Before the theory of probability and rise of actuarial science, our ancestors often relied on prophets and oracles to predict the future. Fortunately for today's corporations, governments and other organizations, we now have risk managers. Some of the best institutions of higher education have responded to the need for stronger risk management education. The following represent a sampling of the nation's best risk management programs.

University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of Business
Insurance and Risk Management Program
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Degrees: BS, MBA, Ph.D.
Established: 1913
http://irm.wharton.upenn.edu

Why It's Different
The first insurance and risk management program in the world.

At 22 years old, Dr. Solomon S. Huebner became one of the youngest people to ever receive a Ph.D. from the Wharton School of Business. Dr. Huebner immediately began teaching at the school and soon after, he founded the first risk management and insurance program in the world in 1913. By the time Wharton established the S.S. Huebner Foundation for Insurance Education in 1941 to further support the burgeoning fields of insurance and risk management education, he was already a legend in the field.

The Insurance and Risk Management (IRM) department at Wharton approaches risk as a market, a management technique, a business and an instrument of public policy. The school takes a holistic view of risk management, and the center is made even stronger by the Risk Management and Decision Process Center at Wharton, as well as other health care and research centers. Current risk management fellows at Wharton include Harvey Ryland, the former deputy director of FEMA, and IRM coursework consists of not only core classes, but projects with industry professions as well. Wharton's Philadelphia location also makes it convenient to both New York and Washington. and the center allows IRM department graduate and undergraduate students to work with fellows and other experts in the field.  "It is easier for us to have a discussion with top decision-makers," said Erwann Michel-Kerjan, managing director of the Risk Management and Decision Process Center. 

"I enjoy being at Wharton because it seems like the interface between academia and progress is encouraged," said Olivia Mitchell, the chair of the IRM Department. This balance between teaching and research is evident in Mitchell's recent work, which, along with a colleague, brought her to China to teach a week-long course for the Chinese Insurance Regulatory Commission to help educate national leaders on how to improve the country's growing insurance market.

University of Georgia
Terry School of Business
Risk Management and Insurance Department
Athens, Georgia
Degrees: BS, MBA, Ph.D.
Established: 1965
www.terry.uga.edu/insurance

Why It's Different
The largest undergraduate program of its kind in the United States.

Nearly 80 recruiters descended upon the University of Georgia campus for the 2008 Risk and Insurance Careers Day. Their motivation was to recruit members of the latest graduating class from the Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) department at the Terry School of Business. 

In preparation for their careers in the risk management and insurance, students participate in an extensive internship program-and these students are in such high demand that the RMI department can require that internships be paid. By the time companies come looking for the next crop of entry-level underwriters, analysts and risk specialists, students already have professional skills as well as the RMI education on their resumes.

The RMI department at the University of Georgia is the largest undergraduate program of its kind and places a heavy emphasis on building applied projects into its classes. Students perform audits on actual businesses in Athens and construct a complete risk management program for a mid-sized firm in the capstone risk management course.  Around 50 industry professionals come to speak to students each year, as the well the department's own faculty, who have active research agendas. Many of the doctoral graduates continue to conduct research with the RMI department once they become professors at other universities.

University of Wisconsin at Madison
School of Business Actuarial Science Risk Management and Insurance Program
Madison, Wisconsin
Degrees: BS, MS, Ph.D.
Established: 1939
www.bus.wisc.edu/asrmi

Why It's Different
The commitment to a hands-on, project-based approach.

Risk management and insurance (RMI) master's students at the University of Wisconsin are likely to take on projects from evaluating a highway project to conducting an entire risk management assessment on a local mid-sized company. The Risk Management Seminar and Applied Risk Management Project offer real-world exercises and access to industry members and the inside workings of real companies. The RMI Executive Education program targets professionals with risk management experience to continue their studies, adding to the diversity of experience within the program.

Joan Schmitt, director of the RMI Program, has led an applied risk management project at a local biotech company teaches an introductory risk management course. "There is a richness to having the individualized major," said Schmitt. "More organizations are recognizing the value of having a risk management education, and businesses are increasingly realizing how important risk management is."

The University of Wisconsin at Madison has over 40,000 students enrolled each year, which makes a big dent in a city of around 225,000. The RMI program, however, is less overwhelming, with less than 200 students.


