Fischer-Shain Center Creates Research and Educational Opportunities

PHILADELPHIA, May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Temple University's Fox School of Business is adding a new academic program for students interested in banking that will create scholarship opportunities, a case study competition and new research opportunities following an endowment by John Shain, BBA '73, chair of the school's board of visitors.

The Fischer-Shain Center for Financial Services opened Monday, April 29, in Alter Hall at the University's Main Campus with a formal ribbon cutting involving members of the finance department, Shain and his wife, Melanie, and Janice Fischer, widow of Gerald Fischer, a long-time finance professor at the business school. Alyson Fischer-Amsterdam, Janice and Gerald Fischer's daughter, and other family members were also in attendance at the event.

The center will fund a concentration on financial services for finance majors, engage speakers and conference participants from the industry and establish a regional and national network in the financial service market. About half of all Fox School undergraduate students majoring in finance work in the financial services industry. The center will empower them to enter the market with class work, programs and events centered on the financial services sector.

"My hope is that we can create academic programming across the whole Philadelphia region for the banking industry," says John Shain. "This will get our students prepared so they can start their careers with certification, training and with experienced skills to enter the financial services marketplace."

"The center will benefit our students as they look to further their careers in financial services, but it will do much more than that," says Jonathan Scott, chair of the Fox School's Department of Finance. "The center will provide an opportunity for faculty at the Fox School to conduct innovative, thoughtful research that will inform the financial services industry and the business world."

In addition to research, the endowment funds a financial services advisory board to serve as an interface between industry professionals and students and alumni, and help to evolve the curriculum to match the changes in the industry. The program will also partner with the Conference of State Banking Supervisors to create a community banking case study that gives students an experiential learning component and a networking opportunity.

"Gerald Fischer was really important to me as both a teacher and mentor," says Shain. "He taught me about banking and introduced me to computers and financial analysis and put me in a position to imagine what might be possible with new technology continuously changing industry."

Shain was a research assistant for Gerald Fischer, a long-time finance professor at the Fox School in the 1970s as Fischer examined the possibilities for computer use in the financial sector. Fischer passed away in 2006.

"Professor Fischer was an important person in the history of our finance program," says Ronald Anderson, interim dean of the Fox School of Business and the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management. "He was involved in one of the earliest incarnations of advanced computer research at the school. John Shain and Gerald Fischer were at the forefront of what is now a global industry, and now their names are the foundation for the next generation of students entering the financial services market."

About the Fox School of Business

Temple University's Fox School of Business is the largest, most comprehensive business school in the Philadelphia region and among the largest in the world, with more than 9,000 students, 220 full-time faculty and 60,000 alumni around the globe. The Fox School has a proud tradition of delivering innovative, entrepreneurial programs for the past 100 years. With facilities that provide access to market-leading technologies, the school fosters a collaborative and creative learning environment. Coupled with its leading student services, the Fox School ensures that its graduates are fully prepared to enter the real-world job market.

Learn more at fox.temple.edu. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Matthew Coughlin
Associate Director of Communications
Fox School of Business
Matthew.Coughlin@temple.edu
215-204-6083

SOURCE Fox School of Business