On Feb. 11, the President of the Atlanta Federal Reserve, Dr. Raphael Bostic, spoke at a student session at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).
The session was held at UAH’s Student Services Building and included students from UAH and the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (AAMU), also known as A&M. Dr. Bostic spoke about the Federal Reserve, particularly focusing on what it is and the functions it performs. He also discussed the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks–including the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank–and their roles and responsibilities before concluding with an overview of his own role at the bank and his career. Dr. Bostic also answered questions from students and participated in a roundtable discussion where he spoke with various community leaders.
The event was intended to provide students access to a leader in the federal banking industry who could educate them about the industry, and they also had the opportunity to see information learned in the classroom apply in the real world. Stephen Ross, a UAH sophomore studying economics said, “[Dr. Bostic’s talk] was super enlightening … I learn all this stuff in the classroom but now I get to see it in practice because he talked a lot about economics.” Similarly, Anas Alrobiai, a UAH accounting sophomore, commented, “Some topics we discussed [were] affordable housing and … monetary policies that the federal reserve is currently undertaking such as contractionary or expansionary policies, stuff that we learn in class. … I was able to relate that [information] to Dr. Bostic’s visit.”
The opportunity for UAH and AAMU students to interact was also a highlight of the session. “As I looked across the room, people were talking, people were mingling, it was incredible, and I was so happy to see that. I think there was a considerable amount of UAH-A&M conversations going on, it was very cool to see,” Ross said. Alrobiai also commented on the collaboration between students, noting, “There were great questions from A&M and also great questions from UAH. … It was all university-level students wanting to learn from [the] respected Dr. Bostic.”
Speaking about how the event benefited both groups of students, Ross also said, “It was much more than just a visit from the President of the Atlanta Fed. It was a day of collaboration. It was a day of networking.”
