Since I’ve turned this question into True What is the best career advice you were ever
Confessions, after achieving the master’s, the ques- given?
tion loomed again: What next? The super-short ver- I was hardly the best student in undergraduate
sion of the story, without violins, is that I went to or graduate work, but my dad always encour-
the University of Sheffield with Joe Gani, who was aged me to do my best and to try to make a dif-
asked to develop a graduate department in statis- ference in other people’s lives. I hope I have.
tics and probability there. I never finished the PhD,
[but] found employment at John Carroll University What is a skill you would like to learn to be
on a one-year contract that lasted a wonderful 40 better at your job?
years. I am eternally grateful to Carroll and to the Over the years, I have asked this very question of
ASA for the opportunities and rewards they have my graduates as they return to campus to visit.
given me. I’ve been very, very fortunate. Often, they have mentioned improving their abil-
ity to write and to speak as topics that they wish
What is the hardest or most interesting thing they had taken more seriously as an undergraduate.
about being a statistician? I wish also that I were better in these areas, for as
The most interesting thing for me in being a stat- I begin my retirement years, I am becoming more
istician has been teaching the subject and, particu- involved in advising the writing of statistics into
larly over the past 25 years, devoting my time and state standards in mathematics, science, and social
whatever talent I have been given to informing the studies. Being able to articulate why it is essential
K–12 community about statistics. I knocked on that statistics be an integral part of school curricula
schools’ doors from 1968 to 1989, trying to get and how that can be done in an already packed cur-
them to incorporate statistics into their mathemat- riculum is a challenge.
ics curriculum. No takers. Then in 1989, NCTM
(the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) Name one or two favorite books you have
published recommended standards that included read and would recommend to others.
statistics as an integral part of the K–12 curriculum. To be truthful, most of what I read is math-
At the same time, the ASA’s Quantitative Literacy ematics or statistics related. Apart from
Series “hands-on” program caught my attention and that, my favorite book is Robert Pirsig’s
was all I needed to begin what has turned out to be Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
a very thankful and exciting adventure in serving
the K–12 community. I can’t begin to relate how Given the current economy, would you recom-
terrific my life in statistics has been in this service
mend statistics as a profession to a student?
and working with an incredible number of very tal-
Absolutely, particularly in the health-related profes-
ented ASA members who are in statistics education.
sions. Positions in industry in northeast Ohio, where I
An absolute highlight has been in working on the
live, are not that open, but, for example, the Cleveland
ASA/NCTM Joint Committee in the 1990s and
Clinic seems to be looking for biostatisticians often.
again currently.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
As an aside, if the question had asked me for the
Apart from enjoying our five grandchildren, my
“most gratifying” thing about being a professor,
hobbies are growing dahlias for competition and
that would be hiring a former student, Tom Short,
enjoying their incredible beauty in my garden in the
as my replacement. I couldn’t be more thrilled.
summer and fall. In the winter, I enjoy HO model
Also gratifying has been teaching statistics and
railroading. And I better include agreeing with
mathematics to several thousand students, who
MaryAnn’s (my wife’s) desire to travel. For example,
made my every day an absolute joy, over my career.
we just returned from a terrific cruise of the Baltic
Sea and are looking forward to Slovenia for ICOTS
8 next summer.
60 AMSTAT NEwS SEPTEMbER 2009
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