Smith School Launches $50K
Undergraduate Investment Fund
10
Students Manage
Lemma
Senbet Fund, Part of
Undergraduate Fellows Program
College Park, Md. November 7,
2006 With the opening bell of the
markets today, 10 undergraduate students
majoring in finance at the University of
Marylands Robert H. Smith School
continued their yearlong challenge of
managing the recently launched $50,000
Lemma
Senbet Fund. The fund named
for an esteemed Smith finance professor
for his contributions to the school is
one segment of the Undergraduate Fellows
Program, an initiative launched this
fall that offers students participation
in small-scale specialized academic
concentrations, or tracks, that
provide hands-on experience and close
interaction with faculty, alumni, peers
and companies.
The limited-enrollment Senbet Fund,
one of several specialty tracks
available to upperclassmen in the
fellows program, gives students the
chance to research companies and manage
and invest money from the schools
endowment fund. The fund managers goal
is to outperform the S&P 500 index,
though its equally important that each
member learns the processes by which
investment decisions are made in a
professional asset-management setting.
The fund will pay a 5 percent dividend
to the Deans Office each year.
The Lemma Senbet Fund is an
innovative and rare opportunity for
undergraduate students to make real
investment decisions and manage real
money, said Howard Frank, dean of the
Robert H. Smith School of Business. The
fund gives our top students the chance
to apply what theyve learned in their
finance classes to actual investment
decisions. This program, and several
others in our Undergraduate Fellows
Program, gives Smith students a
competitive edge in the job market and
prepares them to be business leaders
with analytical skills and hands-on
experience.
The program is modeled after the
Smith Schools successful Mayer Fund, a
$1.2 million portfolio managed by
full-time MBA students that beat the S&P
500 by 9 percent last year.
In a course that meets twice per week
for two hours in both the fall and
spring semesters, students gain
unparalleled financial knowledge and
skills, including asset management
exposure and financial modeling skills.
They develop skills using and applying
tools in the Smith Schools Financial
Markets Lab and develop leadership
skills, all of which are particularly
attractive to potential employers.
Participating students are assigned
roles in operating the fund, either as
portfolio managers or equity analysts
specializing in an area such as
technology, health care or
telecommunications.
MBA students managing the Mayer Fund
helped select the 10 Senbet Fund
managers this year, based on several
criteria including analytical abilities
and communication skills, but in the
future, current undergraduate fund
members will play a part in selecting
their successors.
About the
Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business
is an internationally recognized leader
in management education and research for
the digital economy. One of 13 colleges
and schools at the University of
Maryland, College Park, the Smith School
offers undergraduate, full-time and
part-time MBA, Executive MBA, Executive
MS, PhD, and non-degree executive
education programs, as well as outreach
services to the corporate community. The
school offers its programs in learning
locations on four continents including
North America, Europe, Africa and Asia.
