HOME | FEATURES | DEPARTMENTS | CLASS NOTES | BACK ISSUES | OHIO FRONT DOOR

 

More Across the College Green Talk about your class acts History professor delves into shadowy world Childbirth study goes right to the experts Program raising sensitivity Creating words of art Reporting from paradise State budget pinch poses challenge Keeping a sharp focus on research Notes of interest about the campus, faculty and staff

Finance majors Josh Woodby and Mark Tischer are eager to invest in the stock market -- and they won't have to build up a private nest egg to do it. But that doesn't mean they didn't work hard for the capital they'll use. The Ohio University Foundation Board is releasing $100,000 of the University's endowment to Woodby, Tischer and five other College of Business seniors majoring in finance. Their collective, called the Portfolio Management Group, will be responsible for investing and managing the funds on behalf of the Foundation board. "A high level of student interest is the primary reason this project happened," says Tischer, who co-founded the group with Woodby. "There has been talk about starting a program like this for about 10 years, but students never showed enough interest or initiative. "The pair wrote a proposal outlining how the program would work, including guidelines for passing on responsibility for the investments to future students. The fact that the foundation board is allowing students to invest a portion of the University's endowment during trying economic times speaks volumes about its confidence in their decision making. "There was an obvious need to broaden the education of our finance students, and allowing them to invest this money demonstrates that Ohio University is dedicated to its students," says board member Phil Muck, BSCO '62, an adviser to the College of Business. "The foundation expects the portfolio to progress and anticipates an increasing number of students will take advantage of this unique learning experience." Woodby says the group will create a diverse portfolio of 20 to 30 securities to avoid significant losses. He expects most of the investments to involve mid-sized to large companies due to their greater financial stability. "The real advantage of this program is that our students will be more attractive to companies looking to hire in the securities analysis and portfolio side of the investment community because they will have experience investing real money," says Kaye Rakes, chair of the Finance Department. "The students have been excited and responsive because they realize there is a curricular need for this program." George Mauzy