At the Ricciardi College of Business students not only learn about investing, they now have an opportunity to put those skills into actual practice.
The college’s computer lab has been transformed into a BSU Trading Room, where business students research corporations, create hypothetical investment portfolios, and track their investments with simulation software that uses actual market data and prices.
“The BSU Trading Room allows business students to take financial, accounting and management theories learned in the classroom and apply them in a real-world investment setting,” said Dr. Jeanean J. Davis-Street, who serves as the college’s associate dean and oversees the project.
BSU becomes one of only about 120 colleges and universities nationwide, and the only one in Southeastern Massachusetts, with a trading room, according to Dr. Davis-Street.
In the project’s first phase last fall, the lab’s 32 computers were equipped with special software packages that let students research, select, and “trade" stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. The university also installed an interactive instructor’s podium, three large monitors, a projector screen, and – in an adjacent room - a specially-equipped Bloomberg terminal. And last month, a real time electronic stock ticker was installed in the building’s rotunda.
Funds are now being raised to establish two actual $100,000 investment portfolios to be managed by selected students with guidance from a trading room director.
The College of Business recently celebrated the opening of the trading room in a ceremony that included Mr. Ricciardi.
Dr. Davis-Street said the changes propel the college to a higher level of research and career preparation. (Photos by David Wilson, ’71, University News)
