Creating and Sustaining a Dynamic Undergraduate

Statistics Program

Our (My) experience at BYU

Bruce Jay Collings(02 August 2008)

Outline

• Disclaimer• Brief Department History• Fortuitous Factors• Concerted Efforts by Department• Recruiting students

• What did not work• What works

• Retaining students

Disclaimer(s)

• BYU may be atypical– Church university– Not quite a major research university– Not quite an undergraduate teaching university

• My view

• Adapt or Ignore anything I say

Brief Department History

• Created in 1960– No students, 1 faculty member

• 1962: 1st BS degree, 3 faculty + 2 PT• mid 70’s: 20 majors, 12 faculty• mid 80’s: 50 majors, 15 faculty • 1990: ~100 majors, 16 faculty + 3 PT• 2000: ~160 majors, 16 faculty + 4 PT• 2008: ~ 200 majors, 17 faculty + 3 PT (about 20 masters students since early 70’s)

Fortuitous Factors - BYU

• Collegiality – Early Department Faculty & Philosophy

• BYU enrollment pressures

• Stat faculty member as AAVP for Computing– Excellent department computing– University wide multi-media teaching rooms– Current Department Chair

• Applied Statistics Account

(Not So) Fortuitous Factors - BYU

• Very Heavy Service load– Nearly 15,000 student credit hrs/yr

• No PhD Program– Harder to get external funding

Fortuitous Factors – In General

• Service Courses– Business School screening tool– Satisfies University GE requirement– Increasingly required by other majors

• Increased demand for Statisticians

• AP Statistics exam

Concerted Efforts by Department

• Department Mission Statement

"... to provide (individuals) with the knowledge to perform meaningful work and service through rational evaluation of quantitative information ...“

Concerted Efforts by Department

• Academic Program– Basic program outline

Core – approx 40 hours 2 or 3 semesters of Calculus Intro stat (4 options) Stat methods, Math Stat, Sampling, Design,

Statistical Computing“Specialty” stat courses (junior/senior level)Minor (or equivalent) in appropriate field

Concerted Efforts by Department

• Academic Program (cont.)– Five degree programs; two sub-groups

• Terminal degree (less math)– BS Stat: Applied Statistics & Analytics emphasis– BS Stat: Quality Science emphasis

• “Pre-Professional” (more math)– BS Stat: Statistical Science emphasis– BS Stat: Biostatistics emphasis– BS Actuarial Science

Concerted Efforts by Department

• Flexibility– Four entry classes:

• regular, “baby” theory, Bayesian, quality science– “Minor” requirement (for degree programs)

• allows individually tailored program• Limited cost to department

– Very flexible Stat minor requirement

• Adapt to student needs– Biostat added in 1997, now has 40+ majors– Act Sci added in 1990, grew to 20-25 by 1995– Act Sci degree in 2001, now has 70+ majors

Concerted Efforts by Department

• Weekly seminar series (w/ refreshments)– Speakers from across campus – Some off campus speakers– Some student only concerns

• resumes writing• Interviewing

– Most statistical research presentations– Draws students from other campus depts

Concerted Efforts by Department

• Consulting Center– University citizenship– Student experience– Student involvement/employment w/ other depts– Good PR

• Undergraduate mentoring– UG research groups– Even by non-stat professors (CS & Math)– College Spring Research Conference

• Faculty dedicated to teaching (and research)

• Employment – most majors are TAs or RAs

Concerted Efforts by Department

• Actuarial Science degree– Relatively easy to start (two new courses)

• Basic core (less sampling & design)• Theory of interest & Actuarial mathematics• Six courses from econ, finance, accounting, stat• Optional review class for Course 1

– Recent pass rate Exams P, FM, MLC, MFE ~70%– Adds visibility to Department– Very popular ~40% of undergraduate majors

Recruiting – What Didn’t Work

• Freshman letter– 1500+ letters to high math scores on

ACT/SAT• High quality incoming freshmen

400+ w/ 33+ ACT (1460+ SAT) and 3.9+ HS GPA

• Science Day• Brought local/regional HS students to campus• Four Sat morning sessions about statistics

Recruiting Students – What Works

• Word of mouth– Significant fraction of new majors are siblings, relatives or

friends (even children) of current/former majors

• High School outreach– Visits– AP and BAPS seminars– AP Stat exam grading (meet HS teachers)

• Temporary Visiting HS Faculty– Take a couple of classes; teach a class or two– Refer their best students to us

Recruiting Students• Introductory Stat & other service courses

– Honors/Majors Section (~75 students) is best recruiter

• Evolution of Stat 221 (our Intro Stat course)– Early 80’s: ~200 students/sem + ~100 summer– Early 90’s: ~900 students/sem + ~200 summer– Late 90’s: ~1200 students/sem + ~400 summer– 2003: ~1800 students/sem + ~600 summer– 2008: ~2000 students/sem + ~500 summer

Overheads -> PowerPoint -> Flash lessons– produced (and taught) by best teachers (over several yrs)– incorporates videos, applets, tables, calculators, etc.– Uniformity, simplicity, reduces faculty burden of 4500/yr– ¼ PT faculty to maintain/upgrade

Requires Course Supervisor, several Course Assistants, and TA’s for 90+ labs per semester

Retaining Students

• Academic programs and marketability• Student involvement

– ASA, SQC, μσρ, Actuarial Club• Student employment

– Semester long TA training course– Majors all TA/RA at least one semester– Graders/TAs for all courses– Invite top non-majors to TA Stat 221 – Most juniors & seniors work 10-15 hours for Dept

• Good recruiting tool• “relatively” high paying

Retaining Students

• Department Scholarships– Several endowed by faculty and dept– A few endowed by private gift

• Mostly former students and families– Not lavish, most are half tuition

• Majors only “labs”– Majors only computer lab (18-20 PCs, printer,

software, etc)– Actuarial library/study room (office size)

Retaining Students

• Physically located together (one floor)– Department office suite– Faculty offices– Graduate student offices– Student computing labs– Class rooms for Majors courses– Department servers– Computing support personnel

Retaining Students

• Summer Institute of Applied Statistics (SIAS)– Outside speakers– Faculty professional development– Brings non-stat students to department

• Applied Statistics Account– Funds SIAS and other “needs”– Endowed two Professorships, One mentoring

Award• Allows faculty to fund students

– Accumulated from variety of sources• University/College matching fund

Retaining Students

• Modest sized MS only graduate program– Focus is on undergraduate program– Challenge undergrads with 1st year MS courses