New Economics and Finance Majors Introduced by Business and Economics Department

Curriculum in the business and economics department has shifted to introduce two new areas of study, allowing students to now major in economics and finance, a response to growing interest in those concentrations and a shift away from the existing applied economics major. The change separates each of those disciplines and expands the range of study, providing students with greater opportunity to tailor their degrees to their unique interests. In addition to the new majors, the department is offering minors in accounting, economics, finance, and management studies.

In both majors, students will take a core set of courses in economic theory and quantitative methods, while continually emphasizing writing and speaking skills throughout the curriculum—a feature that students frequently report to be of great value in their post-graduate pursuits. Economics majors then choose from a variety of electives to round out the major, as finance majors select more targeted finance electives to complete their programs.

While economics majors are integral to most business programs in liberal arts colleges, the presence of a finance major is a rarity—and there are quite a few advantages to studying finance at Ursinus that may not be as readily available at larger business schools.

“We believe that the scope of our finance offerings is unique among small liberal arts colleges, and we think that, along with the Quest Open Questions curriculum, our courses give students a unique perspective on finance that is particularly valuable in the current environment,” said Associate Professor of Business and Economics Scott Deacle.

Much of this unique perspective comes from in-depth, hands-on field practice through work with the Finance Scholars Program, Ursinus College Investment Management Company (UCIMCO), Community Bank Case Study competition, and more—experiences that give students an invaluable leg up as they enter their prospective fields.

Ursinus’s interdisciplinary approach to the majors, in synchronicity with industry experience through the lens of Quest, cultivates an experiential learning opportunity that will serve students long into their future. Deacle believes that the courses “encourage students to think about the societal and ethical dimensions of financial and investment decisions. In addition, the mindset encouraged by our curriculum is one that is curious about different perspectives and seeks new ways to view complex situations, something that is quite valuable for financial and investment analysis.”