In Fall 2017, as part of the 70th Anniversary of the teaching of insurance at the University of North Texas, the University reached a major milestone by hiring three noted scholars to join the program. The new scholars will join existing faculty members to elevate the program to national prominence. Among the new hires is Dr. Yu-Luen Ma who joins the faculty as the first holder of the Glen L. Taylor Professorship in Insurance.
About the Glen L. Taylor Professorship/Chair of Insurance
The Glen L. Taylor Professorship in Insurance represents the culmination of decades of fundraising by alumni and friends of the insurance program to provide support to recruit and retain scholars in the insurance discipline.
The Glen L. Taylor Chair in Insurance was established to honor Dr. Glen L. Taylor. Dr. Taylor’s UNT career began as an undergraduate student in 1947. After receiving a doctorate in insurance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Taylor returned to UNT where he worked for more than three decades as a professor in the UNT College of Business. During his career, Dr. Taylor was a noted scholar and dedicated teacher who prepared generations of students for the insurance industry.
Don Medlin, UNT alumni and President and CEO of Scarborough, Medlin & Associates, and Dr. John H. Thornton, Regents Professor Emeritus of Insurance, worked with supporters of the insurance program at UNT to raise funds for the Chair to honor Dr. Taylor and to support the insurance program at UNT.
Fundraising for the chair reached the level for a Professorship and Dr. Finley Graves, Provost of UNT, and Dr. Marilyn Wiley, Dean of the College of Business, decided that the time was right to recruit a nationally known scholar to the position.
“The College and the University are committed to have a nationally rated program in risk management and insurance,” said Provost Graves. “In order to do that we need an academic leader who can work with the insurance industry in Texas and beyond. As UNT continues to be a Tier 1 Research institution, the risk management and insurance program will lead the College in that direction. “
“It was the right time to fill the Professorship with a scholar of Dr. Ma’s prominence,” said Dean Wiley, “Along with the other new hires and the existing faculty the program will serve the research, teaching and service needs of the university and the industry. This new team of scholars shows the University’s commitment to the program and to providing new intellectual capital for teaching and research in the discipline.”
“We are continuing to fundraise actively,” said Dean Wiley. “With Dr. Ma in the Taylor Professorship we are certain that our alumni and supporters will step up to the plate to make the Professorship the department’s first fully funded chair.”
Learn More About the New Hires of F.I.R.E.L.