For its perennial Top 10 national ranking, including No. 6 among public schools in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges 2024,” officials in Florida State University’s real estate program point to top-notch students, world-renowned faculty members, supportive administrators and engaged alumni.
Together these groups drive the FSU Real Estate Center, which extends learning experiences beyond the traditional classroom, secures resources to attract and retain top faculty and strengthens the program's relationships outside the university, among other services.
Its premier event, the annual world-class FSU Real Estate TRENDS Conference, offers professional and student participants insights on industry trends and conditions. The center also supports the Real Estate Society at FSU, a student organization that connects with professionals and alumni in the industry.
"It's a cycle of success," said Yvonne Baker, the center's executive director. "It takes the faculty, the students, the administration and the alumni. The college and program have done an amazing job of creating camaraderie and respect among each of those elements."
Michael Hartline, dean of the college, hailed the Real Estate Program as a prime example of the college's path to preeminence. It secures a spot in the Top 10 with the No. 4-ranked Dr. William T. Hold/The National Alliance Program in Risk Management & Insurance. Both programs are housed in the college’s Department of Risk Management/Insurance, Real Estate and Legal Studies.
Also, the college's MBA specialty in real estate ranks No. 8 among public schools. The Master of Science in Finance program has added the same highly ranked real estate specialty curriculum as an option for MSF students.
The real estate program continues to tout its professors as widely cited researchers and dedicated teachers who are passionate about their students. Their work benefits students such as Gustavo Rubio, who graduated in the spring and started work as a commercial real estate analyst at JPMorgan Chase in New York City, where he had secured an internship that offered only five spots nationally.
Faculty members aim to, as Assistant Professor of Real Estate Daniel Broxterman puts it, "build a better future by building knowledge." The faculty ranks No. 5 among all universities publishing in three core real estate journals, and Tingyu Zhou, the Dean Gatzlaff Associate Professor, ranks No. 12 among real estate scholars. Zhou also won the Best Referee Award from Real Estate Economics and the ARES Best REIT Manuscript Prize for her paper “Face-to-face Interactions, Tenant Resilience and Commercial Real Estate Performance.”
Major donors include the Kislak Family Foundation. Since 2009, the foundation has contributed almost $2 million to the FSU Real Estate Center. That includes a $1 million gift from two years ago that provides scholarships to real estate students based on financial need.
Kislak's investments in the program also have funded sessions at the TRENDS Conference, and they have allowed the FSU Real Estate Center to organize and host annual FSU-Kislak Market Strategies Forums throughout the state.
Such ongoing financial and industry support, especially from alumni, remains vital to preparing students for successful real estate finance and investment careers, college officials said.
"Our alumni actually call and say, 'Who can I talk to? What can I do?'" Baker said. "It's amazing the relationships that have been created and cultivated here."
The center maintains a database of about 7,500 alumni and other executives, organizations and connections who serve as guides, liaisons, mentors and partners. It does so on behalf of an ever-increasing number of students who seek jobs in mortgage banking and institutional lending; real estate brokerage and leasing; appraisal and investment consulting; and real estate investment and development activities, among various other positions.
-- Pete Reinwald
