Bonnie

Hello All, I’m Bonnie. Yes, even my students call me Bonnie. I certainly feel professor enough, but somehow, the thought of being something more than Bonnie makes me think back to my Dad telling me, “Some day, you will have to conform to what others are wearing and how they are behaving if you are to fit in.” Indeed, my Dad was right. This conversation evolved around my habit of walking around barefoot or refusing to wear make up. Fast forward a few decades, and I still find myself teaching barefoot and only wearing makeup when I feel it necessary. My Ph.D. is from Lehigh University in “Psychology.” It was an experimental psychology program that was afraid if they called it an “Experimental Psychology” degree it would make it harder for us to get jobs. Instead, I find that I have to spend time explaining that I am, indeed, an experimental psychologist. My master’s thesis and doctoral dissertation both were strongly quantitative with some cognitive development thrown in. Over the years, I have become keenly interested in psychometrics, as imperfect measures are blocking my research path. I am currently teaching statistics, research methods, and psychometrics (with a smattering of general education courses) in the psychology department at East Stroudsburg University. I expect at least some of my peers will find the name of this blog to be a bit bold given its name, but I make no claims to being a Statistical Sage, merely a Statistical Sage in training. It is, indeed, my goal, a goal that I first had when sitting in Robust Statistics at the University of Texas at Arlington. I found the professor, James Erikson, to be an incredible teacher, and I knew that’s what I wanted to aspire to, an incredible statistics professor. Over time, I have met other incredible sages, including Donald T. Campbell, and those who are joining me here. Except for Don Campbell, who clearly was in a population all his own, I have never met a great statistics professor who wasn’t also grey haired. Thus, like in the classic sense, it takes time to cultivate a sage. I have, in part, gathered these sages together to aid me, the sage in training. Lucky for us all, I seem to have genes that slows the graying process, so I have some time before I have to become a statistical sage. I look forward to each of you developing along as well. Let the “sage development” begin. Bonnie