Mu Sigma Rho

Mu Sigma Rho (ΜΣΡ) is an American national honor society for statistics^[1] It was established at Iowa State University in 1968.

Mu Sigma Rho
ΜΣΡ
Founded	1968; 57 years ago (1968) Iowa State University
Type	Honor
Affiliation	Independent
Status	Active
Emphasis	Statistics
Scope	National
Member badge
Publication	The Mu Sigma Rhover
Chapters	36
Headquarters	c/o Lynne Seymour, PhD Secretary, Mu Sigma Rho Department of Statistics University of Georgia Athens, Georgia 30602 United States
Website	www.stat.purdue.edu/msr/

History

Mu Sigma Rho was founded by Ted Bancroft, David Huntsberger, and Oscar Kempthorne at the Statistical Laboratory and Department of Statistics at Iowa State University in 1968.^[2][3] It was formed as the National Statistics Honor Society.^[2] Mu Sigma Rho seeks to promote and encourage scholarly activity in statistics, and to recognize outstanding achievement of students, faculty, and professional statisticians in academic and non-academic institutions.^[1][3]

The society was incorporated in the state of Iowa.^[3] Its first chapter, Alpha, was established at towa State University.^[3] Donald K. Hotchkiss was the first president of the national society, while Eric West was the first president of the Alpha chapter.^[3]

In February 2005, the society began allowing American Statistical Association chapters to join Mu Sigma Rho as affiliate chapters.^[4] The allows students to join the society who attend universities and colleges that do not have a Mu Sigma Rho chapters.^[4]

Activities

Mu Sigma Rho provides outreach and professional service.^[5][1] Some chapters host speakers and provide tutoring services to other students.^[2] The society publishes an occasional newsletter, The Mu Sigma Rhover.^[5]

Mu Sigma Rho presents annual awards, including the William D. Warde Statistics Education Award and the Mu Sigma Rho Early Career Undergraduate Impact Award.^[1][6] The Early Career Undergraduate Impact Award is presented to a statistics faculty member for contributions to the success of undergraduate students.^[7] The Warde Statistics Education Award known as the Statistics Education Award before 2000, is presented to a statistics instructor for excellence in the classroom and a lifetime of commitment to statistics education.^[7] Faculty at any academic institution in the United States are eligible; recipients do not have to work for Mu Sigma Rho member institutions.^[7][6]

Membership

Mu Sigma Rho's membership consists of undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and honorary members.^[2]

To be eligible for membership, undergraduates must have completed two years of college and eight semester hours of statistics courses, including five hours at a junior level, with a 3.40 GPA in those courses and a 3.20 GPA overall.^[6][8] Graduate students seeking membership must have completed twelve semester hours with a 3.50 GPA.^[6][9]

Chapters

Following is a list of Mu Sigma Rho chapters.^[10] Active chapters are in bold. Inactive chapters are in italics.

