Department of Statistics

The Department of Statistics at the University of Georgia invites applications for a position at the rank of Academic Professional, starting July 1, 2012. Applicants must have a Ph.D. degree in Statistics or related area and a record that shows a strong interest in the teaching of statistics, especially a passion for teaching undergraduate introductory statistics courses. Successful applicants are also expected to have excellent management and organizational skills.

Academic Professional is a non-tenure track faculty rank at the University of Georgia. Guidelines for appointment and promotion related to this position can be found at http://provost.uga.edu/index.php/policies-procedures/appt-promotion-tenu.... The person in this position will have a 12-month appointment and will be in charge of the coordination of our main undergraduate statistics course (STAT 2000: Introductory Statistics), which serves close to 3,000 students per year. The course is a 4-hour credit course taught in large lectures with weekly lab sessions of up to 30 students each. The successful candidate will be in charge of the coordination of all sections, instructors, and TA’s of STAT 2000. The person will also be in charge of constructing all assessments, such as exams, homework assignments, and lab exercises. Experience with the use of testing software and with the teaching of large lectures is a plus. The current testing software used for STAT 2000 is WebAssign. The person will chair a committee that has primary responsibility for course content and delivery, and will play a key role in suggesting and implementing changes that can lead to improved student learning outcomes. The person will be in charge of assigning grades for all students in the course, and of handling questions and inquiries from students. The person is also expected to teach sections of the course throughout the academic year and during the summer. Teaching of other courses is a possibility based on the candidate’s interests and the Department’s needs.

To apply for the position, candidates should visit http://recruitment.franklin.uga.edu/statistics and provide all of the requested information, including contact information for three references. At this site, candidates should also upload a single PDF file consisting of an application letter, a curriculum vitae, a teaching statement that highlights experience and interest in teaching undergraduate introductory statistics, and a copy of the graduate school transcript. Upon receipt of the application, the three references supplied by the applicant will be asked to submit letters of recommendation at the same website. Applications will be considered until the position is filled, and those received by February 1, 2012, are assured consideration.

The Department currently has 24 faculty, of whom 6 are non-tenure track. Research interests span a wide spectrum, including statistics education. In addition to courses in support of the Department’s degree programs (BS, MS and PhD), the Department offers various service courses. The Department is also responsible for teaching MSIT 3000, an undergraduate introductory statistics course for business students. STAT 2000 and MSIT 3000 are the only large lecture courses offered by the Department. For more information about the Department and the university, please go to http://www.stat.uga.edu.

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, its many units, and the University of Georgia are committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty and students, and to sustaining a work and learning environment that is inclusive. Women, minorities and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The University is an EEO/AA institution.

Congratulations to Dr. Cheolwoo Park for receiving, jointly with Jennifer McDowell (Psychology), a Franklin College seed grant award for the proposal “Practice-related changes in neural activation patterns investigated via semiparametric estimation and causal inference”

University Professor Lynne Billard is the recipient of the Tenth Annual Janet L. Norwood Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Statistical Sciences. She will accept the award at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at the Alys Stephens Center, where Lynne Billard will give a distinguished lecture and meet with students and young faculty at UAB. For more details, please click http://www.soph.uab.edu/ssg/norwoodaward/tenthaward

Jung Ae Lee was selected to receive a 2011 Innovative and Interdisciplinary Research Grant. This award was established by the Graduate School as part of its strategic initiative to support innovation and interdisciplinarity in the dissertation research being conducted by doctoral students. Congratulations, Jung Ae!

The Department wishes to congratulate its second class of Mu Sigma Rho inductees. The following students will be inducted at 2:30 on April 29th:

Undergraduate Level Inductees:
John Averick, Jessica Floyd, Alexander Lyford, Stephen Morris, Julia Orr, Jamaal Parker, Zachary Robbins, Neeraj Sriram, Christopher Tenza, Nathan Ulrich

Graduate Level Inductees:
Ashley Askew, Andy Bartlett, Huanyao Gao, Qianying Hong, Siyan Hu, Adam Jaeger, Leopold Matamba, David Nelson, Chris O'Neal, Eugine Song, Junqi Yin, Guannan Wang, Xuedong Wu

The Department wishes to congratulate statistics undergraduate student, Julia Orr, on being elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest and most widely-known academic honorary society. An invitation for induction to Phi Beta Kappa is only offered to the most outstanding arts and sciences students, of which Julia is well deserving. Great job, Julia!

The department was informed that Jeongyoun Ahn is a 2011 recipient of the M.G. Michael Award for Research from the Franklin College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Congratulations Jeongyoun!

John Stufken will be the Rothschild Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in conjunction with the program Design and Analysis of Experiments, which will be held at the Institute from July 18 - December 21, 2011. The appointment as Rothschild Distinguished Visiting Fellow is a one-month appointment at the Institute during the period of the program.

Richard Worthington, who was our Administrative Associate, has transferred to the Department of Romance Languages as their IT Professional Associate. We appreciate Richard’s skilled support to our department, and we congratulate and wish him the best of luck in his new IT position!

Our best student awards this year go to Best Senior, Hsin-Ping Wu; Best Beginning Applied, Adam Jaeger; Best Beginning Theoretical, Sandra Addo and Haileab Hilafu. Congratulations to these hard-working students! Each student will receive a monetary award and certificate.

Our department is very pleased with the hiring of Dr. Mark Werner, who started his position as Lecturer in August 2010. Mark will play an important role in teaching statistics for business students, and is also interested in further pursuing his interests in statistics education. Welcome Mark!