Students Jennifer Kaulback (seated)
and Mona Elmanahi, with Dr. James Park, director of the new Center for Financial
Markets Research, check the Internet for the latest stock market prices.
C.W. Post's College of Management Opens
Financial Markets Research Center
Dr. James Park, professor of finance and
economics at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, realized that
the best way to teach students about investing was to let them practice
it in a protected environment using high-tech tools. So he turned to his
Wall Street colleagues for donations and technical support and created the
Center for Financial Markets Research (CFMR).
The CFMR, part of C.W. Post's College of Management, officially opened this
year in Roth Hall on the C.W. Post Campus in Brookville, New York. The new
center is equipped with comfortable furniture and state-of-the art electronics
providing real-time data from every market exchange in the world, along
with a continuous flow of news and information. One of several computers
in the center carries satellite data feeds from 60 international markets;
another provides Internet access for research. News and information is available
continuously on a large-screen monitor. The center is open to students,
faculty and staff, as well as to the local business community through special
programs.
"Creation of the Center for Financial Markets Research is a tribute
to the contribution of College of Management Executive Board Member and
C.W. Post alumnus Joseph Isola, the support of C.W. Post Provost Joe Shenker,
and the initiative on the part of Dr. Park, which is exemplary, " said
Dr. Robert J. Sanator, Dean of the College of Management.
All technical equipment and software for the new center was donated by BMI,
Omega Research and other major companies in the market-information field.
Dr. Park, who founded the C FMR and serves as its director, designed a place
where students could do research and share ideas while they got a taste
of what it is like to work in the fast-paced world of Wall Street.
Each semester, he teaches students, through elaborate simulation exercises,
how to manage money and how to invest an imaginary portfolio of $500,000.
Some double or triple their bogus money; others lose it or even go into
(bogus) debt.
" Students involved in our market simulation program will have to call
in their trades, just as if they were working in real jobs. They get daily
statements and make real-time decisions, " said Dr. Park. " The
biggest obstacle I find to teaching students about investing is conveying
the emotional component of real trading. The center is designed to be as
realistic as possible, so they will experience the agony of defeat along
with the thrill of victory."
Although it will be an important resource for the College of Management,
the Center also can serve as a magnet for off-campus individuals and groups
interested in learning more about financial markets. Dr. Park expects to
avail the Center to the community through seminars and workshops developed
for local entrepreneurs around a number of topics, including investments
and hedging strategies.
Dr. Park, 35, earned his bachelor's degree in finance from the Wharton School
of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. After attending Columbia
and Harvard law schools, he received his Ph.D. in financial economics from
Columbia Business School. He has been a member of the faculty of C.W. Post's
College of Management since 1991 and is president and CEO of his own financial
services firm, PARADIGM Capital Management, Inc., which has offices in Manhattan,
Atlanta, and Paris.
For more information about the College of Management or the Center for Financial
Markets Research call (516) 299-3017.
For more information call the C.W. Post Public Relations Office at (516)
299-2333 or e-mail cwpostpr@aurora.liunet.edu
April, 1997 |
