Vicki Zhang 

Major Experiences: 

I am an Associate Professor (Teaching Stream) at Department of Statistical Science at University of Toronto. I joined the department as a faculty member in 2013, after eight years working as an actuary, consultant, and statistician in the insurance sector, first in the United States then in Canada. I was a niche leader at Milliman’s predictive modeling team working on risk adjuster and life-style based analytics for health insurance pricing and underwriting. I was heavily involved in various healthcare pricing and experience studies including US federal government’s multi-billion-dollar TRICARE, US behavioural healthcare experience analysis, and medical underwriting guideline development. I had a one-year stint as a mergers and acquisition actuary at PricewaterhouseCoopers, working on pension and employee benefits issues in M&A process. In Canada, I worked as an actuarial software developer and later a client specialist at Moody’s Analytics (formerly GGY). I gave numerous training sessions to users of the actuarial software AXIS, covering various lines of insurance business including life, disability, long-term care, critical illness, etc. My training clients were located in Canada, US, Western Europe, and Asia. I also served as a consultant for United Nation’s microinsurance program in China and Mongolia.

Since joining UofT in 2013, I have been a passionate course designer/redesigner and pedagogical researcher. I created the capstone course Insurance Products, Markets and Regulation with AXIS, which explores the complex history of the life insurance product design and regulation in US and Canada, while providing students with hands-on experience with the widely-used industry software AXIS. I have introduced various case studies to my second-year courses that provide students with real-world context and applications to the course content. I developed a pedagogical approach of "narrative mathematics" to improve concept linkage and active-learning among students in large-classroom courses. I was nominated for a prestigious UofT (Tri-campus) Early Career Teaching Award in 2019. I won the Faculty of Arts and Science Outstanding Teaching Award in 2024.

I am currently a journal reviewer for The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CJSoTL), and a frequent paper reviewer for International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) and Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) annual conferences. I am a frequent speaker at various national and regional conferences. I also serve as the Accreditation Actuary for Canadian Institute of Actuaries’ University Accreditation Program. 

I hold a Master's in Statistics and Applied Probabilities (with completion of all PhD qualification exams), a B.Eng in Electrical Engineering, and a Harvard Higher Education Teaching Certificate. I am a Fellow of Society of Actuaries (FSA), an Associate of Canadian Institute of Actuaries (ACIA), and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA). 

Book:

I am the author of the book Uncalculated Risks (Canadian Scholars' Press, 2014), which examines the transformation of insurance products and regulation, and the economic and social consequences.  It was nominated for a Myrdal Prize in 2015 and received enthusiastic review by the prize committee. It is available here.

Recent Selected Papers:

Zhang, V. (2023). Minority-centric pedagogical design and theatre-as-pedagogy. Paper presented at 2023 University of Toronto Teaching and Learning Symposium. 

Zhang, V.  (2023). Towards a New Pedagogy for Finance: Myths and Alternatives. Paper presented at 2023 Canadian Economics Association Annual Conference.

Zhang, V. (2023). STEAM Pedagogy for Financial Literacy and Ethics Education. Paper presented at 2023 Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) Annual Conference.

Zhang, V. (2022). The History and Ethics of AI Through a Cross-Disciplinary Lens: A Year of Magical Reading and Discussions. Paper presented at 2022 Great Lakes Philosophy Conference, USA.

Zhang, V.  (2021). The Use of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Insurance and its Regulatory Implications. Paper presented at 2021 Canadian Association of Economists Annual Conference.

Zhang, V. (2021). Promise or Threat? A Nuanced Take on Actuarialism in Insurance. Paper presented at 2021 Great Lakes Philosophy Conference, USA.

Zhang, V. (2021). Confronting Utilitarianism with Social Justice Reflections on Embedded Ethics in Financial Education. Paper presented at 2021 International Society of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) Connect Conference. 

Zhang, V. (2020). In Praise of Noise: Teaching Statistical Sciences with Theatre and Multimedia. Paper presented at 2020 Digital Engaged Learning Conference, New York, USA. 

Zhang, V. (2020). Active Learning and Meaning-based Pedagogy for Actuarial Science. Paper presented at Innovations in Actuarial Education, SOA Education & Research Webcast.

