Center for the Study of Finance

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Center for the Study of Finance

Bulls Bears and Bucs

2026 CAMPUS-WIDE STOCK CHALLENGE HAS STARTED!

Sponsored by: Stifel

https://www.stifel.com/branch/tn/johnson-city

First Prize $1,000 |  Second $500 | Third $300 | Fourth $200 | Fifth - Tenth $150 Game runs from March 2 to April 17, 2025. Free t-shirts for first 200 signups, pick up in SW 222. Availability announced on this site when they arrive.

Award Ceremony Thursday, April 23 at 11:30 a.m. in Sam Wilson 222, free pizza and drinks for all participants who attend even if you didn't win! Please stop by if you can.

Article about 2024 game: https://easttennessean.com/2024/03/06/bulls-bears-bucs-campus-wide-stock-challenge/

Start out with a hypothetical $25,000 and see how much you can accumulate in five weeks. Using an on-line internet account, you can trade as many times as you wish. Account balances and standings will all be displayed on-line and updated daily. All U.S. stocks over $10 fair game. You can sign up anytime through April 3 and is free to all ETSU students, faculty, and staff, the latter two not eligible for awards.

Go to https://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/ and register, (please use real name and etsu email so we can contact you if you win!). Join a challenge, name is ETSUFIN and password is etsubucs if it asks. Under the StockGame tab, click stocks under Make a Trade and start trading! 

How To Trade Stocks

Where it states Symbol Search/Trade enter a ticker symbol or company name. Type quantity of shares to buy or sell, order type (generally use Market), click preview then submit order. Note the market is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. A ticker symbol is a 1-5 letter symbol that tells the site what stock you are trading, i.e. Walmart for example is WMT. Remember you start with $25,000 so make good size trades if you want to win!  Minimum stock price must be greater than $10.

2025 game winnerRobbie Puryea (center) receiving his $1,000 award with Jeff Anderson from Stifel Investments (left), and Dr. William Trainor (right), Director of the Center for the Study of Finance which organized and ran the stock market game.

Hope After Helene: Financing Disaster Recovery Conference Sept. 19, 2025

Hope After Helene

International Summer Experience and Finance Disc Golf, 2025 

International Disc Golf Finance Challenge

Two New Student Managed Investment Funds Now Live


East Tennessee State University students now have their hands on something most college students only dream of: real money to invest and markets to navigate. ETSU’s College of Business and Technology’s new partnership with Citizens Bank provides ETSU students with expanded, hands-on experience managing investment portfolios. 
Through a new agreement with the Citizens Bank Tri-Cities Foundation and the LaPorte family, ETSU’s Center for the Study of Finance now has two new Student Managed Investment Funds known as “The Citizens Bank Fund” and “The LaPorte Fund.” This support will allow students to actively manage a portion of the foundation’s assets. It’s an opportunity that mirrors the work of professional investment managers.

ETSU's Applied Equity Class which manages approximately $500,000 for the Tennessee Valley Authority within their Investment Challenge Program Outperformed the S&P 500 in 2025 and for the last 16 of 21 years.  ETSU has earned over $105,000 in performance bonus money and has won the competition twice in the last 5 years competing against 25+ other schools.  ETSU has had 14 top ten and 7 top three performances.

ETSU Finance Program

ETSU’s Economics and Finance program is recognized within the CFA Institute University Affiliation Program

Finance core (All finance majors): 18 Credits

FNCE 3300 Prin. of Investments
FNCE 3500 Cap. Budgeting
FNCE 4447 Banking and Fin. Intermediation
FNCE 4597 Inter. Fin. Management
ECON 3800 Econometrics
One of the following: FNCE 4617 (Applied Equity), FNCE 4957 (CFA), FNCE 4620 Fin Analysis

Concentrations:  9 Credits

Financial Services:  FNCE 4500, ECON 3600, FNCE 4620
Investments and Corporate Finance:  FNCE 4560, FNCE 4617, FNCE 4620 or FNCE 4957
Real Estate:  FNCE 3120, FNCE 3130, FNCE 4320
General Finance:  Any FNCE designated classes

Electives: 9 Credits, 3 hours must be FNCE courses

ACCT 3010 - Financial Accounting I (3 credits)
ACCT 3090 - Administrative Accounting (3 credits)
ACCT 3110 - Management Accounting (3 credits)
ECON 3040 - Intermediate Macroeconomics (3 credits)
ECON 3310 - Monetary Economics (3 credits)
ECON 4610 - Managerial Economics (3 credits)
ECON 3600 – Data Visualization (3 credits)
FNCE 3120 - Principles of Real Estate (3 credits)
FNCE 3130 - Real Estate Law (3 credits)
FNCE 4320 - Real Estate Appraisals (3 credits)
FNCE 4500 - Credit Management (3 credits)
FNCE 4560 - Port. Theory, 3 credits
FNCE 4617 - Applied Equity Valuation (3 credits)
FNCE 4906 - Finance Internship (3 credits)
FNCE 4957 - Topics in Finance (1-6 credits)
FNCE 4620 - Fin Analysis, 3 credits
FNCE 4018 - Senior Honors Seminar, 3-6 credits

Free Electives: 7 credits

Finance Minor: 18 credits

FNCE 2220**, FNCE 3220, FNCE 3300, FNCE 3500, and 6 additional elective FNCE hours
**ACCT 2000, ACCT 2010, or ECON 2220 can substitute for FNCE 2220

1The FNCE 4957 CFA Challenge class offered as a special topics class with limited enrollment by application only.