Dr. Josephine M. Mitchell

We deeply honor the memory and generosity of Dr. Josephine Mitchell who graduated from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Alberta in 1934. Josephine passed away, at the age of 88, in December 2000.

After graduation, Josephine went on to earn a master's degree and PhD from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. From 1958-1968 she was associate professor, and later professor, at Pennsylvania State University. She then took a position at the University of Buffalo, where she taught until her retirement in 1982.

It had always been Josephine's intent to make a bequest to the mathematics department of her hometown alma mater. She died before she was able to include her plans in her will. In her honor, her late husband Dr. Lowell Schoenfeld carried out her wishes through his will, leaving a bequest of $1.6 million US in her name.

Josephine's gift supports several initiatives within the Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, including endowments to fund the Dr. Josephine M. Mitchell Library, and the Dr. Josephine M. Mitchell graduate scholarships. In addition, the bequest will fund the Dr. Josephine M. Mitchell Environmental and Industrial Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, a state-of-the-art facility in the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences.