About Us

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs designed for students with diverse career or higher educational goals. The faculty assists students achieve these goals with up-to-date courses, seminars, and research or internship projects. Our faculty members maintain highly productive research programs which regularly result in publications in leading journals and academic presses. Much of the faculty research is supported by external agencies. The faculty is also actively engaged in modernizing our elementary course offerings both in content and in the use of technology.

Mission

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Loyola University Chicago, in the College of Arts and Sciences, supports the Jesuit ideal of knowledge in the service of humanity. The department endeavors to advance knowledge in mathematics and statistics, engaged with Chicago, the nation and the world. To achieve this mission, the department participates in the discovery, development, demonstration and dissemination of professional knowledge and practice within a context of professional ethics and service to others.

Beyond honing students' analytical skills, the mathematics and statistics curricula also foster critical thinking and the ability to articulate it... skills that are in high demand in many diverse fields.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics will work to ensure that we invest in each student’s success, sense of belonging, and cultural competency. We will strive to engage, empower, inform, and hold our faculty and students accountable for fostering an environment where every person shares in the responsibility for advancing diversity and inclusive excellence. Likewise, the department decisions and policies will be crafted with these goals in mind. We commit to this mission recognizing a definition of diversity that includes, but is not limited to, race, ethnicity, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, military/veteran status, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, socio-economic background, and residency.

Undergraduate Programs

Mathematics and Statistics Department Policies

Registration Restrictions

Students who have successfully completed (with a grade of C- or higher) any 100-level course are not permitted to take or repeat a prerequisite of such course without explicit permission from the Chair or Assistant Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. For example, a student who earned a grade of B in MATH 161 Calculus I is not permitted to register for MATH 100 Intermediate Algebra, MATH 117 Precalculus I or MATH 118 Precalculus II.

Prerequisite Policy

A student’s lack of appropriate course prerequisites constitutes grounds for withdrawal from the class at any time.

AP Course Credit Policies

Students may receive credit for the following courses if they earn an appropriate score on an Advanced Placement Test offered by the College Board.

AP Calculus

Credit for the AP Calculus exams will be awarded as follows:

• 4–5 on AB Calculus Exam 4 credits for MATH 161 Calculus I;
• 4–5 on BC Calculus Exam 8 credits for MATH 161 Calculus I and MATH 162A Calculus II, Alternate;
• 4–5 on AB portion of BC Calculus Exam 4 credits for MATH 161 Calculus I.

AP Statistics

A score of 4 or 5 results in credit for STAT 103 Fundamentals of Statistics.

Policy on Multiple Majors or Minors

The following modifies and clarifies the "Double-Dipping" policy of the College of Arts & Sciences, as it pertains to the Department of Mathematics & Statistics.

Most combinations of majors or minors are allowed. In particular, combinations of majors will be permitted as long as students respect the College of Arts & Sciences policy that each major should include 21 credit hours not being counted for another major, along with the following restrictions specific to the Department of Mathematics & Statistics:

1. MATH-BS may be paired with TPAM-BS, but may not be earned together with a double-major in TPAM-BS plus any Physics major (e.g., BPHY-BS, PCSC-BS, PHYS-BS)
2. MATH-BS may be paired with MSCS-BS, but may not be earned together with a double-major in MCSC-BS plus any Computer Science major.
3. DSCI-BS may be paired with either STAS-BS or a computer science major, but not with a double major in statistics and computer science. 

All Minors offered by the department must contain at least 6 credit hours at the 200 level or above not used to satisfy requirements of any other major or minor, and at least three of these must be at the 300 level. This condition may be met by taking additional electives, if necessary, from the electives list for the minor. Furthermore, the following combinations are not allowed. All other combinations are allowed provided they meet the above criteria  

• ACTU-MINR may not be earned together with STAS-BS or DSCI-BS 
• BIOS-MINR may not be earned along with STAS-BS or DSCI-BS  
• MATH-MINR may not be earned together with AMTH-BS, MATH-BS, MCSC-BS, MTED-BS, TPAM-BS  
• STAT-MINR may not be earned together with STAS-BS. STAT-MINR may be earned with DSCI-BS but only if STAT 304 Introduction to Probability and STAT 305 Introduction to Mathematical Statistics are taken as electives.   
• DSCI-MINR may not be earned along with DSCI-BS or a double major with STAS-BS and any computer science major.    

Any student wishing to enroll in a math or stats class who has failed that class twice previously (with grades of D+ or lower) must obtain permission from the department. For students who have failed exactly twice permission can be obtained from the course coordinator or, for un-coordinated classes, from the undergraduate program director. For students who have failed three or more times permission is needed from the department chair. Permission will only be given if there is good reason to believe you can be successful with an additional attempt at the class. 

Performance Withdrawal Policy

A student may be withdrawn from any of our majors if:

1. The student receives 2 grades less than C- in a two-year period in courses required for the major, or
2. The student has a GPA in the major < 2.0 after completion of all 100-level and 200-level requirements.
3. The chair has the right to reinstate students in the major for exceptional cases.

Requirements for Departmental Honors

In order to receive departmental honors, students graduating with any major offered by the Department of Mathematics and Statistics must satisfy the following two criteria:

• Minimum 3.5 GPA for all program-required courses, at 200-level and higher;
• Have taken an extra 3-credit course, beyond major requirements(*), chosen from:
  • A standard MATH/STAT offering at 300-level or above
  • MATH/STAT 398
  • EXPL 391 (supporting a joint project with a department faculty member)

Interested students are encouraged to discuss this honor with their departmental academic advisor or the department chair. However, no application is required, as a full graduation audit will be conducted by the Awards Committee each year.

(*) In most cases this extra course may also be used to count towards another major or minor. So, for example, if you are pursuing a Math major and a Stats minor your 300-level Stats elective could fulfill this requirement. Please check with your department advisor if you are unsure. 

Undergraduate Policies and Procedures

Please see Undergraduate Policies and Procedures for academic policies that supersede those of academic units within the University.

Mathematical Sciences (MATH)

Statistics (STAT)