{"id":55272,"date":"2023-12-12T16:10:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T21:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=55272"},"modified":"2023-12-12T21:49:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T02:49:13","slug":"stats-professor-wins-award-for-teaching-excellence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2023\/stats-professor-wins-award-for-teaching-excellence\/","title":{"rendered":"Stats professor wins award for teaching excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

EMU professor Daniel Showalter likes to start off the semester with a challenge for his students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If any student in his class can find a topic they care about that he can\u2019t apply to statistics, they win a clean, crisp $100 bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always fun,\u201d Showalter said. \u201cStudents will write to me about something or another and I\u2019ll show them some research paper that has been done related to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, nobody has won his challenge, and there\u2019s a good chance nobody ever will. It just goes to show how applicable statistics is to the world around us and to everyone in it. \u201cStatistics is one of those areas that connects to every part of our life like faith, relationships, justice, mental health,\u201d he said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it\u2019s applying a statistical lens to childhood poverty, to racial discrimination in hiring or to the educational quality in rural school districts, Showalter strives to help his students connect with and care about statistics in a way that isn\u2019t just about numbers and formulas. His class shows them how statistics can be used as a perspective to improve the quality of life and change the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Meeting his heroes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now in his ninth year at EMU, Showalter, the program director for mathematics and computer science, is the recipient of next year\u2019s Robert V. Hogg Award for Excellence in Teaching Introductory Statistics.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The national award is presented yearly by the Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America on Statistics Education to someone who\u2019s been teaching introductory statistics at the college level between three and 15 years and has \u201cshown both excellence and growth in teaching during that time (SIGMAA<\/a>).” Its namesake Robert Hogg was a professor of statistics at the University of Iowa and was well-known for his textbooks on statistics. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Daniel Showalter teaches a statistics class Monday on the last day of classes<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Showalter was nominated by his doctoral adviser Greg Foley, from Ohio University, for the award. He also submitted four letters of recommendation, including two from students, for consideration by the awards committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe committee was impressed with your work in course design, your service to the community, and your impact on students,\u201d a committee member wrote in an email to Showalter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Past winners of the Hogg award include three statistics educators who are among Showalter\u2019s biggest inspirations: Talithia Williams of Harvey Mudd College, Nathan Tintle of the University of Illinois Chicago, and Mine \u00c7etinkaya-Rundel of Duke University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have been some of my heroes, who have really shaped how I teach statistics and use personal, relevant data,\u201d Showalter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The EMU professor will receive the Hogg award at the 2024 MathFest in Indianapolis in August. He said he looks forward to forging professional connections with past award winners as well as trading ideas with other statistics professors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along with the award comes a $500 prize. Showalter plans to use the money to invest in promoting the sharing of stories between EMU students, a topic he talked about in his baccalaureate speech<\/a> this past spring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Teach people, not statistics\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t the first award he\u2019s received for his teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showalter was the 2021 recipient of the John M. Smith Award for Distinguished College or University Teaching, a regional math honor bestowed to professors who are \u201cwidely recognized as extraordinarily successful in their teaching.\u201d Read more about that recognition in our writeup here<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the 2020 recipient<\/a> of EMU\u2019s Excellence in Teaching Award for tenured faculty. And, he\u2019s received accolades<\/a> from across the country for his work on a national policy report<\/a> analyzing the contexts and conditions of rural education in each state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showalter, who led a Thailand crosscultural group in 2021, said the trip proved to be a \u201creal turning point\u201d for him as a professor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cI was able to interact with these students and see a lot more of what they were going through from the other side, not just from the front of the classroom, but as a supporter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of every semester, he has his students fill out intro surveys, where they describe themselves and their relationship with mathematics. The surveys provide him with a glimpse into their lives and allow him to form personal connections with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showalter starts his first sabbatical next semester, one that will focus on how professors can aid in students\u2019 mental health. He said it\u2019s important for him to \u201cteach people, not statistics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just take this curriculum and apply it to any given set of students,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom the very beginning, I want to know each student individually as much as they\u2019ll let me get to know them. … Even if they don\u2019t learn statistics, I want every student to come out of here feeling like they\u2019re valued or to find ways to affirm them as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EMU professor Daniel Showalter likes to start off the semester with a challenge for his students. 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