Millert Memorial Speaker Series

Olaf W. and Juta R. Millert Memorial Speaker Series in Psychology, founded in 2010, supports the annual lecture at St. Olaf College and was created by Professor Emeritus Olaf Millert in memory of his wife of 46 years, Juta. Born in Estonia, Professor Millert immigrated to the U.S. in 1949, received a bachelor’s degree from Augustana College, a master’s degree from the University of South Dakota, and a Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University. Millert founded the St. Olaf Department of Psychology in 1952 where he taught personality and social psychology until his retirement in 1995. He was a Fulbright visiting professor at the University of Tampere, Finland, and a Danforth teacher and visiting scholar in psychology at Harvard. Over the years, Olaf and Juta supported St. Olaf in numerous ways. In addition to this lecture series, the Millerts founded the Gordon Allport Award, awarded annually to an outstanding junior psychology major, and the Olaf and Juta Millert Endowment, which provides scholarships to St. Olaf students from Baltic and Scandinavian countries.