Leslie Hogben is an American mathematician who works in graph theory and linear algebra. She is also known for helping and guiding graduate students in mathematics. She is a professor emerita at Iowa State University. From 2012 to 2020, she held the Dio Lewis Holl Chair in Applied Mathematics. She also worked in electrical and computer engineering, and from 2019 to 2024, she was associate dean for graduate studies and faculty development at Iowa State.
Since 2007, she has worked part-time for the American Institute of Mathematics (AIM). She was the associate director for diversity from 2007 to 2024 and became the Director of Research Communities in 2024.
Hogben graduated summa cum laude from Swarthmore College in 1974. She completed her Ph.D. at Yale University in 1978. Her research was on ring theory, and her advisor was Nathan Jacobson.
She started at Iowa State University as a tenure-track instructor in 1978. She got tenure in 1983, became a full professor in 2006, received the Dio Lewis Holl Chair in 2012, and retired in 2024. She also had a courtesy appointment in electrical and computer engineering in 2013. She became associate dean in 2019.
At AIM, she first worked as associate director for diversity and later became Director of Research Communities in 2024.
Hogben edited the Handbook of Linear Algebra (2007, 2nd edition 2014) and several other books. She also wrote:
In 2020, the Association for Women in Mathematics made her an AWM Fellow for supporting women in mathematics for nearly 40 years. In the same year, she became a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2024, she was elected a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.
Hogben is the daughter of C. A. M. Hogben, a physiologist, and the granddaughter of British zoologist Lancelot Hogben and demographer Enid Charles. She married mathematician Mark Hunacek, who later became a teaching professor at Iowa State University after working as an assistant attorney general in Iowa.
