Surveys have repeatedly shown that professional mathematicians, statisticians, and other related professions rate very highly in job satisfaction. (Although to be fair, these studies would have been conducted by people with strong backgrounds in mathematics and statistics, and so their results could be biased.) A strong background in math and stats demonstrates to potential employers in any field that you have the skills to understand and solve complex problems. As large data sets are popping in up in more and more disciplines, the ability to distill patterns from sets is increasingly important. Plus, math majors have written dozens of episodes of The Simpsons.
All our math and stats classes at Radford are taught by faculty, not graduate students. Classes in the calculus sequence are capped at 25 students, and most our upper level math and stats classes are smaller, ensuring close interaction with our faculty members.
Many of our majors have the opportunity to develop these relationships with faculty members further through student research projects leading to journals articles or presentations at academic conferences. Our statistics majors also often have internships with companies in a variety of fields supervised by our faculty.
The study of mathematics and statistics in our department is an exciting activity that will serve you well for the rest of your life.
We offer exciting and established programs leading to a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts degree. Concentrations in applied mathematics, statistics, and teaching licensure are available. Depending upon the particular concentration, students are prepared for a career in industry, government, or education. The faculty includes specialists in applied mathematics, pure mathematics, mathematics education, and statistics. Classes for majors are moderate in size. Faculty members are very interested in the progress of their students and encourage them to seek their help outside of class.
Employment opportunities in mathematics and statistics are excellent with demand for graduates in all of the mathematical sciences expected to remain high. Appropriate mathematical and statistical software and technology are integrated throughout our curriculum. In addition, Radford University provides extensive state of the art computing resources available to all departmental majors. Extracurricular opportunities include membership in the mathematics honorary Kappa Mu Epsilon and the Math and Stat Club which sponsors academic discussions and activities as well as social events. Social events include frequent student challenges to teach the faculty how to shoot pool, bowl, play ball, and yearn for younger days.
Please contact us if you have questions about any of the information. We look forward to the opportunity to speak with you.
Neil Sigmon, Ph.D., Chair