Teaching Statistics at a Liberal Arts College

1
Teaching Statistics at a Liberal Arts College

• E. Jacquelin Dietz
• Department of Mathematics Computer Science
• Meredith College
• Raleigh, NC 27607-5298
• dietzjac_at_meredith.edu
• NCSU Career Information Fair
• September 12, 2005

2
Background

• AB from Oberlin, grad school at UConn
• Chose NCSU because of opportunities available at
  large school, salary, prestige
• Moved through the ranks, stayed for 26 years
• Maintained affinity for small schools
• Sent sons to Earlham, Elon

3
Reasons for Moving to Meredith

• Ready for a change
• Emphasis on teaching
• Small classes
• Facilities for teaching laptops, technology
  classrooms, new Science Math Building
• Opportunity to teach at a womens college

4
Role of a Statistician at a Liberal Arts College

• Teach most of the statistics courses across
  campus
• Courses in Departments of Mathematics, Nutrition,
  Business
• SAS programming course
• Serve as statistical consultant across campus

5
Differences at Meredith

• Heavy teaching load (3/4)
• Must do own grading
• Undergraduate research
• Advising
• Office hours every day
• More individual attention to students
• More faculty meetings, college committees
• Lower salary
• Fewer library resources

6
Potential Downsides to Being the Only
Statistician

• May need to teach math courses
• Evaluated by mathematicians who may not
  appreciate differences between math and
  statistics
• Lack of statistics colleagues (Isolated
  Statisticians group has listserv, website,
  meetings at JSM)

7
Upsides of Teaching at Meredith

• More opportunity to get to know students
• Less research and grants pressure
• Less bureaucracy
• More interaction across departments
• Beautiful facilities
• Free, ample parking
• Summers off!