The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. — one of 20 Chicago-area organizations to benefit from the largesse of The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Trust — is using the influx to promote asset management education.
Kellogg will receive $1 million over four years to support derivatives and capital markets education, said Peggy King, a Northwestern spokeswoman. The CME Trust grant will partially support the business school's new asset management practicum, which makes its debut this spring.
The program combines investment theory with practical experience through work with Chicago-area investment professionals. MBA students in the program will manage a portion of Northwestern's endowment as they rotate through the roles of industry and quantitative analyst, hedge fund-of-funds manager, trader and portfolio manager.
The CME Trust gift will also fund a new Ph.D. course and graduate fellowships in derivatives research at Kellogg, as well as a certificate program for Northwestern undergraduates in finance.
Kassie Davis, executive director of the CME Trust, said the University of Chicago, DePaul University and University of Illinois at Chicago have also received grants to support global capital and financial market education, and Rush University Medical Center received a grant to support school-based programs to assist children with neurobehavioral problems.
The CME Trust was established in 1969 to provide financial protection to customers of the CME in the event a member firm became insolvent or couldn't meet its obligations. Because no losses were ever suffered, the $65 million trust received permission in 2005 to distribute $3 million in income annually to Chicago-area universities, schools and non-profit organizations.
