Trostle Finance Lab
Consistent with our vision of providing students with real-world learning opportunities, we created a learning space that would move students from the hypothetical to the real world of finance. The state-of-the-art finance lab was made possible with the support of several donors, friends, and alumni of Elizabethtown College. The lab is dedicated to Dr. Randy Trostle, in appreciation for his hard work and dedication to Elizabethtown College students for over 40 years.
Our business students discuss the benefits of the Trostle Finance Lab.
Alumni talk about how Randy Trostle inspired them and why they honored him with the Trostle Finance Lab.
Build a portfolio. Literally.
The Trostle Investment Portfolio (TIP) is a student-managed investment fund.
The fund is designed to provide Elizabethtown College students a real-world experience in the management of an investment company. Students create and manage a diversified portfolio of stocks that maximizes long-term expected returns with acceptable risk.
Investment Committee
The TIP Investment Committee is comprised of students enrolled in BA424 Investments and BA426 Student Managed Investment Portfolio and the faculty for the courses. The chair of the Department of Business is a permanent, ex officio, member of the committee.
The Committee monitors the Portfolio's performance by comparison to appropriate equity market indices, and/or with mutual funds having similar objectives. The Committee monitors and reviews, at least on a quarterly basis, the overall Portfolio investment progress and allocation decisions.
The Committee reports the results of the policy's implementation to the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees of the College and the faculty of the Department of Business on a regular basis.
Established in August 2007, TIP is named in honor of Dr. Randy Trostle, Emeritus Associate Professor of Finance.
2022 First Quarter Performance - Past TIP reports can be obtained by contacting the Department of Business at 717-361-1270 or business@etown.edu.
A world within a world
The finance lab is equipped with a stock ticker display, which instantly shows the latest stock quotes and headline news that students-as-investors need to know. It also holds a FactSet license, which allows students to perform in-depth research, analyze and compare indicators across companies, create a quick industry analysis, and evaluate industries according to more than 100 financial and performance metrics.
Students will be able to perform regression analyses, using a database that contains 2.1 million time series for more than 200 countries, and current information on global economic events. They will also be able to evaluate a company’s debt capital structure, fixed income securities, and build dynamic financial models of stock valuation. In the lab, students will have access to a large set of business libraries, such as private equity offerings, corporate governance, financial entities, global filings, commodities and energy, and other data. To sharpen their investor mindset, students will also have the chance of managing a real investment fund, track its performance over time and against market indicators, and simulate trades before they are executed.
Thus, the finance lab simulates a dynamic, “trading floor,” environment, which will help students enhance their real-world learning and increase the marketability of their skills in an ever more competitive environment.
Real World Learning Opportunities
This lab reflects our commitment to ensuring that each graduate completes at least two real-world learning experiences at Elizabethtown College. This graduation requirement can be completed in many ways. See below some examples of how business students have completed their real-world learning experiences:
- Participating in finance case competitions, such as the RISE competition, or the CFA Research challenge
- Completing co-op programs with Fortune 500 companies, such as Hershey or Sunoco.
- Completing internship programs, such as the entrepreneurship program offered by the Yunus Centre in Bangladesh.
- Preparing taxes for low-to-moderate income citizens through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.