SFFLL News
June 7, 2012
Northwestern students learn essentials of financial planning at FIU.
For five top students from Miami’s Northwestern Senior High School, 2011-2012 was a year to remember.
Marcus Gent, Jasmine McMillan, Rene Maurice, Janis St. Port and Cliffanique Towbridge took an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City, where they were the only high school students to participate in a college investment conference. They toured the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and picked the brains of workers on the exchange floor.
They earned the trip for their top performances at a unique financial education program at Florida International University’s (FIU) College of Business Administration. As participants in the Education Effect, they came away with a solid understanding of investing, and a new appreciation of the role of financial literacy in their lives.
May 31, 2012
FIU Business faculty member forecasts Facebook filing at panel discussion.
Helen Simon had a hunch about Facebook.
In her research for a faculty panel held at Florida International University’s (FIU) College of Business Administration, she saw too many signs of hype around the initial public offering (IPO) of the popular social networking site.
“I had a sixth sense that if Facebook flew, it would fly for one day and adjust down to a rational level,” said Simon, a finance faculty member and certified financial planner. She shared her research at the panel presented by FIU Media Relations on May 8th, 10 days prior to Facebook’s debut as a public company.
May 14, 2012
FIU students beat the market, take on NYC.
They took New York by storm. Their investment strategy beat the S&P 500. And they helped pioneer an important new financial education program for high school students.
For Juan Alfonso, Alex Chediak, Ignacio Chevarria, Justin Garcia, Lauren Gonzalez and Charles Stack—students in Florida International University's (FIU) Student Managed Investment Fund— it was a banner spring.
“Students running our investment fund are the cream of the crop,” said Helen Simon, the College of Business Administration faculty member who teaches the investment fund class. “They served as excellent representatives of FIU’s finance program in the nation’s financial capital.”
May 8, 2012
Facebook goes public: A discussion for journalists
Florida International University is hosting a panel discussion for journalists covering Facebook’s upcoming initial public offering (IPO) and its implications. FIU experts from a wide array of fields, including business, law, engineering and communications, will discuss what to expect in the coming months and what reporters should look out for as the world’s largest social media site goes public.
The discussion will be streamed live on Facebook and Ustream, where viewers are encouraged to post questions and comments.
After brief remarks from panelists, The Miami Herald Business Editor Jane Wooldridge will moderate a discussion about the future of a publicly-held Facebook and its impact on Wall Street, user privacy, software development, and social media networking and communications, among others.
The discussion is free and open to all journalists.
April 6, 2012
FIU students score success at Rotman Trading Competition.
In its first showing at the prestigious Rotman Interactive Trading Competition, a team from Florida International University’s (FIU) College of Business Administration won high praise, including a third-place finish in one of the trading contests.
The invitation-only competition, held at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, attracts some of the world’s most astute student traders. Only 50 schools are invited to the annual event, which recently marked its ninth year. FIU was the only Florida school to receive an invitation.
Using the Rotman trading simulation programs, teams participate in a series of trading competitions set forth in fixed scenarios. Each of the six contests is ranked individually, and then each team receives a total score.
September 9, 2011
Liberty City high school gets $1 million investment
Miami Northwestern fans will hear a special announcement this month when the Bulls football team plays Carol City Senior.
Not the score. A $1 million project to expand rigorous courses, build a new lab, improve graduation rates and create a college-going culture at the Liberty City school, which has much pride, but also many struggles.
"This allows our kids to see there is a life beyond graduating from Miami Northwestern Senior High," Principal Wallace Aristide said.
Beyond high school: a college degree. "That opens their minds and gets them to dream," he said. The three-year program, dubbed the Education Effect, was unveiled Wednesday. It involves Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida International University and J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, which donated $1 million.
July 28, 2011
College welcomes new employees.
The State Farm Financial Literacy Lab has several new employees.
Samantha Davis holds the title interim to permanent administrative coordinator/assistant director. She prepares and conducts financial literacy presentations on behalf of the lab in the areas of personal financial management and financial crime/identity theft and oversees and coordinates the Financial Literacy Program. In addition, she is responsible for the lab’s daily operations, supervising interns and preparing the meeting minutes for the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF). She also coordinates SMIF’s Global Asset Management Education (G.A.M.E.) competition, and assists in the marketing and overall development of the lab and its initiatives. She expects to graduate with a Bachelor of Business Administration in August with a major in finance.
Elin Gutierrez, currently enrolled as an undergraduate in the college’s finance program, serves as a student assistant. She works on the lab’s research and software applications—Bloomberg, FTS, RIT, Crystal Ball, @Risk, Think or Swim and Sales Force—and presents to the lab staff on software applications.
June 21, 2011
FIU Business graduates bring credit to selves and the college at Spring Commencement 2011.
On May 2, 2011, approximately 484 students in the R. Kirk Landon Undergraduate School and approximately 301 in the Alvah H. Chapman Jr. Graduate School made the transition from college student to college graduate in ceremonies for the College of Business Administration at Florida International University (FIU). Of the graduate students, six earned a joint degree, four of them in the Master of Science in Management Information Systems(MSMIS)/Master of Business Administration program and two in the Master of Science in Finance/Master of Business Administration program.
