Developing Tomorrow's Statisticians

Abstract

Many leaders of our profession have called for improvements in the way we educate statisticians. Sound recommendations have been made by many, based on real-world experience in the practice of statistical science. These calls for reform have gone largely unheeded, at least in part because of our current paradigm of statistical education. Statistics is seen, by many, as strictly a graduate discipline, yet constraints on the time to complete a graduate degree makes adopting many of the reforms that have been suggested very difficult. It is argued in this paper that a new paradigm of statistical education is needed that provides for strong undergraduate programs in statistics. Such programs would give the profession wider recognition and provide additional entries into the discipline.

• Accreditation
• Curriculum guidelines
• Reforms in statistical education
• Undergraduate degrees

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on an address given at the 1998 Spring Meeting of the Delaware chapter of ASA honoring the memory of Donald W. Marquardt.