History of Student Investment Program

Professor Frank Graner generated the initial idea for the Applied Security Analysis Program two decades before the creation of the ASAP in 1970. Graner's passion for investments spawned generations of great money managers (the "Graner era") and a way of teaching investments that ultimately became the Applied Security Analysis Program.

The program was founded in 1970 through a $100,000 grant from the Brittingham Foundation. The gift was used to create a student-managed equity fund in which students make all investment decisions. Through additional gifts and earnings, the equity portfolio has grown to approximately $2.0 million, which consists of a long-only and a long-short fund. 

In 1998, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents allocated $10 million of the UW Systems Intermediate Term Fund to the ASAP students. The additional assets dramatically increased both the size and complexity of the fixed-income fund. The students now manage three fixed-income portfolios totaling approximately $40 million.

In 1999, the Stephen L. Hawk Center was endowed following a successful $3 million fund raising campaign. Also in 1999, about $500,000 (now over $1 million) was contributed to create a REIT portfolio in a cooperative venture with the Real Estate department. The ASAP continues to support the Real Estate department's AREIT program.