Monday, October 24, 2011 The state-of-the-art First Source Federal Credit Union Trading Room was dedicated to the First Source Federal Credit Union on Monday, Oct. 24. Members of the Utica College community gathered around the entrance of the new laboratory on the first floor of Hubbard Hall.
The First Source FCU contributed financially to the trading room. Rick Fenner, associate professor and chair of economics, said the First Source FCU has a good relationship with the college and according to him, they seemed very impressed with the outcome of the trading room.
The new lab will host classes for students majoring in accounting, economics, management, business economics, risk management and insurance programs. The business program’s Herman Crown Investment Fund, a real portfolio of common stock investments managed by students, will also be using it. Being the first of its kind on the UC campus, the First Source FCU Trading Room will provide a unique experience for the future investors and economists it will serve.
Honorary Alumnus Don Majka was surprised as he observed the new lab.
“I have three words to describe this; fantastic,” Majka said.
Majka said he thinks its wonderful how students can track trade, go back and see historic events about people who did things like this, and learn from it.
Fenner and his colleague Huanglin Wang, assistant professor of management, first pitched the idea of building a trade room and got the go ahead from President Todd Hutton last spring. Fenner said the idea of creating a trading room is to provide an environment that students will be facing when they graduate and go into the real world.
“It has the look, the hardware, and the software that students who are interested in going into financial planning, working for brokerage firms and banks are going to see,” Fenner said.
The design of the state of the art learning center features curved-glass floor-to-floor-ceiling exterior walls, dual screen computer workstations with specialized financial and investment software, video walls, and smart boards that will allow professors to display real time stock data, videos, and other financial information. Also surrounding the room is a 65-foot long, real-time stock ticker that runs up to the minute stock data in full color.
According to Fenner, the First Source FCU Trading Room is something that is going to be with the college for quiet a long time although the completed project took longer than expected.
“Everyone wanted to do it right rather than rush and get it up for the semester, so there were some inconveniences in terms of having to shift courses around but in the long run, that will be forgotten as we use the facility,” Fenner said.
Fenner added that classes that were previously scheduled in the facility will be moved back sometime next month continuing into the spring semester.
“For the spring semester, we’re planning on having quite a few classes in there as well as some free time where students in these programs can all use it as a resource,” Fenner said.
The facility is expected to be used through out the day and evening and will also be opened to faculty members and students in other programs according to Fenner. Fenner said that the new classroom will mostly benefit students in the business and economics field as it puts them in an environment that gives them the real life experience. UC students are not the only ones to benefit from this new lab, as it has created quiet a bit of excitement among alumni and the community.
“It also benefits the college because it will be the focal point for the program and its going to help us attract more and better students to the program,” Fenner said. According to Fenner, this is something that puts UC ahead of the curve because building an on campus trading room is becoming more and more popular across the country.
“Not only are we ahead of the curve, we built a really nice facility here and I think this is going to be something that students look for when they are looking for colleges and they see what resources they have available,” he said. “This is something that is going to stand out that we have not seen [from] other colleges of our size.”
The First Source FCU Trading Room is also going to help students stand out and help them as they go out and search for jobs according to Fenner.
The lab is will be opened for business as soon as faculty members are completely trained to use the technology available in the classroom.
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