Dr. Lola J. May was a noted mathematics educator, consultant, author, producer of audio-visual materials, an early proponent of the new math

New math

New Mathematics or New Math was a brief, dramatic change in the way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, and to a lesser extent in European countries, during the 1960s. The name is commonly given to a set of teaching practices introduced in the U.S...

 educational process, and a household name name among mathematics. A native of Kenosha, Wisconsin

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...

 and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1945, she achieved her master's degree in mathematics at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 and her doctorate in 1964. She taught mathematics at New Trier Township High School in the Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 area until 1960, and was a mathematics consultant at the Winnetka, Illinois

Winnetka, Illinois

Winnetka is an affluent North Shore village located approximately north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Winnetka was featured on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2011...

 public schools until 1998. Her summers were often spent teaching at the university level.

Her authored works include her autobiography "Lola May Who?", the book "Teaching Mathematics in the Elementary School", a number of Harcourt Brace textbooks, monthly articles for the Teaching K-8 magazine, and a series of articles for the Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

 Magazine.

Her awards include the Northwestern Alumni Merit Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics was founded in 1920. It has grown to be the world's largest organization concerned with mathematics education, having close to 100,000 members across the USA and Canada, and internationally....

, and the Educator of the Year Award from the Winnetka

Winnetka

Winnetka may refer to:One of the following places in the United States:* Winnetka, Los Angeles* Winnetka, Illinois* Winnetka Heights, Dallas, TexasOr to the following educational experiment:* The Winnetka Plan...

Chamber of Commerce. She frequently was a speaker at the annual California Math Conference during the 1970s and 1980s.