Blogs

Don’t Gamble with Lithium-Ion Battery Risks

By URMIA Staff posted yesterday
Learn information that can help keep your campus safe Implement Precautions on Your Campus Lithium-ion batteries have become nearly invisible in daily life, powering our phones, scooters, laptops, tools, research equipment, electric vehicles, and even large-scale energy storage systems. Yet as their presence expands on college and university campuses, so does the urgency to understand and manage the risks they pose. In URMIA’s Best of the Annual Conference webinar series, Yale University’s Janitza Matta and Gallagher’s Donna Settle delivered a comprehensive, highly practical session on lithium-ion battery safety, covering everything ...

URMIA Member Profile: Hannah Shelton, YoPro Community Co-Champion

By URMIA Staff posted yesterday
Get to know a fellow member who is on the leadership team for our YoPro Community A Look at Hannah’s Risk Management Role Hannah Shelton is a risk analyst for the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She’s been an URMIAn for a little over a year and just recently joined the YoPro Community’s leadership team helping plan and facilitate community events, bringing another perspective to the group. Let’s get to know Hannah outside of her risk management role. Tell us about your path to higher ed risk management. Did you grow up wanting to be a risk manager? My path to higher ed risk management has been ...

Institutional Profiles of Risk Management - Part 12

By URMIA Staff posted 28 days ago
Discover what the risk management function/structure looks like at other URMIA member institutions If You’ve Seen Two Institutions’ Risk Management Structure… Modifying our favorite phrase from Gary Langsdale, an URMIA past president and former assistant vice president & university risk officer at Penn State University, we would complete the header to say “you’ve seen two institutions’ risk management structure.” We’re sharing the risk management profile of URMIA institutional members to help you see how others are structured and find some fellow URMIAns that you might want to connect with because you have a question about how they operate. This month's ...

In Their Own Words: What URMIA Scholarship Recipients Took Home from the 2025 Annual Conference

By URMIA Staff posted 28 days ago
Read what first-time attendees though about the conference and what they’re doing back at home Helping Risk Managers Continue to Grow and Thrive As you may have noticed in URMIA’s 2025 Impact Report , the association was able to present more scholarships to help members attend our 2025 Annual Conference. These scholarships were awarded to URMIA members who had not attended an annual conference prior to the 2025 event. Impressions from Their Conference Attendance Here’s what some of the scholarship recipients shared about what they discovered at the conference. “What I valued most were the connections with other URMIA members. ...

Top Compliance Risks in Higher Education in 2026

By URMIA Staff posted 28 days ago
Note these risks that are likely to impact your institution in the coming year Risks That Fellow URMIAns Are Expecting to Spend Time on This Year URMIA’s Compliance Community posted a survey at the end of 2025 asking for the top compliance risks expected in 2026. While it may not have been the largest survey response, the list of these top risks is still relevant to the entire URMIA membership. As one can imagine, the top risks vary by institution size. Here’s a snapshot of the results based on institution size. What These Risks Mean for Institutions Overall, the top 11 compliance risks identified for the coming year ...

Balancing Innovation and Risk: A Strategic Imperative for Higher Education

By URMIA Staff posted 12-16-2025
Review a new tool designed to promote collaboration across IHE departments Pursuing Strategic Innovation Institutions of higher education (IHEs) today face a complex landscape marked by shifting demographics, fluctuating enrollment, evolving compliance mandates, shrinking federal funding, budgetary pressures, workforce reductions, and mounting deferred maintenance. To remain resilient and relevant, IHEs must pursue strategic innovation—exploring new opportunities that strengthen institutional sustainability and mission alignment. Yet every meaningful innovation carries an element of uncertainty. The challenge for risk professionals ...

Institutional Profiles of Risk Management - Part 11

By URMIA Staff posted 12-16-2025
Discover what the risk management function/structure looks like at other URMIA member institutions If You’ve Seen Two Institutions’ Risk Management Structure… Modifying our favorite phrase from Gary Langsdale, an URMIA past president and former assistant vice president & university risk officer at Penn State University, we would complete the header to say “you’ve seen two institutions’ risk management structure.” We’re sharing the risk management profile of URMIA institutional members to help you see how others are structured and find some fellow URMIAns that you might want to connect with because you have a question about how they operate. ...

