UTEP Distinguished Teaching Professor Dr. Larry Lesser is the 2021 winner of the Waller Distinguished Teaching Career Award, given by the American Statistical Association (ASA), the world’s largest community of statisticians and the nation’s second-oldest continuously operating professional association of any field. Selection among nominees with 20+ years of experience was based on: excellence in teaching across a variety of statistics courses; innovation, scholarship, and creative efforts in education; impact in statistics education beyond the nominee’s institution; and education-related scholarship. The award will be publicly presented to him at the Awards Night of the 2021 Joint Statistical Meetings, which is the largest statistics meeting in North America, typically attended by 6000+ attendees from 50+ countries. Lesser is the 8th winner of this award, which was established by a contribution from 1995-2001  ASA Executive Director Ray A. Waller and his wife, Carolyn, and more information is at https://www.amstat.org/ASA/Your-Career/Awards/Waller-Awards.aspx. Lesser was interviewed extensively about his career in the March 2020 issue of Journal of Statistics Education.

"While I've won statewide teaching awards like the Piper and UTROTA, it is incredibly humbling and meaningful to have peers in my field of statistics education choose me to receive a national award for my career's work," Lesser said. "I was truly stunned when I got the news because I did not even know I had been nominated! I'm so grateful for the support and inspiration from students and colleagues at UTEP, where almost all of my statistics education efforts have happened."