The Board of Regents approved a new master’s program for the College of Business in August. This is the first of its kind in Iowa: a new full-time master of finance program.

The idea to create a master of finance program came about following discussion between faculty members in the college. The program will allow the College of Business to bring together areas of finance with economics and statistical modeling. 

“After talking to employers we realized there was an unmet niche that undergraduate students weren’t meeting,” said Travis Sapp, director of the new master of finance program.

While most master of business administration programs require students to have prior work experience before they are admitted, the new master of finance program does not. 

“We feel like this program is either something an employer needs or they don’t, so they’re not going to be looking for lots of prior general business work experience,” Sapp said.

After taking the Graduate Management Admission Test, students admitted into the program will have a 40-credit workload consisting of a variety of finance classes as well as economic classes, such as quantitative methods.

While the program can be completed in three semesters, taking extra electives to widen skill sets is encouraged by faculty members.

Students are also not required to be business undergraduates for admittance. To be considered though, students need accounting classes, a mathematical background and a strong incoming grade point average. 

Sapp said that this program should interest any student, from engineering, math, statistics or even computer science. Sapp also stated that the program applies to students that are looking for an area where they can apply their skills or change careers.

“I think this might be a good fit for a lot of students from different areas and different backgrounds,” Sapp said.

The process for the master of finance program has been in the works for the past two years.

“Employers are demanding a more specialized skill set in the areas of finance,” said Dan Ryan, director of marketing and alumni relations for the College of Business. “In fact, employers have endorsed it whole-heartedly.”

Sapp spoke with many Iowa professionals when he was working on getting the master of finance program approved. He asked them what they thought of the new program and has already received a good amount of positive feedback.

“I think it’s going to be very successful,” Sapp said. “The demand for these focused, targeted programs is very strong and we plan to see that demand here too.”

Students with a master of finance degree should expect to work in the areas of corporate finance, wealth management, financial analysis and risk management.

The master of finance program is now accepting applications for the spring and fall 2014 semesters.