Ohio Northern University’s James F. Dicke College of Business Administration was awarded a grant from the Robert P. Ashlock Memorial Program, funded through Assurex Global and administered by The Griffith Insurance Education Foundation to develop a risk management and insurance (RMI) major.

Ohio Northern is planning to introduce the new major to address the increasing demand for jobs in the emerging risk management field. The funds, totaling $5,000 from the foundation, will be used to complete the research associated with specification of the program, for curriculum development, marketing and recruiting materials and for other start-up activities.

Dr. James W. Fenton, dean of The James F. Dicke College of Business Administration said, “The purpose of the RMI major will be to prepare students to identify and evaluate the sources of risk, and to mitigate and control risk with solutions that include insurance instruments and other risk diffusion methods. Graduates of the RMI program can enter the risk management or insurance fields, including employee benefit departments of large businesses or positions within insurance or benefit consulting firms, brokerage firms, agency operations or insurance companies.”

ONU’s RMI major will be the first such program offered in Northwest Ohio by an Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited business college and the only program in the state offered at a private university.