[3] In 1867, at age sixteen, she began working at a New England cotton factory, but after a week of employment there, she sought help in finding a different job.

[2] After her graduation in 1873, Hooker joined Mount Holyoke as a faculty member, working alongside her former teacher Lydia Shattuck and zoologist Cornelia Clapp.

[6] In 1899, she was one of two teachers with a Ph.D. at Mount Holyoke (the other being Clapp, the first woman in the United States to be awarded that degree in biology).

[3] As the chair of the botany department, she advocated for expansion of the curriculum into newer branches of the field and for improvements to laboratory space and equipment.

[9][6] Mount Holyoke awarded her an honorary Sc.D in 1923,[3][10] and Hooker Auditorium is named in her honor.