Beginning this Fall, the WSU College of Business will offer FIN 100: Financial Literacy. Few people understand the complexities of the economic and financial issues they must confront daily. This course prepares students to make these decisions in an intelligent, rigorous and reasoned way. It will focus on such practical issues as the implications of economic policies, how finance and the economy works, and what goes on in financial markets.
This course is intended for any students looking to make well-informed decisions in their lives; no business, economic or math background is assumed, and there are no prerequisites. This 3-credit course is fully online and asynchronous, and it fulfills the Goal 9 (Ethical and Civic Responsibility) requirement of the General Education Program (GEP).
There will be weekly discussions, web-based exercises, writing assignments, and exams. While the formal study of economics and finance is heavily mathematical, this course will emphasize the conceptual issues–We will use numerical examples, but no detailed calculations will be required. Since we shall be covering quite a range of topics, there are no required books; instead, selections from various sources will be used that will be available online or on reserve in the library.
Lawrence Shrenk, PhD Assistant Professor Finance Department lschrenk@winona.edu