Financial and Acturarial Mathematics Program

Actuarial Science Program

Actuarial science is the mathematics of financial risk. Most applications are currently in insurance and employee benefits. Actuaries chart the course for insurance organizations and guide them through the changing environment. The insurance can be life, health, property or liability, and either private or social. The employee benefits can be for public or private employees in groups of from one to several hundred thousand employees.

There are 14,000 actuaries in North America, about 20% of these are in Canada. Of the 14,000, 45% are employed by insurance companies, 40% are employed in consulting firms, 9% are retired, 3% are in government work or academic institutions, and 3% are in miscellaneous employment. Among six organizations that represent actuaries in North America, there are two that engage principally in the development of ideas and require the passing of examinations for membership. About 85% of the actuaries belong to the one involved in life and health risks, and about 10% belong to the one of property and casualty risks.

Since the depression of the 1930's the demand for actuaries has been steady and extraordinarily high. It increased during the past twenty years as governments at all levels enacted laws and regulations that require actions and certifications of actuaries. In terms of salary, stress, work environment, outlook, security and physical demands, being an actuary was the top rated job overall in " The Jobs Rated Almanac " published by American References Inc. of Chicago in 1988. With the favorable publicity of this survey and the increasing exposure of actuaries by the new legal demands, interest in actuarial work is increasing at the entry level.

Actuarial science is a very exciting combination of mathematics, statistics, economics, finance, accounting, computers, law and language. It provides a rewarding career to those who have interest and aptitude in a majority of these areas. While not all actuaries were mathematics majors in college, almost all of them took course work that would have qualified them for a degree in the mathematical sciences. For more information about training and careers in Actuarial Science, go to the website of the Society of Actuaries, www.soa.org. At Oregon State University actuarial studies are centered in the Department of Mathematics where they are administered by Dr. Mina E. Ossiander, Dr. Enrique Thomann, and Dr. Edward C. Waymire.