Emma Alethe Andreasdatter Hjorth (née Lippestad, 21 May 1858 – 2 July 1921) was a Norwegian educator and founder of the country's first large-scale institution for people with intellectual disabilities.

[1] Hjorth was born at Leppestad farm in Hobøl, Norway, to farmer Andreas Andreassen Lippestad and Gunhild Johannesdatter Bovim.

[3] Women were not allowed to enroll in higher education at the time, so she took the teacher's examination in 1879 individually as a privatist, a person without the right to study.

After seeing children turned away from the Torshov school for being "uneducable" – at a time when the concept of racial hygiene held significant sway – Hjorth's mission became to provide education to such students.

The institution was closed in the 1990s and the Regional Activity Center (Regionalt aktivitetssenter, REGA) was founded by the Municipality of Bærum for the purpose.