‘Financial
Analysis Center’ relocated, equipped with latest interactive technology
MURFREESBORO — Walk into the north lobby of the MTSU Business
and Aerospace Building these days and your eye is immediately drawn to the
circular digital stock ticker on the ceiling scrolling the latest green and red
ups and downs from various financial indices and equities.
A glance to the side reveals a wired classroom
arranged in several pods. Small conference tables anchored by large flat screen
monitors display some of the same data as the ticker. It’s where MTSU business
majors from freshmen to master’s students can work in teams and instructors can
move from table to table to share information and instruction digitally.
The Jennings A. Jones College of Business recently
opened this relocated and upgraded Financial Analysis Center on the first floor
of the building’s north side to provide business and finance students with the
latest technology as they pursue their degrees and careers as future traders
and business leaders.
“This is one of the most technologically advanced
trading rooms in the state,” said Department of Economic and Finance associate
professor Charles Beauchamp as he scanned the trading room following a recent demonstration
and reception for community and campus stakeholders. Beauchamp has spearheaded
the push to upgrade the room with assistance from Sean Salter, associate
professor and interim chair of the department.
With upgrades to the room, students and instructors
now have fingertip access to loads of financial data at 12 Bloomberg terminals
and 10 S&P Capital IQ terminals, allowing upper level finance students to
make trades within the $500,000 stock portfolio they manage as part of their
hands-on education.
Every upper level finance course will be held in
the room, Beauchamp said, while MBA students will use the room for some courses
and students in the new Master of Science in Finance program will hold all of
its classes here.
The original version of the trading room was
created eight years ago and was located on the third floor. After launching the
room, the department saw students’ grades and job placements after graduation
improve, Beauchamp said.
“We’re anticipating that we’ll see even more
improvement with the new technology,” he added, noting that the classroom is
also equipped with a camera that can allow instructors to videotape courses for
online posting.
At the front of the revamped classroom stand two
interactive teaching display monitors where instructors can teach via a digital
chalkboard, can track stocks or any traded asset or pull up information from
Bloomberg and Capital IQ for discussion. Traditional whiteboards are also
available for instructors to use.
Salter, who is beginning his ninth year at MTSU,
said the room is not designed for lectures, but for hands-on lab work where
students “can work with financial data and they can get the skills they will be
using when they get out into the work world.”
“We have more technology and more data and more
access than any other (trading) room at any other school,” he said. “This is a
significant step forward for us. Our goal was to take this and not have a room
where a professor would stand up and lecture for an hour and a half, but have a
room where the professor would coach students as they work at the different
stations around the room.”
Jones College Dean David Urban said the analysis
center provides students “with the tools that they need to be able to compete
in the 21st century marketplace.”
The opportunity to upgrade the trading room arose
about a year ago, Urban said, but rather than keep the room on the third floor,
the decision was made to swap places with the SunTrust meeting room to give the
trading room more visibility for not only current students, but prospective
students and their families visiting campus.
“This is something that any student who visits our
campus who’s interested in business will want to see,” he said.
For more information about the Jones College’s
Department of Economic and Finance, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/econfin/.
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