St. John's University
The Peter J. Tobin College of Business
School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science
New York, New York
Degrees: BS, MS, MBA
Established: 2001 (1901: Insurance Society of New York)
http://new.stjohns.edu/academics/graduate/tobin/srm

Why It's Different
The campus is in the heart of New York's Financial District.

Formerly the College of Insurance, St. John's University's School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science (SRM) is located right in the middle of New York's Financial District. The last eight years have been one of the school's most significant and transformative periods since the College of Insurance merged with St. John's Peter J. Tobin College of Business, where it has continued to host the annual Insurance Leader of the Year Award Dinner, one of the most prestigious events in insurance industry.

Though things could not be better for the school today, its beginnings were tumultuous. On September 11, the second day of class after the merger, the school was significantly damaged after the World Trade Center collapse. The dorms, offices, library and classrooms were all affected, leading to a complete relocation of all students, faculty and classes 13 miles east to St. John's main Queens campus. (While vacant, St. John's donated use of the campus to the Red Cross.)

The school has since been on the upswing, with a period of growth and expansion, and risk management is taught through lectures, workshops, internships and student organizations. Students are also granted trips to the RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition, given access to the Insurance Leader of the Year event, and made eligible for various fellowships and financial assistance programs through the school.

Indiana State University
College of Business Insurance and Risk Management Program
Terre Haute, Indiana
Degree: BS 
Established: 1989
www1.indstate.edu/business/insurance

Why It's Different
The Gongaware Center, scholarships and nearly 100% job placement.

Many risk management and insurance higher education programs offer a standard list of classes: property, life health, principals of insurance, and perhaps an introductory risk management course. The Insurance and Risk Management Program at Indiana State University offers a larger breadth of programming, along with extensive mentoring. Dr. Peter Mikalaj is a professor in the department, and teaches a class on property, reliability and risk management. "My classes tend to be team-based and project-driven," says Mikalaj. "I make them as real-world as possible, because the more real the projects are, the more interested the students become." Since the department is composed of barely 100 students, faculty is able to work one-on-one with students so that they "don't get lost in the shuffle," says William Warfel, professor of insurance and risk management at the university. 

An insurance advisory council composed of executives raises scholarships, creates endowment, and helps with the overall form of the department. Don Gongaware, a former COO at Conseco, began the Gongaware Center in 1999, offering scholarships to students studying risk management and insurance, and offering grants to professors studying emerging industry leadership and operating problems. Last year, the university's risk manager in residence was Raymond Sibley, the director of the risk management office of the city of Denver. 

The department has an almost 100% job placement record for students majoring in risk management and insurance and over half of the minors end up in related careers. "We do not have trouble placing our students-the demand is strong," says Warfel. "We have placed some students directly into the risk management area, which would have been unheard of when I was a student."

Illinois State University
The Katie School Insurance and Financial Services
Normal, Illinois 
Degrees Offered: BS
Established: 1991
http://katie.cob.ilstu.edu

Why It's Different
The local Chicago internship opportunities and industry connections.

Each year, risk management professor Yu-Luen Ma tells her beginner students that if they want to ensure that they will pass the course, they need insurance. Students act as "underwriters" and "buyers" to get a perfect grade of 100. When the student knows they will score 80, that student might want to purchase insurance for 20 points-with a 20-point deductible. If the students had been scoring poorly, they might be considered high risk and would have a limited amount of insurance that they can buy. "Basically, we ask students to act as insurers and design a new product called grade insurance, and consider their grade to be their asset," says Yu-Luen Ma. 

Risk management is a core part of the program at the Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services, and as students familiarize themselves with insurance and financial services, the focus may lead them to industry connections and internships that the school helps provide. "We are fortunate to be so close to Chicago and bring in a lot of speakers," says Deborah Babcock, the associate director of the Katie School. "We can go to the city and spend time with the industry. We have an active advisory board of insurance executives and work with recruiters who are in close proximity."

Although the Katie School is a traditional four-year college, it is able to find the costs of sending students to Zurich, Bermuda and London for internships each year. "The Katie School is second to none in terms of internship opportunities to students," says Yu-Luen Ma. "If they take advantage of the opportunities, our students have so many business cards in their hands when they graduate."

