Pitt Business e-newsletter Issue 12, November 2008
Notes from the Dean
Over the past two years, I've stressed our vision going forward, the five strategic initiatives that build on our strengths while inspiring us to venture beyond the traditional business education model in order to better prepare our graduates for the highly competitive and complex global business environment that awaits them. At the October 3 grand opening of our new $2.3 million financial analysis laboratory in Mervis Hall, alumni, trustees, faculty, and friends who share our vision witnessed the passing of another milestone in that journey.
Experience-based learning is at the heart of our strategic vision, the one initiative that we are embedding in all of our undergraduate and graduate programs. Research tells us that an active, hands-on education is one of the most effective methods of teaching. Employers tell us they place a premium on job candidates who've had the kind of experience that shortens their learning curve, enables them to assume a greater level of responsibility, and contribute to the company from their first day of employment.
Our financial analysis laboratory enhances our ability to deliver both. The 3,000 square foot lab facility replicates in impressive detail the kind of trading floor students would find if they walked into an investment bank or financial firm—from the computer workstations, tote display boards and tickers to the real-time data and software packages that traders and analysts rely on to stay abreast of the performances of markets and companies throughout the world. It is difficult to imagine a better tool to complement the talents of our faculty. Given the current turmoil in financial markets, now is a critical time to show students how economic and financial theories work in practice.
Consider the experiences our faculty will be able to create for students with real-time data on the markets; historical data on companies, their filings and financial statements up to the most recent; up-to-the-minute financial news releases; and software that enables students to develop trading strategies, then watch how those strategies play out among real companies, in real time. With simulation software, for instance, we can now create a market in the classroom and assign students to roles, such as buy-side and sell-side traders, and evaluate how they do in those roles when working with actual, real-time data.
It isn't as though we haven't previously been teaching these areas. The key difference now is that our students are getting hands-on experience working in a Wall Street-accurate setting. Say, for example, students want a taste of what it's like to be a portfolio manager. We can now have them construct a portfolio, track the stocks, and evaluate performances relative to expectations. Perhaps they're interested in the impact a major Federal Reserve announcement will have on the markets. With the new lab, we have the ability to observe and evaluate the response from the moment that announcement is made.
There is perhaps no better example of our commitment to providing the experiences that will enable our graduates to hit the ground running the moment they begin drawing a paycheck than the financial analysis laboratory. And the most exciting aspect of the new lab is that we've only begun to develop its potential as a learning tool.
