Oakland University, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Oakland University celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2007. When it opened in 1959, 570 students enrolled, and the charter class graduated in 1963 with 125 students receiving diplomas. Today, more than 18,000 students attend classes each fall (over 14,000 undergraduates and almost 4,000 graduate students), and alumni number more than 80,000.

Oakland University was created in 1957 when the late Alfred and Matilda Wilson donated $2 million and their 1,500-acre estate to Michigan State University to start a new college in Oakland County, Michigan. Originally named Michigan State University - Oakland, the name changed to Oakland University in 1963. In 1970, the Michigan Legislature recognized the maturity and stature of Oakland University by granting it autonomy, and Michigan's governor appointed Oakland's first Board of Trustees.

With 129 baccalaureate degree programs and 99 graduate degree and certificate programs, Oakland provides a learner-centered education with flexible class schedules and increased facilities, student services, classroom technologies, labs, internships, co-ops and research opportunities with corporate partners.

Rated one of the country's 82 doctoral/research universities by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Oakland University offers students opportunities to work directly on research projects with expert faculty who bring current knowledge right to the classroom. Leveraging its location in the heart of Oakland County's Automation Alley, Oakland has forged hundreds of partnerships with hospitals, Fortune 500 companies, cities, government agencies, and educational institutions.

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics, within the College of Arts and Sciences, has twenty-eight full-time faculty members. The current graduate programs in the Department are: Master of Arts in Mathematics; Master of Science in Industrial Applied Mathematics; Master of Science in Applied Statistics; Graduate Certificate in Statistical Methods; and Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematical Sciences (with specialization in applied continuous math, applied statistics, and applied discrete math). The faculty statisticians within the Department, and the schools from which they received their doctorate degrees, are:
Dorin Drignei, Iowa State University
Xiaoli Gao, University of Iowa
Ravindra Khattree, University of Pittsburgh
Robert Kushler, University of Michigan
Gary McDonald, Purdue University
Theophilus Ogunyemi, Kansas State University
Subbaiah Perla, University of Rochester
Harvey Qu, University of Michigan