Students who intend to complete the program in four years should have a mathematics placement level of B or better or plan to take summer coursework in mathematics. Upon admission to the University a student must consult with a Department of Mathematical Sciences advisor to plan a course of study which will allow the student to graduate in a timely manner, as there are many dependencies among the required courses, and the program is very structured.
We require the following courses or their equivalents (number in parentheses is the number of course credits):
The following 21 credit hours are required.
These courses are relevant to the major and will satisfy some of the College's distribution requirements:
In order to meet the Letters and Science requirement of 36 credit hours in upper division course work, students will be advised to satisfy as many Letters and Sciences and GER requirements as possible by taking upper division courses. An (R) indicates the course is required. An (S) indicates it is suggested.
In preparation for these changes the Department began offering a redesigned Option in Actuarial Science in Fall 1999, replacing 9 credits of junior/senior level course work in mathematics and statistics with three credits of economics, 3 credits of finance and 3 credits from either mathematics, finance or economics. This in turn requires preparatory coursework outside of mathematics and statistics as well. While still within the Department's educational mission, the resulting program falls outside of what is normally called a mathematics major. The Option was established with the understanding that a separate major would be pursued.
The Department currently has enrollments of about 50 mathematics majors. Over the past 3 years roughly 37% of all students earning bachelor's degrees in mathematics concentrated in actuarial science. Roughly 30% of entering freshman have sufficient preparation in mathematics (as measured by the mathematics placement examination) to complete this program in four years.
In fact, actuarial science has been the most popular option within UWM's Mathematics Major for many years. (Other options are Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Computational Mathematics, and Statistics.) At the Fall 2000 UWM Open House there were about 12 inquiries about the program. To put this in perspective, this exceeded the number of all other inquiries concerning either Mathematics or Atmospheric Science (housed within the Department).
The job market for actuaries has been strong and the outlook continues to be good for graduates. In January 2001 a search of the SOA Job Link showed 55 openings posted in the previous 60 days. All of the Department's recent actuarial graduates are employed as actuaries.
In Fall 2000 alone the Department had five inquiries by companies for graduates from our program, even though the program is virtually invisible. The number of inquiries the Department receives from recruiters suggests strongly that the program at UW-Madison does not graduate enough students to meet the industry's needs. This is further supported by the ease with which UWM's actuarial graduates find placement in industry.
The Department predicts that in five years time it can achieve enrollments on the order of 30 students in the Actuarial Major, around half that of UW-Madison, particularly as the program's visibility rises.
Thus when Trustmark Insurance Company in Lake Forest Illinois wanted to interview candidates for actuarial positions at UWM, its representatives contacted the School of Business. The School could not provide them with any undergraduate candidates and did not contact the Mathematical Science Department or refer Trustmark to us.
The insurance industry is well-represented in Wisconsin, particularly in the Milwaukee area, and the Department has had considerable success in the past in placing its students in both permanent positions and internships. Its graduates are already well-thought of in industry, but program visibility is needed to increase their numbers.
This program represents a tangible way for the Mathematical Sciences Department to contribute to the Milwaukee Idea by fostering cooperation between UWM and the business community. Approval of this major will demonstrate an institutional commitment to the actuarial program, which will allow the Department to pursue endowed positions such those that exist at UW-Madison. Our growing relationship with the local actuarial industry is exemplified by our selection to participate in the Northwestern Mutual Life Actuarial Scholarship Program (beginning in 2000), and by an offer from a management consulting firm based in Milwaukee to explore arrangements by which it would pay students' SOA examination fees. A local actuarial consulting firm has offered to help financially in recruitment.
An important benefit to the University will be to attract more students having superior mathematics preparation. The proposed major is also an opportunity to recruit out-of-state students to UW-Milwaukee as there seems to be a shortage nationwide of actuarial programs.
A low pass rate for the Course 1 examination reported by the SOA in 2000 (after its new examinations went into effect) suggests that many schools delayed making the appropriate changes in their programs. UWM's actuarial graduates continue to do well, and may be expected to be highly competitive in the job market. This is therefore a propitious time for UWM to elevate this program to a major.
This is the only program in Actuarial Science at UWM. It differs from that at UW-Madison in two important respects:
UWM and UW-Madison have the only actuarial programs in Wisconsin which the SOA labels ``Undergraduate - Advanced (Curriculum covers all topics on first two CAS/SOA exams plus 12 semester hours of topics on third and fourth)'' (http://www.soa.org/academic/schoollist.html). Indeed, there are only 57 such programs in all of North America. There are also programs at UW-Whitewater and UW-Superior labeled ``Undergraduate - Introductory (Curriculum covers all topics on the first CAS/SOA exam, and includes intro. math of finance and micro/macro economics courses)''. These programs do not lead to a bachelor's degree, but do prepare students for the the first examination. They are not comparable in scope to the proposed major, and will not be discussed further.
There are programs comparable to the proposed major at
Nationwide there are fewer than 60 programs which prepare students for the first two actuarial examinations. (See http://www.soa.org/academic/schoollist.html for a list.)
There is no funding requirement beyond the current funding currently available to the Mathematical Sciences Department. The program itself is already in existence. No additional library or other resources are required for it. While classroom space is generally tight, no additional classroom space or other capital expenditure is required by this proposal.
No new courses are currently being proposed for the major, and existing courses can be taught with current faculty. Additional hires for actuarial science would of course free faculty to cover other Departmental needs while allowing the development of new courses and the more frequent offering of existing courses as needed. It should be noted that it is typical for established programs in this field to have positions endowed by industry. For example, UW-Madison has two such endowed positions. The Department is eager to explore this possibility once this major is approved.
It is possible that a demand will develop for a master's level program in Actuarial Science (about 5 inquiries a year are received for such a program now). Such a program would require additional faculty to provide expertise currently lacking in the Department or elsewhere on campus.