Zhang, V. (2019).  Redesigning Actuarial Science Curriculum: Integrating Data Science and Practice Courses to Better Meet Professional Demands. Expanding Horizons: SOA Education & Research Newsletter

Zhang, V. (2019). Major Curriculum Redesign in a Professional Undergraduate Program – A Case Study of the 5-Pillar Model of Educational Leadership. The Scholarship of Leading: Mini-cases of educational leadership in action.

Zhang, V. (2018). When Finance Meets Stories. Journal for Research and Practice in College Teaching, Vol 3 No 2, 2018.

Zhang, V. (2018). Multiple Forces Behind Chinese Students’ Self-segregation and How We May Counter Them. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, August 2018. Retrieved from http://www.kpu.ca/sites/default/files/Transformative%20Dialogues/TD.11.2_Zhang_Forces_Behind_Chinese_Students_Self-segregation.pdf

Budde, A. & Zhang, V. (2017, November). Performing ACT(uarial Science) - Mathematical speculation, critical making, digital dramaturgy and creative pedagogy. Paper presented at American Society for Theatre Research Annual Conference, Atlanta, USA

Zhang, V. (2017, June). Towards Desegregation: The Case of Chinese International Students in Canada. Paper presented at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) Annual Conference, Halifax, Canada.

Zhang, V. (2017, June). Applying Narrative Mathematics in an Introductory Life Contingency Course. Paper presented at the Society of Actuaries Actuarial Teaching Conference, Pittsburg, USA.

Zhang, V. (2017, May). Ethics for Future Financial Professionals – strategies to incorporate ethics education into a technical curriculum. Paper presented at 2017 University of Toronto Teaching and Learning Symposium, Toronto, Canada. Abstract retrieved from http://tls.utoronto.ca/past-symposia/2017-tls/full-agenda-2017/. 

Zhang, V. (2016, June). Student-led initiatives in teaching economics and finance. Paper presented at the Canadian Economic Association Annual Conference, Ottawa, Canada.

Zhang, V. (2016). A Critical Pedagogy of Insurance Finance. Visible Hand – Towards Pluralism in Economics, August 2016. 

Zhang, V. (2016). Designs in Action. Center for Teaching Support and Innovation, University of Toronto. Retrieved from http://teaching.utoronto.ca/teaching-support/course-design/course-design-in-action/zhang/

Zhang, V. (2015, August). University of Toronto’s New Course Development: Using Actuarial Software to Explore the Real World of Insurance. Paper presented at the Society of Actuaries Actuarial Research Conference, Toronto, Canada. 

Zhang, V. (2015, May). From Rules-based to Principles-based: Critical Issues in the Paradigm Shift of Insurance Regulations. Paper presented at the Canadian Economic Association Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada. 

Zhang, V. (2015, May). Piloting Pluralistic Financial Pedagogy: Urgency, Challenges, and Lessons Learned. Poster presented at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) Annual Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

Zhang, V. (2014, June). Piloting Pluralistic Finance Education. Poster presented at the European Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (EuroSoTL) Inaugural Conference, Dublin, Ireland.

Zhang, V. (2014, November). Introducing Pluralism in Specialized Finance Education. Paper presented at the special teaching session of the 26th annual meeting for the European Association of Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE), Nicosia, Cyprus. 

New Courses Created:

STA2535: Life Insurance Mathematics (for Master of Financial Insurance program: http://mfi.utoronto.ca/)

ACT475: Insurance Products, Markets and Regulation with AXIS

ACT390: Professional Experience in Actuarial Science

ACT199: Decipher Financial Puzzles in the Media and Pop Culture

PMU199: Business as Unusual: Post-Crisis Market and Regulation of Insurance and Finance

Course Significantly Redesigned:

ACT247: Introduction to Life Contingency Model

(Narrative Math: https://vickizhang.wixsite.com/lifecontingencies)

Other Courses Taught:

ACT230: Math of Finance 

ACT240: Fundamental of Investment and Credit 

ACT245: Financial Principles I

ACT349: Corporate Finance