New Graduate Program Added in Statistics and Analytics

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A new interdisciplinary master’s degree in statistics and analytics has been added to the 130 graduate degree programs offered by the University of Arkansas. The program received approval from the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board last month, and the first courses in the discipline are being offered this fall.

The degree is designed to provide students with the skills they need to enter the varied and lucrative career field of data science. Mark Arnold, associate professor of mathematical sciences, will serve as the program’s director.

“The program will help students grow their analytical and communication skills. It will also provide students with the analytical statistics foundation they need in order for them to make valid conclusions about data,” he said. 

Patricia Koski, associate dean of the Graduate School and International Education, played a significant role in the program’s implementation and is pleased with the possibilities the degree presents to students.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer this new cross-college interdisciplinary graduate program in statistics and analytics, and we are excited about the opportunities this degree will provide our students,” Koski said.

Arnold said establishing the degree at the University of Arkansas has been a goal of many people on campus for several years, but the possibility of its implementation only recently became a reality.

“The provost encouraged us to make the degree happen, and that gave us all confidence that if we worked together to build this thing, then we could actually make it a reality,” he said.

The 30-hour degree offers students six concentrations from which to choose: business analytics, computational analytics, educational statistics and psychometrics, mathematical statistics, operational analytics; and quantitative social science. The program is starting the fall semester with strong enrollment numbers, but Arnold is anticipating solid growth in the coming years.

“We have 15 students enrolled right now, but I would like to see us have 75 enrolled in the next two to three years,” he said. “Maybe we will have a Ph.D. program for those students to move into by then.”

The new degree is one of the university’s six interdisciplinary graduate programs. Its development required collaboration from statisticians in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences; the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences; the Sam M. Walton College of Business; the College of Engineering; the College of Education and Health Professions; the Graduate School and International Education and individuals from Mullins Library and Information Technology Services.