James C. Hickman (August 27, 1927 – September 10, 2006) was an American actuary. He was internationally publicized for his work in actuarial education as well as being a major contribution in the development of the actuarial profession. He was a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of business and statistics and former dean of the

University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Business The Wisconsin School of Business (WSB) is the business school of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a public research university in Madison, Wisconsin and consistently ranks among the top business schools in the world. Founded in 1900, it has ...

Private life

James Hickman was born on August 27, 1927, in

Indianola, Iowa Indianola is a city in Warren County, Iowa, United States, located south of downtown Des Moines, Iowa. The population was 15,833 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Warren County. Indianola is home to the National Balloo ...

. His father (also named James C. Hickman) owned a small shop on the town's square. Hickman went to

Simpson College Simpson College is a private Methodist liberal arts college in Indianola, Iowa. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and has about 1,250 full-time and 300 part-time students. In addition to the Indianola residential campus, Simpso ...

where he earned his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in mathematics with an emphasis in actuarial science in 1950. From there he went on to the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 coll ...

to get his

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

mathematical statistics Mathematical statistics is the application of probability theory, a branch of mathematics, to statistics, as opposed to techniques for collecting statistical data. Specific mathematical techniques which are used for this include mathematical ...

in 1952. He earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

in 1961 from the

. In 1952, Hickman married his wife Margaret, with whom he had three children, Charles, Don and Barbara. He loved the outdoors and completed a number of bicycle tours through

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

and

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. He also enjoyed climbing mountains and worked briefly as a

forest ranger A ranger, park ranger, park warden, or forest ranger is a law enforcement person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Description "Parks" may be broadly defined by some systems in th ...

before entering academic life. After fighting

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

Hickman died on September 10, 2006, at the age of 79.

Professional life

He started as a part-time instructor at

in 1951. After obtaining his master's degree in 1952 Hickman worked briefly for Bankers Life Company in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

. He then went on to earn his

Doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

from the

in 1961. During this time he was working in their mathematics and statistics department and was named a full professor in 1967. He left UI after only five years as a full professor, and in 1972 he went to the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

. Later (in 1985) he would be named the dean of the School of Business at the

. He was dean until 1990 and left the

faculty in 1993. In 2006, then UW Business School Dean Michael Knetter said, "While research and academic work was Jim's passion, he also provided great leadership for the School of Business at a critical period when our alumni became more engaged and supportive of our efforts." He went on to say, "As dean, Jim was instrumental in the effort to develop, design and build Grainger Hall. He was a great role model for many of us and will be missed by the entire community." While serving as dean Hickman raised $40 million in support of a new building, Grainger Hall which was named after businessman David Grainger. He also was successful in initiating

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...

changes which included a major revision of the

M.B.A. A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accoun ...

program and the establishing of new programs in the

marketing research Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. The goal is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix i ...

and distribution management. James Hickman has written numerous articles. He was co-author of ''Actuarial Mathematics'' which is the center of the Society of Actuaries' education program. He was on the

board of governors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

of both

Beta Gamma Sigma Beta Gamma Sigma () is the International Business Honor Society. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and the University of California, it has over 980,000 members, selected from more than 600 collegiate chapters i ...

and the

Society of Actuaries The Society of Actuaries (SOA) is a global professional organization for actuaries. It was founded in 1949 as the merger of two major actuarial organizations in the United States: the Actuarial Society of America and the American Institute of A ...

(which he was also vice-president). He was a fellow of the

(or FSA), and an associate of the

Casualty Actuarial Society The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) is a professional society of actuaries specializing in property and casualty insurance. The two levels of CAS membership are Associate (ACAS) and Fellow (FCAS). Requirements for these levels of membership in ...

(or ACAS). Hickman has been involved with many organizations and advisory groups at the local, state, and national levels, sharing his expertise on a variety of issues, such as health care, workers' compensation, and

social security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

. He was the winner of the 1981 and 1984 Halmstad Prize of the Actuarial Education and Research Fund for best contributions to actuarial science literature. He also won the business school's 1985 Erwin A. Gaumnitz Distinguished Faculty Award for outstanding teaching, research and public service.

Notable books by James Hickman

* ''Finite Mathematics and Finite Mathematics with Calculus'', by

Robert V. Hogg Robert Vincent ("Bob") Hogg (8 November 1924 – 23 December 2014) was an American statistician and professor of statistics of the University of Iowa. Hogg is known for his widely used textbooks on statistics (with his 1963 Ph.D. student Elliot ...

, Ronald H. Randles, A.J. Schaeffer and James C. Hickman, Cummings Publishing, (1974) * ''Actuarial Mathematics'', by Newton L. Bowers, James C. Hickman,

Cecil J. Nesbitt Cecil James Nesbitt, Ph.D., F.S.A., M.A.A.A. (1912 – 2001) was a mathematician who was a Ph.D. student of Richard Brauer and wrote many influential papers in the early history of modular representation theory. He taught actuarial mathematics at ...

, Donald A. Jones and Hans U Gerber, Society of Actuaries, (May 1997) * ''The Old-Age Crisis: Actuarial Opportunities the 1996 Bowles Symposium'', by James C. Hickman, GA.) BOWLES SYMPOSIUM (1996 ATLANTA), Society of Actuaries (March 1999)

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hickman, James C. 1927 births 2006 deaths Deaths from cancer in Iowa People from Indianola, Iowa University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty American statisticians American actuaries Simpson College alumni