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Daniels’ microfinance class named to
Forbes 
 list of most innovative business classes
The Deutsche Bank Microfinance Class at DU’s Daniels College of Business has been named to the Forbes.com list of the 10 Most Innovative Business School Classes.The list includes courses from business schools around the country that “appeal to a different kind of student — one who increasingly looks to do good  while also doing well.”Students in the Daniels class work directly  with managers from Deutsche Bank’s Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium to evaluate loan applications from microfinance institutions (MFIs). MFIs borrow from Deutsche Bank’s $80 million fund and use the money to make small loans — some as low as $50 — to individuals and groups in rural villages.“The idea of microfinance has been around a while, but we’re now finding that larger financial institutions are getting involved, in addition to not- for-profits,” says Professor Mac Clouse, who teaches  the course. “The idea is taking hold that you can earn a rate of return as well as provide benefits to the poor.”The Daniels-Deutsche Bank partnership was established five years ago when Daniels Professor and Dean Emeritus Bruce Hutton was leading an interterm course to New York. The group met  with the director of Deutsche Bank’s microfinance division. The director was so impressed with the DU students and their questions that he invited Hutton and the University of Denver to join as the bank’s only academic partner.The students in the class — which is capped at around 20 graduate students — receive a set of loan applications from MFIs. Following a set of criteria provided by Deutsche Bank, the students research  the applying organization, compile information about  the economic and political environment in the region;  talk to people from the finance, human resources and IT side of the MFI and examine past successes to determine their suitability to receive a loan. After conducting initial research, the class then  travels to the MFI’s location during spring break in order to conduct on-site due diligence. Student groups have traveled to Cambodia, Uganda and Kenya to meet the MFIs and visit local borrowers.“[Students] can see how microfinance can provide a real benefit to the poor of society,” Clouse says. “You can make a difference by approaching a problem from a business perspective.”
 —Jordan Ames
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University dedicates new Nagel Art Studios
The University of Denver celebrated its new center for drawing and painting with a dedication ceremony Oct. 19 that drew around 300 people to the Ralph and Trish Nagel  Art Studios, the new copper-plated structure located between the Shwayder Art Building and the Ritchie Center. Classes began there in September.Built along with the University of Denver Soccer Stadium and the Pat Bowlen Training Center for DU’s athletic teams, the 12,500-square-foot structure features a large, open studio area, high ceilings, concrete floors, movable walls and plenty of natural light. Equivalent in space to an entire floor in the Shwayder Art Building, the new studio also frees up space in Shwayder for DU’s pioneering program in electronic media arts design (eMAD). The building’s third floor has been turned from a labyrinth of classrooms and hallways into a large open space with the latest in digital equipment.Chancellor Robert Coombe told those gathered at the ceremony that the art scene in Denver is “absolutely percolating,” citing recent developments at the Denver Art Museum, the Vance Kirkland Museum and the soon-to-be-built Clyfford Still Museum.“It is an extraordinary time, and our goal is to once again position the School of  Art and Art History in the center of things for the sake of our students, for the sake of our faculty, for the sake of our community,” he said, referring to the time in the 1950s and 1960s when DU was the center of modern art in Colorado thanks to Kirkland, the painter who was the director of the art school from the late 1920s until 1969.The studio is named for Ralph and Trish Nagel, who donated $2.3 million to the project. Ralph Nagel also serves on the DU Board of Trustees.Trish Nagel said the purpose of the studio is to “provide a welcoming home for the art spirit and the students and professors who will do their work here.”
 —Greg Glasgow 

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