Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Finance

The Finance Major at Loras College is directed toward students seeking careers in the financial services industry, as well as those wishing to enhance their knowledge and skills of finance for other personal and professional endeavors.

The financial services industry includes careers in banking, insurance, pension management, corporate finance, and investments. Our students have been successful in securing fulfilling career positions in these areas at companies like Goldman Sachs, Principal Financial, Prudential, Heartland Financial, Lazard Ltd, IBM, the Chicago Board of Trade, and many others.

Student Experience

Finance students have an array of opportunities for extracurricular experience. From our LIFE Portfolio class to off-campus internships, we encourage you to be involved on and off-campus.

Loras College Finance Student Experience

One of the most novel offerings for Business-related majors is the LIFE Portfolio Class where students actually manage part of the Loras College endowment in the stock market. The students have not only learned firsthand how to select and manage investments, but they have also in most periods garnered exceptional returns.

Loras’ Phi Beta Lambda (PBL) chapter provides opportunities for our students to learn more about finance and business careers as well as network with professionals in finance and the business field. The club also provides students the opportunity to compete at the state and national levels in finance-related events and a broad range of other business-related topics.

One of the most popular campus events sponsored by our finance students is the Stock Market Game competition. Those who participate compete against each other by simulated investing in the stock market to grow the largest portfolio. Those who are at the top at the end of the competition each semester win valuable prizes. It is not only a tremendous learning opportunity for those who participate, it is also a fun activity, pitting student against student and student against faculty. The number of participants each semester has grown to over 80.

There is strong support for internships part-time during the academic year or full-time during your senior spring semester or summer. Duhawk alumni are active in helping our finance students find great internships.

About Loras

Historically rich, academically challenging, faith-centered, socially stimulating – that’s Loras College.

Relating the rich liberal arts tradition to a changing world, Loras College strives to develop active learners, reflective thinkers, ethical decision makers and responsible contributors in their diverse professional, social, and religious roles. Housed on a safe, scenic campus nestled high atop the majestic bluffs of the Mississippi River in Dubuque, Iowa, Loras College offers a wide array of academic programs, extracurricular offerings, and opportunity for personal growth.

We would be proud to welcome you into our circle of loyal Duhawks who will forever call our Dubuque campus home. Dubuque has received many awards and has been proudly recognized locally and nationally.

Mission

Loras, as a Catholic liberal arts college, creates a community of active learners, reflective thinkers, ethical decision-makers and responsible contributors in diverse professional, social and religious roles.

Vision

Loras will excel in developing principled thinkers and caring professionals in the Catholic and liberal arts traditions.

Pro Deo et Patria!

The motto of Loras College succinctly states the purpose of the Loras College community. We strive to fulfill the will of God by helping students become contributing citizens in the world and achieve their ultimate objective of unity with God. The Loras College community embraces core values that define the way we work, behave and relate with others. Truth, Respect, Responsibility, Excellence and Service.

Summary of Goals

• Foster an active, integrated learning environment that develops a community of scholars
• Sharpen our focus as a Catholic diocesan institution
• Challenge and support students to become engaged community members and responsible campus citizens
• Persist as leaders in the integration of technology and learning
• Strengthen recruitment and improve retention
• Strengthen the financial standing and stewardship of college resources
• Enhance and expand relationships and communication with the Colleges’ constituencies
• Broaden our understanding of human dignity, particularly as related to diversity and gender

Catholic identity: our commitment to the Catholic intellectual tradition

Loras College is a Catholic, diocesan college explicitly oriented to promote service of both church and world through encouraging all members of the community in development of their “diverse professional, social and religious roles.” The college strives to be a community demonstrating the highest standards of the Catholic intellectual tradition and welcoming all people into a dialogue to promote core values of truth, respect, responsibility, excellence and service.

Diversity Matters

• Diversity matters at Loras College because we are an inclusive community of people from many backgrounds and experience
• We, the Loras College community, strive to embody social, intellectual, and cultural hospitality in which multiple points of view can be expressed and explored in civil discourse.
• We proclaim this vision as an institution rooted in the Catholic tradition, which centers its moral vision of society on human dignity. All human persons have inherent dignity because all are created in the image of God; thus we act to treat all persons with respect.
• We aspire to be a society grounded in truth, justice, charity, and freedom. As neighbors in solidarity with one another, we work for fair treatment of all persons.
• We desire to live out our conviction that authentic unity is rooted in and springs forth from our diversity and therefore strive to create opportunities to embrace and build active community relationships in which all individuals may flourish.
• We intend the expression of our diversity ideals to be fluid and constantly evolving. As a result of our continued engagement with these values, our lived experience of diversity is not static, but a dynamic and living testament to human dignity.