The Garrison Financial Institute is an institute organized within the Sam M. Walton College of Business to advance financial education and knowledge 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 the State of Arkansas and the welfare of its citizens.
The institute was founded in 2005 with a $2 million gift from the Garrison Family to help build a nationally competitive financial services industry in the State of Arkansas. An additional $2 million was provided through the Matching Gift Program, made possible by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation's $300 million gift to the University of Arkansas. Both grants combined to form the $4 million endowment for the Garrison Chair in Finance, which supports investment research and funds the Garrison Financial Institute.
Garrison Financial Institute Offers Summer Finance ProgramsOur new (under construction) state-of-the-art Global Financial Trading Center at Willard J. Walker Hall will be a uniquely exciting place to learn about finance and heighten the educational experience of our ever-more technologically astute student population. Using state-of-the-art technology, students will use this facility to prepare for careers in the financial services industry. We expect this center to be completed during the summer of 2007.
Wayne Lee
Professor
Garrison Chair in Finance,
Alice Walton Chair,
Department Chair of Finance