The College of Business recently received a large donation from the AEGON Group to create two new finance courses.

Transamerica Life Insurance Company of Cedar Rapids, a member of AEGON Group, donated $250,000 to the College of Business.

The donation will be used over a five year period, with $50,000 being used each year.

“Students will have experience managing portfolios and will be working closely with AEGON,” said Labh Hira, dean of the College of Business.

The money will go toward faculty development and student support with two new classes being offered in the College of Business.

Finance 427X is one of the new courses, and is being offered this semester and semesters to follow. Its topics include fixed income security analysis and portfolio management.

Finance 428X, the other new course, will be offered for the first time in fall 2006. It focuses on advanced fixed income analysis and portfolio management. It will be a hands-on seminar to keep students up to speed on what is going on in the market, said Farah Yunus, assistant professor of finance.

Finance 427X is a prerequisite for Finance 428X, and both are taught by Yunus.

Finance 427X teaches students what they will need to know about managing portfolios in Finance 428X, Yunus said.

The new courses will link theory with practice, and will familiarize students with fixed income portfolios, Hira said.

“You learn something and get to apply it,” Yunus said. “I think that is the best way to learn.”

The relationship between AEGON and the College of Business started approximately two years ago when AEGON funded an endowed scholarship to the College of Business, said Jeremy Galvin, Director of Development for the College of Business with the ISU foundation.

“AEGON has worked closely with the department for years.” said Richard Carter, finance department chairman.

AEGON employs a lot of College of Business graduates, Hira said.

Representatives from AEGON will be speaking to Finance 427X and Finance 428X students periodically through out the semester.