Statistics Minor

Why a minor in Statistics?
The demand for statistical specialists has been growing very rapidly.  The growth of the internet has spawned an explosion in the collection of data.  Therefore there is a rapidly expanding interest in using this data to support decisions.  This in turn has created a great demand for statistical specialists.

Evidence of this demand is provided by data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  For the occupation “Statisticians”, the BLS forecasts 13.1% employment growth for the decade 2008-18.  Further, a keyword search at the BLS site for “data analysis” returns ten occupations across a variety of fields with employment growth forecasts ranging from 17% to 53% over the 2008-18 period.  For all of these BLS occupations, the median annual wages are rated “very high”, or in one case, “high”.

The statistics specialist is expected to have rudimentary knowledge in an area of application, so this proposed program marries the strength of a student in an applied area with specialized knowledge in the application of statistics. It goes beyond the basic knowledge that every major might be expected to have.

The minor in Statistics consists of a core of required courses and an elective capstone course.