Virginia Beatrice Smith (June 24, 1923 – August 27, 2010) was an American lawyer, economist, educator, and eighth president of Vassar College.

[1][3] Smith taught business courses at Berkeley in 1952, partly at the request of Clark Kerr, the former president of the University of California system.

[3][1] In 1963 Smith served as an associate director for the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.

President Richard Nixon appointed Smith the director of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education in 1973.

Vassar College, previously an all-women's institution, admitted male transfer students in the Spring of 1969, and amended its constitution to permit male students to matriculate to Vassar.