Patrycia Szlembarski, Special to The Denisonian
This semester, Denison launched a new Bachelor of Science in Finance, replacing its financial economics concentration and expanding professional training and opportunities for students.
The transition from a concentration to a standalone major comes after years of student interest. The previous academic structure often delayed core courses, which created obstacles for students entering the professional world.
“Typically, they take their first finance class in their junior or senior year and that’s too late,” said Hyun Woong Park, associate professor in the economics department. “By the time they are already in the internship interview or job market interview, it’s too late to prepare them.”
The new major addressed this by doubling the number of core finance classes from two to four. This new curriculum enables students to start their finance coursework during their sophomore year, providing a head start on the competitive internship cycle. The economics department has also doubled its finance faculty, increasing the number of professors in this specialty.
“We need more people who can teach these specific, high-level courses,” Park said. “By bringing in more experts, we can offer a wider variety of electives.”
The economics department has prioritized the academic timeline for younger students. Principles of Finance is now a sophomore-only requirement, ensuring students are prepared for the industry earlier than previous graduates. Ariana Gravely ‘28 is one example of a student switching from financial economics to the new major. She finds that the finance major is more practical for her career goals.
“I decided to switch to finance just because it’s more financial than econ,” Gravely said. “Econ is a lot of markets and theoretical topics. Finance is more applied to businesses.”
For students entering a competitive job market, timing is important as well as the material itself. This earlier access is to prevent students from feeling behind when they begin speaking with recruiters.
“If I would have had this my freshman year, I think it would have put me in a much better position for my internships,” Gravely said.
Beyond classroom lectures, the new major emphasizes hands-on technical training. Students are now working with specialized resources such as the Bloomberg Terminals which provide real-time financial data used by professionals. Students familiarize themselves with 150 different financial functions.
“We have to complete the Bloomberg market concepts certification,” Gravely said. “It’s a certificate saying you know how to use the Bloomberg Terminals.”
This certification is designed to be a self-paced module that consists of four main parts: the purpose of investing, types of investment, risk and reward and portfolio management.
“It’s an eight-hour-long module and it’s a good opportunity. It looks good on resumes,” Gravely said.
The decision to establish finance as a major was heavily influenced and supported from beyond campus. Alumni working in the finance sector have expressed excitement about returning to Granville to provide mentorship and internship guidance to students. This support provided the momentum needed to transition.
“There was a lot of support from donors, alums and families,” Park said. “Based on this support, we thought that this is a time to expand and create something.”
For faculty, a priority was to integrate the major into economics so that students still gain a strong fundamental understanding of economics. The new major will be deeply connected to the liberal arts through the electives offered and the unique perspectives of each faculty member.
“We are very proud of what we were doing, offering the finance curriculum within the liberal arts context,” Park said. “In that sense, the finance that we offer is very unique. Compared to other finance programs, they are more business-related, as opposed to our finance, [which] is more connected to the liberal arts.”
The expansion of the finance program is expected to continue as the first cohort of sophomores moves through the new requirements this spring.