ASA member Sharon Hessney left a career on Wall Street to teach math to high-school students in Boston and has since become a tireless advocate for the advancement of statistics education.
Education
What Statisticians Should Watch in Congress in 2011
The 112th Congress is well under way, with federal budget discussions grabbing most of the headlines. Once the fiscal year 2011 (FY11) budget is resolved, what are the issues that might interest ASA members in 2011? Which issues should ASA members contact their members of Congress about?
Workshops Lined Up Ahead of USCOTS
The Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education is pleased to join four other National Science Foundation–funded projects to offer United States Conference on Teaching Statistics (USCOTS) pre-conference workshops in Raleigh/Cary, North Carolina, from May 17–19. The workshops will be held on the SAS campus.
Section Is Primary Sponsor of Five Invited Sessions
The statistics education program for JSM 2010 includes a lineup of thought-provoking presentations, roundtable discussions, and posters. Here is a list of the invited sessions.
Common Core Standards Reviewed
The ASA participated in three reviews of draft mathematics standards prepared through the Common Core State Standards Initiative. If adopted by the states, these standards could influence millions of school children in the United States. Here, the participants share their reviews and comments.
Battelle Supports Education Program with $8,000
One of the goals of the American Statistical Association is to improve statistics education at all levels. Improving education is also a goal for Battelle. As a committed supporter of the ASA’s education programs, Battelle recently contributed $8,000 to the ASA in support of the ASA’s Educational Ambassadorship Program, which supports statistical education on an international scale.
Mu Sigma Rho
Mu Sigma Rho, the national honor society for statistics, invites academic institutions to nominate their outstanding teaching faculty for the 2010 Mu Sigma Rho Statistical Education Award.
Biostatistics Degrees: Missing Data and Other Issues
Tracking down data on the statistics (including biostatistics) discipline, Keith Crank noticed some of these data come from the ASA’s surveys, some from joint surveys with the American Mathematical Society, and some from government agencies.
Statistics Teachers Needed in Industrial Settings
It is widely assumed that you need a PhD in statistics to teach applied statistics in an industrial setting. However, many teaching jobs in industrial settings require only a master’s degree in statistics. A career as a statistical instructor can be rewarding, as you continually learn new statistical methods and obtain personal satisfaction knowing you are helping professionals solve problems.
Data-Driven Decisionmaking and the Department of Education
In his July column, ASA Director of Science Policy Steve Pierson highlighted Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag’s call for data on what works and what doesn’t as an example of the Obama Administration’s emphasis on data-driven decisionmaking. Orszag focused on health care and education as two areas where more data is needed. While all eyes are on health care this summer, Pierson thought it would be helpful to look forward to one of the next debates: education. Therefore, he is spotlighting the administration’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, this month.