When I started this blog, I thought I would try to write on topics that I Google but cannot find resources about. Hence, my first blog post was on writing teaching statements. I recently got elected as 2027 chair of the Section on Statistics and Data Science Education of the American Statistical Association.
For the election, I had to write a brief statement. Despite having voted in many ASA elections, I had not paid as much attention to statements. I never thought I would have to write one, one day. I could not find much information online either, hence I am writing this blog post with the hope that one day it might help someone online looking for this very specific information.
Since Google was not helpful, I turned to my colleague Veronica Berrocal for help who has run in similar elections. I found her recommendations to be helpful and sharing them with her permission.
In general, my advice for the statement is to think about the following: (i) tell the people who need to vote for you what makes you qualified for you to be chair of the section - were you involved with the section before? do you have experience leading? why do you want to be chair of the section? etc; (ii) think about what people in the section might want out of the section and what you can promise to do for them.
Also, for me seeing other people’s statements help so I am sharing my statement here in case anybody finds it helpful to shape their own statement.
It is with great enthusiasm that I seek to serve as Chair of the Section on Statistics and Data Science Education. Throughout my career, the SSDSE community has supported my teaching and research in many ways, with tasks ranging from writing exam questions to getting federal grants on statistics education. I see serving as a chair of the section as one way to pay forward the support I received from the statistics education community and I would be honored to take on this role.
For me the strongest quality of the SSDSE community has been its welcoming nature and I would like to continue to work on maintaining this culture. As an educator, I aim to create a welcoming classroom where all my students feel that they belong to my classroom and the field of statistics and data science. Similarly, my strategic vision for the SSDSE will include support for the welcoming practices in education and in our community. For those who teach, regardless of the grade level of our students, major of our students, institution types, and teaching contexts, I intend to continue the efforts of the section to be a place of learning from one another including technical, pedagogical, and social learning in a welcoming setting.
I believe that the work being done in statistics education outside of the Section is just as crucial as the work within it. Not only does increasing the visibility of our efforts help grow our community in numbers, but it also elevates the prominence of our field. As a section representative, I aim to continue to champion the recognition of statistics education as a core pillar within the ASA community. Research and education go hand in hand, and as SSDSE, our efforts can effectively highlight this integral connection.