The Terry College of Business C. Herman Terry Risk Management and Insurance Program has established the Dr. Robert E. Hoyt Professorship in Risk Management and Insurance, recently approved by the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. This achievement is the result of a powerful collective effort by the RMI community, which came together to honor Hoyt’s decades of leadership, mentorship, and innovation.
The position honors Hoyt, the Dudley L. Moore, Jr. Chair of Insurance and former head of the Department of Insurance, Legal Studies, and Real Estate (ILSRE). Hoyt, who joined the University of Georgia in 1988, teaches corporate and enterprise risk management and briefly served as interim dean of the Terry College in 2007.
“We are thrilled to reach this important milestone,” said James Carson, the Daniel P. Amos Distinguished Professor of Insurance and current head of the ILSRE department. “This professorship ensures that Dr. Hoyt’s legacy of academic leadership, mentorship, and innovation will continue to shape the program he helped build. More than that, it honors the decades he spent guiding and mentoring students from all walks of life — students who have gone on to become leaders in our field. His influence on the culture and character of the RMI program is profound, and this professorship will carry that spirit forward.”
The campaign, officially launched last year, concluded 18 days after it began. In this short period, the RMI community raised an impressive $636,367 in private support, including $301,000 in cash contributions, with a total of $1 million secured through a combination of private gifts and matching funds from the Terry College and UGA. It drew support from 241 donors, including 12 major contributors and the Alliant Insurance Foundation, which provided the largest corporate gift.
“The Alliant Insurance Foundation is proud to support this investment in academic excellence and industry leadership,” said Aaisha Hamid, executive director of the Alliant Insurance Foundation. “Dr. Hoyt’s impact on the insurance profession is deep and enduring. We are honored to help preserve that legacy while supporting a program that plays a critical role in shaping future talent for our industry.”
The success of this initiative was truly a testament to the broad engagement and generosity of the RMI community, with six donors giving as much as Alliant and many others contributing at all levels. Mass solicitations played a key role, generating $45,000 from 91 unique donors and inspiring new and increased gifts, including four new donor-advised fund gifts totaling over $51,000.
Over more than three decades at UGA, Hoyt transformed the RMI Program into the nation’s top-ranked undergraduate insurance program. The newly established professorship will support continued innovation in faculty teaching, research, and student engagement, further reinforcing UGA’s leadership in risk management education and its impact across the insurance industry.
