umass gis - chapter manual
TRANSCRIPT
Table of Contents
A) CONTEXT
A.1) Snapshot A.2) Points of Pride A.3) Growth Potential
B) MISSION & HISTORY C) BENEFITS
C.1) Student Benefits C.2) Recruiter and Company Benefits C.3) Professional Society Benefits
D) MODEL STUDENT BRANCHES D.1) Temple University D.2) Terry College of Business (UGA)
E) CHAPTER STARTUP GUIDE E.1) Chartering Plan (short-version) E.2) Chartering Plan (long-version) E.3) Extensive List of Tasks E.4) Trello Project Board
F) ADDITIONAL RESOURCES G) CONCLUDING THOUGHTS H) CONTACT US
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A) CONTEXT
A.1) Snapshot
Gamma Iota Sigma
Risk Management, Actuarial Science, and Insurance International Collegiate Fraternity
“catalyzes student learning, networking, and professional development.”
“incubates & supplies talent for initial recruitment and lifelong success”
“fosters industry and professional society collaboration.”
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A.2) Points of Pride
Annual Membership of 2,400+ students More than 60 Collegiate Chapters (including many starting up) Over 20,000 Alumni
A.3) Growth Potential This organization is experiencing HIGH GROWTH and has excellent longterm potential. It is highlyregarded across the world. The following chapters chartered this year:
St. Mary’s University Columbia University
University of HoustonDowntown University of Colorado Denver
Noelle Codispoti, Executive Director, continues to successfully drive Gamma’s membership growth, industry network, and program offerings. She holds the title of Business Insurance’s 2013 Woman to Watch. Noelle and the rest of Grand Chapter are vigilant and will provide as much help as your school needs to become a successful chapter.
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B) MISSION & HISTORY We are a talent catalyst, offering professional development programming and resources to students and providing meaningful opportunities to connect its members to the insurance industry. Gamma Iota Sigma was incorporated in 1965.
It has the following mission statement:
1. promote, encourage, and sustain student interest in insurance, risk management, and actuarial science as professions
2. encourage the high moral and scholastic attainments of its members
3. facilitate interaction of educational institutions and industry through
networking and by fostering research activities, scholarship, and improved public relations
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C) BENEFITS
C.1) Student Benefits
Gamma helps give students an edge in a highlycompetitive job market. In the CareerXRoad and Silkroad 2014 reports, they highlighted the following:
About half of all jobs are filled by internal employee promotions this is mainly through employee referrals and career sites (see the visual below for the exact numbers)
Online sources produce a whopping 73% of external hiring
this is through job search engines and boards (see the second visual below for a break down)
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Top Hiring Methods for Companies
(Source: CareerXRoads Slideshow)
(Source: Silk Road)
Gamma provides the resources and network to tap into these.
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We do not, however, stop there. What our many student branches provide is continually evolving individual programming and fellowship that gives their students EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED TO SUCCEED PROFESSIONALLY. We value philanthropy and giving back to our communities: alma mater, younger professionals, and locally. These values—coupled with a genuine desire for professional fellowship—are what guide us and make us a fraternity rather than just another professional student society.
We were all inexperienced once and needed a guiding hand. Our chapter leaders, alumni, and industry leaders want to help our members grow. Also remember that all recruiters were once jobseekers—maintaining an ongoing dialogue with professionals helps you throughout this everevolving process (as unintuitive and scary as it might seem at first). Many of our chapters have close ties with local professional chapters. We work together to host fun events and drive forward mutuallybeneficial goals.
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As a registered member of GIS, you also receive FREE complimentary memberships to the following professional societies:
IAIP (International Association of Insurance Professionals) RIMS (The Risk Management Society) CPCU (Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters) PLUS (Professional Liability Underwriting Society)
C.2) Recruiter and Company Benefits You can research, post job ads, contact university professors, and do many other productive activities to attract talented students towards internship and then entrylevel positions. However, we all know that is not even close to as useful as ACTUALLY ASKING STUDENTS WHAT THEY WANT! As you most certainly know, good recruitment requires excellent communication and quality, replenishing talent pools to select from.
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Our chapters provide that for you. Industry can change rapidly and so does the preferences of job seekers. We forge strong, mutuallybeneficial relationships that offer you an ongoing dialogue and information source.
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In recent Risk & Insurance articles, eight leaders were recognized for their outstanding contributions towards employees and local communities.
Ross Pebley (above) has done the following:
Pebley has spoken with members of the Gamma Iota Sigma society for risk and insurance management students and also offers himself as a mentor for young colleagues at Marsh, sharing his experiences and insights as well as his love of learning. “I never stop learning,” said Pebley. “I always enjoy learning from people who work with various mediums in the entertainment industry. No one knows everything, but everyone knows something.” Building this kind of relationship benefits us all. Even speaker series, panels, or company information sessions are extremely valuable. They give you a unique opportunity to directly sell your brand & services.
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C.3) Professional Society Benefits Our members are eager to meet and interact with industry professionals.
Many of our student members are “clamoring” for exposure and to learn more about where your society fits into industry. If you inspire—and you will inspire quite a few—students to join your society, then that means a stronger membership base for years to come.
