STILLWATER, Okla. - The Oklahoma State University Department of Finance recently hosted the third annual Master of Science in Quantitative Financial Economics (MSQFE) Alumni Weekend.

MSQFE alumni, faculty and current MSQFE students were invited to participate in the two-day event, held Oct. 2-3, 2009.

The event provided MSQFE alumni and current students with networking opportunities, professional development and gain knowledge from industry leaders on timely subjects.

“The MSQFE Alumni Weekend has re-emphasized the tremendous diversity among professional occupations and skill sets of the program’s alumni, faculty and students,” said Tim Krehbiel, professor of finance and director of the MSQFE program. “Overseeing a program that requires the depth of interaction within and across disciplines is both a challenge and rewarding. Our alumni continue to give positive feedback concerning their preparation for life as a professional in the broadly defined fields of quantitative finance.”

STILLWATER, Okla. - The Department of Finance and OSU’s Student Chapter of the Financial Management Association recently hosted Rick Bookstaber, a leading expert in risk management and derivative securities.

Bookstaber earned his Ph.D. in economics from MIT and has worked on Wall Street for Salomon Brothers, Morgan Stanley and several hedge funds. He recently testified before several U.S. congressional committees regarding the recent economic meltdown, and he is the author of A Demon of Our Own Design, three other books and numerous articles about option theory and risk management.

Bookstaber visited with about 40 finance students on September 24 about the recent financial crisis, risk governance issues and the outlook for future regulation of global financial markets.

"The OSU students benefited greatly from Rick Bookstaber's insights into the financial crisis, risk governance issues during the crisis and the possible future regulations to address risk-taking in financial markets," said Janice Jadlow, associate professor of finance and faculty advisor for FMA.

STILLWATER, Okla. - The Department of Finance and OSU’s Student Chapter of the Financial Management Association recently hosted Griff Jones, CEO of Eagle Energy.

Griff Jones is Chief Executive Officer of Eagle Energy.  He is a 1991 OSU finance graduate.  His activities and honors while at OSU included serving as president of Business Student Council and being selected as Outstanding Senior in the School of Business.  A co-founder of Eagle Energy, Jones was instrumental in the development of the Watson Trading Floor at Oklahoma State University. Griff and his wife, Mindi, have supported OSU in many ways including the establishment of the Ed and Marilyn Keller Professorship in Finance and an endowed scholarship fund at OSU.

During his recent visit to OSU, Jones discussed energy pricing problems across different regions of the country and how Eagle Energy managers address those problems with OSU finance graduate students. In addition, Jones served as the guest speaker for the first FMA meeting of the year, where he spoke about atomic energy for the United States.

Eagle Energy is a Houston-based energy marketing and services company that manages and optimizes supply, transportation, transmission, load and storage portfolios on behalf of wholesale natural gas and power clients in the United States and Canada. Eagle Energy is one of the largest providers of market services to the wholesale gas and power sectors in North America.  It also operates in the US coal markets. Eagle Energy also manages innovative projects to help mitigate environmental exposure.

This article was originally was published in the Tulsa World. Click here to view the original article.

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The vast majority of Oklahoma’s depository financial institutions remain safe and sound, according to an updated economic analysis conducted by an Oklahoma State University professor of finance.

Gary Simpson, the principal investigator for the report, revised a study he originally released last September and expanded his focus to include savings banks and credit unions in addition to commercial banks that have home offices in the state.

This included 248 commercial banks, five savings banks and 78 credit unions.

Simpson looked at public documents available through the end of 2008 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the National Credit Union Administration for each of the institutions included in his analysis. He looked at their capital positions; potential losses, particularly from loans; their securities portfolios; and profitability.

Tulsa, Oklahoma – Trennepohl, who became president of the newly designated OSU-Tulsa campus on Aug. 1, 1999, made the announcement this afternoon following a joint meeting of the OSU-Tulsa Board of Trustees and the University Center at Tulsa Authority.

This article originally was published in the Tulsa World. Click here to read the original article.

With the nation's economy likely to get worse before it gets better, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University will teach a six-week course to help older people understand how the situation may affect them.

The economy is a familiar topic for Ali Nejadmalayeri, an assistant professor of finance at OSU's Spears School of Business.

Nejadmalayeri - who is known to his students as "Dr. N" - will guide people ages 50 and older through the course, "Understanding Our Economy," on Thursdays from Feb. 5 through March 12.

The Oklahoma State University Department of Finance recently received a donation from the Natural Gas & Energy Association of Oklahoma (NGEAO). NGEAO is a non-profit membership association comprised of upstream, mid-stream and downstream natural gas and energy industry participants, as well as corollary service companies who rely on Oklahoma's natural gas and energy resources for existence.

Each year, NGEAO supports industry education by making donations to colleges and programs designed to further the natural gas and energy industry in Oklahoma. Betty Simkins, associate professor of finance, said the OSU finance department will use the donation to sponsor activities that allow students to learn more about the oil and gas industry.

The Financial Management Association International at Oklahoma State University has earned the both the FMA Superior Chapter Award and the FMA Gold Membership Development Award for the 2007-2008 academic year. Both awards are presented to fewer than 5 percent of FMA chapters around the world.