Young Business Alumnus Launches Scholarship

Storrs, CT (4/29/2008) - It is not uncommon for a UConn alum to cite a desire to "give back" to the University when making a donation. That's how Frank Carmon IV '06 describes his rationale for establishing a scholarship for the School of Business.

What is unusual about Carmon is his age. At 29, he is almost certainly among the youngest donors ever to make a gift of this kind. The $25,000 donation will provide financial aid for students participating in the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMF) program, an experiential learning accelerator in the School of Business.

The Student Managed Investment Fund, launched in 2000 with an endowment of $1 million from the UConn Foundation, gives two groups of undergraduate and MBA students hands-on experience in stock selection and portfolio management. In eight short years, SMF has evolved into one of the most successful experiential learning initiatives in the School and has consistently attracted the most motivated, and gifted students. With an additional investment by the Foundation in 2005, the SMF portfolio is now worth over $2 million.

"I grew up in a family that believes in giving back," says Carmon, who works for Carmon Funeral Homes, a Hartford-area business founded by his grandfather more than 60 years ago. Carmon adds that his philanthropic career began in his teens, when he began giving to a summer camp that he had attended when he was younger.

A graduate of the UConn MBA program in Finance, Frank Carmon received a graduate assistantship while he was in school. He felt that it made a huge difference to him both personally and professionally.

"I was offered a graduate assistantship halfway through my first year," says Carmon. "I just thought that it was a part-time job at first. Then I realized that it was so much more than that. I had free tuition for three out of my four semesters. I couldn't believe it — it was just so helpful."

"After that, I really felt that I wanted to give back, to support what the school had given me."

Professor Chinmoy Ghosh, head of the Department of Finance and director of the SMF, remembers Carmon as a disciplined student who motivated people to work well together. On the significance of a scholarship established by such a recent graduate, Ghosh says, "What it means to me is that this program has been very successful! That it would cause someone who had so recently finished to want to give back in a significant way is very gratifying, and is exactly what I would hope for."

Carmon sees this gift, which he is building in $5,000 installments over a five-year period, as something that may be woven into his family's philanthropic tradition to help it grow.

"It gives my family something to do for me — each Christmas or birthday — to help build the scholarship."

For more information about how to support the School of Business, please contact Diana Timlin at 860.486.2656.

PHOTO: Frank Carmon IV '06 MBA

From the April-May 2008 issue of UConn e-Momentum.
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