Programs and Course Information

The Department of Finance offers undergraduate majors in a Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) degree program:

• Finance

  Finance is the study and practice of decision-making to acquire, manage, and divest real and financial assets for the purpose of creating and maintaining economic value. A finance major will develop the knowledge and skills necessary to work in one or more of the following professional areas: asset management, commercial and investment banking, financial management of industrial enterprises, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, and financial consulting.

• Risk Management and Insurance

  Most business ventures involve risk: the possibility of success or failure. The Risk Management and Insurance curriculum is designed to equip students with the qualitative as well as quantitative tools required for identifying, evaluating and managing risk. While insurance traditionally represents an important aspect of risk management, students also learn to apply a much broader range of tools that vary across industries and across different forms of risk. Career opportunities exist in financial service industries (insurance, banking, pensions, and investment management) as well as in non-financial businesses.

• Practicum in Small-Cap Investing

  This course gives students valuable hands-on experience researching, analyzing and managing a portfolio of small capitalization stocks. Students receive training in equity analysis of small-cap stocks, including valuation, modeling, fundamental analysis and cultivation of resources. Students deliver institutional-level initiation-of-coverage research and follow-up reports. The Practicum is designed as a two-semester program. Applications are accepted in March to enroll in the following fall and spring semester.

• Practicum in Portfolio Management

  Baylor has a student-managed investment fund, which is currently valued at approximately $7 million. Students in the class are directly responsible for managing this large-cap equity securities portfolio, while learning the tools and techniques used by professionals to analyze and select individual stocks. The Practicum is a one-semester class offered to graduate and undergraduate students with strong academic records and an interest in investments. Applications are accepted in October for the spring semester and March for the fall semester.