Stanton, Ralph G.

Identity area

Type of entity

Person

Authorized form of name

Stanton, Ralph G.

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

      • Stanton, Ralph Gordon

      Identifiers for corporate bodies

      Description area

      Dates of existence

      1923-2010

      History

      Ralph G. Stanton was a Canadian mathematician, teacher, scholar and pioneer in mathematics and computing education. He was born in 1923 in Lambeth, Ontario. Stanton was educated at the University of Western Ontario (BA in Mathematics and Physics, 1944) and then at the University of Toronto (MA, PhD, 1945 and 1948), where he taught from 1946 to 1957. In 1957 he came to the University of Waterloo as its first mathematics professor and head of the Mathematics Department; as a result of his efforts, in 1967 Waterloo became the first university in North America to have mathematics as a separate faculty. In 1967 he left Waterloo for York University to start a graduate program in mathematics. In 1970 he moved to the Department of Computing Science at the University of Manitoba, serving as Head, Professor, and since 1984, as Distinguished Professor.

      Stanton's impact on mathematical education, particularly in computer science, has been substantial. He introduced computing in the classroom at the University of Waterloo in 1960, introduced co-operative programs in applied mathematics and in computer science and served as the first Dean of Graduate Studies from 1960 to 1966. He encouraged teaching of computing science and mathematics at the secondary school level. He served as editor of two high school mathematical journals, on provincial (Ontario) curriculum committees and was actively involved in developing what is now the Canadian Mathematics Competition. He introduced graduate work in mathematics at York University and at the University of Manitoba built up the Computing Science Department with an emphasis on applied computer science. He has also produced a large body of scholarly contributions in algebra, applied statistics, mathematical biology and combinatorics. He has received honourary degrees from the University of Queensland (D.Sc., hon. causa, 1989), the University of Natal (D.Sc., hon. causa, 1997) and the University of Waterloo (D.Math, hon. causa, 1997).

      In 1985 he was awarded the Killam prize in Mathematics.

      Places

      Legal status

      Functions, occupations and activities

      Dean of Graduate Studies (January 1, 1962 to June 30, 1966)

      Mandates/sources of authority

      Internal structures/genealogy

      General context

      Relationships area

      Access points area

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Occupations

      Control area

      Authority record identifier

      Institution identifier

      Rules and/or conventions used

      Status

      Level of detail

      Dates of creation, revision and deletion

      Revised May 2024 by AM

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Maintenance notes