{"id":29170,"date":"2017-10-09T08:21:33","date_gmt":"2017-10-09T12:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/?p=29170"},"modified":"2021-11-08T12:51:13","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T17:51:13","slug":"master-of-finance-program-wins-cfa-affiliation-with-15-scholarships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/2017\/10\/master-of-finance-program-wins-cfa-affiliation-with-15-scholarships\/","title":{"rendered":"Master of Finance program wins CFA affiliation, with 15 Scholarships"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Master<\/p>\n

Joining only 146 participating institutions nationally and 331 worldwide, FIU\u2019s Master of Science in Finance program<\/a> has earned the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst Program affiliate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings a lot of prestige,\u201d said Mark Del Pezzo, a finance and investments instructor in FIU\u2019s Business College and CFA charterholder for over 20 years, who is the coordinator of the University Affiliation Program. \u201cThis highly respected designation puts our program in more demand, and is great for the college overall.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CFA course of study is organized in three levels, and each level requires passing a six-hour exam.\u00a0It takes about 300 hours of study to prepare for each exam.<\/p>\n

\"Mark
Mark Del Pezzo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long course, and can be a grueling process \u2013 pass rates are less than 30 percent,\u201d Del Pezzo said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re planning to manage money for a large institution, or work in corporate finance, it\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fifteen CFA Institute scholarships are available to the 60 students in the MSF cohort. First-level exams are in December and June, so \u201cwe expect a lot of scholarship requests at the end of this term in advance of the June exam,\u201d Del Pezzo said.<\/p>\n

Financial assistance, networking opportunities. <\/em><\/p>\n

The scholarships reduce the financial burden for cash-strapped students. CFA fees can exceed $4,000, but scholarship recipients pay just $350 for each level. They also receive membership in the local CFA society, \u201cproviding valuable networking opportunities that improve chances of getting really good job,\u201d Del Pezzo said.<\/p>\n

Recipient Elizabeth Penagos said the scholarship is important to her, \u201ca recognition of my efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI arrived from Venezuela in 2015 with nothing,\u201d she said. \u201cBecoming a CFA charterholder is the best way for me to find an interesting position in many companies, in any country \u2013 to reach my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s passed the first-level exam, and said her analytic skills have improved enormously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CFA exams set a standard in terms of knowledge,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s brought the program recognition in the finance industry worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another recipient, Elena Shamina, recently represented FIU at the Prospanica and National Black MBA Association leadership conference in Philadelphia. With her bank internship ending, she\u2019s grateful for the scholarship aid and \u201call the outstanding people at FIU, who vouched for me with their votes of trust and confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI also provide for my father\u00a0and grandparents back in Russia,\u201d Shamina said. \u201cThis generous assistance gives me the opportunity to pursue\u00a0my dream career. CFA is the globally recognized professional enhancement tool to establish your credentials.\u201d<\/p>\n

MSF students have the advantage of working with three professors who know the challenge well: Finance Department Chair Shahid Hamid, who is \u201cvery enthused about this,\u201d Yeonju Jang, and Joel Barber.<\/p>\n

Plus, new FIU Business College Dean Joanne Li is a longtime preferred speaker for the CFA Institute, and past editor-in-chief for the Stalla CFA program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CFA is the gold standard for the investment field, or any profession related to finance,\u201d Li said. \u201cHaving a university-approved program speaks highly of our faculty\u2019s qualifications and our commitment to achieving excellence for our program and students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Del Pezzo, University Relations Chair and board member of CFA Society Miami, worked with Hamid to determine which FIU program was the best CFA candidate. To qualify, a school\u2019s curriculum must have 70 percent or more of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge, and the MSF program included a lot of that subject matter.<\/p>\n

MSF Program Director Brice Dupoyet and Isabel Lopez, associate director for finance and real estate graduate business programs, were instrumental in mapping the application process, Del Pezzo said. He added that FIU may consider applying for CFA designation for an undergraduate program as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to further develop our relationship with the CFA Institute, since it\u2019s the gold standard in finance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joining only 146 participating institutions nationally and 331 worldwide, FIU\u2019s Master of Science in Finance program has earned the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst Program affiliate. \u201cIt brings a lot of prestige,\u201d said Mark Del Pezzo, a finance and investments instructor in FIU\u2019s Business College and CFA charterholder for over 20 years, who is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":29172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[274,4237,4236,4239,4238,1177,4147,1310,3994,1808,1952,2412,4142],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29170"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36251,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29170\/revisions\/36251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biznews.fiu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}