• Smith College Teaching Fellow, 1908-09
• Associate Professor of Botany, 1909-47
• Class Dean for the Class of 1938, 1934-38
• Associate Professor Emeritus, 1947-57

Helen Ashurst Choate was born on August 29, 1882 in Irvington-on-Hudson, NY to Washington Choate and Grace Whitton Choate. She graduated from Smith College with the class of 1904, and worked as a teacher at Greenwich Academy in Connecticut before returning to Smith on a trustee fellowship from 1908-09. In 1909, studying under professor William F. Ganong, Choate received an M.A. from Smith and became an associate professor of botany, a position she held for 38 years until her retirement in 1947. In 1920, she received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Between 1934-38 she served as Class Dean for the class of 1938, and she also served as department chair for several years. Her field of research was plant physiology.

Choate was active with the work of the Edwards Congregational Church in Northampton, hospital aid, victory gardens, the Red Cross, and relief work. She was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Sigma Delta Epsilon, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Botanical Society of America, and the History of Science Society.

Choate died at the age of 75 on December 12, 1957 at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, MA.