|
|
FFIC representatives and interns participating in Fireman’s Fund Internship program:
(standing) Jeanette Kramer; Chad Lew; Fergus Cooke; Dan Liberatore,Director of systems, FFIC; Dave Snyder, Vice President, Claims Systems, FFIC; Sara Hollister; Kyle Otsuji. (sitting) Laura LeClerc;Tara Repka; Frank Reale (missing participants: Ben Holland, Vansai Kitaveelan). (photo Sharon Monck) |
Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (FFIC), one of the top twenty insurers in the country and a subsidiary of one of the top five insurers in the world, recently established the Fireman's Fund Internship at California State University, Chico.
The internship program began as a pilot program in July under the aegis of Professor Ben Martz, Management Information Systems. Martz coordinated with executives from Fireman's Fund to produce a "meaningful working partnership linking business and academia."
All interns are paid and are required to work ten hours a week and attend a team meeting. Academic work is incorporated into the project for those students who wish to take MIS 189 for a grade. Papers, topics selected by FFIC, professional presentations, and two team project reports are required class work.
Fireman's Fund staff at their Novato headquarters prepare detailed specifications and change orders, which are electronically sent to team leaders. The work is logged by the project leaders, assigned to team members for completion and unit testing, and then sent back to Fireman's Fund for final qualitative analysis and implementation. The assignments include formulating business solutions through the use of technology in several areas: corporate financial, claims, underwriting, and actuarial (statistical) functions.
The partnership between FFIC and the College of Business has provided not only real world experience and financial assistance for the students but also a generous donation of hardware and software to the college.
Sharon Monck