The College of Business held a ceremony on Oct. 9 to commemorate the opening of its Ayala Stock Trading Room.

The new room on the first floor of the school was funded through part of a $1.5 million donation in 2011 by business alumnus Carlos Ayala ’57. The room’s features include 20 student workstations with dual monitors, two 80″ Sharp LED LCD TVs and a double-sided Rise Stock Ticker display system.

The room will serve as the main tool for research by students in the student managed investment fund class, taught by Prof. Ron Christner. The fund also received $900,000 from the Ayala gift, boosting its total value to $1 million. Christner feels the fund is key to helping current and future students in the job market.

“The fund will improve students’ managing skills since they will be handling real money,” he said.

William B. Locander, dean of the School of Business, said that he does not know how much it cost to build the stock trading room. Ayala’s gift also went toward funding more finance classes and a research database system, according to information from the ceremony. According to Locander, the stock trading room will be used as a computer lab for students when those managing the fund are not utilizing it.

The gift from Ayala focuses on finance due to his own successes in the field. While Ayala ran businesses for most of his life, he turned to the stock market in the 1990s. During this time, he turned an initial investment of $30,000 into a multi-million dollar portfolio.

Locander agrees with Christner’s view that the room will provide hands-on learning for students in his college.

“I know that this will greatly enhance the educational experience of our students and bring the real world into Loyola’s classes,” he said.

Karl Gommel can be reached at [email protected]

Students pay attention in a class hosted in the Carolos M. Ayala Stock Trading Room. This room provides a real world environment for students to learn about managing stocks. (SARA FELDMAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)