Combining Strengths: Turning strength in Statistics and Computing into a Data Science major

Music City Center 

Many schools are looking for ways to create programs to attract students. In the Northeast US, this is often complicated
by enrollment challenges which have led to budget constraints and a lack of institutional willingness to pour resources into
the development of these programs without certainty of success. In this paper, we will explore how we met these realities
and were still able to develop a new data science major by building on institutional distinctives and strengths in statistics
and computing. This was a collaborative effort of faculty across disciplines, and led to a successful proposal for a new major
which we kicked off officially in the 2024-2025 academic year. We detail changes made to existing courses as well as what
new developments and costs were incurred. The hope is that our experience can be a model for others desiring to update and
modernize the offerings at their institutions while facing similar challenges.

Data Science

Curriculum

Statistics

Computer Science

Data Science Major

Data Science Minor 

Section on Statistics and Data Science Education