Stock ticker board to promote real-world business experiences
The Business Administration Department is adding something to its repertoire that Assistant Professor of Business Administration Christian Ola said will improve an already impressive department.
A stock ticker board has been purchased with sponsoring from First National Bank for the next two years. A ticker board is six feet wide and about six to eight inches tall and will be in the trading lab on the first floor of Hanna Hall.
“Our hope is that it will create a deeper sense of being practical, being real and being meaningful,” Ola said. “[The Student Investment Club is] an already good club we are hoping will become better and a little more visible on campus. We think it adds even more credibility.”
Ola said the new stock ticker gives Waynesburg’s business department a “competitive advantage” over other schools since students are able to utilize the investment club, trading lab and stock ticker.
The stock ticker is on campus and will be programmed this week. According to Ola, it will hopefully be placed in the trading lab shortly following. The ticker will show the fluctuation in stocks for that day, and Ola said that the Student Investment Club will be able to manage their account, follow stocks they are interested in and see news stories that could affect the market.
The trading lab is next to the computer lab on the first floor of Hanna Hall, and it has 12 trading stations, three 52-inch televisions, Wi-Fi and now the ticker board.
SIC is a club on campus that was started in 2009, and the university gave the club approximately $25,000 to invest.
The President of SIC, Scott Hefty, said the ticker board will make SIC similar to a real-world setting.
“The ticker board will allow us to continually stream stocks throughout the day and get minute by minute stock changes,” Hefty said. “It sets up a more professional trading environment realistic to what actual trading will be in a lot of situations.”
The company the stock ticker was purchased from is the same company that major universities like Texas and Florida State use for their tickers. Ola thinks the ticker board is a tool that makes Waynesburg attractive to employers.
“From an employer standpoint, a lot of recruiters come on campus and come in Hanna to recruit our kids,” Ola said.
“Now all of a sudden this has become a real-time program, and this is the real deal. I think they see there’s a commitment from everyone here to make all the students here well-versed.”
Ola said University President Douglas G. Lee and Heidi Szuminsky, vice president for Institutional Advancement and University Relations, gave “herculean efforts” in getting the ticker board to campus.
Hefty said a ticker board is sentimental and having one on campus legitimizes SIC and the business department.
“Every college has classrooms; it doesn’t matter where you go. There are desks, chairs and probably a white board and someone standing up teaching you,” he said. “When you’re able to set up an intense atmosphere to the business department within the investment lab is exciting. A ticker board takes [us] to another level.”