By Nash Wills, Co-Editor
For those of you who read my weekly articles, you know that I’m a huge proponent of the IBIC and all of the resources that it offers, and one of those resources in particular has always fascinated me: The Bloomberg Terminal. I think it draws my curiosity because I know the potential it holds, and if I could just learn to use it…Well, I could go on, but you can imagine how excited I was when, this past Tuesday, the IBIC flew a trainer, Josh De Costa, in from Bloomberg’s San Francisco office to give a presentation/demonstration on how to navigate and use our Bloomberg Terminal. The informational session was a success with 44 students from all classes and cohorts in attendance. All of the tips and usages for the seemingly complex system were practical and user-friendly—I know, because I’ve already tested them out.
The idea to host the event was conceived when our librarian, Allison Leaming, had a conversation with a new T-bird professor, Anjelina Belakovskaia. Allison always tries “to meet with new faculty on campus to see what they are doing in class and to learn about their research interests.” So, during a meeting with Professor Belakovskaia, the new professor mentioned that learning to use the Bloomberg Terminal would be an incredible skill for students to develop, but that she wasn’t sure how much experience they had with the tool, which can seem quite daunting to a first-time user. Allison agreed, and from there she moved forward to set up the session with Josh.
Although Professor Belakovskaia’s Financial Engineering students were the target audience for the demonstration, the class is relatively small, so Allison thought it would be a good idea to reach out to Allyson Alexandrou and Pier Vender, the leaders of the Investment Banking Club here on campus. They were both extremely receptive to the idea and “did a fantastic job spreading the word to club members and beyond.”
Speaking with Allison after the event, she told me: “I was very pleased with the turn out. I think Josh did a great job covering the basics of Bloomberg. I definitely think he showed the depth and power in its design and I hope he got some students over the initial intimidation that comes with the terminal.” Attending students reflected Allison’s sentiments. Tyler Monaccio “really enjoyed the presentation,” and thought that “Josh, the trainer, was great.” Like many others, he hopes that this training will continue into the future. Phillip O’Neal, another attendee curtly but meaningfully felt that the Bloomberg Terminal is “a useful tool.” Brad Hoffa (MGM ’17) pretty much summed it up when he told me: “I would like to express my gratitude for the people at Thunderbird that continue to fight for the substance that makes our campus unique. There are not many places that have access 
to such an amazing tool, and I hope the victory was ratified by the overwhelming attendance at the training.”
As a final note, when Thunderbird merged with ASU the only other Bloomberg Terminal was located inside the WP Carey School of Business, paid for by the college. According to some research that I did, the Carey Bloomberg Terminal is only accessible by PhD students and faculty. ASU Libraries recently agreed to a 2-year renewal of our Bloomberg Terminal subscription though, thereby continuing the tradition of Bloomberg access available to Thunderbird students at the IBIC. As Allison told me, “We owe our access to ASU Libraries leadership. Use of the Terminal and attendance at workshops like the one on Tuesday are vitally important in allowing us to communicate the importance of this investment and keeping it available here on campus.”
Feature Photo Courtesy of: theatlantic.com