Dr. Jianjun Wang

Dr. Jianjun Wang, Professor of Research Design and Statistics, California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB), was hired in 1993 after completing two Master's degrees, one in statistics and the other in physics, and a Ph.D. in science education.  He also passed the second Ph.D. Qualifying Exam in statistics.  Through the learning process, Dr. Wang has accumulated extensive experiences as an undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral student from a very humble family background, which allows him to deeply appreciate the much-needed support for student success.

Dr. Wang has regularly taught research design and statistics courses in face-to-face, hybrid, and online course formats.  These courses are historically challenging for some students.  Meanwhile, the course rigor also plays an important role to increase the value of California State University degrees in the employment market.  To promote the inquiry-based learning and knowledge acquisition, Dr. Wang incorporated cutting-edge technology into the curriculum to break three barriers in student learning:​

1. Make course taking more affordable
   One strategy of Graduation Initiative 2025 is to expand the number of online courses and expand program availability.  While online teaching has offered a convenient learning environment for students, licensed statistical software packages are physically installed at the university computer labs.  To make the learning more affordable, Dr. Wang established an online computing lab that does not require the software purchase.
2. Make learning experiences more useful
   

   Statistical software in a university lab is subjected to annual license renewal.  Dr. Wang's computing setting is perpetual, breaking the barrier on time dimension to support student replication of what they learned from his class in the future job market.

3. Make instructional support more accessible
   

   Financial support is a typical obstacle for most first-generation college students with limited family resources.  Without the need for using a licensed software in Dr. Wang's class, student anxiety is reduced significantly from the software installation.  Dr. Wang's instructional support has made the Internet access as the only preparation for generating statistical printout for the course assignments. 

Dr. Wang's innovation is built on his scholarly inquiries to enhance teaching effectiveness for student success.  In statistics, he introduced user-friendly tools for his students to handle hierarchical data analyses that are often encountered in the real world.  These examples are naturally embedded in his research design class to demonstrate data collection strategies in which small units are nested within a large unit.  More importantly, he demystified the need of using a special software package, such as Hierarchical Linear Model, and illustrated application of the mainstreamed computing platform that students mastered from his class.  He also disseminated his approach in nationally refereed publications to benefit students and researchers across the nation.  Held in​ high esteem by his peers, Dr. Wang was recognized as the recipient of the 2014-15 CSUB Faculty Scholarship and Creative Activity Award ​and a fellow of the National Center for Education Statistics. 

In the CSUB campus community, Dr. Wang has served in multiple capacities as a research methods expert, including as a research associate for the Student Quality Assurance Impact Research Project.  In this role, he collaborated with departments across campus to collect data and complete a report comparing student success in face-to-face and online instruction.  He has also been a core faculty member in implementing the doctoral program in Educational Leadership at CSUB.  His evaluation support for the local Ready-to-Start program has created 20 internship opportunities annually for CSUB students to work in preschool settings during the past seven years.  Dr. Wang's strong teaching, research, and service underscores his dedication to student success.

Resources:

https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/faculty-staff/outstanding-faculty/Pages/jianjun-wang-phd.aspx