 Hi, my name is Amy and I will be the teaching assistant for this course. This is B, U, S430 quantitative methods. Your instructor for this course is Dr. Dawn Wright. She is joining us via Skype. Dr. Dawn, are you there? Yes Amy, I'm here. Hi folks. Dr. Dawn, I think you have taught this course before. Yes Amy, I have been teaching for Excelsior since 2011 and I have taught this course six times. I also teach Business 233 Business Statistics and Business 503 Quantitative Analysis. I've also made revisions to all three courses this year. I know you have a lot of other experience besides teaching. Would you share a bit of your background? Sure Amy. First thing, I'm from Mobile, Alabama, which is the true home of Mardi Gras, no matter what New Orleans tries to claim. And I'm an Air Force veteran. Way back in the dark ages, I flew the F-4E Phantom II that used to be the Air Force's top-the-line fighter. I'll just say I used to be a fast mover. She is a Zoomie. I knew that, but I have to say wow. Anyway. After I left the service, I used the GI Bill to get my Masters in Engineering from Auburn University. I was a practicing professional engineer for over 20 years and ended up as an executive vice president of one of the largest engineering firms in the United States. Back then, I was registered and licensed to practice in eight states. I also, after I'd left the engineering firm, got interested in the internet, which was then booming, and I started up a couple of small companies doing different things involved with internet. And I still let those little companies keep functioning. War Eagle. So you have a lot of practical business experience? How did you get into teaching? One of my life goals was to get my PhD and teach. So in 2001, I began a doctoral program at the University of South Alabama in Instructional Design. I felt that would combine my love of technology and teaching. While I was in the doctoral program, I also worked on an MBA. And I got my PhD in 2009. So how did you end up teaching statistics? I would have thought you would be doing instructional design. I am doing instructional design. I'm consulting with colleges and companies to design innovative statistic courses. But I love numbers. I always have. Engineering is just chuck full of numbers. I always wanted to share my love of numbers and teach. And because I believe that having a good understanding of statistics is a critical life skill for everyone today, especially for those who are beginning new careers. I hear the term big day to a lot. Yes, our world is increasingly data driven and we're generating tons and tons of data every day. If you want to be successful, you have to be able to understand what data can tell us and how to use data to make good decisions. And that is where statistics comes in. Dr. Dawn, before we go, what words of wisdom do you have to share to help folks in this class succeed? There are two things I think will help everyone in this course. First, we all need to work together to build a learning network within the course that shares resources and helps one another. I found it critical to continue learning even after you leave school. And to do that today, you need a personal learning network. And you can start building that personal learning network while you're in school, perhaps in this course. That is why you created the peer resource sharing and help area in the course? Yes, Amy. I'm hoping everyone participates there. Second, this is a number crunching course. You need to be able to use technology to do some of the grunt work and save you time. But I have to say that Excel is absolutely required to pass this course. And there are a number of add-ins for Excel that we will use as well. Excel and add-ins. There are links in the course to resources that will help you get up to speed quickly on them. Especially for eight-week term courses, getting moving fast with Excel and also moving quickly on the first half statistics assignments is important to a successful outcome. Thanks, Dr. Dawn. You are welcome. One final thing. You can call me Dr. Dawn. You can call me Prof. You can call me Professor. You can just call me Dawn. Just please don't call me Mrs. Wright. We will oblige. Most wise one. From Mobile, welcome to Business 430.