Interview

About two years ago, Elon started to develop a minor in statistics, which it now has. As a psychology major looking into this minor might be beneficial because statistics is a key concept in psychology. This semester I am taking MTH 212 Statistics in Application. Over the past few weeks my professor, Dr. Laura Taylor has been mentioning the new statistics minor and the development of a statistics major. Therefore, I thought it would be beneficial to interview her to find out more about it.

Dr. Taylor attended Winthrop University where she earned her Bachelor’s in Mathematics as well as her Master’s in Mathematics. She then attended the University of South Carolina where she earned her PhD in Statistics. I asked her why she chose statistics to major in. She explained that in today’s society statistics is more useful than other fields of mathematics.

I then asked her how she became interested in teaching. Dr. Taylor said that she has always enjoyed teaching others. She said that in high school she wanted to be a high school teacher, but as she moved on to college she realized that she would rather be teaching in a college setting. She told me that it was a natural progression because throughout grad school she was a TA.

When asked about what she likes about Elon, Dr. Taylor first responded with the size of the school. Then she went on to state that she was impressed with the opportunities Elon students have such as the unique programs there are to choose from.

Finally, I asked Dr. Taylor about the statistics major/minor. She explained that the minor gives a good overview of the subject matter. She went on to say that the new major will be accessible to a wide variety of students. There will be interdisciplinary concentrations. In other words, along with the main classes each student will need to take they will also focus in another field. For instance you could focus in biology. In my case if I choose to double major for instance, I would focus in socio-science because of my interest in psychology.