CCSU Students

Eddie Miranda: A passion for Numbers & People

When Eddie Miranda entered CCSU as a first-year student, he couldn’t imagine a more perfect educational path than Central’s hospitality and tourism program. After all, he had dreamed of owning a hotel since he was six years old and had relatives who loved the career field. Then one fateful summer term, a course in finance changed everything. It was love at first sight. Miranda eagerly took four finance classes the next semester and became a finance major. Now a senior, Miranda reads the Wall Street Journal, is fascinated by the recent spate of bank mergers, and smilingly admits that his favorite course of all time is probably “Financial Statement Analysis.” He says, “I love reading statements. I just love numbers.”

He also loves seeing numbers in action, as when he joined the Finance Club’s trip to Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange, and went to Washington, DC, as part of a course in bank management last semester. The highlights of the DC trip included a meeting with members of the executive board of the OCC (Office of the Comptrollers of the Currency); a tour of the Federal Reserve; and the chance to sit in Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s chair. (“It felt powerful!”)

Associate Professor of Finance Peter Lohrey, who taught the bank management course, says that Miranda is an engaged, enthusiastic student, and it shows. “All of his work is of high quality,” says Lohrey. He also notes that Miranda is both practical and kind, seeking advice from his teachers on such topics as mortgages in order to help family members make better decisions. “He’s very conscientious,” says Lohrey.

In fact, Miranda is both a numbers fanatic and a people person who relishes his involvement in student groups. A member of the Lambda Theta Phi fraternity, Miranda is also the treasurer of the Latin American Student Organization, which, he proudly points out, is the second largest student organization on campus. For two years, he was a Student Government Association senator, serving on the conference committee. He vividly recalls a conference speaker who noted: “Anyone can get a college degree; only certain individuals get an education.” Miranda realized then how much learning he could gain from interaction with his peers, particularly in developing both interpersonal and leadership skills. Attending conferences at universities in other parts of the country also gave him an appreciation for his own university that he might not have had otherwise. According to Miranda, CCSU’s size is just right, and the fact that people know each other from their high schools or hometowns makes it a friendly, comfortable community. He says, “I’d recommend Central to anybody.”

A Hartford native, Miranda often participates in the community service activities of LASO and other student groups. Although he’s done everything from conducting toy drives for needy kids to helping out at New Britain’s Friendship Center for the homeless, Miranda especially likes going to city schools to encourage college readiness and to impress upon teens the benefits of higher education. He knows that he has been fortunate in his own education, both at Northwest Catholic High School and at CCSU. He says, “The way I look at it, I have had all these opportunities--why not share them with others.”

Having finished his finance degree requirements, Miranda is spending his last semester broadening his focus by taking courses in American literature and Spanish. This summer Miranda will be among about a dozen students traveling to Panama with Assistant Professor of Economics Mitchell Charkiewcz for a graduate-level independent study course that explores the economic realities of Panama. Miranda says he is interested in the canal, the currency, and what life is like outside of the cities. “We’re going to see the indigenous people and how they live compared to us,” he says.

After that, Miranda would like to use his knowledge of banking and finance in business or real estate--along the way, incidentally, gaining an excellent background for fulfilling his childhood dream of owning a hotel. Says Miranda, “It’ll happen someday."

-Leslie Virostek