Genevieve Parker Metcalfe

Parker Metcalfe

Genevieve Parker '28, '29 was the first woman to earn a mining degree from the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines.

Her parents, Fred and Genevieve Parker, came to Fairbanks separately after the gold rush. They bought a claim north of town on Fairbanks Creek, where they lived and worked from 1914 to 1921. They moved into town, where Parker graduated from Fairbanks High School. 

At AACSM, Metcalfe played basketball, raced sled dog teams, edited the Farthest North Collegian and acted in plays. After earning a bachelor’s degree in science, she completed a second degree in geology and mining.

The Fairbanks Exploration Co., which ran massive gold dredges in the area, hired Metcalfe after graduation. She soon moved to Boston to work in the headquarters of the F.E.’s parent company, U.S. Smelting, Refining and Mining. There, she gained celebrity as the only professional female mining engineer in the nation.

She resigned to raise a family after marrying John Metcalfe, a fellow engineer at USSRM, in 1934. They moved to Salt Lake City, Fairbanks, Nome and then Massachusetts again, where she died in 1995.

More online about Genevieve Parker Metcalfe:

  • A profile in the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame