Established in 1992, this chair was made possible by estate gifts from long-time Northfield resident Grace Whittier and her sister Gladys (Petie) Coleman of California. The Buck Hill ski area in Burnsville was included as part of the Whittier estate, which also included bequests to Carleton College and the City of Northfield. Former holders of this chair have been James Cederberg (Physics), Robert Jacobel (Physics), Eric Cole (Biology), Douglas Beussman (Chemistry), and Jill Dietz (Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science).
Current Chair:
Kristina (Tina) Garrett is Professor of Mathematics and Chair of the Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science department. She graduated from M.I.T. in 1994 with an S.B. in Mathematics and earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota in 2001. She taught at Carleton College before coming to St. Olaf in 2005. Garrett is active in the life of the college and is a passionate teacher. She specializes in Combinatorics and Partition theory, has published numerous papers, and supervised several undergraduate research students at St. Olaf.
Professor Garrett is also active in the wider mathematical community. She has served as the North American Director for the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program, the premiere study abroad program in mathematics for US students, for the last eleven years. She has partnered with The Fulbright Program to provide opportunities for students and faculty to study and conduct research with Hungarian mathematicians. She enjoys traveling to Hungary and connecting with students from across the country who share a passion for mathematics.