RISK MANAGERS HEAD BACK TO CAMPUS

NEW YORK-A few of the nation's top risk managers will be heading back to college as the Spencer Educational Foundation Inc. introduces its Risk Manager in Residence Program.

"With the current flow and downsizing of business, it would be an opportune time to teach the risk management discipline as very much a part of the corporate world," said Angela Sabatino, secretary and administrator of the New York-based foundation, which promotes risk management education.

The program, which will be rolled out as early as November with a risk manager lecturing at each of four universities, is the brainchild of the late Anita Benedetti, who was president of the foundation from 1985 until 1996, and James V. Davis, chairman of the foundation's Education Committee and chairman and chief executive officer of Willis Corroon Advanced Risk Management Services in Nashville, Tenn.

For the two to three days the risk managers are on campus, undergraduates majoring in business and finance will meet them through a series of lectures, question-and-answer sessions and informal dinner discussions. Topics will be selected jointly by the universities and the risk managers in an effort "to share what the real day-to-day, hands-on experience (of a risk manager) is," Ms. Sabatino said.

Georgia State University in Atlanta, Northeastern University in Boston, Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield and the University of Georgia in Athens were chosen from more than 100 universities throughout the United States and Canada, based on proposals that Ms. Sabatino described as "appearing the most productive and all-inclusive." Each university was granted $3,500 for travel, housing and other expenses related to the Risk Manager in Residence program.

These universities will assist in selecting risk managers, which should be completed by the end of the summer and announced in September. The foundation is looking for risk managers with at least 10 years' work experience who ideally have teaching experience in the Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter or Associate in Risk Management programs and good communication skills. Participants also must be able to spend two to three days on a college campus.

Resumes or recommendations of potential qualified candidates are due July 18 to the Education Committee, Spencer Educational Foundation Inc., 655 Third Ave., 2nd Floor, New York, N.Y. 10017. Address all resumes to Angela Sabatino.