Welcome URMIA’s Newest Members of the Board of Directors

By URMIA Staff posted 11-17-2025
Meet the five new members joining the board and three who are taking on new roles Get to Know the URMIA Leadership As we start a new “governance year” for URMIA, we want to help you get to know those who are leading the organization for the 2025-2026 year. For more information on our leadership, check out URMIA’s Board of Directors home page and our posts on social media ( Facebook , Instagram , and LinkedIn ). Miguel Delgado, President of URMIA Miguel is taking over the presidency after serving as president-elect for URMIA last year. He has served on the board of directors since 2021 and has been in higher ed risk management for ...

Institutional Profiles of Risk Management - Part 10

By URMIA Staff posted 11-17-2025
Discover what the risk management function/structure looks like at other URMIA member institutions If You’ve Seen Two Institutions’ Risk Management Structure… Modifying our favorite phrase from Gary Langsdale, an URMIA past president and former assistant vice president & university risk officer at Penn State University, we would complete the header to say “you’ve seen two institutions’ risk management structure.” We’re sharing the risk management profile of URMIA institutional members to help you see how others are structured and find some fellow URMIAns that you might want to connect with because you have a question about how they operate. ...

Collaboration, Strategic Planning, and Communications’ Roles in Building Disaster-Resilient Campuses

By Susan Liden, DRM posted 11-17-2025
Access resources from the DRU Summit and the DRU Network’s Initiatives Strategies for Enhancing Campus Resilience This past April, Carol Rehnberg, director of risk management at Western Washington University; Jacob Sajinyan, director of risk management at Washington State University; and I represented URMIA at the 2025 National Disaster Resilient Universities (DRU) Network Summit at the University of Oregon, Portland campus. The summit brought together more than 50 experts and practitioners from institutions of higher education. It provided participants with the opportunity to discuss enterprise risk management and emergency management and ...

Contemporary Perspectives in Higher Education: Insights from the NODA Annual Conference

By Michelle J. Smith, CAE posted 11-17-2025
Explore some of the key takeaways from the opening session and how it could impact risk management A Quick Look at Some of the Rapid Pace of Changes in Higher Ed A recent session at the NODA Annual Conference brought together four experts to explore the evolving realities of higher education and student affairs through intersecting lenses of technology and AI, neurodiversity, student development, and the intergenerational workforce. Panelists included Dr. Anzar Khaliq (San Francisco Bay University), Dr. Corey Seemiller (Wright State University), Dr. Jason Garvey (University of Vermont), and Dr. Chris Truong (Towson University). ...

Finding a Smart Way to Say Yes

By Miguel O. Delgado, MBA, CPCU, CRM, ARM, ARM-P, AINS posted 11-17-2025
Discover President Miguel Delgado’s charge for URMIA over the next year A Road Not Considered When I first joined URMIA, I didn't exactly picture this. As a matter of fact, I didn't picture it at all. Back then, I was just trying to figure out what risk appetite meant and wondering if I could still have dessert after the conference session was over. But as I look around this room at the annual conference, I realize something pretty special. URMIA has been one of the most meaningful parts of my professional journey. URMIA has been my professional home base, my classroom, and at least more than once, it has been my therapy session. We ...

Digital Defense: Covering Your Cyber Risk

By URMIA Staff posted 10-28-2025
Decipher what policy/policies cover your institution against cyber risks You Can’t Afford Not to Evaluate and Manage Cyber Risks Measuring online risk is a daunting task, with the depths of the internet being seemingly endless and new reports of cyber-related attacks surfacing regularly. Assessing cyber risk – that is, exposure associated with computers, electronics, or communication systems – seeks to protect a broad scope of information, ranging from personal identifying information (birth dates, social security numbers, credit card numbers, fingerprints) to corporate and institutional data (financial records, contracts, student files, ...

