Gene Taylor/Bank of America Center for Banking and Financial Studies

Florida State University's College of Business is the recipient of a $2-million grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation to establish the Gene Taylor/Bank of America Center for Banking and Financial Studies. Housed in the College's Department of Finance, the Center will be used to encourage excellence in education, and fund research and service activities related to banking and finance.

The Gene Taylor/Bank of America Center for Banking and Financial Studies will serve as a liaison between the academic community, the banking and finance industry and the public. Specifically, the Center will provide:

• Faculty support — Salary enhancements, such as professorships, will provide faculty with additional resources to generate more research.
• Student support — Ph.D. stipends will be bolstered to retain and attract the best students.
• Competitive research grants — More resources will allow faculty to focus fully on research during the summer that will appeal to the most prestigious finance journals. This also will provide Ph.D. students with more research opportunities.
• Databases — Finance research on empirical studies of market data is critical to investments and corporate finance, but their databases are costly. FSU wants to increase its database offerings for faculty research and classroom teaching.