Wharton faculty approve dual degree, minor

The Wharton Faculty Committee approved a dual degree program in Nursing and Health Care Management and a University Minor in Actuarial Mathematics earlier this week. The new dual degree program combines courses from the Wharton School of Business and the School of Nursing. "Health care is a very hot field right now," Wharton Undergraduate Dean Richard Herring said. "Students are likely to be policy makers and will also be highly sought after a whole range of businesses from pharmaceutical companies to management consulting firms." Currently, Wharton has two other dual degree programs -- the International Studies and Business program with the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Management and Technology program with the School of Engineering and Applied Science. The M&T; program has more than 60 students enrolled each year, while ISP enrolls about 30 students. But because the Nursing School has the fewest students of the four undergraduate schools, Herring said he expects the new program to enroll only four to five people in each graduating class. The program will be first available to students applying to the University's class of 2001. "It will be very parallel to the M&T; program because it's a very complicated curriculum you have to go through," Herring said. The program requires its students to take 43 classes for 47 credits in four years. Additional courses from the College can be taken for elective credit. But students may have to take courses over the summer to complete the program on time, Herring said. No new faculty will be needed to staff the dual degree curriculum, although a capstone course has been created specifically for the program, he added. The University Minor in Actuarial Mathematics combines Risk Management and Insurance courses from Wharton with Mathematics classes in the College. "It got enthusiastic support and it will be our first genuine University Minor that Wharton has participated in," Herring said. University Minors are joint programs between departments in two different schools. The College Faculty Committee approved the Actuarial Mathematics minor last month. "It really seems to be the thing to do from everyone's perspective," Wharton Insurance and Actuarial Science Professor Jean LeMaire said. Members of the Class of 1997 will be the first able to graduate with an Actuarial Mathematics minor. "I was taking Insurance classes last year, just to say that I had classes in actuarial science," College junior Mark Gegenbach said. "But now, I can actually put it down on my resume that I have an Actuarial Science minor."