It has become the largest academic department at UP, with currently more than 60 members of staff.  Student numbers have shown steady growth, increasing from a humble 38 to over 20 000 over this period.  The department has grown in stature and visibility in its research focus since inception while still maintaining its reputation for excellent teaching and learning. 

It is in this centenary year that the department is establishing, under the leadership of Prof Jean Lubuma, the SARChI Chair in Mathematical Models and Methods in Bioengineering and Biosciences, which is the first ever chair in mathematics that the DST/NRF has awarded to UP.  Hosting such a chair is both an honour for the department and a new challenge.  Prof Anguelov, the new HOD, has the distinction of succeeding the ten previous incumbents of the position, in the Departments centenary year. Interestingly, the first Head of Department was Prof AE du Toit, a name all students are familiar with because of the building named after him.