Rate My Professor Ann Watkins

Ann Watkins is an Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where she specializes in statistics education, including advanced placement statistics. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from San Fernando Valley State College, now CSUN, and her Ph.D. in education from the University of California, Los Angeles. Beginning her career as a middle school mathematics teacher in Los Angeles for one year, she then taught part-time at Pierce College and CSUN while pursuing her doctorate. In 1979, she became a full-time faculty member at Pierce College, and in 1990, she joined CSUN as an associate professor, advancing to full professor before retiring to emeritus status. Throughout her tenure, Watkins taught a broad spectrum of mathematics courses, including algebra, geometry, linear algebra, and differential equations, but increasingly focused on introductory statistics, her preferred subject, emphasizing deep understanding over rote memorization.

Watkins' research and contributions center on statistics education, promoting active learning, data analysis through graphics, real-world data, statistical thinking, and viewing statistics as a laboratory science. Appointed to the ASA-NCTM Joint Committee on the Curriculum in Statistics and Probability in 1980, she contributed to the Quantitative Literacy Project, co-authoring Exploring Data (revised edition, 1995). She edited the College Mathematics Journal from 1989 to 1994, chaired the Advanced Placement Statistics Development Committee from 1997 to 1999, authoring its first Teacher’s Guide, and served as president of the Mathematical Association of America from 2001 to 2002. She co-founded the SIGMAA on Statistics Education in 2000, advocated for contributed paper sessions on statistics at MAA meetings starting in 1985, and participated in the ASA-MAA Joint Committee on Undergraduate Statistics, contributing to its 1992 report "Teaching Statistics." Key publications include textbooks Activity-Based Statistics (1996, second edition 2004), Statistics in Action: Understanding a World of Data (2004, second edition 2008 titled Statistics: From Data to Decision, 2011), co-authored with Richard Scheaffer, Mrudulla Gnanadesikan, and Jeffrey Witmer, and the article "Is Human Height Bimodal?" (2002) with Michael Schilling and William Watkins. Honors include election as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1999 for contributions to curriculum, pedagogy, and reform, and the United States Conference on Teaching Statistics Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015.