In a research paper titled World Ranking of Real Estate Research: Recent Changes in School Competitiveness and Research Institutions, authors Jan C. Jin and Eden S. H. Yu, found that DePaul's Real Estate program ranks 9th in the world.  Jin and Yu ranked universities and research institutions based on page counts of articles published in the following three journals:

Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics (JREFE),
Journal of Real Estate Research (JRER), and
Real Estate Economics (REE)

The research used page counts rather than the number of articles published in an effort to give credence to the greater intellectual contributions of longer articles.

The top ten Universities include: University of Connecticut; Florida State; University of Florida; UC, Berkeley; Georgia State; MIT; Penn State; National University Singapore and University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In addition, Dr. James D. Shilling, the Michael J. Horne Endowed Chair in Real Estate Studies at DePaul, made the Real Estate Research Hall of Fame for his work between 1973 and 2008.  The findings ranked him 11th in the world.

The Charles H. Wurtzebach Endowed Scholarship Fund subsidizes students' travel expenses so they may attend some of the major real estate conferences that take place throughout the United States. 

The scholarship covers conference registration fees, airfare and hotel expenses for graduate students.  This year, three students attended the ULI meeting in Washington D.C.:

Amy Krass, MBA student, said, "Many people don't have the chance to participate in such a large, influential conference until they are much further along in their careers, making my attendance a truly invaluable step in the development of my career. "




Jan Morel, MBA student, said "The ULI Fall Conference in Washington DC was an incredible experience for me.  The eclectic nature of the ULI members allows for well rounded discussions about real estate in urbanized areas.  I also really enjoyed the varied breakout discussions: from capital markets, jobs, workforce housing, to new market tax credits."


Yun Tong, MBA student: "During the convention, I had an invaluable opportunity to attend the Multi-family Council meeting (Gold Flight) to hear council members share their capital and property market updates and discuss their areas of focus moving forward. I also attended several mobile workshops for development projects where development teams offered candid insight into the factors contributing to the projects' success as well as lessons learned."

Two students attended the PREA meeting in San Francisco:


Steve Panos, MBA student: "Attending the PREA Conference was a great opportunity which provided further insight on "big-picture" concerns and conditions with the current economy and its impact on institutional real estate. One of the more emotionally charged panels was the one on public vs. private real estate. Mike Kirby, Chairman of Green Street Advisors, continued to voice the opinion that the efficiency and profitability of REITs continue to be underestimated relative to private equity and in historical market peaks, REITs were the owners unloading product and private equity companies were buying overpriced assets." 

Katherine Elliot, MBA student, said,  "The fall 2010 PREA conference in San Francisco presented a diverse overview of current topics not limited to issues unique to institutional real estate.  The lively dialogue between Greg Mankiw and Robert Reich surveyed options for the real estate industry as a whole to move forward given that the recession is technically "over."  

Congratulations to all of the travel scholarship recipients.

Reinventing Community: Branding, Rebranding, and Economic Development

Join us for a fascinating discussion about "branding" and "rebranding" communities in today's grueling economy.  These marketing techniques, once limited mostly to the private sector, are now all the rage in many cash-strapped municipalities eager to attract residents, investors, visitors, and shoppers.  

Our participants will take part in a fast-moving discussion about critical aspects of this phenomenon:   What exactly is community branding?  How difficult is it to rebrand a community-and what are common mistakes that communities make?   Can marketing and branding be low-cost substitutes for massive public works projects to strengthen a town's image?  At breakout sessions, we'll explore how the answers to these questions are affecting economic development and planning in cities and suburbs. 

The moderator of the event, Aaron Renn, has written extensively about the rebranding of Columbus, Ohio, and other cities--he is author of the popular Urbanophile blog.  Keynote speaker Claudia Sieb, an Arizona-based consultant, will share her national perspective on branding, while Carl Wohlt will discuss cutting edge techniques being used to brand local communities.

Planners, economic development specialists, developers, researchers and financiers seeking to understand the "dos and don'ts" of branding and marketing--and how to identify when these tools are most effective--should register for this event.   Space is limited.  We have room for only 90 registrants in our intimate conference-room setting.  Registrants can sign up for an optional lunch with our speakers afterwards to continue the morning's discussion.