Above: Conceptual rendering of the Regions Institute for Financial Education in the commons area of the new Collat School of Business and Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship building.
Regions Bank has provided a gift to the University of Alabama at Birmingham to create and support the Regions Institute for Financial Education within the Collat School of Business.
The Institute’s mission is to develop a conduit for UAB students, faculty and staff as well as for the Birmingham community to learn the skills and knowledge essential to successfully manage personal finances. In order to carry out that mission, Regions is partnering with UAB to provide an endowed program support fund for comprehensive financial education outreach, research and education programs at UAB and in the community.
Together with Regions, UAB will leverage the resources of the Institute to provide money-management tools that will have a lasting impact.
“As students learn how to set a budget and how to save for the future, they are developing financial management skills that can last a lifetime,” said Bill Horton, South Region president for Regions Bank. “We are proud to work with UAB on this initiative, and we appreciate UAB’s commitment to reaching more students with financial education. As more people receive the information they need to make good financial decisions, our entire community will benefit.”
The gift to name the institute on behalf of Regions Bank will serve to support financial education programming at UAB and in the community, facilities development to house the new institute in the future home of the Collat School of Business and Bill L. Harbert Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and an endowed professorship for the director of the institute.
In this partnership, the institute will work with organizations such as GEAR UP Alabama and GEAR UP Birmingham to integrate financial education into college and career readiness standards through programs, workshops and camps.
“It’s so crucial that young people understand the basics of finance and savings at an early age,” said Stephanie Yates, Ph.D., associate professor of finance in the Collat School of Business and director of the Regions Institute for Financial Education. “The more they understand now, the more prepared they will be to face their financial futures.”
UAB students will be able to participate in programs such as financial education boot camps, workshops for student-athletes and for-credit courses covering financial education topics relevant to various majors.
An important part of the institute’s success will be in monitoring and evaluating its impact through research, in order to determine the immediate, intermediate and long-term effects of its programs.
A board of advisers has been established to help guide the goals of the institute. The advisers include:
- Glyn Agnew, AT&T
- Sharon Bell, Birmingham City Schools
- Carol Clarke, Regions Bank
- Phillip Cleveland, Alabama State Department of Education
- Lisa Cooper, City of Birmingham
- Julie Kornegay, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
- Fran Lawlor, Diocese of Birmingham
- Dan Lord, Alabama Securities Commission
- Wanda McAbee, Alabama Council on Economic Education
- Michael Milner, Alabama Asset Building Coalition
- Jim Murray, Birmingham Public Libraries
- Richard Murray, Junior Achievement of Alabama
- Penny Southward, Financial Education Outreach
- Keith Strother, Jefferson County Economic Development
- Sheree Wilkerson, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham
“We are very grateful to Regions for this generous gift,” said Eric Jack, Ph.D., dean of the Collat School of Business. “This partnership with Regions will be transformative from both a strategic and shared values perspectives. This work will also be inspiring, as it will positively influence the lives of many citizens across our state and beyond.”
For more information about how to support the Collat School of Business, visit uab.edu/business or contact David I. Allen, senior director of development, at 205-996-5399 or [email protected].
