University of Oregon Risk Management will host its first Risk Summit on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The one-day seminar will focus on timely topics in higher education risk management, featuring speakers from the UO campus.

“We are trying to promote a risk-aware culture without creating a risk-adverse climate,” said Andre Le Duc, Director of UO Enterprise Risk Services. “This means that we need to become more aware of the risks we encounter every day, and we need to mitigate those risks reasonably and strategically.”

The UO Office of Risk Management aims to protect the university by identifying risks, analyzing and controlling exposures, mitigating risks and financing losses. The university may experience loss through a variety of situations including loss of property, loss of human resources, financial loss or reputational loss.

“Every department at the University has the potential to experience loss, but they also have the ability to create a more resilient institution,” said UO Risk Manager Deb Donning. “The Risk Summit is intended to bring several topics together that impact our work across departments.  Everyone will have something to offer and something to gain.”

The Risk Summit will include a series of interactive, collaborative workshops and discussions; lunch will be provided. Topics of discussion include preventing property loss, compliance with FERPA (Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act), the UO insurance program, public employment laws, reporting responsibilities, business travel, records retention and business continuity planning.

UO employees are encouraged to register on the ODT website.

- by Sarah MacKenzie, UO Office of Strategic Communications intern