Country’s top-ranked real estate program adds flair to FSU TRENDS Conference

Yvonne Baker, the Brett C. Lindquist Executive Director of the FSU Real Estate Center, says "the vision is for a national reach for our conference, and we’re excited to see where we go from here.”
Photo by Kallen M. Lunt Click to enlarge

In a cross-country collaboration between Top 10 real estate programs, eight students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s No. 1-ranked real estate program are traveling more than 1,000 miles to Tallahassee this week to participate in a new case competition that will take place during the FSU Real Estate TRENDS Conference. 

The students from the Wisconsin School of Business will join forces Thursday with eight students from the Florida State University College of Business’ No. 9-ranked real estate program for a competition among teams comprised of students from both schools. The students then will engage in the TRENDS conference, a world-class professional business forum that highlights trends in the real estate industry. 

The case competition and FSU’s invitation to the Wisconsin School of Business are the inspiration of Ben Macfarland (BS Real Estate '03), chair of the conference committee of the FSU Real Estate Center’s executive board, and Daniel Soyka, president of the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association. Longtime business associates and dedicated advocates of their alma maters, Macfarland and Soyka have been instrumental in strengthening ties between the two Top 10 real estate programs.  

“They started chatting and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could bring our two great business schools together?’” said Yvonne Baker, the Brett C. Lindquist Executive Director of the FSU Real Estate Center, which runs the TRENDS conference. “The vision is for a national reach for our conference, and we’re excited to see where we go from here.” 

For FSU’s real estate program, which ranks No. 6 among public schools and No. 9 among all schools by U.S. News and World Report, Baker emphasizes the prestige of collaborating with the perennial No. 1-ranked real estate program in the country and foresees the possibility of extending invitations to additional Top 5 or Top 10 schools in the future.  

For the Wisconsin program, she noted the advantage of exposure to FSU TRENDS sponsors – major recruiters of students for jobs. 

Said Tim Carr, deputy chair and program director for the Real Estate & Urban Land Economics program at the Wisconsin School of Business: “If this partnership proves successful, we may bring Florida State students up to Madison. That would give students interested in working in the Midwest — including Chicago — valuable exposure to the Wisconsin program’s network of sponsors and employers.” 

He added that the more business schools collaborate, the better they can “prepare our students to succeed wherever they're going.” 

Carr said the new TRENDS case competition gives additional students in the Wisconsin program opportunities to compete in a job-simulated environment. This week’s competition simulates a situation in which employees briefly analyze a potential deal, helping a company decide whether to proceed with a broader analysis. 

The competition gives student teams just two hours to brainstorm and research a presentation and another hour to prepare it before presenting it to judges on Thursday, as opposed to 80 or 160 hours that students often put into a case competition. 

The 16 students – eight from Wisconsin and eight from FSU – will be grouped into four teams, each with two participants from each school, underscoring the event’s competitive yet collaborative spirit. 

Baker said she’s looking forward to introducing “these cross-country students to each other and increasing connectivity across the real estate industry.”