MSU announces dates for 2006 insurance institute for teachers

Contact: Sammy McDavid

STARKVILLE, Miss.--For the third consecutive year, Mississippi State is offering a special summer program on campus to help high school teachers better educate students about the subjects of risk management and insurance.

To be held July 16-21, the 2006 Mississippi Insurance Education Institute is organized by the university's Peter K. Lutken Chair of Insurance with support from the Insurance Education Foundation, an Indiana-based philanthropy supported by the U.S. insurance industry.

Offering three graduate credit hours upon completion, the program is designed to aid educators for whom insurance either is a specific course or part of another subject they teach.

The 35 participants selected to attend will have all educational expenses covered by IEI scholarships, including tuition, room and board, and instructional and supporting materials. Travel expenses are not included, however.

The program is divided into two segments: one involving at-home computer training, the other, traditional class settings. For three weeks preceding the campus sessions, the online segment will provide a basic introduction to the topics.

"During classroom sessions in the on-campus portion, materials covered in the online section will be reinforced and expanded," explained Tammi Riddle, director of the program in MSU's College of Business and Industry.

"The training also includes a field trip to visit various insurance companies in the Metro Jackson area, as well as to meet with Commissioner George Dale and other officials of the Mississippi Department of Insurance," she added.

Riddle said all portions of the training meet both MSU graduate-credit requirements and IEF standards and guidelines. For details, visit www.distance.msstate.edu/iei.

Riddle may be contacted at (662) 325-2341 or triddle@cobilan.msstate.edu. Edwin H. Duett, holder of the Lutken Professorship, may be reached at the same telephone number or eduett@cobilan.msstate.edu.