Wharton — the Prestigious Business School that Minted Stock-Pickers Like Warren Buffett, Steve Cohen, and Joel Greenblatt — is Rolling Out the Red Carpet for Quants

by Dan DeFrancesco and Bradley Saacks, Business Insider, April 3, 2020: An $8 million gift from Wharton alumnus Bruce Jacobs helped establish a quantitative finance major within its prestigious MBA program. According to the university, graduates will be well-suited for jobs in quantitative asset management and trading, financial engineering, risk management, and applied research.

New Quantitative Finance Major and Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Professorship and Scholars Mark New Chapter in Quantitative Finance Research and Education at the Wharton School

Press Release, April 2, 2020: Dean Geoff Garrett of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania announced that the MBA program at Wharton is launching a new quantitative finance major within the Finance Department. New courses will be bolstered by a gift from Wharton alumnus Bruce I. Jacobs, which will underwrite the establishment of the Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Professorship in Quantitative Finance and the Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Scholars in Quantitative Finance... The Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Professorship in Quantitative Finance will support the appointment of faculty who are experts in quantitative finance. The Dr. Bruce I. Jacobs Scholars in Quantitative Finance is an academic award dedicated to exceptional students entering their second year of the Wharton MBA program and majoring in quantitative finance. These students will form an elite group of Jacobs Scholars focusing on applying financial economics to security pricing and asset management.

Dean Garrett noted that “Bruce is a pioneer and innovator in connecting academic research with investment management, and we are honored that he is making this bold new step in his immense ongoing support of the School. His new gift will attract and nurture talented students and faculty in quantitative finance to prepare a new generation of leaders in finance for the challenges we face today and in the future.”

In 2011, a generous gift to Wharton from Jacobs and fellow alumnus Kenneth N. Levy established the Jacobs Levy Equity Management Center for Quantitative Financial Research, the Jacobs Levy Equity Management Dissertation Fellowships in Quantitative Finance, and the Wharton-Jacobs Levy Prize for Quantitative Financial Innovation. According to Jacobs, “Great progress has been achieved by the Jacobs Levy Center, Fellowship, and Prize at Wharton. Those successes and Wharton’s commitment to the future of finance inspired me to deepen my support of students and the faculty who will enrich future generations of leaders and the broader economy. I can think of no better time for this initiative as we face new economic, health, and markets issues that will shape the world economy for decades.”

Wharton to Offer Quant MBA Major With $8 Million Alumnus Gift

by Amanda L. Gordon, Bloomberg News, April 2, 2020: An $8 million gift from Bruce Jacobs will support the establishment of a quantitative finance major at the Wharton School by funding an endowed professorship and creating $25,000 tuition awards for highly-qualified second-year students starting next year... “When I started out, quantitative finance wasn’t a profession,” Jacobs said. “Now much of finance is quantitative, and it’s important that business leaders, regulators and the heads of Wall Street houses have a basic understanding of it.” Wharton Dean Geoffrey Garrett said in an interview, “This is really about the fusion of high-end analytics and finance that Bruce’s biography speaks to.” The article also notes a previous gift of $12 million to the Wharton School from Jacobs and Ken Levy to establish a center focused on quantitative research, which supports dissertations, and awards a prize for research.