The College will soon offer programs in Insurance
Read more: Local, Economy, Business, Education, Northern Michigan, NMU, Insurance, Actuarial Science, Risk Management, Steven Decarlo, Sam Graci, Earnst and Young, Entrepreneur of the Year
MARQUETTE -- The insurance industry has been described by some as indestructible, recession-proof, even. And as soon as next fall, Northern Michigan University will offer "Insurance" as a major.
"A lot of students aren't familiar with the industry. The job opportunities are tremendous, and we're very confident this will be up and rolling as soon as next fall, and we're hoping to get a good number of students interested in the program," said Sam Graci, Interim Dean of the College of Business.
If the jam-packed Mead Auditorium is any preview of student interest, then Dean Graci should feel pretty good.
He's also got the support of Steven DeCarlo, CEO of AmWINS, a young insurance company based in North Carolina. DeCarlo is a recent winner of the Earnst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in his region, and he's here to build insurance excitement.
"The insurance profession is a huge industry in this country. It can be demagogued by folks that don't really understand it, but you know, without insurance, you can't build a building, you can't drive an automobile, you don't have health insurance. You know, the insurance industry provides a lot of liquidity and protection in the marketplace," said DeCarlo, who is also the Executive in Residence for Northern's College of Business.
The college has the student interest, they have the professional support, but they can't start a program without funding. That funding came in the form of a $300,000 monetary contribution from an NMU alum.
"Three-plus years ago, I was contacted by the NMU Foundation who seeds out alums to reacquaint them with the college. We met a few times, and I suggested that the college had some ingredients to create a major in Risk Management and Insurance and Actuarial Science," said Ernie Telford, the contributor and an NMU class of '69 grad.
With all these ingredients in place, look for the new major to hit Northern's campus next fall.
