A Bellarmine Photo Essay

Almost all of these pictures are from the past two weeks, though a few are from March. In talking about my life here in Louisville, I thought it would be nice to illustrate as well as write. You can click on any picture for a larger version.

The Campus

Louisville is a hilly city, generally sloping down to the river. Bellarmine is in one of the hillier areas, the Highlands. Much of the on-campus parking is terraced. Additionally, most dorms are at the bottom of the hill, while classroom buildings are at the top. The first two pictures show dorms at the bottom. The climb from the dorms to the classroom buildings is around 75 feet.

A little under half the undergrads live on campus. They generally do not enjoy walking up the hill. Sometimes students even drive up. This is a sizeable campus problem, actually. Also, the main cafeteria is on the end of campus away from the dorms. Yes, the campus only has about a dozen buildings, but it's not the most logical setup. On the positive side, the dining hall is well lit and airy. I eat there quite often, primarily because faculty get a discount. All-you-can-eat lunch is $3.50, a bit cheaper than the meal plan. It's about $6 with cash. The prices are more reasonable than Chicago partially because Louisville is less expensive, but also because Bellarmine booted Aramark a few years ago. The food's alright, though I've had to adjust to the greater proportion of fried and comfort food in the south. Even though I have small meals like soup for dinner, I'm up to 90 kilos again. Sigh.

There are a few "unusual" statues on campus, but mostly the campus has the consistent look of Tuscany. The buildings are tan brick, with pitched roofs. The walkways are super cool. The paths between most of the classroom buildings are covered, making it much easier on rainy days.

The crosses aren't normally there; although there is a 9 hole pitch and putt, there's no cemetery on campus. They were an anti-abortion protest. The same week, more of the pro-life message was promoted by a group seeking action in Darfur. This led to a rather inspired image, I think.

My Office

People and Stories

Classes have been a lot of work the last few weeks. One thing I didn't expect is the amount of introductory notes I'd have to rewrite. I taught the summer and fall with the same textbook, but I've had to redo over half my notes. At Chicago, students must know the formulas. We teach a little statistical computing, but graphing calculators are not allowed to routinize computation. At Bellarmine, each student must have a TI-83 calculator. This adds about $80 to course cost, but calculators are indispensible. Having used them for one semester, I think of all the time spent on computational details, and all the errors Chicago students make, and all the exam points allocated for algebra. It's a shame. My Chicago students were unhappy because I had too few examples and skipped computational steps. That's true. There wasn't enough time. Graphing calculators make things better. I mean, how often do practicing statisticians figure out test values by hand? Bellarmine students are generally not as academically strong as Chicago students, so I slow down the presentation. Yet due to technology, they don't learn much less statistical analysis.

A major reason I decided to stay at Bellarmine is student attitude. Sure, I'd like smarter students, and I understand why some professors want only graduate students or tip top undergrads. But I cannot complain about the attitude of my pupils, in dedication or personality. When talking to people from other places, particularly state schools, they complain about apathy and hostility. I have none of that. Bellarmine students do what they're asked with little complaint. Yes, I try to be fair about workload, but it's not just me. Furthermore, I am still amazed by the amount of responsibility my students take. In several cases, students have apologized for missing class or seeming unattentive due to illness. I try not to let my jaw drop when I thank them for informing me. I had a student miss a quiz to take a family member to the hospital, and she was willing to accept a zero score. In another case, a student's car broke on the way to school. Another student went out to get her to class, and they called a third friend who told me that they would be late. When they arrived, the two didn't ask for extra time. In case you're wondering, I gave the makeup and time for the delay, since I think honorable conduct should be rewarded. Plus, Catholic Bellarmine has a mission statement which includes moral and ethical concerns, unlike my graduate institution which explicitly does not. I never really considered the difference until I got here.

As for personality, here the students are happy to hear that I have Facebook. They ask for trip pictures. I get asked about my weekend plans. They stop to see me in the gym. After six years of stoic moroseness, I realize that what I'm describing is ordinary. It's why students choose Bellarmine, to have personal attention, yet to me it still seems special. When I stopped by on spring break, someone said that it sounds like I fit well here. That person was right.

Project presentations were last week, where groups of two or three had to find a small sample, make a graph, and run some sort of analysis. I got a lot of information on GPAs, which is good, but then I got the innovative choices. One group studied accuracy in beer pong. Unsuprisingly, as the night goes on misses go up; we got to see a very nice time plot. This, however, was not the most humorous presentation. One group decided to study how many people would reach for a dollar bill on the ground. So they taped the bill to the floor, and sat around marking down who saw the bill and bent over for it. That's an interesting exercise in observation. The humorous part is that they decided to include audience participation, with, yes, a crossword puzzle. I just started laughing. Contact me if you need a hint.

The introductory sections have 29 and 34 pupils respectively. My third class is Mathematical Statistics, which has a smaller size. Six, in fact, about 10% of my students, though it takes more than 10% of my time. I've never been the instructor for this course, so I have to write out all the notes. Also, the book is not very good. It doesn't cover all necessary topics for actuarial exams, so I have to develop some parts independently. Also, we've found three errors in the provided homework solutions this semester, out of roughly 50 problems. My students show up at my office frustrated when they try the problem and can't match the book. I don't blame them! It's a good class - they're energized and motivated. I surprised them early in the course by finding their level, then including activities where we talk about datasets in practice. Sometimes we even go with their interests. For instance, they wanted to talk about game shows one day. It turns out that the Big Wheel on the Price is Right is a very interesting example of conditional probability. It's now one of the options for the class project.

Here I explain the likelhood ratio chi-square goodness of fit test.

The Mathematical Statistics 2007 class photo.

From the math department dinner for graduating seniors. The chair is the man on the left.

There are 116 full time professors at Bellarmine. My seniority rank is 116, which might mean I'll go last in the Commencement procession. Yes, I have to attend. These aren't the robes I wish I could wear, but I've got to rent my bachelor's robe for now. Yes, I know enough not to wear brown shoes with a black robe on Commencement day.

The Library and Remnant Trust

Bellarmine gets a lot of special exhibits. A large reason is the Merton Center, the official repository of the works of Thomas Merton. He had a relationship with people here before his death, and Bellarmine is the largest Catholic college in Kentucky. Also, there are only two "full universities" in Louisville, the University of Louisville and here. It's the culture place almost by default. This semester, in addition to Merton objects, the library is hosting a special exhibition graciously provided by The Remnant Trust, who acquire and loan rare books. As you can see from the photos, some of these are very rare. There was even a dinner where certain people could touch and hold some of the collection. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't invited.

Of course I put a statistics poster outside my door.	It looks huge, but my office is only about 12 feet square.	I thought of two different role models.
Pasteur Hall, my building. My office is on the bottom floor, away from the Greenhouse.	My office windows face east to the morning sun. Even on a dreary March day, it's not bad.	In the fall, I will teach my introductory courses in this classroom. It's fairly typical.


Thomas Merton in his later years.	Some of the rare texts in the exhibit.
A 15th century illuminated copy of Augustine's Confessions. The red section headings were also created by hand.	An economist's nightmare. How does one value an irreplacable item?	There are only 3 known copies of the 1475 printing of the Summa Theologiae by Thomas Aquinas.