page 2
‘The Fourth Wall
Currently
seeking
writers
The Fourth Wall is seeking
writers for all sections,
including sports and arts &
entertainment. We also
need general writers on
assignment and general
article writers. There are
openings for regular
columns, such as a political
column; humor column,
advice column, and
cartoons. All students are
welcome regardless of
«major. Writers are not
required to submit articles
on a regular basis.
To make this paper
successful, we need you to
participate by writing in
your opinions, concerns,
and comments. Interested
parties should send emails
to jmz5027 @psu.edu.
Students wishing to place
advertisements can
submit them to:
Jmz5027@psu.edu for
consideration. This is a
free service for students.
Statement
The Fourth Wall was
established to provide a |
responsible forum for
‘dialogue within the
student community and
for the free expression of
considered ideas; to build
‘community; to promote
student involvement in
activities and issues that
have an impact on
students’ lives; and to
disseminate information
~ about campus activities,
organizations and events.
This is our chance, as
students, to say what we |
By Ryan Kelly
Staff Writer
Last spring, the way safety was
handled here at Mont Alto
changed in a big way. As a result
of a risk management questionnaire
from University Park, it was decided
that Mont Alto should form a risk
with its specific risk management
issues.
Risk management may be an
unfamiliar term, but it can be
characterized - as effective
preparation for dealing with
situations involving loss. Risk
management can be broken down
in to three parts: Identifying risks;
implementing risk management
strategies; and monitoring the
results.
To identify risks, there are a
number of methods involved.
There is the use of flowcharts,
which help to track risk from
beginning to end; there are
questionnaires, from which a large
amount of generalized data can be
gathered; there are inspections
and interviews, which help pin-
point specific risks; and there are
charts, which help develop a view
as to how important a certain risk
may be. These methods are not
mutually exclusive, and all these
methods have been used here at
Mont Alto in developing our risk
management strategy.
Implementing risk management
strategies is somewhat less cut-
and-dry, but there are several
methods, including transferring
loss, controlling loss and avoiding
loss, which can be used and are
applied as appropriate. Finally,
monitoring the risk management
implementation looks at how
effective the policies implemented
were, and makes the necessary
changes to improve them.
According to Dr. Francis
Achampong, Director of Academic
Affairs and member of the Risk
Management Committee, risk
management “is an ongoing
process.”
Although it was at first suggested
that the Risk Management
Committee replace the Safety
Committee and various other
committee functions concerning
loss and centralize them, with a
subcommittee on safety, the Safety
Committee was left in place because
it is required by the University to
be a free-standing committee. The
seven member Risk Management
Committee is made up of
Achampong; Jim Sourbier, Chief of
Police; Ron Swope, Director of
Business Services; Andrea
Christopher, Director of Student
Affairs; and Linda Carl, a member
of the nursing faculty; Dan Mroz,
Director of IT; and Karen Kreger,
Director of housing and Food
Services. These individuals bring
together expertise in many areas;
Achampong is a former professor
of Business Law, Risk
Management, and Insurance, and
Linda Carl has knowledge of
disaster management. Also, each
individual on the committee is there
because their day-to-day tasks are
areas of great potential loss
exposure.
The committee attempts to view
risk holistically, which means they
consider all possible aspects of risk
when making policy to deal with
risk. This function of the committee
is termed Enterprise Risk
Management, in which all
operating aspects of the campus
are viewed as the “enterprise.”
Risk management is very
important, and not just for schools.
Businesses may have whole
departments devoted to risk
management, and risk management
is a key aspect of investing. Some
examples that apply to both are the
dramatic examples of loss of a
building due to fire, or the actions
of a hostile individual affecting
operations, or the more everyday
examples of dealing with an
outbreak of the flu and how that
affects operations or safe food
handling procedures to ensure
food is safe to eat. Risk
Management is even a highly
specialized profession, consisting
of people many of whom are known
as chartered property casualty
underwriters, and they are to
insurance what CPA’s are to
accounting. Of course, there is also
a trade journal in the field, the
Chartered Property Casualty
Underwriters Journal, which
further underscores the
importance of risk management.
From these examples we see that
risk management covers a wide
array of topics, and that the task of
formulating a comprehensive
policy is by no means an easy one.
This however, does not mean in any
way that the task has been done
here in a slip-shod manner.
According to Achampong, Risk
Management at University Park
has said that Mont Alto is “ahead
of all other campuses.” This is
certainly a point that students here
at Mont Alto can take both pride
and comfort in, as they have a
dedicated staff working towards
their benefit (the already busy
Achampong agreed to add this
committee to his workload) to
ensure that the campus is a safe
place.
Pennsylvania State University
has a number of policies already in
place; although these policies
cover many topics, a Risk
Management Committee
formulated-to deal especially with
issues specific to our campus is
beyond question in terms of its
need. These policies, for all those
interested may be found at http://
guru.psu.edu/policies/.
The culmination of the
Committee’s actions will result,
according to Achampong, in a
comprehensive report this spring
that covers all considered risks and
shows their priority. The committee
isn’t finished there, however, and
will continue to monitor its current
policies and change them as
needed, continually improving the
quality of risk management here at
Mont Alto.
SportSEdHor.............ei ooh indies i eR Aisa tase feiss
Advice Columnist......................... oni nc inistininaneas Bishk hotness es ieri i dn akue in daca ryan ions
BuSINCSS DUEECIOF. o.oo Gla Basie frst dents hbremest sntnidns Bias th shuns vobusnianl iin AAV ano
AAS Et hes ed sn eR ERAT Ae vera ee SR ye
Staff Writers: Steve Holland Jordan Martin
(sjh5056@psu.edu) (jkm241@psu.edu)
Alex Palmer Tony Arnold
(ajp263@psu.edu) (tja5022@psu.edu)
Erica Panico
(exp918@psu.edu)
Ryan Kelly
(rpk5022@psu.edu)
¥
Julius Little