Day Program accepts first students, hires professors
All-day retreat, subcommittees helped program take shape
Ilan Wurman
Last Updated: 5/11/08 Section: News
(5/11/08) -- CMC's Robert Day School of Economics and Finance has accepted its first undergraduate students to the Robert Day Scholars Program, which was made possible by alumnus Robert A. Day's unprecedented $200 million grant to the college last year. These first 20 Robert Day Scholars, as they are called, are all 5C students who will matriculate in the program next year as seniors.
According to Professor Janet Smith, the Dean of the Robert Day School, the program recruited from across the 5Cs and received close to 70 applications. The final 20 represent a wide range of majors, including math, engineering, economics, literature, and psychology, among others. Most of the students are from CMC; three Harvey Mudd students made the cut, as did two Pomona and one Scripps students.
"The application process was elaborate," explains Smith in an email to the CI. It involved an initial cover letter, letters of recommendation, and a transcript, followed by a "half-day assessment of group interaction" as the second stage, and "interviews with alumni and faculty" as the third stage.
"We aspire to have the Day Scholars Program be among the most highly regarded scholarship programs in the country," says Smith, elaborating on the selectivity of the program. "The inaugural group of 20 Robert Day Scholars [comprises] stellar students with demonstrated leadership potential and an interest in the educational outcomes of the program."
In addition to recruiting the first round of students, the Robert Day School has already hired three economics professors for next year with funds from the Day grant. The three are Fan Yu of Michigan State, who will be teaching investments and derivatives; Henrik Cronqvist of Ohio State, who will be teaching advanced corporate and behavioral finance; and Amir Barnea of the University of Texas at Austin, who will be teaching corporate finance. According to Smith, Yu and Cronqvist will both teach in the Masters of Arts in Finance program starting 2009, and Barnea may teach at the graduate level as well.
The Robert Day School has also hired three additional professors in economics to replace retiring faculty. These hires did not require any of the grant funds, though additional grant funds have also gone to support existing faculty in the psychology department, as well as partially endow new faculty in the fields of organizational psychology and mathematics.
The economics department as a whole seems very enthusiastic about how the program is taking shape, though the program has not necessarily taken its final form. "I think the department is generally excited about the new opportunities this gift allows," says David Bjerk, an assistant economics professor who joined the department last fall, "but certainly there has been a lot of discussion on how best to proceed."
Most of the discussions on the program occurred in subcommittees, says assistant professor of economics Yaron Raviv. "The formal discussion happened in several subcommittees that worked on the structure of the program," he explains. "In order to approve any aspect of the program there is a debate and eventually a majority vote."
There were also more informal discussions, which, according to some professors, included an all-day retreat in April for the entire department to discuss the developments in the program and to hear feedback and criticisms from the faculty. While the program was discussed, Smith said that the retreat agenda did not focus on it.
When asked whether there were any criticisms at the retreat, or if it helped inform the direction of the program, Smith kept mum. "Faculty meetings, including the retreat, are confidential to encourage open communication among the faculty," she told the CI.
According to Professor Janet Smith, the Dean of the Robert Day School, the program recruited from across the 5Cs and received close to 70 applications. The final 20 represent a wide range of majors, including math, engineering, economics, literature, and psychology, among others. Most of the students are from CMC; three Harvey Mudd students made the cut, as did two Pomona and one Scripps students.
"The application process was elaborate," explains Smith in an email to the CI. It involved an initial cover letter, letters of recommendation, and a transcript, followed by a "half-day assessment of group interaction" as the second stage, and "interviews with alumni and faculty" as the third stage.
"We aspire to have the Day Scholars Program be among the most highly regarded scholarship programs in the country," says Smith, elaborating on the selectivity of the program. "The inaugural group of 20 Robert Day Scholars [comprises] stellar students with demonstrated leadership potential and an interest in the educational outcomes of the program."
In addition to recruiting the first round of students, the Robert Day School has already hired three economics professors for next year with funds from the Day grant. The three are Fan Yu of Michigan State, who will be teaching investments and derivatives; Henrik Cronqvist of Ohio State, who will be teaching advanced corporate and behavioral finance; and Amir Barnea of the University of Texas at Austin, who will be teaching corporate finance. According to Smith, Yu and Cronqvist will both teach in the Masters of Arts in Finance program starting 2009, and Barnea may teach at the graduate level as well.
The Robert Day School has also hired three additional professors in economics to replace retiring faculty. These hires did not require any of the grant funds, though additional grant funds have also gone to support existing faculty in the psychology department, as well as partially endow new faculty in the fields of organizational psychology and mathematics.
The economics department as a whole seems very enthusiastic about how the program is taking shape, though the program has not necessarily taken its final form. "I think the department is generally excited about the new opportunities this gift allows," says David Bjerk, an assistant economics professor who joined the department last fall, "but certainly there has been a lot of discussion on how best to proceed."
Most of the discussions on the program occurred in subcommittees, says assistant professor of economics Yaron Raviv. "The formal discussion happened in several subcommittees that worked on the structure of the program," he explains. "In order to approve any aspect of the program there is a debate and eventually a majority vote."
There were also more informal discussions, which, according to some professors, included an all-day retreat in April for the entire department to discuss the developments in the program and to hear feedback and criticisms from the faculty. While the program was discussed, Smith said that the retreat agenda did not focus on it.
When asked whether there were any criticisms at the retreat, or if it helped inform the direction of the program, Smith kept mum. "Faculty meetings, including the retreat, are confidential to encourage open communication among the faculty," she told the CI.
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