Illinois State University 2019 Winner

2019 CAS UNIVERSITY AWARD WINNER

ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY

The Illinois State University’s actuarial science program has 180 actuarial students and 22 actuarial faculty members who teach classes required of actuarial students. 

As a winner of the first CAS University Award in 2016, the school had a three-year waiting period in order to apply again for the award. In the interim, the university continued developing its P&C curriculum and research as well as growing its industry engagement. 

Some of ISU’s program highlights include:

• ISU incorporates a wide variety of P&C topics into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Classes cover material on all of the CAS exams, VEEs and ACAS-required online courses.
• The program is oriented towards practical actuarial professionalism, training students for real-world actuarial work. Students are required to get actuarial internships, and the majority fulfill this requirement at P&C companies. 
• Students can also participate in “internship-like” experiences through programs like Pinnacle Actuarial University, which pairs students with analysts from a consulting firm to conduct projects on current P&C topics. The university also hosts a Predictive Analytics Competition, supervised by P&C actuaries, and a Visual Analytics Competition organized by the ISU Katie School of Insurance. 
• The university prides itself on the involvement of students in research work with faculty, both in its actuarial and insurance programs. The faculty consistently produce high-quality research publications on P&C insurance topics. Based on the research by ISU’s faculty and students, each year the Katie School publishes its research studies online and organizes a symposium - last year’s was titled “Disruptors, Distractions & Drones.” 

“We are extremely happy that Illinois State University is a winner of the 2019 Casualty Actuarial Society, the second time after receiving it in the inaugural competition in 2016. It is a great honor and a great motivator to continue our work dedicated to the future of the actuarial profession.”