Program Overview
The PhD in Business Administration with a focus on Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) is designed to help students develop an understanding of both theoretical and applied aspects of insurance, risk management and employee benefits. The Terry College provides an excellent opportunity for those interested in pursuing a PhD in risk management and insurance. Some of the benefits of the Terry College include:
- Consistently highly ranked, the UGA RMI program is currently the top-ranked program in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
- A recent global study ranked the UGA RMI program among the top 10 universities in the world – and second among public universities — for the impact of its risk management and insurance research.
- Faculty members are among the top publishers in the premier risk management and insurance journal, the Journal of Risk and Insurance. View our departmental directory for a complete list of the faculty.
- RMI faculty have received numerous research awards from the Journal of Risk and Insurance, Risk Management and Insurance Review, Journal of Insurance Issues, the Journal of Insurance Regulation and others.
Contact
Preferred deadline: January 4
Applications after January 4 will also be considered until spots are filled
Prerequisites
Math Courses
- Calculus: Differential and integral
- Linear Algebra: A course elementary linear algebra is strongly recommended before taking doctoral level (8000 and 9000) courses.
Typical Course Sequence
Fall
- RMIN 7100: Fundamentals of Risk Management
- RMIN 9450/9550: Risk Management Seminar
- ECON 8000: Math for Economics (taken in Summer leading to Fall Semester)
- ECON 8010: Microeconomic Theory I
- ECON 8070: Stats for Econometrics
Spring
- RMIN 7120: Corporate Risk Management
- RMIN 9450/9550: Risk Management Seminar
- ECON 8080: Intro to Econometrics
- ECON/STAT/FINA Elective
Summer
- RMIN 9000: Doctoral Research
Placements
Graduates of the risk management and insurance program currently teach in leading risk management and insurance programs across the country including:
- Saul Adelman (1980 Graduate; Associate Professor of Finance at Miami University)
- David Cather (1985 Graduate; Clinical Professor of Risk Management at Penn State University)
- Robert Puelz (1990 Graduate; Dexter Trustee Professor of Risk Management at Southern Methodist University)
- Brenda Wells (1992 Graduate; Associate Professor and Director, Risk Management and Insurance Program at East Carolina University)
- Lee Colquitt (1995 Graduate; Professor and Chair, Department of Finance at Auburn University)
- William Ferguson (1995 Graduate; G. Frank Purvis, Jr./BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Insurance and Risk Management at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette)
- Randy Dumm (1998 Graduate; Professor of Research at Temple University)
- Tim Query (1999 Graduate; Mountain States Insurance Group Endowed Chair Holder and Associate Professor of Finance at New Mexico State University)
- Kathleen McCullough (2000 Graduate; State Farm Insurance Professor of Risk Management and Insurance and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research at Florida State University)
- Lars Powell (2002 Graduate; Director of the Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research at the University of Alabama)
- Ryan Lee (2001 Graduate; Initial Placement—University of Calgary)
- Cassandra Cole (2002 Graduate; Robert L. Atkins Professor in Risk Management and Insurance and Department Chair at Florida State University)
- Andre Liebenberg (2004 Graduate; Robertson Chair of Insurance and Associate Professor of Finance at the University of Mississippi)
- Enya He (2006 Graduate; Regional Director for Lloyd’s South Central U.S. Region)
- Joseph Ruhland (2006 Graduate; Chair and Associate Professor of Risk Management and Insurance at Georgia Southern University)
- Steve Miller (2010 Graduate; Associate Professor and Director, School of Risk Management and Insurance at University of South Florida)
- Leon Chen (2011 Graduate; Professor of Finance at Minnesota State University-Mankato)
- Jianren Xu (2014 Graduate; Assistant Professor of Finance at University of North Texas)
- In Jung Song (2016 Graduate; Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)
- Evan Eastman (2017 Graduate; Florida State University)
- Joshua Frederick (2019 Graduate; Ball State University)
- Jiyeon Yun (2019 Graduate; California State University-Northridge)
- Polin Wang (2020 Graduate; University of South Florida)