Student panel discusses trip to London in EBC Speaker Series Presentation

 The next Engineering, Business, and Computing (EBC) Division Speaker Series Presentation will feature Khaled Abdou, Associate Professor of Financial Services at Penn State Berks, along with a panel of six students, who will present ?An International Real-World Learning Experience: A Trip to London? on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, at 1 pm in room 121, Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building. This presentation is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Penn State Berks students Jennifer Barnett, Noreen Cioffi, Lewis Colon, Jennifer Gerhard, Katelyn Harley, and Evan Hufford will participate in the panel discussion. They were among the students enrolled in the International Capital Markets course who had the rare opportunity to learn about finance in London during the Thanksgiving Break, from November 17-24, 2012. The students were accompanied by Abdou, who teaches the course and organized the trip. They were also accompanied by Dr. Paul Esqueda, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Penn State Berks, who studied in London as an undergraduate student.

The students will discuss how the experience affected them both professionally and personally. During the excursion, the students visited several financial and investment sites such as the Bank of England Museum, where they learned about the English financial system and policy; the London Metal Exchange, where they observed commodity trading; Barclay's Capital, where they learned about investment banking; and Deloitte, where they studied mergers and acquisitions and financial consulting. They also visited Sotheby's, a well known collectibles/fine art auction house; Lloyd's of London, an insurance/reinsurance firm; DFJ Esprit, a venture capital firm; and Coller Capital, an investment firm.

It was such an eye-opening experience and it really showed me all the different things I could do with my major after I graduate,? commented Kate Harley, a junior majoring in Business with a concentration in Finance.

According to Abdou, the purpose of the trip was to expose Finance students to the real world of international finance and to offer them an opportunity to hear directly from international professionals about their experiences. The students also benefited from the opportunity to experience a different culture and to be global citizens.

The EBC Division Speaker Series features Penn State Berks faculty and visiting experts who conduct research on a wide variety of topics. Topics are of broad and general interest and are accessible to the non-expert.

For more information, contact either of the co-chairs for the EBC Division Speaker Series: Dr. Jui-Chi Huang, Assistant Professor of Economics, ([email protected]) or Dr. Ada Leung, Assistant Professor of Marketing ([email protected]).