Guerdon David Nichols (June 12, 1900-October 28, 1988) was born in Iowa Falls, Iowa. Educated as a mathematician, he joined the University of Arkansas's faculty as a mathematics instructor in 1927. He completed his doctorate at the University of Nebraska in 1933, and in 1945 he was made a full professor in the University of Arkansas's Mathematics Department. In 1946 he became dean of the university's College of Arts and Sciences. Accomplishments during his tenure as dean included a rapid growth in the enrollment in the college, an expansion of its facilities, and the creation of an honors program.

Nichols was an outspoken member of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). In the late 1940s he supported the admission of African-American students to the then whites-only University of Arkansas. He entered the national spotlight in April, 1959, for speaking out against Act No. 10, a bill adopted by the Arkansas General Assembly in August, 1958. The act required teachers employed in Arkansas state-supported schools to divulge the names of all organizations to which they had either belonged or made contributions to in the preceding five years. This reactionary act, passed during the turmoil of the Little Rock school desegregation crisis, was intended to weed out pro-desegregation educators belonging to "communist-front" organizations; the act was later declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. In honor of his stand against Act No. 10, Nichols received the AAUP's Alexander Meiklejohn Award for Academic Freedom in 1960. He resigned his position of dean in 1964 and resumed his duties as a teacher. He retired from full-time teaching in 1967.