SU student group
wins top honor at investment competition
Shippensburg
University’s Investment Management Program students took a first place during
the recent 12th annual Redefining Investment Strategy Education (RISE)
competition at the University of Dayton in Ohio.
Participating
students competed in six investment-style categories: growth, value, core,
balanced, fixed income and alternative. Shippensburg’s students won in the
growth investment area.
According to Dr. Hong K. Rim,
professor of finance and supply chain management, the investment class manages
two funds. “We have one portfolio we call the IMP portfolio. It has around
$87,000. This money was given by the SU foundation,” said Rim. “The Investment
Club has about $24,000 and that money is donations from faculty members and
some students.”
The
Investment Club fund, also called the Global Collegiate Fund, took top honors
in the growth category.
The team was comprised of nine students who are part of the
Investment Management Program. Three students made presentations to a panel of
investment professionals. “The rest of the students took part in the table top
displays,” he said.
“We
participated in RISE each year for the last six years or so. Last year, the IMP
placed third but this is the first, first place,” he said.
Team members, all seniors, were Nicholas
Pederson of Harleysville, Andrew Kiely of Millersville, Jared Hammers of Red
Lion, Katelyn Howard of Glen Rock, Matthew Diehl of York, Jennifer Spinka of
Reading, Amanda Fitzpatrick of York, Marcus Lucchese of Lancaster, and Troy
Oberholtzer of Harrisburg.
IMP at Shippensburg is a highly selective, proactive
class that selects seniors from within the John L. Grove College of
Business to be the sole portfolio managers, with oversight by the finance
professors, of a real dollar endowment fund.
According
to Rim, “We have one group of students that are majoring in finance, solely. But
the other group of students has double majors such as financing and accounting
or finance and management information systems.”
The
students meet twice a week for 75 minutes each to study economic conditions.
Each student has either two or three stocks assigned to them. The students then
make presentations in class at which time the class votes on whether to buy,
sell or hold the security.
The class
is conducted like a corporate business meeting. “That is why I call each of
them a stock analyst,” said Rim.
Shippensburg
is one of more than 200 programs nationwide allow students to make investment
decisions with real portfolios and many compete at the RISE competition, known
as the most prestigious student investment conference. Students who attend RISE
have the opportunity to meet the top professionals from Wall Street, the
corporate world and the international community.
4/20/12