Wesleyan’s Department of Economics hosted a conference titled “Teaching Finance at Liberal Arts Colleges” July 21-23 on campus. The Association to Advance Liberal Arts Colleges (AALAC) provided Wesleyan with a grant to support the event. Pictured, front row, from left: John Caskey, Swarthmore; Tom Bernardin, St. Olaf College; Matt Botsch, Bowdoin; Ben Keefer, Carleton; Liang Ding, Macalaster; Abigail Hornstein, Wesleyan; Michelle Zemel, Pomona; and Caleb Stroup, Davidson. Back row, from left: David Chapman, University of Virginia; Chris Hoag, Trinity; Xiao Jiang, Denison; Ted Burczak, Denison; Karl Boulware, Wesleyan; GianDomenico Sarolli, Drew; Michael Kelly, Lafayette; Martin Gosman, Wesleyan; Bill Gentry, Williams; and Greg Phelan, Williams.
Abigail Hornstein, associate professor of economics, co-coordinated the conference with Liang Ding of Macalester College (Saint Paul, Minn.) and Michelle Zemel of Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.). Hornstein, pictured, discussed the paper, “Financial Sophistication and Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle,” which was co-authored by faculty at Wellesley College.The goal of the conference was to to enhance the teaching, research, advising and professional development of faculty teaching finance at liberal arts colleges. Pictured is Bill Gentry, professor of economics at Williams College.Karl Boulware, assistant professor of economics, discussed the dynamic relationship between stock prices and exchange rates.Liang Ding, professor of international finance and financial markets at Macalester, led a session on “Teaching Our Research.” Ding asked conference participants to elaborate on ways they integrate their research into teaching and how to teach finance in a liberal arts setting. Ding’s research focuses on the impact of market structure and market participants’ behavior on asset prices in financial markets. Pictured at left is Ben Keefer, assistant professor of economics at Carleton College.Conference participants also discussed extra-curricular teaching and advising, project-based teaching, course titles and materials, and teaching finance at a liberal arts college versus at a business school, among other topics. Pictured, from left, is Matt Botsch, assistant professor of economics at Bowdoin, and Martin Gosman, visiting assistant professor of economics at Wesleyan.Manolis Kaparakis, director of centers for advanced computing in the Quantitative Analysis Center, attended a session on data resources.The group discussed the role of finance in an economics curriculum at a liberal arts school; the teaching of finance in a liberal arts environment; the relationship between finance faculty, student career development offices, and vocational learning; and the state of scholarly research in finance at liberal arts schools. (Photos by Olivia Drake)
Olivia Drake
James Sims
Editorial Staff
Ziba Kashef