Temple University
Fox School of Business - Department of Risk, Insurance and Healthcare Management
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Degrees: BS, MS, MBA, P.h.D
Established: 1965
www.sbm.temple.edu/dept/rihm 

Why It's Different
The Guest Lecture Series brings industry experts to the campus weekly.

Since the 1960s, all students at the Fox School of Business were required to take a principles of insurance course. Today, the courses have grown into the department of Risk, Insurance and Healthcare Management, which also offers the only undergraduate course in health care risk management. Fox is also a top-tier research institution in addition to being a learning center, allowing students to have constant interaction with professionals. 

The chair of the department, Dr. R. B. Drennan, teaches an undergraduate class in three parts: corporate risk management and enterprise risk management; the fundamentals of insurance; and employee benefit management. Drennan emphasizes the importance of the school's fraternity, which sponsors a weekly Guest Lecture Series, featuring expert industry professionals. One recent speaker, for example, was Lauren McDermott Powelson, vice president and lead underwriter for XL Reinsurance, who herself is a Temple graduate. "If you're an 18-year-old kid, the last thing you want to major in is insurance," said Drennan. "In the Fox Business School, we have 700 students entering in the fall, and almost none of them know about risk management. However, it is required that they take a risk management course. So we love the chance to expose students to the exciting world of risk management and insurance." Based on their performance in the intro class, Drennan and other faculty members then try to recruit the top 10%. In fact, students cannot major in risk management and insurance without receiving at least a B in the intro course or a 3.0 average.

Florida State University
College of Business Department of Risk Management/Insurance, Real Estate & Business Law
Tallahassee, Florida
Degrees: BS, MS, P.h.D.
Established: 1950 
www.cob.fsu.edu/rmi

Why It's Different
The online-administered master's program taught by full-time faculty.

Because its competitive master's program is administered online, Florida State's risk management and insurance students are dispersed all across the country-many of whom are also holding down high-profile jobs. Even senior executives looking to get an edge in the field join the program, and almost all of the students are working, and some travel frequently. Although the program is intensive and requires a lot of commitment, there are of course perks to being mobile: Kathleen McCullough, an associate professor of risk management, recalls a student who was writing in from a pub in England. 

"The instructor becomes more of a facilitator than an instructor," said Dr. Dean Gatzlaff, chair of the department of Risk Management/Insurance, Real Estate and Business Law. "The demand for our students is traditionally higher than the number of students that we are able to produce."

Even though the classes are online, students go through the program with the same people and get to know each other through sharing work, on message boards, and finally meeting during socials and graduation. "I have students with two to three years experience and those with 30 years of experience," says McCullough. "There is a lot of learning among the students themselves-more than in a brick-and-mortar type of program."

Other Notable Programs

Bentley College
Enterprise Risk Management Program
Waltham, Massachusetts
Degrees: MBA
www.bentley.edu/erm

Caledonian Business School 
Risk Management Concentration
Glasgow, Scotland
Degrees: BA, MS, Ph.D.
www.gcal.ac.uk/cbs

Columbia University
Decision, Risk and Operations Division
New York, New York
Degrees: MBA, Ph.D.
www4.gsb.columbia.edu/dro

Danube University Krems
Enterprise Risk Management 
Krems, Austria
Degrees: MBA
www.donau-uni.ac.at/en

Ellis College 
New York Institute of Technology Risk Management Specialization
Old Westbury, New York
Degrees: MBA
http://ellis.nyit.edu

George Washington University
Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management
Washington, D.C.
Degrees: MS, Ph.D.
www.gwu.edu/~icdrm

MIB School of Management 
Master in Insurance and Risk Management
Trieste, Italy
Degrees: MS
www.mib.edu

Missouri State University
Department of Finance and General Business
Springfield, Missouri
Degrees: BS, MS, MBA
www.coba.missouristate.edu

New York University
Polytechnic University - Department of Finance and Risk Engineering
New York, New York
Degrees: BS, Advanced Certificates
www.poly.edu/fe

Olivet College
Insurance and Risk Management Major
Olivet, MI
Degrees: BA, BS
www.olivetcollege.edu

University of Calgary
Haskayne School of Business
Association of Risk Management and Insurance
Calgary, Canada
Degrees: BComm, MComm
www.ucalgary.ca/~armi

University of Connecticut 
School of Business - Risk Management and Insurance Major
Hartford, Connecticut     
Degrees: BS, MS
www.business.uconn.edu