Early in the 1969-70 academic year, Professor Allen T. Craig announced his retirement. He gave a retirement talk in January 1970. During the 1970 summer, the department decided to establish a lecture series to honor Professor Craig. His January 1970 talk was the first in this series. The second Craig Lecturer was Frederick Mosteller, who delivered the lecture in May 1971. The subsequent Craig Lectures are usually held in April, and annual student awards are usually given at this time.  In 2015 our invited guest was Richard Dkystra, Professor Emeritus of Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Iowa.