ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University students in the School of Business will have a unique learning opportunity beginning this fall with the creation of a $1 million Student-Managed Investment Fund.
The fund, approved this summer by the McMurry Board of Trustees, will allocate the $1 million from the McMurry endowment which will be managed by students enrolled in two special finance classes taught by Robert Kuzma and Jared Reynolds.
“The School of Business at McMurry emphasizes practical application. We work hard to provide students with a practical skill set that they need in order to succeed in the business world,” said Reynolds. “The Student Managed Investment Fund will provide students with extensive money management experience.”
“This class will guide the student fund managers in forming a framework of financial goals involved in fund management,” said Kuzma. “These goals include the risk-return tradeoff, liquidity of the fund, the preservation of capital and a competitive return.”
“This is a fantastic learning opportunity for students. It is unusual for a school the size of McMurry to have a program like this and even more unusual to have a fund of this size under student control,” said Dr. K.O. Long, Dean of the McMurry School of Business. “It underlines the Board’s commitment to providing the tools to allow McMurry students a hands-on learning experience.”
During the first half of the semester, students will research various economic sectors such as technology, health care, consumer goods, as prospective purchases and then make a presentation to the class. The class will then vote on which areas and companies to invest in for that semester. After making the investments through a national investment firm, the students will then be responsible for monitoring and building the fund. The students also will be responsible for reporting their progress to the Board on a regular basis.
“I believe that this is an excellent program for our students,” said Dr. Paul Fabrizio, vice president for Academic Affairs at McMurry. “This fund reflects a payment on our commitment to our students to offer them the resources they need to be successful. These students, after managing this fund, will be able to approach employers with a resume that outshines most other college graduates. This fund also reflects our confidence that our students will be good shepherds of their resources. Through the tools that the students will learn, they will be able to have the opportunity to be effective financial investors.”
