Bank School Class of 2025

Internal Links Kristen Reid

Bank School Class Schedule, Course Descriptions & Lunch Menu

All 1st year classes will be held at the Darden School of Business at University of Virginia. Please note that for first year students, class will take place in the Abbott Auditorium at Darden on Sunday. Monday-Friday, the first year class will be split into two cohorts. More information about your cohort assignments will be available soon.

First year orientation

In this introductory course to your Bank School experience, you will learn about the school and your responsibilities over the next three years. Additionally, you will receive and have the opportunity to review your DiSC profile and develop a base understanding of the different communication styles as defined by DiSC. Through a series of interactive activities, you will learn how to work with a variety of different personality types making you a more effective communicator, both professionally and personally.

organizational behavior

This course explores human behavior in the work place. During the week, the class will discuss how employee attitudes, levels of motivation and personalities impact daily interaction as well as the drivers of employee satisfaction.

Economic environment

Taught in a highly interactive fashion, this course features a discussion of the influence that monetary and fiscal authorities have on national income, employment, inflation and balance of payments. The course also reviews current economic conditions, and recent Federal Reserve Policy announcements.

ethical decision making

This course will provide bankers with a values-based process for making decisions and shaping the bank’s culture. In these interactive sessions, we will explore trust, accountability, and other elements associated with ethical and unethical behavior in the banking industry.

strategic marketing

During this course, you will explore the world of communication and marketing from the perspective of brand, strategy, crisis, and action. Designed to equip you with a marketing perspective, this course will broaden the way you see corporation challenges and opportunities. Prepare to think big and leave equipped with new solutions for your organization.

commercial banking

This course will explore the key elements of successful commercial lending activities and the impacts of a commercial loan portfolio on commercial banks. Topics will include financial leverage and the loan transaction, the commercial lending process with specific focus on risk mitigation, credit analysis considerations with detailed focus on financial statements, key ratios, and cash flow to support quality loan decisions. Borrower debt levels, the economic impacts to loan portfolios, and business life cycles impacts will be explored relative to financial performance and profitability of the commercial loan portfolio.

bank financial management i

During the Bank Financial Management I course, you will develop a basic understanding of a bank’s financial statements and ratios as well as the key factors driving a bank’s financial performance.

Bank School Parking Information

Friday Carpool List

Click the link below for the Friday carpool list for your class.  By noon on Thursday, email Kristen Reid who the driver of the group from John Paul Jones Arena to Darden will be and the car’s license plate.  

parking at darden

  • Sunday, July 16th: All 1st and 3rd year students will park in the parking garage at Darden.
  • Monday, July 17th-Thursday, July 20th: All students will park in the West lot next to the John Paul Jones Arena (at the corner of Massie and Copeley Roads). A map of the parking garages and directions to JPJ can be found here. Shuttle buses will run each morning and each afternoon between the lot and Darden. The shuttle times are noted on your curriculum schedule each day. Please note – you may have a few minute wait as buses transport people, but they will be running on a continuous loop.
  • Friday, July 21st: Students will park in the same lot you have parked all week at John Paul Jones Arena and will be assigned to carpool groups (max 4 people) to ride together to Darden. Each group of four will need to give the license plate of the car that will be driven to Darden and parked in the garage and that car will be given a parking pass. Please note – cars that have not been submitted to Darden (with the license plate) may be subject to being ticketed. The driver of the carpool group will bring everyone to Darden for classes that morning. 

parking at hotels

  • The Graduate: For students staying at The Graduate Hotel, you will be emailed a code the week before Bank School. The hotel is typically valet only, but we have arranged for anyone who has a reservation in the VBA room block to have self-parking access with this code. There is a $10/night charge that will be added to your final room bill (and is tied to your code).
  • Omni Hotel Charlottesville: For students staying at The Omni, you will have self-parking below the hotel that is complimentary. You will use your room key to get in and out of the parking garage.
  • Residence Inn: For students staying at the Residence Inn, you will have self-parking in the lot outside the hotel and in the garage below the hotel. You will need to display a parking pass on your dash/mirror at the hotel – this will be given to you at check-in.

social event parking

We have two evening social events at The Graduate on Sunday (a Welcome and Information Reception) and Thursday (the 3rd Year Class Party). For students staying at the Graduate, you will access the parking as normal with your code. For students who are either staying at another hotel or are commuting, you can park at the 14th Street Garage (104 14th St NW Garage) that is close to The Graduate. Or if you prefer The Graduate is less than a mile from the Omni and the Residence Inn and is a nice walk.  

