Williams Investment Society

The Washington Post’s Daniel de Vise writes about the C-school’s Williams Investment Society.

Read his article below, and more about the Williams Investment Society on its web site, http://wis.wlu.edu.

Donor's gift gives financial class unique opportunity to learn ins, outs of stock market

… one of a small number of schools in the nation devoting an entire seminar to investing, a topic more commonly taught as part of an economics or financial planning class.

Intriguing aspect: The most intriguing part, financial educators say, is that students will invest real money.

''You have to have real money involved in order to get the students to take it seriously,'' said Scott Hoover, adviser to the student investment club at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. ''If you can get the students to take it seriously, they can do wonders.''

At Washington and Lee, one of a growing number of universities that give students real dollars to invest, the club has $1.6 million at its disposal and has performed as well as the best professionals, Hoover said.

Info on New President

Ruscio officially becomes Washington & Lee's 26th president

(AP reports) - Washington & Lee University inaugurated Ken Ruscio as its president on Saturday.Ruscio, 52, is the university's 26th president. Before his appointment, he served four years as dean of the University of Richmond's Jepson School for Leadership Studies.

At his inauguration, Ruscio said he wants to make Washington & Lee combine rigorous intellectual questioning with respect for all.

"The opportunity for higher education indeed our obligation is to model a democratic culture of learning through mutual respect and trust, where we can be critical and skeptical without being dismissive and cynical," he said.

Ruscio got his undergraduate degree in politics at Washington & Lee in 1976, then earned his master's and doctorate degrees at Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 1978 and 1983.

The bulk of his career has been spent at Washington & Lee, where he was a professor of politics, assistant dean of the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics and dean of freshmen before taking the Jepson School position.