Begining in fall 2010, Woodbury School of Business students will have access to a state-of-the-art finance lab that is part of a $2 million renovation in the Woodbury School of Business on UVU campus.  The finance lab houses nine student modules each with six personal computers featuring twin monitors.  The newly renovated space is large; a total of four 52-inch LCD monitors will enable instructors to provide visual materials up close and personal to students in the learning environment.  

As good as the hardware technology in the lab will be, the sophistication and variety of software that will be accessible in the lab will provide an even more significant level of display, learning, simulation, and analytic capabilities for those using the facility.  Real-time projections of a variety of commodity and stock market data and activities will be displayed for students review.  Access to news and business reports will be available for discussion and analysis throughout the day.  Several types of financial management and simulations programs will be accessible on the local computers as well as through Internet and web systems that students can use for assignments and research opportunities.  In addition, the student modules are interspersed so faculty can easily work with individual students, small groups, or the entire classroom-fluidly adapting to the class's present needs.  The lab was developed to provide students with an experience that blends both the theory and practical application of financial management and analysis.  Accessing real data in real time and using sophisticated software applications gives students the ability to analyze data instantaneously.  In addition, simulation packages will enable students to evaluate alternative scenarios that might occur given changing economic conditions.  Students will literally have the opportunity to learn a theory about predicting finacial futures and test that opportunity withing the framework of changing markets and conditions.

The finance lab features a wide range of software applications, including a variety of personal financial planning software to assist students in building family budgets and family financial plans.  Additional applications can aid the future corporate financial manager in preparing to further his or her professional development; the lab also equips the future broker and analyst who wishes to gain sophistication in stock/commodity analysis.  Estate planning software, investment management programs, income tax planning applications, and other related functions will also be available.