Some photos from the
Math Department Seminar
The Actuarial Life
Monday, April 5, 1999

See the announcement for other details of the seminar.

Here is Kevin Harbin, 1996 LSUS graduate from the Mathematics program. He has returned to tell us of his life after graduation (yes, there is one). In fact, he seems very happy in his job as actuary in Dallas, at Mercer, Inc.

Kevin seems to have their attention. This could have been when he was talking about how well his background as an LSUS math major has helped him in his career thus far.
Or maybe this was when he was talking about his salary. The starting salary of an actuary with a Bachelor's degree is comparable to the salary of his professors with Ph.D.'s!
The place is packed! Everyone comes to see local boy made good.
John Gibson is an actuary with Werntz and Associates in Shreveport.
Make that the actuary in Shreveport, and the only one in a 200 mile radius. He taught our course in Actuarial Mathematics last year. Kevin told us about life as a new actuary, while John represents someone who is been in the business a bit longer. We mentioned that the starting salary of an actuary is pretty decent, but space does not permit us to reveal how well John is doing (too many digits).
We watched a movie about actuaries and found that actuaries come from all sorts of backgrounds.
They all seemed like pretty nice people. And why not? The job of actuary is usually ranked in the top five, when considering factors such as salary and working conditions. Low stress and good money usually make people seem pretty nice.
These guys are transfixed!
This must be the part where Kevin told everybody about all the grueling exams he has to take as he moves up the actuarial ladder. The two students in front seem particularly ... fascinated? (David Fletcher, a Mathematics major, is the one on the right. We think the fellow on the left is a Business major who infiltrated the talk. Maybe he is thinking of changing his major to Math.)

Thanks, Kevin and John!