William Jackson Hall Graduate Student Fellowship

The Department of Biostatistics and Computational Biology at the University of Rochester Medical Center has endowed the creation of the William Jackson Hall Graduate Student Fellowship in honor of Professor Jack Hall’s lifetime achievements.

Jack joined the University of Rochester faculty as professor and chair of the Department of Statistics in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1969 and remained an active member of the faculty until his retirement on July 31, 2012. He passed away on October 14, 2012 at the age of 82.

During his nearly 40 years here, Jack made highly significant contributions to several areas of mathematical statistics, recognized in part through honorary fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the American Statistical Association. Jack was also a major force behind the formation of the Division of Biostatistics in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, the forerunner of the present department, and he played an especially instrumental role in developing Rochester’s doctoral program in Statistics.

Jack’s impact on the program was formally recognized in his receipt of the first Lifetime Achievement in Graduate Teaching Award, bestowed upon him by the University of Rochester at the 2004 Commencement Ceremony. Common themes of the letters in support of his nomination for this award included Jack’s commitment to teaching, the sheer breadth of his knowledge in the theory and applications of statistics, and the individual attention, hospitality and friendship that he freely gave to his students and their families.

Jack's dedication to the graduate program and its students, commitment to teaching, and collaboration in translational research is a testament to the significance of this legacy. His depth of care for his students and unparalleled effort to teaching has produced a loyal and grateful group of alumni from the program. Many of his students have gone on to prominent roles in academia and industry.

This merit-based fellowship intends to recognize one or more Statistics doctoral students in their last semester or year of study whose academic record reflects the major cornerstones of Jack’s distinguished career. Recipients will have distinguished themselves through combination of outstanding performance in coursework and qualifying exams; excellence in their service as a graduate student teaching assistant; and timely completion of a dissertation containing work judged to be of particular significance in both its methodological contribution and potential impact in applications.