School of Sciences

Dr. Holmes Peacher-Ryan  (home page)

Title: Associate Professor of Mathematics
Office:  CW 313
Phone:  321-3457
e-mail:  hpeacher@cbu.edu

Length of service at CBU: Dr. Peacher-Ryan began teaching at CBU in the fall of 2002.

Courses being taught this fall: Math 131 Calculus I, and Math 309 Probability.

Other courses taught recently: IDS 101 Dimensions of Faith and Citizenship; Math 105 Finite Math; Math 201 Applied Statistics; and Math 308 Statistics.

Formal Education: Dr. Peacher-Ryan earned an A.B. degree from Princeton University in Religion and an M.S. in Developmental Psychology and a Ph.D. in Mathematical Sciences (Statistics) from the University of Memphis.

Professional Background: Dr. Peacher-Ryan was born in Memphis. He has been the manager of statistical services at the University of Memphis, a statistician with joint appointments at the Prevention Center of the University of Memphis and at University of Tennessee Health Science Center, the manager of the analyst group at the Mid-South Foundation for Medical Care, and a private statistical consultant. He has taught Calculus I and II, Business Calculus, and Psychological Statistics at the University of Memphis. In addition to teaching and consulting, Dr. Peacher-Ryan also has participated in writing several grant proposals.

Professional interests: Dr. Peacher-Ryan is interested in the robustness of statistical tests which assume normal variables when those tests are used to analyze ordinal variables (as an example, the analysis of five-point Likert-scale items by factor analysis). He is also interested in the related areas of: (1) the human dimension of effective consulting; (2) the cognitive psychology of how people understand and manage uncertainty and risk (as an example, Tversky and Kahneman’s Prospect Theory and the work of Gerd Gigernzer); and (3) the characteristics of effective tutoring. Dr. Peacher-Ryan’s newest interest is the statistical side of bioinformatics. His publications and papers are predominantly on medical or physiological topics where his role was that of biostatistician.

Interests: Dr. Peacher-Ryan swam competitively from age nine to college and still enjoys swimming. He reads about the Zen approach to meditation and tries to meditate occasionally. He is also interested in humor and finds it almost everywhere. Most of all, he loves to spend time with his wonderful family, his wife Carla who is an attorney, his sixteen-year-old daughter Molly, and his seven-year-old daughter Anna. He also loves spending time with his father who is 92.