KINGSTON – The Washington Trust Charitable Foundation has made a 5-year, $100,000 pledge to the University of Rhode Island, to help support finance majors who participate in the student-run Ram Fund.
Established in 2001 with $100,000 in seed money from the URI Alumni Association, the fund gives URI students the opportunity to invest real money in real firms.
Each year, students compete for positions with the Ram Fund, which is classified as a three-credit advanced investment course at the URI College of Business Administration. An advisory board helps provide information, encouragement, ideas and opportunities that might otherwise be unavailable to students.
The Ram Fund focuses on small-cap and mid-cap companies. Advance Micro Devices, Panera Bread, Citrix Systems and Quanta Services are among its current and recent holdings.
“Those familiar with the Ram Fund know it is a first-rate academic program,” said Robert M. Beagle, URI’s vice president for university advancement, said in a statement. “Clearly, our friends at Washington Trust understand the value of such programs. We are grateful to the bank, which has a strong history of generous support to URI and to our students.”
The money committed by the Westerly-based bank will be used to establish an endowment to support junior and senior finance majors who participate in the fund.
“The earnings from this endowment will allow the students to attend investment conferences, attract guest speakers and provide support for trips to visit finance alumni, the stock exchanges, and corporate trading floors in New York City,” said Business Dean Mark Higgins.
The gift is part of URI’s Making a Difference Campaign, which seeks to raise $100 million to help the school provide student scholarships, enhance the campus experience, recruit and retain outstanding faculty, and fund cutting-edge academic and research initiatives.
The pledge “is consistent with Washington Trust’s mission of community service,” John C. Warren, chairman and CEO of Washington Trust, said in a statement. “We are happy to provide resources for the students to engage in real-life portfolio management.”
To learn more about the University of Rhode Island’s Making a Difference Campaign, visit www.advance.uri.edu.
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The Westerly-based Washington Trust Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq Global Market: WASH) is the parent of The Washington Trust Co., a Rhode Island-chartered bank founded in 1800 that has offices in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and southeastern Connecticut. Additional information is available at www.washtrust.com.
