As of autumn 2021, the Department of Statistics welcomed a new type of employee. Tom Metzger transitioned from his role as a Visiting Assistant Professor (VAP) to be our first Assistant Professor of Teaching Practice. Over the last three years, several others have transitioned to this new kind of position from their previous job classifications as VAPs or Associated Professors. Welcoming Jillian Morrison for autumn 2024 brought the group to seven.
- Steeve Anthonymuthu
- Jonathan Baker
- Michelle Everson
- Tom Metzger
- Jillian Morrison
- Drew Richards
- Deb Rumsey
In addition to doing a lot of high-quality traditional teaching, this strong group of educators are playing a key role as leaders in our educational mission, particularly as we continue to grow our undergraduate programs (the Data Analytics major and the Statistics major and minor) and tackle the challenges of a changing educational landscape. As a group, they have stepped up to this leadership challenge even though many are still early career faculty.
Tom is doing a fantastic job as our newly named Director of Undergraduate Programs, overseeing the administration of our undergraduate programs. Steeve and Drew are particularly engaged with supporting our undergraduate program students (and their colleagues) through leading the organization of enrichment activities such as career-related events and our annual DataFest celebration. Jonathan’s primary appointment is outside the department, where he is directing the new Amgen STEM learning center, which is designed to support students through peer mentoring, and aims to positively transform the gateway STEM course experience for early career students. I look forward to working with Jillian to find her distinctive place in the department as she settles in.
Michelle and Deb have accepted my request for them to lead a new Instruction Committee within the department. This committee is charged with providing leadership for all types of instruction, from orienting new instructors to the quirks of teaching at Ohio State through inviting university experts on the use of AI in the classroom to present to those who are interested. This new committee has been invaluable in helping us to generously and fairly support this new generation of students while we welcome many new instructors to the department.
Thank you to all of these faculty for your courage in being trailblazers in this new position and for your unwavering creativity, enthusiasm, compassion and commitment toward all Ohio State students.