Joan T. Schmit is the vice dean of the Wisconsin School of business and professor of risk management and insurance. In her administrative role, she has been responsible for the execution of our strategy across people, programs, and internal administrative operations, serving as the chief academic and operations officer of the school.

She holds the American Family Insurance Chair in Risk Management and Insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she has been on the faculty since 1988. Schmit also serves as an affiliate faculty member in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and in the insurance program at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Prior to joining the faculty at UW-Madison, Professor Schmit spent four years on the faculty at the University of South Carolina.

Schmit has published extensively in insurance and legal journals. Her area of expertise is the interaction of law and economics in an insurance and risk management context, primarily focused on the effects of tort law. Recently, she has expanded her research into the enterprise risk management field, including projects sponsored by the Casualty Actuarial Society and Society of Actuaries, as well as a variety of other papers on the topic.

Additionally, Joan serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Risk and Insurance and is active in the International Insurance Society. She also holds the designation of Research Fellow with the China Center for Insurance and Social Security Research at Peking University.

Joan's research has appeared in numerous industry publications, including: Advances in Consumer Research, CPCU Journal, Financial Practice and Education, Insurance Risk Management & Public Policy, Issues in Bank Regulation, Journal of Insurance Regulation, Journal of Products Liability, Journal of Risk and Insurance, Marquette Law Review, Proceedings of the International Insurance Society, Risk Management and Insurance Review, The Defense Law Journal, and Waste Management and Research.

The program in risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has existed since 1938 and currently is ranked second among all programs in the United States. Our alumni list is long and of very high quality, including insurance company, brokerage, and consulting executives in both life and non-life business. Faculty members equally shine in leadership positions, including four prior presidents of the American Risk and Insurance Association.