Mae Anderson
Mae Ruth Anderson was born May 31, 1899 near Westby, Wisconsin to parents Ida Berg and Norton Alfred Anderson. Her family moved to Shelly, MN in 1910. She graduated from high school in Halstad, MN in 1916, and then went to Concordia College in the fall of the same year. While studying mathematics at Concordia, she also took classes at the University of Chicago in the summers, where she earned her masters degree. After she graduated from Concordia in 1920, Anderson taught at other schools for 5 years until she returned to Concordia as an assistant professor in 1928. She taught Math and French (8).
Anderson finished up her graduate work at the University of Chicago and received her PhD in mathematics in 1936. Anderson was one of only 7 women in the U.S. and Canada to earn a PhD in Math in the 1930s. In 1937 she was promoted to a full professor at Concordia and became the head of the math department. She was the first woman chair for this department. In the Fargo/Moorhead community, Anderson was the Officer of Senior Sunday School and a member of the Lutheran Daughters of the Reformation at Trinity Lutheran Church. Anderson was greatly loved by all of her students. She demonstrated a love of math, patience, and a great respect for her students. She died of leukemia at age 48 (9).