Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.--The number of students enrolled in Mississippi State's academic program in risk management, insurance and financial planning makes it the fourth largest undergraduate program of its type in the country.
Data released recently by Business Insurance ranked the university among the "final four." MSU enrolled 181 students in the College of Business program during 2008, the most recent year for which figures were collected by the insurance industry publication.
Temple University, University of Georgia and Georgia State University are in first, second and third places, respectively.
The publication primarily serves executives responsible for purchasing and administering corporate insurance and self-insurance programs that encompass both property and liability and employee benefit programs.
Ed Duett, who holds MSU's Peter K. Lutken Chair of Insurance, said the MSU program has "grown significantly" from only 15 majors in 2001. A veteran member of the finance and economics department faculty, he said hard work both on and off campus has helped inform students about internships and job placement opportunities.
"Our growth is a result of the help by people in the industry who support our program with their time and talent," Duett said. "This ranking provides significant visibility, and we're proud the program is becoming known by organizations around the globe."
Duett, the Lutken chairholder since 2002, said risk management, insurance and financial planning at MSU also is among the three largest academic programs of its kind in the Southeast and largest in the state.
The program awards more than 35 scholarships each year and, each April, sponsors Mississippi Insurance Day that attracts some 600 professionals--and numerous prominent speakers--the University of Georgia doctoral graduate added.
Created in 1975 by the state College Board, the endowed professorship later was named for Lutken, a distinguished MSU alumnus and insurance leader from Jackson whose family provided the endowment.
MSU's College of Business was organized in 1915, making it the oldest program of its kind in the state. Among MSU's largest academic units, it enrolls more than 2,100 undergraduate and 100 graduate students.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For additional information, contact Dr. Duett at 662-325-7475 or eduett@cobilan.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.