U. Houston-Downtown to Offer Insurance, Risk Management Degree

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has approved a proposal by the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) to offer a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Insurance and Risk Management.

The new degree program is designed to develop career professionals for the insurance and risk management industry, enhance the industry’s public image, and conduct research of interest for the insurance industry and consumers, said Don Bates, dean of UHD’s College of Business.

The new degree plan will be offered through the new UHD Insurance and Risk Management Center (the Center) which will be located in the new College of Business building located at 1021 North Main. The Center will be a place of collaboration between education and industry to ensure that fundamental knowledge and theories of insurance and risk management is balanced appropriately with the real world.

“We received a lot of support from a full spectrum of players in the insurance industry,” Bates said. “That support enabled us to move from the start of planning in April 2006 to approval this week – that’s warp speed by academic standards. That shows the real industry need for people who know and understand insurance and the practice of risk management.”

UHD alumnus David de Roode, Houston chief operating officer of BancorpSouth Insurance Services, approached Bates two years ago about the shortage of young, educated people pursuing a career in insurance and the growing void of talent within the $800 billion industry existent in Texas.

“The idea was to create a broad educational program that would address the various aspects and levels of the insurance and risk management industry; property and casualty insurance, life and health insurance, employee benefits, contract surety and bonds as well as other forms of risk finance and the various ways to manage risk,” de Roode said. “Our ultimate goal is to provide the industry and the public with young, knowledgeable professionals who will require little or no additional fundamental training upon graduation to enable them to hit the ground running.”

The Bates-deRoode team started discussions with insurance industry leaders to see if they had any interest in developing a regional insurance and risk management program, what the program should include and whether the industry was willing to support the program. Bates calculated the start-up costs and set $150,000 as a fund-raising goal.

“I told David, if we could raise $150,000, then I’d start moving the concept through the approval process,” Bates said. “With David’s hard work and help, we raised $180,000 in 60 days. That was the largest amount of money raised from the most donors in the shortest time in UHD’s history.”

Bates started the approval process and with de Roode’s help fund raising continued. To date, they’ve raised $340,000 in cash or pledges and are continuing the fund raising and marshalling of industry resources.

The first classes will be offered next fall and registration will begin this spring. Industry professionals will teach the classes. “We are truly building this thing from the ground up,” Bates said. Business degree students can major in insurance and risk management and non-business degree students can get a minor with six classes including an internship.

“We think the internship program will be a major source of initial employment for our students,” Bates said. The Center will offer scholarships to students with grade point averages of 2.8 or higher. The higher the student’s GPA, the larger the scholarship award.

The first students who sign up for the degree program will have opportunities to access scholarships, shape the insurance and risk management student association, impact course content and interact with industry leaders, he said. Students also will be prepared for a field that offers secure, stable, well-paying jobs.

Source: University of Houston-Downton, www.uhd.edu

Topics Market Training Development Risk Management