Teaching and research as it relates to risk management and insurance has been a hallmark of the Culverhouse College of Business for over a century, ever since the College’s inaugural dean, Dr. Lee Bidgood, taught its first insurance course in 1921.
The College would eventually become home to the International Insurance Society (IIS) Insurance Hall of Fame in 1987, thanks to the leadership of Dr. John Bickley, a professor at Culverhouse renowned for his teaching excellence and industry relationships and the first to hold the Alabama Insurance Industry Chair of Insurance. The International Insurance Society, based in New York City, is the world’s most prestigious industry organization. Members represent global insurance leaders, international regulatory authorities, and worldwide insurance scholars from over 90 countries.
With the founding support of over 400 individuals and companies from 50 countries, the purpose of the Insurance Hall of Fame was and continues to be to honor fundamental innovation in the insurance industry.
In 1992, the College opened the Insurance Hall of Fame Museum in Mary Hewell Alston Hall; the building also features the Insurance Hall of Fame Classroom. That same year, the Insurance Hall of Fame Portrait Gallery was established within the aforementioned classroom to house the Hall of Fame Laureate portraits collection in cooperation with the International Insurance Society.
In 2015, Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co., whose North American subsidiary Protective Life Corporation is located in Birmingham, Ala., established the Insurance Hall of Fame endowed support fund. Recently, the Insurance Hall of Fame, Portrait Gallery, and select museum artifacts were relocated to the Don James Quiet Study in Culverhouse’s Hewson Hall, the new 108,000-square-foot building anchoring the western edge of The University of Alabama campus.
On October 10, 2023, insurance industry executives and Culverhouse leadership converged in Hewson Hall for a rededication of the historical collection in the new space that included a ribbon-cutting and remarks from Culverhouse Dean Kay Palan, Madeline Lang, president of Gamma Iota Sigma, Epsilon Chapter, an international professional fraternity for student interest in insurance, risk management, and actuarial science as professions, C. Dennis Hughes, Esq., chair of the Alabama Insurance Planning Commission, and Dr. Karen Epermanis, the John and Mary Louise Loftis Bickley Endowed Teaching Chair in Insurance and Financial Services.
Dr. Epermanis, in her remarks ahead of a champagne toast, said, “Let us celebrate and honor this Insurance Hall of Fame Museum with an appreciation of the accomplishments of those that have come before us, and let those accomplishments serve as an inspiration for students and future professionals in service to this industry and society.”
