The Statistics Department and the Actuarial Advisory Board would like to congratulate Dr. Dennis Tolley as the first recipient of the "Dennis Tolley Recognition Award"

In recognition of the outstanding efforts and contributions to the BYU Actuarial Program and to the actuarial profession by Statistics faculty member, Dr. Dennis Tolley, the BYU Actuarial Advisory Board has created the Dennis Tolley Recognition Award. This award will be periodically presented to individuals in recognition of their significant contributions in the field of actuarial science and exceptional representation of BYU and the Actuarial Program. During its Spring 2023 advisory board meeting, the board presented the award to Dennis Tolley as its first recipient.

For more than 50 years, Dennis Tolley has pursued a distinguished career in the statistics of health and health care costs. He authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in a variety of areas (including epidemiology, demography, parasitology, geology, physics, statistical science, actuarial science, and analytic chemistry) and has worked with researchers at the World Health Organization, IIASA (Vienna), the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.

Early in his career, while working as a Senior Research Scientist at Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Dr. Tolley began pursuing the designation of Associate of the Society of Actuaries (ASA), eventually receiving the designation in 1981. In 1983, he joined the BYU Department of Statistics faculty, setting in motion efforts that would eventually be formalized into the BYU Actuarial Program.

As interest in the actuarial profession grew among students, Dr. Tolley recruited other members of the Department to teach various courses and to help prepare students for actuarial exams. He also pursued a number of actuarial research projects for students to participate in and encouraged other faculty members to as well.

In 2010, Dr. Tolley helped establish the BYU Actuarial Advisory Board, fulfilling a vision for the program that began almost 30 years earlier. The BYU Actuarial Advisory Board is a collection of actuarial professionals with industry experience and a broad range of exposure to hiring practices and company actuarial student programs. Its mission is to assist BYU’s Statistics Department and Actuarial faculty in raising the level of effectiveness of the Actuarial Program. The board extends a heartfelt congratulations to Dennis for his exceptional and foundational contributions to the actuarial program.