Davis Center for Figure Sense entering new chapter with leadership transition
Associate professor Felix Meschke has stepped into the director role of the Davis Center for Figure Sense at the University of Kansas School of Business.
The transition in the Davis Center’s leadership comes as professor of statistics Steve Hillmer, who served as the center’s director for the past seven years, retires from the KU School of Business at the end of the 2023–24 academic year. Meschke had served as associate director of the center since 2021.
"Working with Steve Hillmer has ingrained a deep respect for the learning process in me and in the faculty who engage with the center,” Meschke said. “His dedication to each student's growth has fostered a legacy of warmth, curiosity, and engagement at the Davis Center, which we aspire to continue."
Alumnus Roger Davis and wife Julie established the center in December 2015 with a combined outright and planned gift commitment. The center aims to instill figure sense — the ability to select and evaluate evidence effectively before making decisions or taking actions — in KU Business students.
During their time as the center’s leaders, Hillmer’s and Meschke’s work has focused on incorporating figure sense methodologies into the business school’s curriculum. They recently formed a Figure Sense Committee composed of faculty representing each of the school’s academic areas:
- Luxi Chai, Marketing and Business Law
- Mohammad Ghaderi, Finance
- Rachel Green, Accounting
- Steve Leonard, Management and Entrepreneurship
- Sara Reed, Analytics, Information, Operations
During spring 2024, the center also collaborated with KU’s Center for Teaching Excellence for a three-day workshop designed to weave more figure sense into business courses. Meschke said he plans to engage with the school’s Core Curriculum Task Force over the summer to explore additional ways that the center can boost students’ figure sense abilities.
As his retirement approaches, Hillmer said he feels grateful for his time as director of the Davis Center and appreciative of his collaboration with faculty members to integrate aspects of figure sense to their coursework.
“With the leadership of Felix Meschke as the director of the center and the recently formed faculty Figure Sense Committee, I feel confident that the progress that has been made will continue and accelerate in the future,” Hillmer said.
Hillmer is retiring after 47 years as a KU School of Business faculty member. He has taught courses in the school about statistics, data analysis, and decision sciences. Hillmer received the school’s Gordon Fitch Service Award in 2009 and KU’s Chancellors Club Career Teaching Award in 2022.