56.7 F
Clarksville
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeEventsAustin Peay State University to hold Grand opening for APSU Larry W....

Austin Peay State University to hold Grand opening for APSU Larry W. Carroll Trading Center on November 14th

Austin Peay State University - APSUClarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University College of Business will take a major step forward this month when it officially opens the new Larry W. Carroll Financial Trading Center.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new space will take place at 10:00am on Tuesday, November 14th, 2017 on the first floor of the APSU Kimbrough Building. The event is free and open to the public.

APSU Larry W. Carroll Financial Trading Center set to open November 14th.
APSU Larry W. Carroll Financial Trading Center set to open November 14th.

The new center will allow APSU business students to mimic the work of Wall Street’s top traders by giving them access to the same tools used by financial professionals around the world.

The center, which has been a priority for the last few years, received a boost in 2015 when North Carolina businessman and APSU alumnus Larry Carroll contributed a lead gift to help finance the project. Earlier this year, Carroll was again named to Forbes’ list of America’s Top 250 Wealth Advisors.

“As the (College of Business) develops an investment-oriented track, the trading room will provide hands-on experience that refines the focus and helps in recruiting,” Carroll said in 2015. “It also helps us or any other employer to hire a more qualified candidate.”

APSU Larry W. Carroll Financial Trading Center
APSU Larry W. Carroll Financial Trading Center

Carroll, a 1976 APSU graduate, is president and CEO of the North Carolina-based Carroll Financial Associates, and he is considered one of the top financial planners in the nation.

In 2012, the Tennessee Board of Regents honored him with the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Philanthropy for his generous support and outstanding volunteer efforts on behalf of his alma mater. In 2017, he became an inaugural member of the APSU Board of Trustees.

A few months after Carroll made his contribution, Dr. Mark Green, Tennessee state senator and founder of the healthcare company AlignMD, along with his wife, Camilla Green, presented APSU President Alisa White with a major donation for the project. That gift was used to install the Dr. Mark and Camilla Green Stock Exchange Ticker Display within the trading center.

“In building our successful healthcare company, the resources that served as the foundation came from here in the Clarksville community: legal services, capital financing and accounting,” Green said in 2015. “AlignMD is an authentic Clarksville entrepreneurial success story. As a good steward and good corporate citizen, making an investment in the very business community that assisted in our success is not only the right thing to do, it’s the responsible thing to do. Austin Peay’s College of Business is the pool for the next Clarksville success story.”

Family and friends of the late John K. Hopson, a longtime Montgomery County Farm Bureau agent, also supported the new trading center, allowing the APSU College of Business to create the John K. Hopson Innovation Rooms. These rooms will provide a place for business students to analyze data and participate in real-world business simulations.

During Tuesday’s grand opening ceremony, APSU business professor emeritus A.J. Taylor will also be recognized for his long service to the college. Earlier this year, Carroll decided to promote excellence in teaching within the college, while also recognizing his former professor, by creating the A.J. Taylor Distinguished Professorship at APSU.

“This professorship is an effort to recognize and motivate excellence on the part of faculty,” Carroll said. “A.J. was, simply put, the best in-classroom professor I experienced in my college career. Even today, A.J. remembers more about me as a student than I remember about me as a student. Every university and every department within a university needs more professors like A.J. Taylor.”

The newly created A.J. Taylor Distinguished Professorship will be awarded to an APSU College of Business faculty member each year who has demonstrated exceptional scholarly work or innovative teaching practices. The faculty member will receive the award in the form of faculty development funds and may use the funds for research, teaching enhancements (software, supplies, etc.) or for attendance at teaching conferences or training to improve their craft.

For more information on the grand opening, contact APSU Alumni Relations at 931.221.1279.

RELATED ARTICLES

Latest Articles