Dr. Mary G. Lieberman

I came to FAU in 1994 as an Adjunct Instructor in the Counselor Education Department, teaching courses in the Rehabilitation Counseling Master’s Degree program on a 3-year Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Grant, procured by Dr. Ann Q. Lynch. This grant funded student experience formed the basis of the current degree program in this area. I also taught courses in Lifespan Development, gradually evolving in to the teaching of Research and Statistics required core courses at the master’s level for students in the COE. The grant ended, as they are prone to do, and I found myself facing either extinction, or application, for a tenure earning line in research methodology in a completely different department. I chose application, and I am glad I did! I have never looked back, and I found an exciting new path in research methodology, making data, and data analysis come alive, for myself, and hopefully for the students who are required to take these courses and so, I feel, are entitled to see and understand the relevance and utility of what they are being asked to learn. It is not easy, but I am a lifelong learner, still learning, still excited by the prospect of improving myself and my teaching and research.

I am scheduled to take a course in improving instruction and pedagogical strategies in the classroom and online this fall, that begins in about a week. This is exciting for me. Statistics is difficult content to teach in any forum, but especially online. This feels like a terrific opportunity to improve in this arena and provide students with an enhanced quality educational experience.

I love research and am pursuing an agenda that includes the development of computer programs designed to assist students and researchers in making statistical analyses easier and more common sense oriented than many complicated packaged programs. They are free to users, and have been presented at the university and college based research seminar series, as well as state and national level annual conferences. This applied research compliments my more ‘haute cuisine’ Monte Carlo simulation and real data studies contrasting regression paradigms for classification accuracy as well as predicting quantitative dependent variables.

In service, I am enjoying serving on the Faculty Assembly Steering Committee and representing my department as a member of this important august body.

Finally, I am always looking forward to what is next with optimism and enthusiasm. I liked what you said during the Faculty Assembly meeting regarding not wanting to hear what can’t be done, or that something cannot be done, or what has not been done in the past. It is that kind of proactive, forward moving orientation that we need in the COE.

So, welcome! I hope this gives you a window in to my professional life and aspirations.

Dr. Mary G. Lieberman