Go Figure! This Zicklin Prof Uses Humor to Teach Stats and Programming
February 25, 2025Did you hear the one about the statistics professor who was an expert in Jewish humor?
It’s true. Professor Linda Weiser Friedman (Paul H. Chook Department of Information Systems and Statistics), PhD, teaches a Baruch College course on Jewish humor and even co-authored a book about it with her husband, a professor of business at Brooklyn College. “It goes back to the Bible,” she says. “When Moses led the Israelites to the Red Sea and told them to cross, they said, ‘Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness?’ That’s a wonderful example of sarcasm.”
Dr. Friedman adds that technology, her main area of expertise, is full of inside jokes. For example, most computer languages use acronyms or abbreviations as names—FORTRAN means “formula translation,” COBOL means “common business-oriented language,” and so on. But the name of the processing language SNOBOL means “StriNg-Oriented symBOlic Language,” a sort-of acronym referring to the fact that some felt the language had a “snowball’s” chance in hell of becoming popular.
Then there’s this cute take on the infinite loop concept, referring to the programming problem of a piece of code that repeats indefinitely: Knock knock. Who’s there? Knock. Knock who? Knock knock. Who’s there? Knock. Knock who? Knock knock…
“It’s the only computer knock-knock joke in existence,” Friedman laughs.
Humor is only one of her many academic interests. Others include computer science, computer simulations, leadership, and online and hybrid teaching and learning, all of which she’s published research on. She even writes fiction and poetry: “It makes you a better observer of life, and that makes everything else you do better.” Friedman digitizes and shares all her work—”I got into Open Educational Resources long before the College did”—and says her most downloaded papers are about new media technologies and the financial crisis of 2008.
But wait, there’s more! Friedman spearheaded the information systems specialization area within the Zicklin School’s PhD program. She says it’s been invaluable in recruiting faculty: “When you ask candidates why they want to teach here, they often mention the fact that we have a PhD program.” She also designed the popular undergraduate minor in information technology and social responsibility.
As a longtime instructor of STA 2000, the introductory statistics course required of all would-be Zicklin BBA students, Friedman loves teaching undergraduates, who “are young kids with a lot of responsibilities, and they need a mentor,” she explains. “They’re here to learn and gain skills. And they’re so good to talk to—the first day of class is a whole new bunch of people from different cultures and places.”
What’s next for this Zicklin School veteran? Friedman is currently working on a possible course on humor in business, similar to ones offered at other highly ranked business schools. Asked if she uses humor when teaching statistics and computer information systems, she deadpans, “Don’t we all?”