2023-2024 Academic Catalog 
    
    Oct 04, 2024  
2023-2024 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Finance, MSF


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Overview


Graduate Program


Clark University’s School of Management Master’s in Finance program is a rigorous curriculum focusing on the skills and knowledge required to apply advanced financial theories to complex financial management problems. To be successful in this program, students need to have strong mathematical skills, along with required prerequisite course work in the following areas:

  • Calculus
  • Economic Theory
  • Statistics

 

Students are required to complete three prerequisite courses prior to the start of their MSF program. Undergraduate economic theory, calculus and statistics courses with a grade of ‘B’ or higher will meet the prerequisites. If students are missing any prerequisites, they will be required to enroll in the missing prerequisite course(s) through Clark University prior to officially starting in the MSF program: STAT 4008 , ECON 4004   and/or STAT 4009 .

 

The Master’s in Finance program as well as the analytics concentration are both STEM-designated programs.

Graduate Program Requirements


The curriculum for the MSF program consists of eight required core courses, plus one unit of an Experiential Learning Requirement (ELR), and one unit of general elective coursework, for a total of 10 units.  All courses are worth one unit, unless otherwise specified.  The ELR course is typically taken in the student’s final semester.  Students can choose from the ELR and elective list shown below.

 

Students must achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.0 to be in good academic standing in SOM at the end of each semester (a ‘B’ in each of their classes).  The lowest grade a student can earn in a course is a ‘C.’

 

Completion of a graduate internship is also required for all full-time students in the program.  However, it may be possible to waive this requirement if students have 3+ years of professional business work experience related to their field of study.  Contact a member of the Stevenish Career Management Center for more information.

 

Students can begin this program at the start of the fall or spring semester.

 

Required Core Courses:

Financial Analytics Concentration


Students may choose to add a Financial Analytics concentration to their MSF program of study if they would like to specialize in this area. The curriculum for this concentration consists of eight required core courses, plus one unit of an Experiential Learning Requirement (ELR), and one unit of general elective coursework, for a total of 10 units.  All courses are worth one unit, unless otherwise specified.  The ELR course is typically taken in the student’s final semester.  Students can choose from the ELR and elective list shown below.

 

Students must also complete an internship while completing their program.  The internship is an additional requirement and is not for course credit.

 

Students applying to this concentration must satisfy 1 Python or SQL Server Programming prerequisite course prior to beginning their first semester at Clark University. Please read below for prerequisite guidelines:

 

Python or SQL Server Programming

The common topics that the programming courses must cover is the syntax, algorithm, and programming skills of a popular programming language, such as Python, Java, C++, C, SQL, Visual Basic, Perl, PHP, or MATLAB.

The prerequisite is automatically satisfied if the student took one (1) course at an accredited college or university. Students can also satisfy this programming prerequisite if they successfully complete the following Online Certificate programs from either LinkedIn Learning or Udemy:

 

LinkedIn Learning

 

Udemy

Experiential Learning Requirement


Students choose one of the following courses to fulfill the Experiential Learning Requirement for the program. This course is typically taken in the student’s final semester. The courses are designed to allow students to use the skills that they have acquired from other core courses to gain hands-on experience solving real world challenges.

Elective Course


Students choose one unit of elective courses from a list of preselected courses. Approved Management and Marketing courses with prerequisites require permission and a registration override from the professor if students have not completed the prerequisites.

Program Faculty


Fei Fang, Ph.D.

Steve Ng, M.B.A.

Sitikantha Parida, Ph.D.

Richard Spurgin, Ph.D.

Zhenyang Tang, Ph.D.

 

Adjunct Faculty


Claudia Chilundo, Ph.D

William Davis, M.B.A.

Yue Gao, Ph.D.

Thomas Herald, M.B.A

Frank Jenkins, M.B.A.

Hong Zou, Ph.D.

 

Emeriti Faculty


Margarete Arndt, D.B.A.

Robert Bradbury, Ph.D.

Gary Chaison, Ph.D.

Harold T. Moody, Ph.D.

Edward J. Ottensmeyer, Ph.D.

Maurry Tamarkin, Ph.D.

 

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