This fall, with support from an alumnus and corporate donors, New Mexico State University will launch a highly anticipated Bloomberg Terminal curriculum in the Finance Department in the College of Business at the Las Cruces campus. It will be the largest program of its kind in New Mexico, featuring enhanced finance courses integrating the Bloomberg Terminal.

Jason Brady, president and CEO of Thornburg Investment Management. (Courtesy photo)The Bloomberg Terminal is a software platform that provides real-time and historical data, market-moving news and analytics to help leading business and financial professionals worldwide make better informed investment decisions. The service also features execution platforms for every asset class, research and a global network to communicate securely and reliably. 

For NMSU students, the program will serve as their classroom connection to the global financial industry. By bringing the Bloomberg Terminal curriculum to NMSU, students will be able to gain insight and understanding of financial markets and learn how to assess economic scenarios and interpret critical news developments that impact the global economy. They also will have the opportunity to obtain a résumé-enhancing certification offered by Bloomberg Market Concepts.

The curriculum was made possible through financial gifts from NMSU alumnus Thurman Case, chief financial officer and vice president of finance for the Austin, Texas-based Cirrus Logic, and the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based Thornburg Investment Management.

New Mexico State University alumnus Thurman Case, now the chief financial officer and vice president of finance for the Austin, Texas-based Cirrus Logic, gives a lecture to a business class at NMSU in 2017. Thurman gave a gift to the university to help the College of Business launch a Bloomberg Terminal curriculum and certification program this fall. (Photo courtesy of Mark Gladden)“After visiting NMSU and speaking with College of Business students and faculty, I became convinced of the importance of investing in their future,” said Case, who received a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in business administration from NMSU.

“Access to the Bloomberg Terminal curriculum and certification can cultivate skills that will help NMSU students better prepare for the opportunities that await them in the business world,” Case added. “I hope other Aggies will join me in supporting this important new program.”

Jason Brady, president and CEO of Thornburg Investment Management, said the company’s gift to NMSU reflects its long-standing support of education initiatives, especially for students in New Mexico.

“At Thornburg, we are passionate about giving back to our community, particularly to opportunities that strengthen education and financial literacy,” Brady said, noting Thornburg Investment Management’s strategies total $44 billion in equity and fixed income assets and the firm’s nearly four-decade history of stewarding investments for financial advisers and institutions. 

“As the largest investment manager in New Mexico, we are thrilled to partner with NMSU and Thurman Case to inspire and transform NMSU students into the next generation of leaders in business and finance,” Brady added.

More than 950 universities across the world incorporate the Bloomberg Terminal into classwork. NMSU will be among the first universities in New Mexico to offer students proprietary Bloomberg Terminal curriculum and certification.

Starting in the fall 2019 semester, the Finance Department in NMSU’s College of Business will offer two enhanced finance courses that will integrate the Bloomberg Terminal into coursework. Faculty members Kenneth Martin and Harikumar Sankaran will teach the courses.

The first course, FIN 445: Fixed Income Markets, Instruments and Derivatives, will provide a broad introduction to treasury, corporate, municipal, mortgage-backed and asset-backed bond markets, using the textbook, “Debt Markets and Analysis,” by Stafford Johnson and published by Bloomberg Press. Students in this course also will explore analytical techniques for valuing bonds and investment decision-making.

“This advanced technology will enable our students to perform term structure modeling and yield curve analysis – critical skills that will allow them to hit the ground running when they enter the workforce,” Sankaran said. “I am deeply grateful to the donors for their foresight and generosity.”

In the second course, FIN 360: Financial Information Technology, students will learn how to integrate electronic financial information resources with spreadsheet and word-processing applications to investigate and solve financial issues and problems. 

“We can now ‘step up our game’ by incorporating hands-on exercises integrating the Bloomberg Terminal with finance principles and Excel,” Martin said of the latter course. “This course is required of all finance majors, so every finance student will have the opportunity to work on the Bloomberg Terminal.”

Martin, a Regents professor and department head for the Finance Department, added, “The faculty in the Finance Department look forward to using the Bloomberg Terminals to help students become career-ready.”

The goal is to continue the curriculum in perpetuity and expand its offerings over time, said Jim Hoffman, dean of the College of Business.

“It’s a natural step for the College of Business to continue a tradition of excellence by using cutting-edge financial technology such as from the Bloomberg Terminal,” Hoffman said. “Thurman Case and Thornburg Investment Management have opened the doors to a brighter future for our students by providing first-year funding, and there is now a significant opportunity for other alums to secure access for our students in year two and beyond.”