Under-the-Radar Changes in Curricula

Not all of the developments in risk management and insurance education involve major new initiatives like those at Georgia State and North Carolina State.

There also is a lot of under-the-radar change taking place within the content of long-standing courses that are weaving new topics into their existing offerings.

Statesman or Spoilsport? (07/24/12)
Risk Confessions (06/01/12)
Splitting Silos (10/11/12)
Giving Peace of Mind (08/22/12)
Murphy Proofing (09/15/12)

"I now am incorporating enterprise risk management into the advanced corporate finance that I teach and into our financial risk management course for actuaries," says Stephen D'Arcy, professor of finance at the University of Illinois and former president of the American Risk and Insurance Association. "What we are doing is whetting our students' appetites, and we are letting them know that there is this new currency out there that is called 'risk.'

"We are showing them that being able to value risk and that being an expert about risk is going to pay dividends for them," adds D'Arcy. "We give them a basic view that, if they are interested in the career path to CRO, here is a road map. We are opening their eyes to a potential career and showing them what they need to do to follow that career path."

In addition to weaving ERM topics into existing courses, D'Arcy also has created a new seven-week, graduate-level course specifically focusing on ERM and featuring guest lectures by industry practitioners as well as by academics.

The strongest interest in ERM, says D'Arcy, has come from "mathematically inclined students that are interested in business. Some are actuaries, and some are our best undergrads who are interested in finance and who have good math skills. We also have an online course in which we also are getting a lot of international students who have excellent math skills, and also people who say, 'My boss just assigned ERM for the company, and I need to figure it out fast.' "

April 15, 2008

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