The Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate has announced that July 1 will mark the one-year anniversary of the establishment of the University of San Diego School of Business’ Real Estate Department. The Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate and the USD School of Business plan to celebrate achievements made over this last year.
Concurrently, they will honor the late Daniel F. Mulvihill, who was instrumental in the creation of the USD real estate program 28 years ago, and who passed away on the same day that the department was established. In January, the School of Business announced that the department chair position would be named the Daniel F. Mulvihill Endowed Chair.
“We are excited to celebrate the one-year mark of our Real Estate Department,” said Charles Tu, Ph.D., the Daniel F. Mulvihill Endowed Chair of the Real Estate Department and academic director of the Master of Science in Real Estate (MSRE) program. “The success of our program would not be possible today were it not for Dan Mulvihill’s leadership and support back in 1993. A group of industry leaders, led by Dan, raised significant money to endow the first real estate chair, which ultimately led to the creation of our real estate program. Dan’s unwavering support helped shape the program from its infancy and his legacy continues to positively impact the future success of our real estate students.”
A Popular Course of Study
Under the leadership of Dr. Tu, the USD real estate program has reached great heights. The number of undergraduate real estate students (including both majors and minors) has increased by 30% year over year since fall 2017 for a total population of more than 330 students in May. Real estate is currently the sixth most popular major at the University of San Diego.
This significant increase is in large part due to the holistic student experience offered to USD School of Business students and the unparalleled support offered through the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, which ensures that USD real estate students receive mentoring throughout their time at USD through graduation and beyond. That support has been instrumental to the students’ success and is a big factor in attracting more students to the real estate program.
The Burnham-Moores Center’s current Campaign for Student Success will help ensure the future success of the program.
“Our current Campaign for Student Success is aptly named as it is critical to our future success,” said Stath Karras, executive director of the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate. “Our goal is to raise $6 million for students to bolster the number of scholarships available in order to support our talented undergraduate and graduate students. Simultaneously, our $4 million goal for faculty will enable us to recruit and retain the nation’s top professors in real estate. Reaching this campaign goal will enable our real estate program to continue the same level of commitment to our students for years to come.”
The Beginnings of a Program
In 1993, a real estate industry committee chaired by the late Daniel (Dan) F. Mulvihill raised $1.5 million to endow and name the Ernest W. Hahn Chair in Real Estate Finance at the University of San Diego School of Business. This was the birth of the USD School of Business real estate program. Funding was provided by more than 100 donors — friends and colleagues of Hahn — and industry leaders dedicated to creating a world-class real estate program at USD.
In 2004, a $5 million endowment gift was made to support the operations of a new real estate center. Funding was provided by John Moores, the Burnham Foundation, Burnham Real Estate Services and senior management and brokers of Burnham Real Estate Services. A dedication ceremony to name the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate took place Sept. 2, 2004.
The MSRE program was launched in 2004 and currently has more than 300 alumni. USD’s MSRE students have been successful in international competitions, including the ARGUS University Challenge, as well as in the REALizing Returns University Challenge. USD is one of a few schools to be selected to have MSRE students as official bloggers and tweeters at MIPIM, the world’s leading annual real estate market event.
In 2004, the Real Estate Finance, Investments and Development Certificate program was also launched, providing education to real estate professionals in the early to middle stages of their careers.
The undergraduate real estate minor started in 2007, and the major in 2009.
Supplementing the program is the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate.
As a center of excellence within the School of Business, the mission of the Burnham-Moores Center is to help recruit, educate and mentor real estate students with the goal of facilitating their career pursuits in a socially responsible manner and with a global perspective and in collaboration with the real estate industry.