Convocation Recording & PowerPoint

Convocation PowerPoint

To Access the Zoom Recording, click here.

Passcode: 5?*5=.TR

First Year Class Materials 

All PDF presentations below are password protected.  The password for each of the presentations is BankSchool2025 (case sensitive/no spaces).

Bank financial management I

organizational behavior

Strategic marketing

commercial banking

ethical decision making

economic environment

Notes page template

Feel free to download and save as many copies of the below template for note taking purposes in your classes! 

Bank School Pyramid

The Bank School Pyramid shows students the progression for each year’s class.  The first year classes set the Foundation of a student’s Bank School experience and will provide the base knowledge needed to be successful the following two years.

In year two, students embark on more exploration of different areas of the Bank and gain a better understanding how the different function areas work together.

In year three, students move towards applying what they have learned during years one and two during the BankExec simulation and also participate in classes focused on current thought leadership topics.

Home Study Assignments

Along with attendance at all classes during the Bank School summer session, completion of eight home study problems (4 after the first year and 4 after the second year) with a passing grade is required to graduate from the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management.

  • Economic Environment (Seifried): October 2, 2023
  • Ethical Decision Making (Coughlan): November 1, 2023
  • Commercial Banking (Higgins): February 1, 2024
  • Strategic Marketing (Black): March 1, 2024

Instructions & Bank School Honor Code

It is very important that you submit your home study assignments correctly as some instructors will deduct points for formatting.  Please be sure to read the instructors directions carefully and if instructions aren’t included follow the outline on the Bank School Home Study Instruction Sheet & Bank School Honor Code.

Honor Code

The Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management students are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of honesty and integrity in the classroom, outside of the classroom and on the home study problems.   Home Study problems are individual assignments meaning you are to work on the assignment ALONE and are not to discuss the questions, potential answers, strategy, research or data resources with another Bank School student.  Also, please do not send your completed paper to another student as an example. Any evidence of shared work will be considered an honor code violation. 

The honor code is:

On my honor, I pledge that I have neither given nor received assistance on this assignment and that all work is my own.*

Violations of the Honor Code include:

  • Plagiarism-An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another without authorization and the representation of that author’s work as one’s own, as by not crediting the original author.
  • Cheating-Receiving, giving and attempting to receive or give unauthorized assistance, such as materials, information, notes or sources, on home study problems.

You may seek assistance from a subject matter expert in your bank as part of your research BEFORE you start to write your papers.  The subject matter expert cannot be another Bank School student. 

Submission

Submit your home study problems by sending to: homestudy@vabankers.org. The file should be saved as a PDF and titled with: Last Name, First Initial – Instructor’s Last Name (ex. Reid, K – Higgins).

Home Study Evaluation: After sending your assignment please complete the home study survey so we can provide feedback to the instructor.  You can submit the home study evaluation here.

Home study Assignments & Pre-Assignment Zoom Recordings

Pre-Home Study “How-To” Zoom Recording

  • Click here to access the recording.
    • Passcode: e=J%0fcL

Economic Environment (Seifried): October 2, 2023

Ethical Decision Making (Coughlan): November 1, 2023

Commercial Banking (Higgins): February 1, 2024

Strategic Marketing (Black): March 1, 2024

Class Officer Contact Information

President
Ashley Mizelle
TowneBank

Vice President
Maggie Andrea
United Bank

Secretary
Rosa Lowe
Bank of Botetourt

Treasurer
Eboni Lee
Benchmark Community Bank

Bank School Newsletters 

Prior to the Start of School:

Week of Bank School:

VBA Staff Contact Information

Class Liaisons
Bank School Management & Oversight