By Glenn Klinksiek, URMIA's Resource and Education Manager.
URMIA has taken steps to bring value to retirees and hopefully gain their continued participation in URMIA activities. Retiree membership has always been available to anyone who is retired from full-time employment in higher education and the risk management profession at no cost. Retiree members have been permitted to serve on committees, participate in discussion groups, and attend conferences. But few have.
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By Keely Sims, Director of Membership and Events, URMIA.
Have you not been able to attend the URMIA Annual Conference before? Perhaps you did not have a budget allocation to attend. All URMIA members should consider submitting an application or nominating a colleague for a scholarship to the URMIA Annual Conference this year. URMIA’s Annual Conference scholarship program is designed to provide educational opportunities for higher education risk management professionals who have not previously attended the URMIA Annual Conference. The deadline for applications and nominations is July 1, 2016.
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By Anita Ingram, Assistant Vice President and Chief Risk Officer for University of Cincinnati, Co-Chair of the URMIA Honors Committee.
The URMIA Honors Committee is pleased to report on its efforts to fulfill the mission of URMIA. Gary Langsdale, risk officer for Pennsylvania State University, and myself have enjoyed serving URMIA as co-chairs of this committee. URMIA's Honors Committee is responsible for celebrating members' achievements with the Distinguished Risk Manager (DRM) award, Emeritus Member standing, and the Innovative Risk Management Solutions award. URMIA's entire membership helps the committee honor our association's champions by nominating our colleagues for consideration of each of these awards. The Honors Committee considers each nomination and selects members who are most suited for the various categories. Award recipients are acknowledged at the URMIA Annual Conference.
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We wrapped up another wildly successful series for our 2016 Regional Conferences in Baltimore in mid-May. The conference was attended by 80 participants, and the programming was stellar. Plans are now underway for the 2017 Regional Conference schedule, and our goal is to get the dates set before the URMIA Annual Conference and post a call for presentations by late-August. Look for some changes in 2017 with the addition of an overall education plan to provide a road map that guides URMIA in offering diverse programming that hits the many facets of higher education risk management. Read on to learn about URMIA's latest board meeting, our new sports camp insurance program, our special events insurance program, the latest on URMIA Annual Conference registration, and much more.
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Each month, this article provides some of the latest risk management resources, as well as a calendar of upcoming events, webinars, conferences and other learning opportunities in which you or your campus colleagues may be interested.
New risk management resources
- Emerging Issues in Managing International Programs at Institutions of Higher Education, National Center for Campus Public Safety (NCCPS). This report discusses the results of a project by the NCCPS, the Disaster Resilient Universities (DRU) Network, and the University of Oregon Community Service Center to identify and prioritize emerging international risk issues for higher education. The report details a preliminary set of recommendations to address these issues. The forum's observations and recommendations include a broad array of factors, tactics, and strategies. A series of core principles emerged, including:
- Universities have a variety of resources available for mitigating global programs risks.
- Universities must adapt to changing technology and regulation in global programs.
- Universities must instill a culture of compliance among faculty, students, and staff in global programs.
- Mental health is a key component of planning for global programs risks.
- Dear Colleague Letter on Transgender Students, US Department of Education (DOE). By now, most of you have heard about the Department of Education's latest "Dear Colleague" letter, released May 13, 2016, about bathroom access for transgender students. Also available for colleges and universities is the DOE's Examples of Policies and Emerging Practices for Supporting Transgender Students. The position of the DOE is controversial and may or may not stand over time. Regardless, every institution should be thinking about the institutional response and impact on sexual assault prevention programs, Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) compliance, and necessary physical plant modifications.
- "Tide of College Football Concussion Lawsuits Begins," The Chronicle of Higher Education. Recent news indicates that a wave of concussion lawsuits is about to begin. Former players seeking damages will be filing as many as 50 class-action lawsuits in the next several months contesting how the NCAA, major college football conferences, or individual schools handled concussions. The first six lawsuits were filed on May 17, 2016, and more will be coming soon.
- Institutionalizing the Clery Act at Institutions of Higher Education, National Center for Campus Public Safety (NCCPS). URMIA President Donna McMahon participated in a focus group in January 2016, and this report is the result. Under the Clery Act, all colleges and universities receiving federal funding must share information about crime on and around campus and their efforts to improve campus safety. They must also provide support for certain crime victims and disclose certain crime-related policies and procedures. However, the complexity of the legislation, resource limitations and changes in the Act have created considerable compliance challenges for many institutions of higher education (IHE). Public safety and compliance executives from colleges and universities, as well as representatives from professional associations, convened in November 2015 and January 2016 to discuss institutionalizing Clery compliance. Their goal was to help IHEs develop their cultures to manage compliance with the Clery Act from an institution-wide team approach, rather than something sequestered to a few compliance professionals at each IHE. The primary task was to determine what kinds of communications could make that growth occur. This report summarizes the focus group discussions and outlines the identified solutions, recommendations and conclusions.
- Guide to Implementing a Safety Culture, The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU). URMIA members were asked to share the risk management perspective on lab safety for this guide. This guide is a roadmap for a university-wide effort to strengthen a culture of research safety. The guide has action steps, resources and recommendations to help navigate the challenge of changing the culture of the institution. The URMIA Annual Conference will also feature a breakout session on this topic.
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Help us welcome our newest members, and see what professional updates your colleagues have to share from the last month.
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