Chance, Games, and Decisions

David Ruth, UATX Provost and former Dean of STEM

Begin to master probability and good decision-making when faced with uncertainty. Topics include counting techniques and probability theory, classic chance problems such as the Monty Hall and Birthday Problems, expected value and variance, and basic decision and game theory. Applications will be stressed through examples. 

David Ruth is UATX's Provost and former Dean of its Center for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Previously, Ruth held several leadership positions as a Permanent Military Professor of Mathematics at the United States Naval Academy, where he was an award-winning teacher from 2009 until 2022. Ruth has authored several articles in a variety of statistics journals, as well as a book chapter on mathematics in cybersecurity. Prior to his academic work, Ruth led and served as a naval officer with operational experience in submarine and surface warfare, nuclear power, oceanography, and meteorology.

Reopening the American Mind; Renewing the American Soul

Ben Crocker, UATX University Dean 

What is the purpose of education, and what is the special role of the university in stewarding the souls of our young? Allan Bloom's 1987 meditation on the state of American higher education was as shocking in its time as it has proven clairvoyant today. Participants in this seminar will read excerpts from Bloom's Closing of the American Mind and discuss how the Academy may be made fit for its ancient purpose once more. 

Ben Crocker is University Dean at the University of Austin. He previously worked as a fellow at Common Sense Society in Washington, D.C., Budapest and London. Concurrently, he was an inaugural Ramsay Center for Western Civilisation Postgraduate Scholar at St John’s College, Annapolis. Before moving to the United States, Ben worked in Sydney as a conductor and music teacher, most recently at The King’s School, for ABC Classic FM, and at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. His commentary has appeared in The New York Post, The Federalist, The Spectator, and on Fox News.