On Friday, September 23, 2022, Oral Roberts University (ORU) announced that the Board of Trustees approved the naming of the College of Business in honor of ORU alumni Rick Fenimore and Terry Fisher, the donors of the project. The announcement came during the College of Business ribbon-cutting ceremony of the newly refurbished and technologically advanced floor that will train future financial leaders for the current business environment. Fenimore and Fisher’s gift allowed the University to make new advancements in learning space design, faculty offices, and community interaction. A portion of the donation will create scholarship opportunities for future students.
"This gift comes from the hearts of two legacy families whose lives have been deeply impacted by ORU,” said ORU President Dr. William Wilson. “The naming of the College of Business signifies our commitment to developing business leaders. Mr. Fenimore’s and Mr. Fisher’s transformational investment in the College of Business is a testament to the strength of our academics and the talent of our faculty. We are deeply grateful for their gift and their families’ long-standing belief in ORU.”
Fenimore and Fisher met while students in the MBA program at ORU, where the vision of becoming future business partners began. Fenimore and Fisher are founders and managing partners in Trinity Chemical Industries/TCIX Rail. They acknowledge that their education at ORU played a vital role in their professional success.
“Since the MBA program is where Terry and I met, investing in the College of Business was the logical choice for our giving back to ORU,” said Rick Fenimore. “After touring the 3rd floor College of Business, we knew this was the right target. We had the best faculty and students, but our facilities were outdated, lacking, and limited; and we knew we could impact the College of Business by creating the best learning environment possible. One of those areas of impact, the Financial Markets Trading Floor, which was Terry’s idea, will allow our business students to have full access to leading edge investment technology and direct interaction with professional financial market investment advisors, which should well position our graduates in today’s global marketplace.”
“The aim of the Capital Markets Trading Floor is twofold,” said Terry Fisher. “First, to provide ORU students with real-time exposure to the world of financial investing and managing using real money via the stock market. Secondly, growing the fund each year to provide scholarships to students while growing the involvement of the Tulsa business community in the ORU College of Business.”
The renovations to the new Fenimore & Fisher Capital Markets Trading Floor offers a cutting-edge classroom that was developed hand-in-hand with ORU’s Student-Managed Investment Fund and Practicum in Portfolio Management. The fund allows graduate students to make real-time stock market trades, evaluate economic and industry data, and build a stock portfolio using the S&P 500 benchmark. The Practicum in Portfolio Management is designed to equip students to manage equity portfolios and optimize state-of-the-art investment tools, such as Bloomberg and Factset. The Fenimore & Fisher College of Business provides the hands-on experience students need for careers in finance, banking, investments, and money management.
Phase 1 of the project features a space consisting of a 40,000-square-foot interior renovation for classrooms, meeting spaces, a student lounge, and conference rooms. The spaces include a glass-enclosed floor-to-ceiling glazing system, 16 high-tech workstations, and four 75-inch LED TV displays. The main floor is a high-tech learning hub featuring 88 Wall Street-like financial market and headline news tickers, with the main ticker measuring 58’ long. The project includes Mersive Solstice Pod sharing in the two collaborative learning labs and LED light fixtures throughout.
Phase 2 includes the 8,100-square-foot interior renovation of the College of Business faculty offices, which started on the west wing in July 2022. Construction on the east wing will begin once the Student Success department moves its offices to the newly opened Welcome Center. The projected completion date is early 2023. The new updates have positioned ORU to meet the educational need of businesses and prepare Spirit-empowered leaders for global engagement and proficiency.
“When I assumed the role of Dean of the College of Business,” said Dr. Julie Huntley, Dean of the Fenimore & Fisher College of Business, “I asked the faculty to dream about what they wanted to see develop in the College. Today, we witnessed the fulfillment of those dreams. Our students are prepared now, more than ever, to chase their dreams and bold visions.”
The new Fenimore & Fisher College of Business floor is located on the third floor of the Graduate Center.
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