopkins article announcing the naming:
"She helped establish the Bryn Mawr geology program as one of the nation's best; she also trained and mentored dozens of women who would go on to become leaders in the field."
More than a century since its founding, Bryn Mawr's Geology Department is still training professional geologists, and emphasis is still placed on the importance of field work in learning to understand and manage our physical environment.