STATE COLLEGE, PA-The Pennsylvania State University and its Smeal School of Business has produced a number of successful real estate professionals, but it is only recently that its Institute for Real Estate Studies has begun a formal program to keep them connected.
The Institute has formed an alumni program that has begun contacting former students to create a new community to benefit its members and even current students.
“Our goal is to [contact] those who’ve graduated and are practicing real estate, and hope this will lead to internships and employment opportunities, and will foster philanthropy,” says Richard J. Button, assistant director of the Institute for Real Estate Studies, a privately sponsored research institution at the College.
The program has been in the works for some three years, and is unrelated to the recent scandal in the university’s athletic department.
“The Institute for Real Estate Studies has been on the books since the mid-1980s, but really came on line four years ago,” Button says. Students can pursue a degree in real estate from the university.
The Institute is supported by individual donations from an advisory board that includes Peter Cocoziello, president and CEO of Advance Realty Development, David Welsh, managing principal of Normandy Real Estate Partners, Ira M. Lubert, chairman and CEO Lubert-Adler Partners, and Simon Property Group president and COO Richard Sokolov, all Penn State alumni.
The group has identified some 3,000 possible members and has been contacting them to set up networking events.
“One in New York City was very well attended,” Button says. Other programs have been or will be held in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington DC and Los Angeles. “We’re walking before we run.”
Real success, Button says, would come when 1,000 former students are actively involved.
“And ultimately, we’d like for each of these regional groups to be self-sustaining,” Button adds. “That would be our goal in a few years."
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