Center for Insurance and Risk Management nears 10th anniversary of formal launch
Nationally ranked degree program, 96% job placement rate among recent accolades
A top-10 national ranking, job placement rates north of 90% and a real world-focused curriculum are propelling the Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance and Risk Management forward as it approaches the 10th anniversary of its formal launch.
Under the stewardship of Academic Director and Virgil M. Schwarm Associate Professor of Finance and Investments Annette Hofmann, PhD, the center continued to innovate over the 2022-23 academic year. Four new insurance and risk management (IRM) courses — Behavioral Risk Management, IRM Global Destinations, Risk Finance and Strategic Risk Management — were created to further students’ education and supply the degree program with a competitive advantage. The new Risky Talks series featured insurance and risk management industry speakers relaying their day-to-day duties to all business students.
“The center’s impact and growth have been significant and broad since its inception, having an important effect on students, the local insurance industry and beyond, as well as bringing forward academic scholarship in insurance and risk management,” Hofmann said.
Upward trajectory for rankings, placement and engagement
The IRM program was recently identified as the ninth largest in the country by Business Insurance, which tracks the top insurance and risk management programs. The IRM program has been ranked in the top 20 since 2018.
Bob Higgins, the center’s director of professional and industry engagement and an associate professor-educator in Lindner’s department of finance, real estate, and insurance and risk management, said a top-10 ranking attracts insurance companies, brokers and financial institutions from across the nation, leading to IRM students being in high demand for internships, co-ops and full-time employment.
The impressive rate at which IRM majors secure employment backs up that sentiment. IRM majors posted job placement rates above 90% in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years, including 96% in 2021-22.
Last spring’s Insurance and Risk Management Career Fair illustrated the range of careers available to IRM students. Co-hosted by Lindner Career Services and UC Gamma Iota Sigma, an international risk management, insurance and actuarial science collegiate fraternity, more than 175 students were in attendance. All segments of the insurance industry in the Greater Cincinnati area were represented by 27 companies, who discussed career and co-op opportunities with students.
Past and present
Though the $5 million gift inaugurating the Center for Insurance and Risk Management was announced in early 2012, the center was not formally launched until fall 2013. Among other checklist items, the center conducted a thorough search for a director and finalized the creation of the IRM curriculum, as well as the IRM major and minor. Under the stewardship of its first director, Steve Slezak, PhD, the center offered its initial courses in spring 2014.
The center’s impact and growth have been significant and broad since its inception, having an important effect on students, the local insurance industry and beyond, as well as bringing forward academic scholarship in insurance and risk management.
Annette Hofmann, PhD, Academic Director, Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance and Risk Management, Virgil M. Schwarm Associate Professor of Finance and Investments
Hofmann, who joined the center in early 2022, focuses her research on the economics of risk and uncertainty, insurance markets, health care markets, risk leadership, risk literacy and decision-making under risk, as well as innovation in markets dealing with risk. Not long after joining the Center in early 2022, Hofmann published a book, “The Ten Commandments of Risk Leadership: A Behavioral Guide on Strategic Risk Management.” In summer 2023, Hofmann was elected to the American Risk and Insurance Association’s Board of Directors, and in 2024, she will assume editor-in-chief duties of Risk Management and Insurance Review.
Higgins, recruited to join the center in 2015 by Slezak, possesses more than 45 years of experience in commercial insurance underwriting, large accounts insurance brokerage and risk management consulting.
While Higgins noted that his responsibilities with the center are distinct from his duties as an educator, he added that “both activities are synergistic in that they serve to create and support high-quality connections between risk management professionals and the insurance industry with Lindner, thus increasing demand for our students and ensuring students can start and flourish in high-quality careers in risk management.”
A global honor
In fall 2023, the center was named a Global Center of Insurance Excellence (GCIE) by the International Insurance Society. This certification is awarded to universities and colleges with outstanding risk management and insurance programs.
The purpose of this designation is to continue to inspire academic institutions to advance insurance knowledge and research, intellectual capital development, and build connections between the insurance industry and top-tier academic programs and faculty. The center joins an exclusive membership of fewer than 1,000 academic institutions around the globe.
“It makes us very proud to be awarded the GCIE designation, and we will continue our strong commitment to IRM education and research,” Hofmann said. “We were able to receive a GCIE designation thanks to not only the continued support of our donors, advisory board and local insurance industry, but also our great students and UC administration.”
Featured image at top: Annette Hofmann (center) and Bob Higgins (right) with Seongho Song, PhD, Center for Insurance and Risk Management faculty member and professor of statistics. All photos by Danielle Lawrence.
Study Insurance and Risk Management at Lindner
The Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance and Risk Management is a premier provider of thought leadership through high-impact risk research and exchange of knowledge between academia and industry. The center also connects students interested in insurance and risk management with leading faculty, internationally recognized scholars and top employers in the industry.
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