Department of Finance
Junior/Senior Initiatives 2008-09
We feel it is important to select activities that touch the largest number of our undergraduates, and we put less emphasis on activities that might benefit only a few students.
Stalla Study Guide
Every year we have five to seven students who sign up for our CFA study group. Funding would allow three study guides to be available to them to prepare for the exam.
Travel stipend for speaker
To get the maximum amount of student contact, we would like to bring an investment banker (an alumni) in from New York to speak to our students. We have not identified the appropriate speaker, but we would like the ability to pay airline fees, parking fees, lunch and possibly lodging.
3rd Annual Finance Recruiters BBQ
The Finance Recruiters BBQ is a highly successful event we hold each fall.
Student worker for Trading Room
Our licenses in the Trading Room require our ability to assure the vendor that only students and faculty are accessing the terminals. Further, this software is very technical with a steep learning curve. As such, students typically need assistance with the software, which is accomplished by having a dedicated student lab assistant. Typically, the Trading Room is open 10 hours a week. This year we will attempt to hire an additional student to keep it open twenty hours a week.
Class overload student workers
Due to increasing class sizes, we often use student assistance to help with our largest sections. This assistance can be in the form of extended Trading Room hours, assisting in the administration of exams or to assist students after hours with projects.
Charlotte Trip to See Bank of America Trading Floor
Each year we take a group of our top students to visit the Bank of America Trading Room. This allows the students to hear presentations and experience the activities surrounding managing the Bank’s internal portfolio. Although we typically only take six students up for the visit, it is a great public relations tool with networking often benefiting many students unable to make the trip.
Senior Lunch - Exit Survey
Each spring we host a Senior Lunch in which we provide food and give the students one last chance to network within the department. This is also the period in which they fill out their exit surveys.
Past Enhancements
During the academic year of 2007/2008 the Department of Finance funded the following Junior/Senior Enhancement activities:
Managing Your Money – A Horizons Seminar Series
The HORIZONS Professional Development Workshops on “Managing Your Money” guide students in making decisions relative to their personal finances. This voluntary attendance series offers six evening presentations each semester on a wide variety of topics. The presentations are well attended, often having upwards of fifty students at any given presentation. Presentation topics include credit card debt management, savings and investment, investing in mutual funds, insurance coverage, Roth IRA’s, and financing a home. This series and the accompanying class materials are offered at no charge to the students.
Finance Department Recruiters BBQ
Each year the Department of Finance sponsors a Recruiters BBQ. The fall semester event allows seniors and recruiters the opportunity to get to know each other. The event typically lasts for two hours and includes a networking mixer and dinner. This extended time allows the students a one-on-one opportunity to get answers that may be helpful in making their career decisions.
Top financial management recruiters, including companies such as Bank of America, Duke Power, Fluor Corporation, General Electric, IBM, Sun Trust, and Wachovia, attend the event. Often, recruiters will have at least two representatives. The event is typically attended at least twenty-five of our seniors. This event is free to both recruiters and students.
Clemson University Trading Room Student Assistant
The Clemson Trading Room comprises the most sophisticated financial information flowing into the University. The Trading Room has subscriptions to both Bloomberg and Reuters, and much of the data flowing into the room is real time. Our undergraduate students use the Trading Room for projects ranging from corporate finance to portfolio management.
Each semester the Junior/Senior Enhancement Funds provides funding to hire a student assistant who staffs the Trading Room. The student assistant serves two purposes: 1) he/she provides aid to students in learning the complicated financial software, which often has significant hurdles, and 2) he/she maintains that the room is used for academic purposes only, ensuring that our academic subscription rates are justified. Each semester the Trading Room has over 200 entries of students signing in to complete assignments.
Tour of the Bank of America Corporate Treasury Division/Trading Floor
Each Spring semester, six to eight of our top undergraduates tour the Bank of America Trading Floor. This tour includes several presentations by the Corporate Treasury Division of the Bank, which manages the Banks portfolio and is considered among the most prestigious assignments within the Bank. The presentations have a great deal of detail relative to the daily activities of the Division, thus the tour is extremely helpful to students in making internship and career decisions.
Senior Lunch – Exit Survey
At the end of each Fall and Spring semester, we provide pizza and soft drinks to our graduating seniors. This allows the seniors to network one final time before they leave, and it provides a setting and incentive for them to complete their Senior Exit Surveys. The Senior Exit Surveys are an important part of our department’s curriculum development and faculty assignments.