by Carl Cowen
In the late 80's, the actuarial profession suddenly became visible to the general public and to Purdue's undergraduates. Interested students and advisor Keith Schwingendorf created the Actuarial Science Program in 1988. Since that time, it has grown from a handful to approximately 100 students, and from an option of the mathematics major to a separate major offered jointly by the Mathematics and Statistics Departments.
Actuaries use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to study uncertain future events, especially in the insurance or investment fields. Typically, the title "Actuary" refers to an Associate or a Fellow of one of the professional societies such as the Society of Actuaries, an organization of life and health actuaries, or the Casualty Actuarial Society, an organization of property and casualty actuaries. To become an Associate or Fellow of one of the professional organizations requires passing a series of examinations administered by the societies. Ideally, students begin taking the exams while in college and finish them while working as an actuary.
Purdue's Actuarial Science Program emphasizes the intellectual foundations of the profession as well as the more focused aspects like exam preparation. Since a career as an Actuary is better described as a "business" career with a technical basis rather than as a "technical" career, students in the program take courses to develop their business and communications skills in addition to the more stereotypical mathematics and statistics core. While the competition for entry level positions has increased substantially, our graduates who are well qualified (high GPA and several exams passed) have found good positions with excellent starting salaries, and the future job market looks similar.
We are continuing to improve the major. For example, we recently added a course on interest theory as an introduction to actuarial science; we will be developing a course on optimization next spring; and we expect to add a second semester of Life Contingencies in a few years. Further, we are working with the Krannert School of Management to expand our students' participation in the business curriculum.
One of the goals of the program is to maintain strong connections with insurance organizations both inside and outside Indiana. The Actuary Club plays an important role by inviting actuaries from a variety of companies to speak about their jobs and the profession. Moreover, we are fortunate to have an advisory council of about a dozen actuarial executives who contribute their expertise in assessing our goals and performance. We have received considerable financial support for scholarships and program development from Lincoln Life, American United Life, and Lafayette Life, as well as from many alumni.
If you would like more information about Purdue's Actuarial Science program, let us know; we'd especially like to hear from you if you are working in an actuarial area! (Send e-mail to cowen@math.purdue.edu or phone 765-494-1943.)