The Garrison Financial Institute at the Sam M. Walton College of Business received a grant from the Investor Protection Trust to introduce the basics of investing to University of Arkansas students. The grant will total more than $75,000 over a two-year period.

"We are very pleased to receive this grant to provide investor education to University of Arkansas students as well as to junior high and high school teachers and minority high school students," said Wayne Lee, executive director of the Garrison Financial Institute and chair of the finance department. "The information conveyed to freshmen and public school teachers will not only raise their awareness about the importance of financial planning and establishing a personal savings and investment program but also reduce their susceptibility to fraud by making them more knowledgeable consumers of financial products and services. In addition, we want to interest non-business students, younger students and teachers in finance and business."

The Garrison Financial Institute manages the Global Financial Markets Center, located in Willard J. Walker Hall. With the grant, the institute will create and deliver programs designed specifically for college students, public school teachers, and high school minorities. The presentation, titled "Surviving the Global Financial Marketplace," will reach at least 1,200 University of Arkansas college freshmen; 25 minority high school students; and, with the assistance of the Bessie B. Moore Center for Economic Education, 25 teachers from 5th grade to 12th grade.

The basics of investing in stocks, bonds and mutual funds will be introduced to freshmen in the Walton College and across other University of Arkansas colleges as part of their freshman orientation activity. The Global Financial Markets Center is equipped with the technology to replicate and simulate financial markets and is designed to be a uniquely exciting place to learn about finance and heighten the educational experience of our ever-more technologically astute students.
The Garrison Financial Institute was created in 2005 by a gift from the Garrison family and the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation to advance financial education and research through practice. Its mission is to enhance student learning through experience, foster research that extends and perfects best practices, and contribute to the economic development of Arkansas and the welfare of its citizens.

The Investor Protection Trust is a nonprofit organization devoted to investor education. Since 1993, the trust has worked with states to provide independent, objective investor education needed by all Americans to make informed investment decisions. For more information, go to www.investorprotection.org.