James H. Stapleton

Michigan State University Department of Statistics and Probability

The Agricultural College of the State of Michigan was founded in 1855. It became a land-grant institution under the Morrill Act of 1862 and reached university standing in 1955. The Department of Statistics was formed in 1955 around five faculty transferred from the Department of Mathematics. It was charged with the responsibility for teaching statistics courses, providing statistical consulting, and providing a center for routine desk calculations arising from statistical problems. On November 1, 1965, the department was renamed Statistics and Probability (S&P), a unique name that reflects the department’s commitment to both probability and statistics.