[texhax] Spacing with maketitle

[Thomas Jacobs]

Hi There,

I am trying to create a title block within an article and have
struggled with the \vspace command.  I must confess I do not truly
understand this command since it seems to work haphazardly in my
experience.  Sometimes it seems to work if I put a blank line before
it but that did not work in this case.  I wish to encroach on the
white space at the top of a document to ensure I can fit a quote at
the bottom of the page.  Can anyone direct me?  Here is most of the
tex:

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{amsmath,amsfonts,graphicx,psfrag,rotating,afterpage,subfigure,dcolumn,color,calc}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{varioref}
\usepackage{epsfig}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{theorem}
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{fullpage}
%\usepackage{harvard}
\usepackage{hangcaption}
\usepackage{undertilde}
\usepackage{accents}

%added for Euro on 120408
\usepackage{textcomp}
\newcommand{\euro}{\textsf{\texteuro}}

%added for URLs on 111008
\usepackage{url}

%added for hyperlinks on 081010
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{colorlinks=true,urlcolor=blue}
\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.jpg,.pdf}

\title{
\LARGE {\bf
Syllabus\\
Fin 362 Risk Management\\
Sections 501, 801, and 802\\
Winter Quarter 2011 \\
DePaul University College of Commerce\\}}%
%
\author{
\bf Class Times and Location:\\
Section 501 Monday \& Wednesday 3:10-4:40 PM\\
DePaul Center Room 8204\\
Final Exam March 14, 2:45-5:00 PM\\
\\
.
.
.
\bf Office and Hours:\\
DePaul Center Room 6139\\
Wednesday 1:30-2:30 PM \\
Thursday 3:30-4:30 PM\\
and by appointment}

\date{This version as of \today\\
%\date{This version as of September 25, 2010\\
Find this document online:
\href{https://courses.depaul.edu/}{\color{blue}Class D2L Site}}

\begin{document}

\vspace{-0.5in}
\maketitle

\noindent Leaders aren't born they are made.\\
And they are made just like anything else, through hard work.\\
And that's the price we'll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal.\\
- Vince Lombardi
\thispagestyle{empty}

\newpage
--
Thomas Jacobs, FRM, PRM, PhD
Assistant Professor of Finance
Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
DePaul University
(312) 362-6039 (W) (630) 640-9294 (C)