Established on 10.23.1963 by Concordia College with gifts from the National Science Foundation
The T.C. Wollan Memorial Distinguished Lectureship was founded in the mid-1960s with unrestricted funds received from the National Science Foundation in connection with the NSF Undergraduate Research Participation programs at Concordia College at that time. The intent was to bring to campus on a regular basis a truly distinguished mathematician to deliver a series of lectures directed primarily to undergraduates. The lectures were named to honor the memory of T.C. Wollan, one of the founders of Concordia's mathematics program.
T.C. Wollan came to Concordia College as head of the Department of Mathematics in 1917, having served since 1903 at Park Region Luther College, where he was principal of the academy and head of the Department of Mathematics when he left in 1917. An 1894 graduate of the University of Minnesota, he taught at Concordia from 1917 until his death in 1932. A man of rugged integrity, quaint humor, and down-to-earth philosophy, Wollan was a well-respected and beloved teacher. His students included Mae Anderson and Sigurd Mundhjeld.
Among T.C. Wollan Lecturers in the earlier years were such luminaries as J.M.H. Olmsted, G. Baley Price, Carl Allendoerfer, Paul Halmos, I.N. Herstein, Stephen Kleene, D.H. Lehmer, Murray Klamkin, Victor Klee, Anatole Rappoport, Irving Kaplansky, Daniel H. Wagner, Vera Pless, and Henry Alder.