Herb Burdett, CPCU and James R. Jones, CPCU 

 Burdett Bio

Course Syllabus

Calendar

Team Project

CPCU 520 Exam

Industry Speakers

Links to Websites Used in Course

Welcome to FIL 382.02, Insurance Operations, a new offering from the Katie School of Insurance& Financial Services.  Course prerequisites include FIL 250.  This is a new elective course designed with the help of the Katie School of Insurance Advisory Board's of Insurance Executives, Academic Experience Committee and Executive Committee. It is designed to meet the Insurance Program Goals as established by the Insurance faculty.  This course is structured to ensure that program goals in developing essential skills in critical thinking, interpersonal communication, oral and written presentation, and ethical decision-making are met.

Please see your academic advisor if you have any questions pertaining to how this counts toward your course requirements.

I will be co-teaching this course along with Mr. Herb Burdett. Mr. Burdett is recently retired from the insurance industry after serving in several management positions and possesses a wealth of knowledge about the insurance industry. 

Course Objectives

You have three  primary objectives for this course:

1. Learn about insurance operations and key processes.
2. Obtain a knowledge foundation that will help you in studying for CPCU Exam 520.
3. Learn how to make a successful transition from being a college student to an industry professional.

COURSE FEATURES

To help you in achieving your goals, we will arrange for a number of presentations by industry practitioners. The course calendar explains who will be presenting each week. Your interaction with these presenters will be expected. The assignments and evaluation of your work will resemble the assignments and evaluations you will likely receive in the workplace.  An essential part of this course is a team project in which you will have to analyze a given insurance company through reviewing financial data, external industry sources, and personal interviews with company management personnel.

 As in the workplace, you will be evaluated based on your communication, interpersonal skills, and critical thinking as well as on your individual participation. This evaluation will occur during every class session. These skills were deemed to be the skills that industry is looking for in recruiting and promoting talent. The structure of the course which includes a critical analysis of an insurance company through financial information and personal interviews is designed specifically to develop the following skills:

• Development of financial acumen

• Critical thinking and analysis as applied to company decision-making

• Report writing skills 

• Presentation skills

• Team Building and Organizing Skills

I will make the PowerPoint presentations from our speakers available for you to review as they are fair game for quizzes and may be useful for the development of your analysis of a company.

There is one required textbook associated with this course:

Insurance Operations, Regulation, and Statutory Accounting Myhr and Markham 2nd Edition, and related Course Guide. 

This book and course guide form study material for CPCU  520. You will take this exam in May.  See side panel for information on the exam.

You will also be provided additional readings such as the Insurance Fact Book, and will  be given specific websites to lookup information. You will also be given a free online-subscription to an industry news service and will be required to keep up with current issues through this forum.

The course syllabus explains the course in more detail.

I look forward to working together with you this  semester in preparing you for a career in the insurance industry. I encourage students to contact me anytime if you have any questions or comments. Jim Jones