UCA faculty John Bratton, Kim Bradford, Victor Puleo and Sherry Roberts received a grant for $60,600 to host the 2005 Insurance Education Institute.This grant is a collaborative effort of UCA?s Academic Outreach and Extended Programs, College of Business, College of Education and Graduate School, and is funded by the Insurance Education Foundation.
The goal of the institute is to improve the understanding of insurance and its role in society. According to the authors, ?Better educated consumers strengthen the economy. Students who understand the importance of insurance should be able to choose appropriate insurance coverage(s) to protect them from possible financial losses and support their ability to manage their personal finances.?
The institute will provide graduate course credit in insurance to high school teachers, giving them the confidence they need to teach topics on insurance in their classrooms thus reaching thousands of Arkansas students.
The grant will allow UCA to be the premier institution for insurance education in Arkansas, and provides the financial resources to allow UCA to offer this three-hour graduate course in insurance to high school teachers at virtually no cost to participants.
According to the authors, teachers not only receive formal training in insurance, but also they receive continuing professional development credit toward recertification. Students, the community and the state will all reap the benefit from young adults who choose insurance and manage their personal finances wisely; as such choices result fewer claims for uninsured incidents (which drive up premiums) and fewer personal bankruptcies (which negatively affect business and economic development).
