Finance
Finance
Make a difference by helping people and organizations obtain and manage the money needed to achieve their goals.
Whether helping someone plan for retirement, or managing money on Wall Street, or raising funds for a large organization, finance professionals improve lives and add value to society. The finance major prepares students with a solid foundation in the principles and practical applications of modern finance, while at the same time developing the analytical, decision-making, and communication skills needed to succeed in today’s quickly evolving economic environment. The curriculum allows students to create a customized combination of courses or develop expertise in one of five areas of finance: investment management, corporate finance, personal financial planning, financial institutions management, and financial data analytics.
BECOME A FINANCE LEADER
Touching the lives of everyone, finance ultimately allocates the capital that fuels economic growth. Drake’s program emphasizes not only how finance helps people, businesses, and governments raise and manage the money needed to pursue their goals, it also develops future leaders focused on how finance impacts and adds value to all members of society.
PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION
Coursework in the finance program focuses on utilizing the same tools and data as the finance industry. The Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation is globally recognized as the gold standard for professional accreditation in investment management. As a CFA Institute University Affiliated Program, the Drake curriculum combines current best practices in the industry with academic theory to ensure graduates are ethical professionals focused on benefiting employers, clients, and society. These ideals are reflected each year when Drake students compete in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Challenge. Students also make extensive use of Bloomberg terminals in the classroom while obtaining a Bloomberg Market Concepts Certificate and manage over $800,000 in Drake’s Krause Challenge portfolio.
EXAMPLES OF COURSEWORK
Required major courses: Portfolio Management, International Finance, Advanced Corporate Finance, Financial Markets and Institutions
Elective courses: Fintech, Equity Valuation, Financial Institutions Management
For a comprehensive list of courses for Finance offered by the Zimpleman College of Business, visit this page.
INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Finance majors benefit from networking with the large and thriving Des Moines financial services industry. In addition to taking advantage of the numerous local financial services internship opportunities, majors obtain internships in all areas of finance both locally and nationally. Some of the employers where recent finance majors have had internships include the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Principal Finance Group, Morgan Stanley, Rockwell Collins, Ernst & Young, Rocket Mortgage, Athene, Vision Financial Group, Fiserv, Global Atlantic Financial Group, F&G Annuities and Life, and Holmes Murphy & Associates.
GET INVOLVED
Finance majors are active in the campus community including leading Drake’s Investment Club which manages a portfolio of its members' money and the Finance Society which connects with the local finance community. They additionally are active participants in the professional business fraternities Delta Sigma Pi and Alpha Kappa Psi.
FIND OUT MORE
We love talking about the great things happening at Drake, but nothing beats a visit to campus. Let us know you're coming, and we'll arrange for you to meet professors, sit in on a class, or just hang out with current students.
Contact:
Tom Root, Ph.D.
515-271-4163
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