Mathematician Wallace Maryland, Jr., Ph.D. was a beloved and long-time professor at Alabama State University. Having attended and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, he enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he served honorably for four years before enrolling in Alabama State University following an honorable discharge.

Maryland earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Alabama State University in 1958. He went on to earn his master’s and Ph.D. from Atlanta University and University of Alabama, in 1961 and 1978, respectively. Dr. Maryland began his nearly fifty year career at Alabama State in 1963 as an instructor of mathematics and was selected to chair the department in 1974, a position he held until his retirement in 2009. A prolific and respected writer and researcher, Maryland was the co-author of several textbooks and was published in distinguished journals throughout his career. Known to be a demanding, yet humorous and informative, Maryland’s students include current Alabama State University president Gwendolyn E. Boyd, Dr. Carl Pettis, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Alabama State University and Dr. Elaine Flowers Duncan, Operations Engineering Branch Chief in the Mission Operations Laboratory at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Following Maryland’s death on May 4, 2015, Alabama State President Boyd remarked: “Alabama State University certainly was blessed to have a professor of Dr. Maryland’s character and expertise as a part of our faculty. As a former student of Dr. Maryland’s, I can attest to the excellence, integrity and rigor of his teaching skills, as well as his love for his students. He was truly a remarkable man, and I will be forever grateful for his contributions to my life and the thousands of other ASU students who were touched by him.”