The secret lives of our profs
Associate Professor of Statistics Joy Jordan
Lauren Mimms
Issue date: 10/2/09 Section: Features
|
Joy Jordan: This is the start of my 11th year. I'm in the math department but my doctorate is actually in statistics, and that's why I'm an associate professor in statistics as opposed to math.
Mimms: Where did you grow up?
Jordan: Iowa; I grew up in a little town called Mt. Vernon, which is where you may have heard of Cornell College? My dad was a chemistry professor there.
Mimms: Where did you go to school?
Jordan: I got my undergraduate degree from Indiana University. The reason I chose that instead of a small liberal arts college - which is where both my sisters went and where my dad would've loved for me to go - is because I was given an athletic scholarship to play volleyball. I knew that I wanted to [continue playing volleyball] if I had the opportunity. Then, I went back to the University of Iowa for my doctorate.
Mimms: How did you first become interested in your field?
Jordan: I didn't have one of those "aha" moments like "oh this class really turns me on." As far as I can remember, I just liked math and was good at it. When I went to college I wasn't sure what to major in yet; I was taking a math class every semester just because I figured that's what people did. I didn't think people actually majored in it. It took my dad to point out "you seem to do well in math and you like it, why don't you major in math?" So that was actually pretty cool to realize that I could major in mathematics, and all of my upper-level courses - because I was more interested in the applied side than the theoretical side - were improbability and statistics. That part and the implications interested me and that's what prompted me to go to graduate school for statistics.
Mimms: What brought you to Lawrence?
Jordan: Pretty quickly into my doctoral program, I knew I didn't want to go to a Research I university. That would drive me nuts! But teaching was my total passion and it would be my passion no matter where I went. If I went to a Research I Institution then I'd also have to work 80 hours a week because I'd have to be publishing like crazy. Now, Lawrence has expectations of publications, but the primary mission is teaching students, so I knew I wanted to go to a small liberal arts college. When I came out here, there were only a few positions available at liberal arts colleges like Lawrence. I just came down here and fell in love with the place.
Be the first to comment on this story