It has been over a year since the credit crunch started. The effects continue to ripple through the economy. The housing market is dismal and the Federal Reserve has resorted to extraordinary measures to prop up the banking industry. The number of big corporate mergers is down sharply. Deals getting done these days are largely financed with money from overseas or from companies using their own funds. What are the lessons learned and what will be the ultimate outcomes?

At the Smith School’s Town Hall meeting with MBA students on September 26, Haluk Ünal, professor of finance, presented a thoughtful analysis of the current financial crisis—and came to some conclusions that might surprise you.

College Park, Md. – Sept. 2, 2008 – The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced 21 outstanding faculty members have joined the school from leading universities to start the 2008-2009 academic year.

Berkshire Hathaway, here we come! Smith faculty member Sue White, Distinguished Tyser Teaching Fellow, and finance lecturer David Kass brought a small, but dedicated group to the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, May 2-4, 2008. Read Sue White's account of the trip: All were students in my fall 07 BMGT 440FP, Emerging CFOs Finance Fellows, class: Dara Khan, Belen Jacome, Paul Hughes, David Zhang, and John Wu. In addition, Mark Wellman, Tyser Teaching Fellow, brought a group of 10 undergraduate fellows to the meeting.

On Feb. 26, 2008, the MBA Finance Association of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland hosted a panel discussion on the current state of the U.S. economy. About 30 MBA students gathered to listen to two panelists from the department of logistics, business, and public policy, Peter Morici, professor of logistics, business and public policy, and Curt Grimm, Dean's Professor of Supply Chain and Strategy. The students were invited to prepare questions for Morici and Grimm and engage them in discussion about the challenges facing today's economy.

Each year every chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) in the United States runs a regional case competition for the MBA programs in the area. This year the D.C. chapter of the ACG held their competition Feb. 4-11, 2008. The competition places the student teams in the role of a financial investor. This year’s case was centered around two fictional companies that were named GrowCo and MarginCo. The industry that they operated in was aerospace & defense.

My name is Peter Morici. I am an economist and Professor of Business at the University of Maryland. Thank you for this opportunity to participate in these hearings. I will devote my remarks to the issues raised by the recent surge in investments by sovereign wealth funds in the United States. What Is a Sovereign Wealth Fund?

College Park, Md. January 31, 2008 The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced that Dilip Madan, professor of finance, has been named "Quant of the Year" by Risk, a leading financial risk management magazine. Risk readers and contributors, which include quantitative analysts and financial engineers, voted Madan to receive the honor. Madan was recognized yesterday at the Risk Awards 2008 in London.

New research from Smith School associate finance professor Steve Heston finds seasonal predictability in stock returns. The research garnered recent media attention first profiled in a column in the New York Times, then an interview on CNBCs Closing Bell program.

A group of first- and second-year Smith MBA students traveled to the New York City area on the Finance Associations annual Wall Street Trek, Nov. 8-9, 2007. The trip is designed to allow Smith Students interested in pursuing careers in capital markets to attend discussion and informational sessions with Wall Street professionals. The goal is to expose the students to a variety of jobs inside the industry and give them the opportunity to network with Smith alumni who are currently employed in capital markets.