State Farm Foundation gift to fund insurance center

A $100,000 grant from State Farm Insurance Companies Foundation will assist in establishing a Center for Insurance and Loss Control Education at Mississippi State.

The gift, payable over five years, will allow the College of Business and Industry to develop and further expand its insurance program, said Dr. Robert Hershbarger, holder of the Peter K. Lutken-Mississippi Chair of Insurance at Mississippi State.

State Farm officials presented the gift during the university's Annual Insurance Day activities.

"The State Farm Foundation decided to support the center because we feel it is a worthwhile project," said State Farm regional public affairs specialist Jennifer Lancaster of Birmingham, Ala. "We are trying to give back to the community some of what it has given us."

Hershbarger said the center will work with industry to reduce losses that affect the economy of the state. "The center's efforts will concentrate primarily on workshops and seminars involving loss control programs for all types of industries and organizations in the state," said Hershbarger.

Another goal will be to provide educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. "Insurance majors will relate most closely to center activities, but students of every discipline may interact with industries because of the center," he said.

State Farm agency manager and 1964 Mississippi State graduate Joe Hodges of Columbus learned of the need for the center through his membership on Hershbarger's Chair of Insurance advisory council.

"The establishment of the center will give Mississippi State something that no other university in this part of the South will have," he said.