A Year of YoPro

By URMIA Staff posted 10-28-2025
Take a look back at what the YoPro Community has accomplished in such a short time Upping the YoPro Community Game at Annual Conference Reflecting on the past year with the Young Professionals (YoPro) Community, we feel a deep sense of gratitude and excitement for what lies ahead. After spending months connecting virtually, sometimes monthly and sometimes more frequently, we finally gathered in person with fellow YoPro members at the URMIA Annual Conference earlier in October. This was an incredibly meaningful milestone for the YoPro group, as after a year of planning and connecting online, we were finally able to meet and talk in person. ...

Celebrating 15 URMIAns as Our 2025 Award Recipients

By URMIA Staff posted 10-28-2025
Meet our award winners recognized at the most recent annual conference Members Earn High Honors for Contributions to Higher Ed Risk Management Fifteen URMIA members were recognized during the 2025 Annual Conference in Las Vegas for outstanding achievements and service to the organization. Here’s who we celebrated as our 2025 award recipients. Emerging Risk Professional Award Two members were awarded the Emerging Risk Professional Award in the award’s second year of existence. This award recognizes members in the early stages of their career in higher education risk management who have made contributions to and impacts on URMIA. Inaugural ...

A Big Thank You for a Job Well Done

By URMIA Staff posted 10-28-2025
Help us congratulate the members of the URMIA Board of Directors who have completed their terms of service for the association A Look at URMIA Leaders Completing Their Terms of Office Four loyal URMIA members have served the organization on the URMIA Board of Directors and saw their terms conclude during the 2025 Annual Conference in Las Vegas. Craig McAllister, University of Miami As immediate past president, Craig McAllister finishes up eight years on the URMIA Board of Directors having served the last three years as president-elect, president, and immediate past president. He also chaired the Leadership Development Committee ...

Institutional Profiles of Risk Management - Part 9

By URMIA Staff posted 10-28-2025
Discover what the risk management function/structure looks like at other URMIA member institutions If You’ve Seen Two Institutions’ Risk Management Structure… Modifying our favorite phrase from Gary Langsdale, an URMIA past president and former assistant vice president & university risk officer at Penn State University, we would complete the header to say “you’ve seen two institutions’ risk management structure.” We’re sharing the risk management profile of URMIA institutional members to help you see how others are structured and find some fellow URMIAns that you might want to connect with because you have a question about how they operate. ...

Storms Ahead: How Higher Education Can Mitigate 2025 Risks and Challenges

By URMIA Staff posted 10-28-2025
Understand the need to embed risk oversight more deeply into your planning and governance Drawing on Insights from Two Recent Reports Higher education is at a critical juncture in 2025, navigating an environment shaped by financial uncertainty, political disruption, and operational complexity. The National Association of College and University Business Officers' (NACUBO) report, “ State of Higher Education: Top 5 Business Issues of 2025 ” highlights the risks higher education institutions face—and the actions leaders can take to manage these risks as proactively as possible and strengthen resilience. “ The State of Risk Oversight ” report, ...

Three Honored as Distinguished Risk Managers at URMIA Annual Conference

By URMIA Staff posted 10-12-2025
Get to know the organization’s newest Distinguished Risk Manager awardees Award Recognizes Outstanding Leadership and Service to URMIA, Risk Management Congratulations to Julie L. Groves, Wake Forest University’s director risk services; Fitzroy A. Smith, Howard University’s assistant vice-president, compliance, safety & enterprise risk management; and David Parker, Pima Community College's executive director, ERM, ethics & compliance, title IX coordinator as they were each selected as recipients of the 2025 Distinguished Risk Manager Award (DRM). This high honor signifies the profound respect of one's peers. It recognizes outstanding ...

URMIA Honors Phillip Dendy with Larry V. Stephens Lifetime Achievement Award

By URMIA Staff posted 10-12-2025
Learn about Dendy's contributions to URMIA throughout his risk management career Phillip Dendy Receives Organization's Fourth-Ever Larry V. Stephens Lifetime Achievement Award Phillip B. Dendy was awarded the Larry V. Stephens Lifetime Achievement Award at URMIA's 2025 Annual Conference, which makes him only the fourth recipient of the organization's highest member recognition since its inception – the first awardee being to its namesake. Dendy serves as the chief compliance and risk officer for the University of Texas System (UT System). In this role, he is responsible for the oversight and direction of three departments: the Office of Risk Management, ...