Chapter	Former chapter name	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status	References
Iowa State	Iowa Alpha	1968	Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	Active	[3]
Medical University of South Carolina	South Carolina Alpha	August 30, 1979	Medical University of South Carolina	Charleston, South Carolina	Active	[11][12]
Virginia Tech	Virginia Alpha	1979	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Virginia	Active	[2][12][13]
Oklahoma State University	Oklahoma Alpha	Before 1982	Oklahoma State University–Stillwater	Stillwater, Oklahoma	Active	[13][14]
	West Virginia Alpha	Before 1982	West Virginia University	Morgantown, West Virginia	Inactive	[13]
	Colorado Alpha	Before 1986	Colorado State University	Fort Collins, Colorado	Inactive	[15]
North Carolina State University	North Carolina Alpha	1986	North Carolina State University	Raleigh, North Carolina	Active	[15]
	Utah Alpha	Before 1988	Utah State University	Logan, Utah	Inactive	[16]
Brigham Young University	Utah Beta	1988	Brigham Young University	Provo, Utah	Active	[17][18]
University of South Carolina	South Carolina Beta	1988	University of South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	Active	[19][12][18]
	Alabama Alpha	Before 1989	University of Alabama	Tuscaloosa, Alabama	Inactive	[18][14]
	Louisiana Alpha	Before 1989	McNeese State University	Lake Charles, Louisiana	Inactive	[13]
	New York Alpha	Before 1989	Cornell University	Ithaca, New York	Inactive	[12][14]
	Pennsylvania Alpha	Before 1989	Temple University	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Inactive	[14]
	Ohio Alpha	Before 1992	Bowling Green State University	Bowling Green, Ohio	Inactive	[12]
University of Vermont	Vermont Alpha	April 18, 1994	University of Vermont	Burlington, Vermont	Active	[20]
University of Florida	Florida Alpha	1995	University of Florida	Gainesville, Florida	Active	[21]
Virginia Commonwealth University	Virginia Beta		Virginia Commonwealth University	Richmond, Virginia	Active	[22]
	Wyoming Alpha		University of Wyoming	Laramie, Wyoming	Inactive
Bryant University			Bryant University	Smithfield, Rhode Island	Active
Butler University			Butler University	Indianapolis, Indiana	Active
Cal Poly			California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo, California	Active
Cal - Riverside			University of California, Riverside	Riverside, California	Active	[23]
Eastern Kentucky University			Eastern Kentucky University	Richmond, Kentucky	Active
Florida State University			Florida State University	Tallahassee, Florida	Active
George Mason University			George Mason University	Fairfax, Virginia	Active	[24]
Grand Valley State University			Grand Valley State University	Allendale, Michigan	Active	[25]
Kennesaw State University			Kennesaw State University	Kennesaw, Georgia	Inactive ?
New York University			Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development	New York, New York	Active
Penn State University			Pennsylvania State University	University Park, Pennsylvania	Active	[26]
Purdue University			Purdue University	West Lafayette, Indiana	Active
Texas A&M			Texas A&M University	College Station, Texas	Active
University of Georgia			University of Georgia	Athens, Georgia	Active
University of Louisville Biostatistics			University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	Active
University of Maryland, Baltimore County			University of Maryland, Baltimore County	Catonsville, Maryland	Active	[27]
University of Nebraska			University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	Active
Boston Chapter of ASA		2005	Colby College and Saint Michael's College	Boston, Massachusetts	Active	[28][29]
Cleveland Chapter of ASA		After 2005	Cleveland State University	Cleveland, Ohio	Active	[4][30]
Dayton Chapter of ASA		After 2005		Dayton, Ohio	Active
Kentucky Chapter of ASA		After 2005	University of Kentucky	Lexington, Kentucky	Active	[4]
Pittsburgh Chapter of ASA		After 2005		Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Active	[4][a]
Southern California Chapter of ASA		After 2005	University of California, Los Angeles	Los Angeles, California	Active	[4]
Albuquerque Chapter of ASA		2006	University of New Mexico	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Active	[4]
Winona State University		2007	Winona State University	Winona, Minnesota	Active	[31]
Washington, D.C. Chapter of ASA		2008		Washington, D.C.	Active	[32]
Kansas Western Missouri Chapter of ASA		2012	University of Central Missouri	Warrensburg, Missouri	Active	[4][33]
Elon University		January 2016	Elon University	Elon, North Carolina	Active	[8]
University of Arizona		April 2021	University of Arizona	Tucson, Arizona	Active	[34][9]
St Lawrence University		2023	St. Lawrence University	Canton, New York	Active	[1][35]

1. Chapter covers the greater Pittsburgh area, including Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Slippery Rock University, and the University of Pittsburgh.

Notable members

• Marcia Gumpertz, professor of statistics at North Carolina State University

See also

• Honor society
• List of academic statistical associations
• Professional fraternities and sororities