California State University at Fullerton received a $1.5 million gift to establish to help expand its investment fund, school officials announced.

Cal State Fullerton business alumnus Jeffrey S. Van Harte's donation will be used to establish a new investment management center and to expand an existing student-managed investment fund that he helped create, the Applied Securities Analysis Program.

"This gift will take the Applied Securities Analysis Program at the college to the next level," explained Van Harte, who funded the initial startup of the student-managed investment fund with a gift of $100,000. "By endowing this program with a larger gift, we will be able to double the size of the students involved with the program, have dedicated facilities, and long term, the program will pay for itself with distributions from the endowment. It will be something the students, faculty and the business community can count on."

The gift is the latest Van Harte, class of 1980, has made to his alma mater and to the university's Mihaylo College of Business and Economics.

"Jeff has been a longtime supporter of the program, both in the time he spends to nurture it and with financial support," Anil Puri, dean of Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, said in a statement. "His commitment to the program is invaluable, and we look forward to his continued involvement in it."

A little more than 2 years old, the Applied Securities Analysis Program (ASAP) has served in being a real-world educational experience in portfolio management and security analysis with distributions benefitting the campus. Last spring, students from the program donated $5,000 of the program's earnings to Mihaylo College's Tutoring Center.

Van Harte's latest gift also will help fund the construction of a new investment management center to be called Titan Capital Management, which will enhance the educational experience students are already receiving by creating a center similar to trading floors of major financial institutions. Students will be able to watch changes in the stock market while they research companies and analyze latest stock quotes, options and exchange-traded funds.