The Greenleaf Trust Trading Room
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A major gift is bringing the hustle and bustle of Wall Street to Western Michigan University's Haworth College of Business.
The Greenleaf Trust Trading Room, located in the main corridor of Schneider Hall, will let students experience the excitement of a Wall Street trading floor, including stock prices scrolling across an electronic ticker, Bloomberg and Morningstar terminals providing real-time data on market movements, and world news updates on large screens in the front of the room.
Students can participate in hands-on learning in the trading room, using the hardware and software commonly used by finance professionals; analyzing the latest stock quotes; building and testing investment portfolios; comparing currency exchange rates; and scrutinizing company fundamentals. Interactive market boards outside the room and a stock ticker display will raise awareness of real-time business activity for all students, faculty, staff and visitors to the college.
Grand opening celebration
The Haworth College of Business will host a grand opening celebration of the Greenleaf Trust Trading Room at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, allowing campus and community members to tour the facility and learn more about it. Those interested in attending should RSVP at (269) 387-6059 or alyshia.d.norris@wmich.edu.
"This space transforms what we are able to do with our students in terms of teaching about the financial markets," says Dr. Devrim Yaman, chair of the Department of Finance and Commercial Law. "And with the U.S. Department of Labor predicting employment in investment and related fields will expand 25 percent by 2020, it is critical that we fully educate our students in the wide range of financial assets available for trade and the globalization of securities markets."
A 'home' for students
Many classes will call the Greenleaf Trust Trading Room home, including the Student Managed Investment Fund, which has served as a large cap manager of a portion of WMU Foundation Funds since 2009. The fund is managed by a select group of business students and has more than doubled in the last five years, reaching a current value of $1 million.
"The gift of this trading room allows us to improve the student experience in so many vital ways," says Dr. Kay Palan, dean of the Haworth College of Business. "The facility improves student readiness for careers in the financial sector through an enriched classroom experience, and it allows students to heighten their analytical skills. We are so grateful to Greenleaf Trust for making this space a reality."
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