Gloria Conyers Hewitt

Gloria Conyers Hewitt (born October 26, 1935) is an American mathematician. She was the fourth African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics. Her main research interests were in group theory and abstract algebra. She is the first African American woman to chair a math department in the United States.

Early life and education Hewitt was born on October 26, 1935, in Sumter, South Carolina. She entered Fisk University in 1952 and graduated in 1956 with a degree in secondary mathematics education. Without her knowledge, department chairman Lee Lorch recommended Hewitt to two graduate schools. As a result, she was offered a fellowship at the University of Washington in her senior year, though she had not applied for it. Hewitt received her master's degree from there in 1960, and then her Ph.D. (with a thesis on "Direct and Inverse Limits of Abstract Algebras") in 1962. In 1995, she was elected chair of the Department of Mathematical Science.

She was known for many mathematics accomplishments but most of all for being one of the first three black women to receive a mathematics award.

Hewitt's works focus on two mathematic areas: abstract algebra and group theory. Hewitt has said that "Some of my fellow graduate students did all they could to help and encourage me. They included me in most of their activities. I know this situation was not the norm for a lot of Blacks studying mathematics, but I was fortunate enough to be at the right place at the right time." In 2018, the University of Washington established the Gloria Hewitt Endowed Graduate Student Support Fund in honor of Hewitt's immense contributions to the field of mathematics. The fund, established with an initial principal amount of $50,000, was set up to "promote excellence in the graduate program of the Department of Mathematics, in particular enhancing efforts to achieve a more equitable representation of those under-represented in the field of mathematics.

Selected publications . . .