Banking and Finance

Research Conference Participation

Professor Tyler Henry's paper "Short Selling around Seasoned Equity Offerings" was presented at the January 2009 American Finance Association meetings in San Francisco. The paper examines the influence of short sellers on the offering price of new equity issues by publicly-traded corporations. The paper provides evidence that short sellers, while usually contributors to price efficiency, can make prices less efficient. Furthermore, the paper has implications for the role of regulation in the capital formation process.

Professor Jim Linck presented his paper, "Vertical Integration to Avoid Contracting with Potential Competitors: Evidence from Bankers' Banks" at the Chicago Fed’s 45th Annual Conference on Bank Structure and Competition in May 2009. The conference is an annual event sponsored by the Chicago Fed that attracts academics, bankers and regulators from across the country. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke provided the keynote address. Sheila Bair, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, also spoke at the conference.

Professor Annette Poulsen will present her paper, "Mutual Funds as Monitors," at the Workshop on Corporate Governance at theCopenhagen Business School in June 2009. The workshop attracts scholars from around the world and focuses on the evolving role of shareholders in determining corporate policies and performance.

Professor Ralph E. Steuer will be the leadoff speaker at the 20th International Conference on Multiple Criteria Decision Making, Chengdu, China, in June 2009. Also, Steuer has been invited to lecture in November 2009 at Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the launching of a masters degree program in Islamic Finance. Effat University is Saudi Arabia's premier institution for higher education for women.

Terry Finance Students Honored

Two Finance students, John Hillyer Jennings and Robert Michael Reed, were First Honor Graduates of the UGA Spring 2009 Graduation Class. First Honor Graduates have maintained perfect 4.0 GPAs for their entire career as an undergraduate student at UGA. Finance majors Emily Evert was selected as Honors Senior of the Year for 2008-2009 and Michael Green received the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award.

More than 20 Finance students received significant scholarships from organizations such as the Bank of America, Wachovia, and the Roundtable Financial Scholarship. Seven current Finance majors were selected to "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges". More than 100 Finance majors were named to the Spring '09 Dean's List, including 9 who were named as Presidential Scholars also.

Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF)

The Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) of the Terry College completed its second year in April 2009. Thirty top junior and senior finance majors participate in the SMIF program, managing a real portfolio of more than $100,000. The funds are gifts directed to the SMIF program, led by an initial gift from Terry alumni Mr. Darren Devore and with subsequent gifts from Mr. Todd Bitzer and Mr. Terry Brown.

The Terry SMIF program has three primary goals:

1. To enhance the education of finance students through hands-on experience in security evaluation, portfolio management, and group leadership;
2. To grow its investment portfolio as a long-term endowment asset of the Terry College;
3. To develop networking ties with the investment industry and promote the Terry College.