BRISTOL – A new Center for Advanced Financial Education at Roger Williams University has been launched with the help of a $182,000 donation from the E.L. Wiegand Foundation.
The CAFE facility, housed in the Mario J. Gabelli School of Business and triple the size of the former financial-education center, is equipped with the latest technology – an 8-foot stock ticker, 32 workstations and two large-screen TVs – and provides students the opportunity to research, analyze and collaborate on two portfolios funded with real money. CAFE students spend five days each week in the center reading the latest financial reports and researching companies before gathering at the executive table to present their ideas to one another.
In a statement, Kristen Avansino, president and executive director of the E.L. Wiegand Foundation in Reno, Nev., said the foundation was “pleased to support the excellence and growth demonstrated by the Gabelli School of Business and its Center for Advanced Financial Education.”
Michael R. Melton, a professor of finance who has directed CAFE since an original grant from the Wiegand Foundation helped establish the program at RWU in 2004, said in a statement: “Thanks to this unique setting, I have witnessed this program win countless portfolio-management awards, including bringing home two national collegiate championships, as well as outperform the market on a risk-adjusted basis in all but two semesters since its inception.”
Susan McTiernan, dean of the Mario J. Gabelli School of Business, added in prepared remarks: “CAFE equips graduates with the skills and insights that employers across the full range of the financial-services industry demand.”
To date, more than 200 RWU graduates involved in the CAFE program have entered the workforce.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
