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Investment Center

School of Management

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Marist's State-Of-The-Art Investment Center

Marist's Dyson Center is home to the state-of-the-art Investment Center, replicating a Wall Street trading floor. The Center features 16 Bloomberg terminals providing real-time financial market data, a stock ticker, and tools like Morningstar and Valueline. Through experiential learning and a hands-on approach, it prepares students for successful financial careers. Classrooms foster a collaborative environment that promotes teamwork amongst students as they explore, investigate, and analyze companies and financial markets.

The Investment Center welcomes students from various academic fields to utilize the Bloomberg terminals, including those studying:

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Enhancing Opportunity and Hands-On Learning

The Investment Center offers various experiential learning opportunities, including regular guest speakers—typically Marist alumni—who share their insights and experiences while mentoring students. Additionally, it is home to the Investment Club, a community where alumni and students support each other on resume writing and the application process for Wall Street firms. Students also have the chance to participate in national and international competitions, such as the CFA Equity Research Challenge, the CME Trading Challenge, and the CMT Investment Challenge. 

Experiential Opportunity for All

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16 Bloomberg Terminals

Providing Real-Time Financial Market Data

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Greystone Equity Fund

A $400,000 Student-Managed Investment Fund

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Interdisciplinary Access

Acess to Students of Varying Majors and Minors

Financial Curriculum and Electives

The finance program at Marist is continuously evolving, and features classes intended to prepare students for careers in investment banking, asset management, financial markets, and corporate finance. Our alumni work at all the major investment banks including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, and Fortune 500 firms including Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and IBM.

Students can choose from a vast range of advanced electives designed to equip our students with the skills required to compete successfully for positions in investment banks, hedge funds, asset management firms and rating agencies. Some of the classes taught in the Investment Center include:
 

BUS 416N – CFA® Level I Prep Class
BUS 417N – Structured Finance Modeling
BUS 418N – Derivatives and Risk Management
BUS 426N – Investment Practicum: Equities
BUS 427N – Investment Practicum: Fixed Income

BUS 431N – Financial Distress
BUS 432N – Financial Modeling
BUS 434N – Mergers & Acquisitions
BUS 435N – Real Estate Finance and Investments
BUS 438N – Technical Analysis and Behavioral Finance


Each of these classes is intended to prepare students for successful careers in finance. The Investment Practicum classes are centered around the Greystone Equity Fund. Students in the Financial Modeling classes learn to code to solve financial problems, while the CFA® Level 1 Prep Class helps prepare students to take the first of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation exams. Students in the Derivatives and Risk Management class learn how to price and use derivatives such as futures and options to help prevent financial disasters, while those in the Technical Analysis and Behavioral Finance class learn about cognitive and emotional biases, and investor behavior.
 

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Greystone Equity Fund

The Greystone Fund is a student-managed investment fund in which participants select investments for a real-money portfolio valued at $400,000. This equity fund is managed by students enrolled in a three-credit finance elective. Students who wish to enroll must typically be of junior or senior standing, have completed a series of prerequisite courses, and meet a minimum GPA requirement. Additionally, prospective students must submit a letter of recommendation from a professor and successfully navigate a competitive interview process modeled after those required for entry-level positions on Wall Street. The  Greystone Equity Fund keeps with the guiding philosophy of providing students with the best possible preparation for successful careers in the increasingly complex world of finance.

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The finance electives —Derivatives and Risk Management, Structured Finance, and the equities and bonds courses — have given me a leg up compared to my peers. I was one of 163 interns at JPMorgan Chase last summer, and none of them had had any of the finance coursework that I had.

Here I am, two years later, still talking about it, still talking to my friends from the class, still using my network from the class. So I think that Greystone is so much more. It really preps you for life outside of your college career. But it takes on its own life, after you leave the Marist campus too. Which is really cool. Greystone is so much more than a class, and it really delivers more than a class.

The Greystone classes were completely fundamental to my learning at Marist and my career. It takes learning a step further. It changes your mindset. It makes you intellectually curious. It makes you question why things are the way they are. I definitely think Greystone was a springboard for success in my career. It gave me the fundamentals of analysis, intellectual curiosity, presenting well, executive presence.

I'm definitely where I think I'm meant to be. And that's definitely thanks to Greystone.

Finance electives like the Greystone Fixed Income Fund, learning to use Bloomberg and networking with Wall Street professionals in the Investment Center all gave me the confidence and preparation I needed to begin a successful career in finance.

Participating in the Greystone Equity Fund and the CFA Equity Research Challenge helped me hit the ground running as a first-year analyst. I dove into financial markets, developed valuable skills in fundamental analysis, explored key Bloomberg terminal functionalities, and collaborated with a team in a true work-like setting.