RPLU PROGRAM DEVELOPS TEST FOR PART ONE

The Registered Professional Liability Underwriter designation now can be attained with tests provided solely by PLUS, thanks to the addition this year of Part One. The first tests offering Part One will be given in December of this year. The textbook for Part One was available in July. Up until this time, Part One requirements could be met only by waiver, which included general liability parts of CPCU and CIC exams and others. Students still can meet Part One requirements through waiver as well as by taking the newly developed test. Currently, 67 students have taken Parts 2 through 5 and still need the Part One waiver.

The RPLU program has been an unparalleled success. Nearly 1,500 students currently are enrolled in the program. As of the last conferment date in November of 1997, there were 187 designees. Currently, there are 96 designees who will be awarded the designation at the annual PLUS conference in Palm Springs, bringing the total to 283 RPLUs to date.

The Part One textbook for the five-part RPLU program was developed in cooperation with and published by the International Risk Management Institute (IRMI) in Dallas. Materials used in the text were reviewed by the PLUS Education Committee and other professionals in the industry.

Education Committee Chair Ray Wahl, senior vice president, Executive Risk, said, "The entire committee worked long and hard, along with our academic advisors, to develop Part One. That was the big goal we set for this year."

He added a "special word of thanks to Deb Ropelewski, chair of the Academic Subcommittee, and Pat Francis, chair of the Testing and Grading Subcommittee. Not only did they spend many hours working to make Part One a reality, they did not miss a beat in staying on top of their other responsibilities for the program."

In addition to development of Part One, the Education Committee also has been working to put together an industry review panel to complement the academic advisory panel already in place. The academic panel includes professors from several different schools, Wahl notes. The industry panel will balance the academic side. Both panels will review test questions.

Wahl points out that "we're trying to assemble the industry panel over the next several months so it will be ready by the end of the year." He says the panel will be made up of people who are dealing with professional liability on a day-to-day basis and will be able to balance the academic side with their perspective. *