Allan J. Rossman

Fall 2009 Teaching Schedule

Stat 150 Introduction to Statistical Investigations

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Stat 251 Statistical Inference for Management I

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Stat 301 Statistics I

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Office Hours: MW 8:30-9:30, TuTh 1-3, and by appointment and by chance

Contact Information

The best way to reach is by e-mail: arossman at calpoly dot edu

Office: Faculty Office Building East (25), Room 102

Phone: 805-756-2861 (on campus: 6-2861)
Fax: 805-756-2700

Address: Department of Statistics, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407

Previous Course Information

Cal Poly:

Dickinson College:

Brief Biography

I lived in Pennsylvania for the first 39 years of my life. I grew up in Ellwood City and attended Geneva College in Beaver Falls (Joe Namath’s hometown) and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh (Dan Marino’s hometown). I majored in Mathematics and English as an undergraduate, and my graduate degrees are in Statistics. I spent the first twelve years of my teaching career in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Dickinson College. In the summer of 2001 I moved to California to join the Department of Statistics of Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo.

My primary professional activity has involved developing curricular materials for teaching and learning introductory statistics with an active learning pedagogical approach. My other professional projects have also focused on improving the teaching of statistics at all levels.

With my co-author Beth Chance, I have written a series of books titled Workshop Statistics: Discovery with Data. You can access a variety of information about these texts, which have been published by Key College Publishing, by clicking here.

Beth and I also collaborated on an NSF-funded project that has led to a book that introduces students to statistics at the post-calculus level. Published by Duxbury Press, instructor resources for Investigating Statistical Concepts, Applications, and Methods can be found here.

Beth and I have served as co-editors of STATS: The Magazine for Students of Statistics, published by the American Statistical Association. We have also served as co-editors of the Proceedings for the Seventh International Conference on Teaching Statistics (ICOTS-7).

I previously directed a project called STATS (Statistical Thinking with Active Teaching Strategies) for the Mathematical Association of America. This project conducted workshops for mathematicians who teach statistics but have little formal training in the subject. Further information is available here.

I have been actively involved with a number of professional organizations. My responsibilities have included:

· serving as President of the International Association for Statistical Education (IASE)

· chairing the Joint Statistical Meetings Program Committee for 2007

· chairing the ASA/MAA Joint Committee on Undergraduate Statistics

· chairing the ASA’s Section on Statistical Education

I have published several articles on statistics education in publications such as the Journal of Statistics Education, the College Mathematics Journal, and the American Statistician. I have given presentations and workshops on the teaching of statistics at conferences and workshops around the world. Detailed information can be found on my curriculum vita.

On the personal side, I am married to Eileen Rossman, a wonderful and talented woman as well as an accomplished mechanical engineer. We have two very spoiled but lovable cats named Eponine and Cosette. I enjoy playing tennis, managing fantasy baseball, golf, and football teams (named the Domestic Shorthairs), traveling (to such destinations as Morocco, Iceland, Brazil, South Africa, and Fiji), and reading (primarily mystery).