Graduate Student Handbook

The Graduate Certificate in Statistics

The following guidelines identify the basic structure of the Graduate Certificate in Statistics at the University of Arizona. The Certificate expands existing opportunities for potential or current University of Arizona graduate students wishing to obtain a deeper understanding of statistical methodology, inference, and practice, and offers greater depth of focus to their data-analytic training. The Certificate’s program of study provides a prescribed format for such learning, while also allowing for a flexible curriculum that addresses this need over a wide variety of disciplines.

Students may design or select a course curriculum pertinent to their own research or professional interests from a list of advanced, statistically-rigorous courses taken from across the campus. Depending on the student’s selection of Elective Courses, expertise may be gained in statistical practice, theory, and/or applications in a specialized area such as biometry, bioinformatics, econometrics, environmetrics, psychometrics, etc. Of course, these outcomes will differ depending on the combination of elective courses selected.

To apply for the Certificate Program, a student must have earned at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher learning. No standardized tests are required. Concurrent enrollment in another University degree program outside of the GIDP in Statistics is allowed, but not required. Graduate College regulations allow for a maximum of 6 units of graduate credit earned as an undergraduate senior at the University, or in graduate non-degree status (NDS), to be applied for credit toward a Graduate Certificate. In no cases may coursework taken more than two years prior to admission to the Certificate program be transferred for credit towards the Certificate.

Once accepted into the program, students meet with the Chair of the GIDP in Statistics or an alternate advisor from the GIDP designated by the Chair to develop a Plan of Study suited to their professional needs.  It is GIDP policy that the student holds final responsibility for being aware of and responding to all GIDP and Graduate College policies, requirements, formats, and deadlines as they pertain to progression towards and completion of their graduate certificate.

A minimum of 12 units of coursework is required for the Graduate Certificate, made up as follows:

ii.  Additional Elective Courses; minimum 9 units taken for a letter grade from any of the following options (no course may be taken more than once):
         1.  ANS 513/EPID 513/GENE 513 -- Statistical Genetics for Quantitative Measures
         2.  AREC 517/ECON 517 -- Introductory Mathematical Statistics for Economists
         3.  AREC 559 -- Advanced Applied Econometrics, or
               ECON 522A -- Econometrics
         4.  ECOL 518 -- Spatio-temporal Ecology
         5.  ECON 518/AREC 518 -- Introduction to Econometrics
         6.  ECON 520 -- Quantitative Methods in Economics, or
               SIE 530 -- Engineering Statistics
         7.  ECON 549/AREC 549 -- Applied Econometric Analysis
         8.  EDP 658B -- Theory of Measurement
         9. EPID 684A* -- Theory of Linear Models
        10. EPID 684B* -- General Linear and Mixed Effects Models
        11. EPID 684C* -- Generalized Linear Modeling
        12. EPID 685 -- Statistical Consulting
        13. EPID 686 -- Survival Analysis
        14. GEOG 574G/MATH 574G/STAT 574G -- Introduction to Geostatistics
        15. GEOS 585A -- Applied Time Series Analysis, or
               STAT 574T/MATH 574T -- Time Series Analysis
        16. MATH 563/STAT 563 -- Probability Theory
        17. RNR 613 -- Applied Biostatistics
        18. SIE 522 -- Engineering Decision Making Under Uncertainty
        19. SIE 531 -- Simulation Modeling and Analysis
        20. STAT 564/MATH 564 -- Theory of Probability
        21. STAT 567A/MATH 567A -- Theoretical Statistics
        22. STAT 567B/MATH 567B -- Theoretical Statistics
        23. STAT 571A/MATH 571A -- Advanced Statistical Regression Analysis
        24. STAT 571B/MATH 571B -- Design of Experiments, or
               PSYC 507C -- Research Design & Analysis of Variance
        25. STAT 574C -- Categorical Data Analysis
        26. STAT 574E/MATH 574E/CPH 574E -- Environmental Statistics
        27. STAT 574S -- Survey Sampling

* course being developed

Prerequisite courses necessary to undertake a course chosen for the Graduate Certificate are the responsibility of the student and may only count towards the Certificate if they are already listed as a Core Course or as Elective Courses.

No transfer of credit from outside of the University is allowed; however, coursework taken previously at another institution may be used to satisfy prerequisites for any of the courses in the Graduate Certificate, at the discretion of the course instructor or offering department. Based on their experience with the Graduate Certificate program of study, students who wish to pursue an M.S. or Ph.D. in Statistics must meet all existing requirements for admission to those programs at the time admission is requested.

Individual students cannot make changes to the Graduate Certificate course requirements. Such action must initiate with the Statistics GIDP Curriculum Committee, for approval first by the GIDP Executive Committee, and then by the Graduate College. This process can take a number of months to complete.

Students studying for a Graduate Certificate in Statistics have at their discretion a flexible schedule for completion of the program. As per Graduate College guidelines, however, the maximum time to completion of the Certificate curriculum may not exceed four (4) calendar years.