Daniel Bolt, PhD honored with Chancellor’s Award

April 20, 2009
Source: UW Communications

Ten faculty will receive this year’s Distinguished Teaching Awards. A ceremony and reception are scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22, in the Lee Lounge at the Pyle Center. The Waisman Center's Dan Bolt, PhD, will be one of the honorees.

Bolt has a reputation as “the person to go to when one needs to learn anything about quantitative methods,” writes his nominator, Charles Kalish, professor and chair of the department of educational psychology. Bolt teaches both introductory and advanced courses in quantitative methods both to students who are simply fulfilling a statistics requirement and to those who will need to apply what they’ve learned in their future academic and professional pursuits. A doctoral student wrote that “Students were literally sitting in the hallway in order to attend his class.”

Bolt is committed to and excels at “ensuring that students achieve a deep and functional understanding of even the most complicated statistical techniques,” writes Kalish. Bolt’s teaching philosophy, in fact, relates to the importance of reaching students of varying abilities.

“I think one of the most challenging but critically important roles of a teacher in applied statistics is to appreciate and reach out to students of varying levels of mathematical sophistication,” says Bolt. “I feel it is important to ensure that each class meeting has something that reaches each of these segments of the class.”

Bolt succeeds in this goal, writes Amy Atwood, a graduate student in the department. “It is common for people of Dr. Bolt’s exceptional intellect to find it difficult to simplify concepts enough for a layperson to comprehend,” she writes. “Some students want to know everything about a method, while others simply want to understand the basics. Dr. Bolt works to ensure that everyone gains practical knowledge from his teaching, no matter how advanced their methodology backgrounds may be or what they may want from the class.”

Atwood adds, “It has been interesting over the years to overhear conversations between other students discussing how much they like his classes and how surprised they are because they could not ever imagine enjoying a statistics class.”

One of Bolt’s colleagues even audited one of Bolt’s courses during a sabbatical. “I decided that my knowledge on multilevel modeling needed to be extended,” writes Professor Bruce Wampold. “I should mention that the class was standing-room only! Professor Bolt could limit enrollment, but he chooses to accommodate students because he wants them to acquire the statistical skills necessary to conduct quality social-science research. Even then, he gives individual attention to any student who requests it. Dedicated is an understatement.”

Bolt clearly embraces his role as teacher. “One of the most enjoyable aspects of teaching courses in applied statistical methods is the opportunity it provides to interact with students from a wide variety of disciplines,” he says. “The examples students bring to class and ask about are remarkably diverse and provide me with ongoing challenges in thinking about limitations as well as the potential of the methods I teach.”

Dan Bolt is a core staff member for the Research Participation Core at the Waisman Center.