The College of Arts and Sciences joined members of the mathematics department at New Mexico State University for a ceremony in May to remember Carol L. Walker, a highly accomplished and much-admired professor who died Feb. 26 at age 90.
Walker’s life blended her gifts in music and mathematics. Her first degree was in music, but her later career focused on teaching and research in mathematics. Walker joined the math faculty as at NMSU in 1964, where she served more than three decades and spent 14 years as department head. She later served as associate dean of arts and sciences and as acting assistant dean and acting dean of the Graduate School.
Walker was deeply committed to her students and to service in the university and professional community. Her legacy at NMSU includes generations of mathematicians and a department that grew substantially under her leadership.
Carol was born on August 19, 1935, in Martinez, California and was raised on a farm in Montrose, Colorado. She graduated as valedictorian of Montrose County High School and was awarded a Regents Scholarship to the University of Colorado Boulder.
Widowed at the age of 21 by the loss of her first husband, Richard Roth Peercy, a musician in the U.S. Army, she completed a bachelor’s degree in music education in 1957 at University of Colorado at Boulder, where she met renowned theoretical physicist George Gamow and read his book “123 Infinity.” Walker then returned to her early interest in mathematics, teaching herself advanced abstract algebra and calculus, and soon pursuing graduate study first at University of Denver for one year and then at NMSU on a National Defense Act Fellowship. She earned a master’s in mathematics in 1961, followed quickly by a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1963, becoming the first woman to receive a Ph.D. from NMSU.
Upon graduation, Walker was awarded an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship and spent a year as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University before joining the math faculty at NMSU.
During these early years at NMSU, she met her husband of 55 years, Elbert Walker, a fellow faculty member in the mathematics department with whom she was to have both a productive life and career, raising four children, writing numerous research articles and a wide range of books, all the while serving as the social and intellectual center of a thriving, growing mathematics department that gained a national and international reputation.
Carol L. Walker was a respected scholar in Abelian group theory, lattice theory, and later in the mathematics of fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic, publishing her first mathematics paper in 1962 and her last, 58 years later, in 2020. Walker’s mathematics research included publishing 10 books and numerous articles.
“Carol Walker got a Ph.D. in mathematics at a time when likely 1% of mathematics Ph.D.s were female,” said John Harding, NMSU mathematical sciences department head. “She had a distinguished research career, was the department head in math for many years and was instrumental in transforming the department to three times its size.”
In fall 2020 on her 85th birthday, NMSU honored Walker as the university’s first female Ph.D. with a plaque and drive-by celebration (due to pandemic restrictions) at her home in Las Cruces.
“Dr. Carol Walker is not only a role model for women, but also for any students who might be reluctant to take a chance at pursuing a career in STEM fields,” said Enrico Pontelli, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “As a land-grant university, we welcome all students and strive to help them to achieve their personal best. We have many first-generation students who are breaking barriers and making their dreams come true every year.”
Music also remained an enduring part of her life. She played viola with the University of Denver orchestra and for many years performed with the NMSU orchestra and served as pianist for the University Singers.
After a full and remarkable life, she leaves behind many family members, friends, colleagues and former students who were touched by her kindness, generosity, leadership and intellect.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Walker Endowed Mathematics Research Grant at NMSU (math@nmsu.edu), or to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
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