Business students will soon be able to get real-world experience in trading commodities without leaving the campus, thanks to an exceptional partnership between the Exelon Generation power company and the University. Exelon Power Team President Ian McLean and UD President Patrick Harker have signed a deal that will create an on-campus simulated trading floor.

The floor, to be named the Exelon Trading Center, will feature information needed to trade commodities, specifically the purchase and sale of electricity, in addition to securities. The new center, funded in part by a $500,000 donation by Exelon, is scheduled to open this spring in Purnell Hall.

The center will provide an interactive learning experience for students. And, while the trading floor is the most visual aspect of this new relationship, the partnership will feature a number of ways for UD professors and students and Exelon Power Team employees to learn from each other.

A faculty-in-residence program will provide opportunities for faculty members to work on Exelon’s trading floor in Kennett Square, Pa., and a trader-in-residence program will give Exelon employees opportunities to work with students taking courses that use the University’s trading floor.

“This innovative program will be a great opportunity for University of Delaware students,” McLean says, “but I am especially excited about having the opportunity to recruit the University’s top talent to Exelon Power.”

“We are thrilled by the partnership,” Harker said during an Oct. 1 ceremony outside Purnell Hall, at which the agreement was announced. “The Exelon Trading Center will provide hands-on learning opportunities and interaction with some of the leading traders in the world.”

Conrado (Bobby) M. Gempesaw, dean of UD’s Lerner College of Business and Economics, says the agreement will benefit everyone involved, including other colleges at the University.

“By forming a partnership with Exelon, the University will be able to provide more discovery learning and experiential learning opportunities for students,” Gempesaw says. “Not only will this benefit business students, but this will also provide avenues for students in other disciplines such as computer science, engineering, geography and agriculture to participate in this partnership.

“It will also allow our faculty to interact with Exelon traders in taking a deeper look into the commodities market. This partnership is truly a win-win opportunity for both UD and Exelon.”

The project also encourages students to seek internships outside the classroom with Exelon.

The idea for the partnership came from Exelon Power Team trader and UD alumnus Frank Henshaw, EG ’87M, after he read about Harker’s interest in bringing academia and industry together.

“This relationship represents one of those rare opportunities where the partnership is truly a 50-50, win-win for both parties,” Henshaw says. “We will benefit by reducing learning curves for new hires, tapping into young talent for our workforce and bringing academic expertise into Exelon, and the University benefits through the overall improvement of their programs, the potential for increased enrollment, more competitive graduates and national recognition for a one-of-a-kind academic trading experience.”

The project isn’t the only model trading floor located at a business college, but others generally focus on giving students practice in trading stocks and bonds. The Purnell Hall laboratory will specialize in buying and selling electricity and other commodities, which Exelon officials say they believe will make it unique in the United States.

Exelon Generation is a unit of Exelon Corp., one of the nation’s largest electric utilities with more than $15 billion in annual revenues. The company has one of the industry’s largest portfolios of electricity generation capacity, with a nationwide reach and strong positions in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.

—Neil Thomas, AS ’76