The John Maze Stewart Department of Finance & Quantitative Methods at the University of Kentucky offers advanced courses on a variety of financial topics, including corporate finance, international financial management, portfolio management, and investments. In 2012, the department was accepted into the CFA Institute University Recognition Program. This prestigious status is granted to institutions whose degree programs incorporate at least 70% of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge (CBOK), providing students with a solid grounding in the CBOK and positioning them well to sit for the CFA exams. Additionally, the department offers a Certified Financial Planner CFP Board registered certificate program and opportunities to earn Bloomberg certification, ensuring students receive relevant training and valuable industry-recognized credentials.
The University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics is welcoming new full-time faculty members whose expertise will strengthen teaching, research and student learning across the college. The 2026 new faculty cohort brings experience from universities, industry, government and global business settings. Their areas of expertise include audit regulation, data analytics, behavioral finance, crypto regulation, corporate finance, organizational behavior, stakeholder engagement, consumer well-being and more.
When Michael Wheeler arrived at the University of Kentucky, he planned to study finance through the Wall Street Scholars Program. Four years later, he leaves the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics as a triple major, national fellowship participant, student government leader and one of the university’s highest student honorees.
This spring, Wheeler was named one of two recipients of the Otis A. Singletary Outstanding Senior Award, recognizing sustained leadership and service to the University of Kentucky. He also recently represented UK and Gatton College in Washington, D.C., as a 2025-26 Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress (CSPC) Presidential Fellow, presenting original research on economic development policy and leadership.
For Wheeler, the experience reflected years of growth shaped by leadership and relationships formed throughout his time at Gatton College.
The University of Kentucky Finance Conference has become one of the most selective and respected academic gatherings in the field, drawing leading scholars from top institutions across the United States and around the world to Lexington for intensive discussion of emerging research in finance. Hosted by the Gatton College of Business and Economics, the conference reflects both the strength of the college’s finance faculty and the growing national stature of the John Maze Stewart Department of Finance and Quantitative Methods. Over the first 10 years of the conference, organizers received more than 4,400 submissions and featured just over 100 papers, for an overall acceptance rate of less than 2.5%.
Students from the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics earned third place in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Investment Challenge, recognizing their portfolio performance among 27 peer institutions across the region.
For the 2025 calendar year, Gatton students in FIN 485 and FIN 490 generated a total return of 25.43%, outperforming the S&P 500’s 17.88% return and placing third among the participating schools.
The award was accepted at the annual TVA Investment Challenge conference by students Ty Wectawski, Abigail Sutherland and Ashton Mazey (pictured above), who represented Gatton as one of only three teams invited to present.
