STATEMENTOF RESEARCH INTERESTS
During my career I have becomeconcerned about three things — 1) students rarely succeed in understandingstatistics from their college course, 2) graduates from many disciplinesreport that statistics was their worst course in college and 3) statisticalconsultants routinely report that they are ill-prepared for their toughestconsulting challenge: working with clients.

To address concern 3), I workedwith Duane Meeter (Statistics) and Dan Boroto, (Psychology), both facultymembers at FSU, to create a unique statistical consulting program. Thisprogram helps statistics graduate students prepare for both the statisticaland relational challenges they will encounter on the job. At the heartof our program is the use of videotapes of consulting sessions to coachstudents on how they can improve the quality of their services. Since 1996,Dan and I have taught six-day courses on consulting to groups of UnitedKingdom government statisticians and other professionals. In the course,these professionals learn to reliably produce brilliant consultations,even with "difficult" clients. If you choose to come to Florida State University,you can learn how to do this in our departmental consulting program.

To address concerns 1) and 2),in 1985 I volunteered to teach a large lecture service course. Althoughmany people resist the existence of these courses, virtually every largeuniversity employs them. My goal is to find a way to create large lecturecourses with student input and cooperation. I am focussing on learninghow to work with students and teaching assistants to create a learningcommunity of effective statistical thinkers.
 
 

SELECTEDPUBLICATIONS Statistics: From Stumbling Block toStepping Stone, Academic Initiatives in Total Quality for Higher Education,Milwaukee: ASQC Press, 1995 (with H. Roberts). Promoting Statistics: On Becoming Valuedand Utilized, American Statistician, May, 1989, 71-72 (with D. Boroto). Quality Mangement Plus: The ContinuousImprovement of Education, Corwin Press, Newbury Park, CA, 1993 (with R.Kaufman). An Expanded Approach to Educating StatisticalConsultants, American Statistician, August, 1985, 159-167 (withC. McCulloch, D. Boroto, D. Meeter, and R. Polland). The Human Side of Statistical Consulting,LifetimeLearning Publications, Belmont, CA, 1982 (with J.R. Boen).