In our masks and at our ad hoc work stations, we have come through a semester unlike any other. We are proud of the Duke community effort to keep everyone safe while students continued to learn. Students are ready for a restorative break period, and we in DFE look forward to enjoying a cozy holiday season. We hope the same for all of you. But first, we have updates to share.

New and upcoming:

• DFE’s advising, mentoring, and a number of our diversity initiatives are now organized under the Eichel Finance Advising Network, made possible by a generous gift from Scott Eichel ’97.

• Starting in the Spring 2021 semester, the Economics Department will incorporate the STEM Advancement through Group Engagement (SAGE) program in Econ 101, an effort spearheaded by DFE Teaching Director Emma Rasiel. The program will foster supportive learning communities, allowing diverse students to engage in small, peer-led study groups.

• In partnership with Duke Continuing Studies, DFE rolled out an online course for high school students, Irrational Behavior in Financial Decision-Making, this fall. Emma taught two sessions of the four-week course with 41 students total taking advantage of the opportunity. Further sessions are planned for the spring as a result of continued demand. If you know of a high school student who would like to apply, please let Emma know, and she will alert you once the Continuing Studies application site is open.

Ongoing:

• 14 finance courses were offered in the Economics Department this semester. Three additional courses in Pratt’s FinTech Master’s program were open to undergraduates. Emma and DFE Executive Director John Caccavale offered their large sophomore course Practical Finance Markets online and saw an enrollment of 238 from more than 20 majors, consistent with previous years. Across all of these classes, more than 780 seats were taken. 11 professionals from varying areas of the finance industry gave guest lectures.

• Our Finance Alumni/Parent Mentor Program connected 105 sophomores with finance professionals for one-on-one conversations.

• We completed three competitions this semester: a corporate valuation competition with Wells Fargo, an asset allocation competition with BlackRock, and a Trading Game with Morgan Stanley. A total of 282 sophomores participated. Students presented virtually to a panel of judges from Wells Fargo and BlackRock. Watch the winning presentations from both competitions here and here. A fourth competition, the Goldman Sachs Trade Pitch competition, is ongoing; the top ten teams will be selected in December and will present to the GS panel in January.

• The sophomore, junior, and senior fellows in our Dzialga Women in Finance Initiative enjoyed six guest speaker sessions, which included speakers from 4170 Trading, DUMAC, and Point72.

• With our January Networking Days program on hiatus in 2021 due to COVID-19, we distributed a packet of 136 sophomores’ résumés to 15 corporate divisions, encouraging firms to contact students for mock interviews.

We are grateful for the support many of you have given this semester, be it mentoring a student, speaking in a class, or judging on a competition panel. You continue to prove that DFE is all of us.

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and healthy holiday season!

The DFE Team