In 2009 the E. J. Ourso College of Business was named a CFA Program Partner by the CFA Institute, a global association for investment professionals that awards the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

CFA Institute partners with globally diverse, high profile institutions who cover a significant portion of the CFA Program Candidate Body of Knowledge and who embrace the CFA Institute Code of Ethics and Standards of Professional Conduct in their degree programs.

Recognition as a CFA Program Partner provides a signal to potential students, current students, and the marketplace that the E. J. Ourso College's curriculum is closely tied to professional practice and is well suited to preparing students to sit for the CFA exams.

The CFA Program Partner initiative was launched April 4, 2006 with the announcement of Said Business School at the University of Oxford as the inaugural CFA Program Partner. Since then, CFA Program Partner institutions have been recognized on six continents.

The official partnership signing for LSU was held in the Securities Markets Analysis Research and Trading (SMART) Lab on April 21, 2009 with CFA Institute University Relations Head Bob McLean, CFA representing the organization. Representing LSU were E. J. Ourso College Dean Eli Jones and Gary Sanger, distinguished chair in finance and director of the SMART Lab. The SMART Lab recreates a simulated interactive trading floor that allows students the opportunity to gain experience in the fast-paced world of securities analysis, research and trading.

CFA Institute is the global association for investment professionals. It administers the CFA and CIPM curriculum and exam programs worldwide; publishes research; conducts professional development programs and sets voluntary, ethics-based professional and performance-reporting standards for the investment industry. CFA Institute has nearly 100,000 members, including the world's 83,840 CFA charterholders, in 133 countries and territories, and 136 affiliated professional societies in 57 countries and territories. More information may be found at www.cfainstitute.org.