Actuarial Science Summer Program for Women and Minorities

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/rmir.12013
• Published date: 01 September 2013
• Author: Lisa Gardner,Christian Roldán Santos,Toby White
• Date: 01 September 2013

Risk Management and Insurance Review

C

Risk Management and Insurance Review, 2013, Vol.16, No. 2, 267-279

DOI: 10.1111/rmir.12013

EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS

ACTUARIAL SCIENCE SUMMER PROGRAM FOR WOMEN

AND MINORITIES

Lisa Gardner

Christian Rold´

an Santos

Toby White

ABSTRACT

Drake University offered a 5-day program focusing on the recruitment of

women and minorities into actuarial science studies. A few universities offer

actuarial science summer camps targeting high school students. Participants in

this camp, however, came exclusively from community colleges. In this article,

we provide an overview of the camp’s activities, structure, and outcomes. We

present a longitudinal analysis of student feedback, reflecting results from one

survey administered before the camp began and another distributed very near

the camp’s end. Our results indicate the camp succeeded on many counts.

INTRODUCTION

Drake University’s actuarial science program enjoys significant institutional support

in student recruiting; large-scale industry support in providing internships, jobs, and

scholarship funding; and a strong reputation nationally as 1 of 13 original Centers for

Actuarial Excellence (CAEs), and among the 21 current CAEs. Yet we believe that our

program and the profession can be furthered strengthenedby developing a more diverse

student body and increasing participation by women and underrepresented minorities

like African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans.1Withthis in mind, we looked

at the Joint CAS/SOA Committee on Actuarial Diversity (COAD) summer camp model

Lisa Gardner is a Professor,and Robert Stein Term Fellow of Enterprise Risk Management, Drake

University,Des Moines, IA 50311; e-mail: lisa.gardner@drake.edu. Christian Rold ´

anSantosisan

Assistant Professor at Black Hawk College, Moline, IL. Toby White is an Assistant Professor at

Drake University,Des Moines, IA 50311. The authors appreciate the support this project received

from the following persons: Kim Armstrong,Ginney Camden, Charles Edwards, Wanda Everage,

R. Gene Gardner, Sheri Gavin, Rahul Parsa, Karen Roebuck, and Albert Stacy. This article was

subject to double-blind peer review.

1Once a major dominated by Caucasian males, our current enrollments include a significant share

of Asians who would like to work in the United States permanently. Furthermore, men still

outnumber women in the major (approximately 60 percent of our actuarial science majors were

men in 2010; in 2009, the comparable figure was 58 percent). African Americans accounted for 1.9

percent of all actuarial science majors in 2010, and 0.3 percent in 2009. Hispanics comprised 0.3

percent of all actuarial science majors in 2010, and 1.4 percent in 2009. We have had no Native

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