The Board of Trustees has approved a new master's degree in insurance law, enabling the School of Law's Insurance Law Center to continue its effort to meet industry and academic needs.

"Hartford is the logical city and the Law School is the logical place for the serious and systematic study of all aspects of law that bear upon insurance specifically and risk and responsibility more generally," said Chancellor and Provost for University Affairs Mark Emmert. "The Law School established the Insurance Law Center to offer a curriculum in the field and to develop a program that would fit within the current entrepreneurial and strategic goals of the University."

Hugh Macgill, dean of the Law School, said the program is the first of its kind in the country.

"The LL.M. program will be the linchpin of the Insurance Law Center," he said. "Unique in the United States, it will establish the University and the School as the center for academic study of law and policy as they affect insurance throughout the world."

The one-year program will consist of 24 credit hours, including a master's thesis, and a minimum of 15 credit hours from the core insurance law courses. Those with a law degree or advanced degree in a related discipline from an accredited institution in the United States or the equivalent degree from a recognized foreign institution will be eligible for the program.

If approved by the state Board of Governors for Higher Education, the program will begin to enroll students in fall 1998. RKSA