for students
About WKU
Dr. Rhoades serves as the Director of the Personal Financial Planning Program within the Department of Finance, in the AACSB-accredited Gordon Ford College of Business, at Western Kentucky University (WKU), in beautiful Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Dr. Rhoades teaches courses in Personal Finance, Applied Investments, Estate Planning, Financial Plan Development (capstone course), and Legal and Regulatory Aspects of Personal Financial Planning. Ron has previously taught courses including Principles of Finance; Advanced Investments; Retirement Planning; Money & Banking; Insurance & Risk Management, and Business Law I and II.
WKU’s B.S. Finance (Personal Financial Planning track) program is located within the Gordon Ford College of Business. All programs in WKU’s Gordon Ford College of Business have been accredited by AACSB International, which symbolizes that WKU has achieved the recognition of having one of the best business programs and one of the best accounting programs in the world. Less than 5% of business schools worldwide receive such accreditation.
climb the hill
WKU’s Personal Financial Planning Program
WKU’s Personal Financial Planning B.S. Finance (PFP Track) program is dedicated to producing top-quality graduates that firms rush to hire. Graduates with the degree possess a broad knowledge of personal financial planning, investments, and corporate finance.
Our students are typically hired for paid internships with RIA and dual registrant firms in the summer between their junior and senior years. Many of our summer interns are then offered positions with that firm, and some work part-time with those firms during their senior year. Many of our students receive job offers from multiple firms.
High school students (incoming seniors, juniors and sophomores) with an interest in personal finance attend our WKU High School Personal Finance Summer Camp.
We seek out and provide many experiential learning opportunities for our students. These include, for example:
- guest speakers in our classes and at meetings of the WKU Student Chapter of the Financial Planning Association;
- field trips to visit financial services firms, and to attend FPA chapter meetings, as well as attend national and regional conferences;
- participation in regional and national competitions, including those from the T.V.A., CFA Institute, and the FPA Financial Planning Challenge;
- the opportunity for selected students to provide peer-to-peer financial advice (on issues such as budgeting during college and upon graduation, credit issues, student loan management, etc.) as paid financial counselors, via WKU’s Center for Financial Success; and
- attendance at WKU’s 4th Annual Financial Planning and Investments Symposium, on Friday, September 15, 2023 – to network with scores of financial planners in attendance.
To be a great personal financial advisor, you first need to become a great person. From freshmen orientation through graduation, we stress the development of each’s students interpersonal, written and verbal communication, teamwork, and overall emotional intelligence and professional skills. Through small class sizes, innovative assignments and frequent interactions between our Finance Department faculty and students, we seek to develop within each graduate a love for continuous learning and self-improvement.
WKU currently graduates about 30 scholars from our B.S. Finance (Personal Financial Planning concentration) each year. In January 2023, our Department established the goal of doubling our number of graduates by May 2028, to meet the ever-increasing demand for our students.
To learn more about the program, arrange a tour of WKU’s beautiful campus and/or a meeting with Dr. Rhoades, Professor Andrew Head, Dr. Indu Chhachhi (Finance Department Chair), or another Department of Finance faculty member, please click here to visit WKU’s Department of Finance website or email: finance@wku.edu.