Office of Risk Management earns national recognition for enhancing student safety abroad

Purdue University’s Office of Risk Management (ORM) has received national praise for its efficiency in locating and assessing the safety of students abroad in the international arena of political unrest.

ORM, which is housed within the Office of Legal Counsel, is tasked with identifying and evaluating present and future risks to Purdue, the Purdue community, its trustees and affiliated organizations. One of the tools the office uses to implement these goals is Riskonnect, a leading risk management information system.

Riskonnect was primarily used to track incidents, insurance claims, insurable assets and basic information on international travel. The ORM approached the company with a request to build upon its abilities to track international travel.

“We do have an insurance program that provides coverage for medical payments, evacuations, medical evacuations as well as political unrest, and evacuation for safety reasons and natural disasters. There’s a lot of information that needs to be sent out to the traveler….We wanted a more efficient way to do it,” said Mark Kebert, ORM’s director of global risk.

Purdue and Riskonnect collaborated on the software update, which compiled all the data about any current or upcoming university-related international travel involving Purdue faculty, staff and students.

Riskonnect detailed the innovative collaboration in a case study that was shared with its client base. The study explained how the update was put to the test during the October 2023 attack on Israel.

“As soon as we saw it hit the news, we went in and ran a report through the Riskonnect system and identified all of the folks,” Kebert said. “We were able to reach out in a matter of a few hours either to the departments that the students, faculty and staff were affiliated with to ask if they’ve heard from them, or we reached out to the traveler directly.”

Kebert said the collaboration with Riskonnect allowed ORM to confirm everyone’s safety in record time.

“Getting to students and staff faster with important information and assistance no matter where they are in the world provides a measure of security and confidence to Purdue travelers and their families that simply was not possible before,” stated Riskonnect’s case study.

The company further honored Purdue during its annual Konnect Awards in October. The university received a Pioneer award, given to Riskonnect customers that push boundaries and foster creativity.

“We didn’t expect to get an award for this.  Finding solutions when none currently exist is often what we do on a daily basis. My group sincerely appreciates the recognition,” Kebert said.