This relationship benefits everyone. Even speaker series, panels, or company information sessions are extremely valuable. They give you a unique opportunity to directly sell your brand & services.
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D) MODEL STUDENT BRANCHES
D.1) Temple University The Fox School of Business and Management holds a rich tradition, coupled with a strong professional network, which makes it a particularly distinguished Chapter of Gamma Iota Sigma.
Website Chapter Manual List of Chapter Activities
D.2) Terry College of Business (UGA) Consistently rated BEST (#1) Undergraduate Insurance and Risk Management program by U.S. News
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E) CHAPTER STARTUP GUIDE
E.1) Chartering Plan (short-version)
Decide on and clearly lay out chapter organization Recruit as many quality members as possible (10 required) Find a temporary meeting spot to host recruitment events Create a lineup of exciting, memorable, and useful events Find an interested adviser to actively support the club Obtain Official RSO Status Fulfill all GIS Requirements to Charter
E.2) Chartering Plan (long-version)
longer and more detailed chartering plan
E.3) Extensive List of Tasks
assortment of action items after the 2014 Leadership Conference
E.4) Trello Project Board
Archive Link
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F) ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
UMass Chapter GDrive (you can model it and download templates) Insurance Occupations Guide Master List of Insurance and Risk Management Resources
G) CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
Gamma Iota Sigma contained the most comprehensive explanations and links of resources that we have seen while browsing numerous college websites, industry educational resources, and club websites. GIS offers an enormous amount of resources and learning opportunities. The benefits clearly outweigh the possible costs here, so starting up a chapter is completely worthwhile.
A UMass Chapter could be an excellent springboard for students to launch into their careers. As one of the only potentially active chapters in New England, we have the potential to become a “powerhouse” for industry connected with GIS. We could leverage this to bring in many resources from Bostonbased companies and others in NE. There is a high potential for GROWTH with many possible (and hidden) rewards.
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For students especially, Gamma will give them a better opportunity
to meet industry professionals and alumni; additionally, GIS UMass can serve as a talent pool for industry to hire. Even in a slow market, companies still want to fill what few positions are available with highlyqualified candidates. Gamma would serve as a catalyst to grow and develop that professional skill within our membership. The focus will be on providing quality resources and programming to students to give them EXACTLY WHAT THEY NEED TO SUCCEED in this industry. There will also be an emphasis on communicating and building collaborative relationships with other Gamma chapters. We will seek to be highly communicative with GIS headquarters and will strongly push involvement with conferences & other international opportunities.
Creating a chapter will bridge a gap between the Math Department and other departments (e.g., Finance in Isenberg) and allow us to collaborate and share all of our resources together; for example, this will offer much more networking opportunities to math majors in the actuarial science track, provide UMass with a richer breadth of career programming, and overall make our program more competitive. Gamma will also give all of UMass access to an extremely helpful archive of career/academic resources, better quality programming, and an enormous network of industry professionals.
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We are forming at a time where UMass is also rapidly increasing its quality of programs. As of October 1st (2014), UMass is rated #91 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. This was an incredible year of growth where we rose 41 places in a single year. Our efforts in Gamma are focused on not only improving the quality of our departments, but also driving our university forward as a leader in public education.
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This coordination can help the Math department reach CAE Designation by filling any gaps in our actuary curriculum; for example, GIS could provide communication and presentation skill development, which is one element lacking from the Math Department’s current program. CAE designation makes the department eligible for grants in education and research—these are SIGNIFICANT GRANTS: they are multiyear ones in the $50,000$100,000 per year range.
For the Isenberg School of Business, forming this club would fill a glaring lack of any club dealing with the Insurance and Risk Management. Our improvements, contributions, and publicity will lead to higher enrollment and better quality applicants going to our school, which leads to a better quantity and quality of successful alumni. These successful alumni—which will also increase due to quality GIS programming—will cause Isenberg to have more valuable industry connections and higher donations. This will make Isenberg a more competitive business program for prospective students interested in the Insurance and Risk Management field, as the most highly ranked programs (e.g., UGA) often have a Gamma chapter.
If you are a student still on the fence about joining and helping create a Gamma Iota Sigma Chapter, I would HIGHLY recommend doing so. The experience of creating a new organization is like none other.
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Receiving your charter is an incredible feeling and an enormous accomplishment—it’s a moment that you’ll look back on with pride. Our alma mater will be grateful that YOU made this possible for them.
You’ll think, “Wow, I’m so glad I took the plunge on this opportunity. I
wouldn’t have had this amazing experience with everyone and gotten to where I am today without it.”
College is a great time to take risks, make lots of mistakes, and
build lifelong relationships. This is one venture where the payoff is well worth the time, effort, and uncertainty.
Cheers to your continual success,
Nick Fochtman (UMass GIS Founder)
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H) CONTACT US We are keen on collaborating with industry professionals and companies.
You are more than welcome to contact us for the following reasons:
Membership Inquiry Career Consulting (application process and personal advising) Sponsorship Interest Job Shadowing/Mentor/Company Tour Programs GIS Chapter Advice and Consultation Student Recruitment (Internships and EntryLevel) Joint Philanthropy, Fundraising, or Networking Events Educational, Personal Career, or Company Presentations/Panels We are open to any additional ideas you might have
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