PSU announces master of real estate development

Portland State recently announced a new master’s degree in real estate development to be offered in fall 2011. The Master of Real Estate Development program (MRED) will follow the Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development program currently offered at PSU.

“Because we’ve had the graduate certificate program for a number of years…we’re kind of going to be getting an all-star group,” said Gerald Mildner, the academic director for the PSU Center for Real Estate.  

Mildner feels that now is a timely moment for a master’s program.

“Most people who work in these companies already have college degrees,” he said.

Because most people in the real estate business don’t have a specific real estate degree, Mildner said that a master’s degree is what they need “get ahead.”

Both new graduate students and previous certificate students will be invited to the program.

The certificate program graduates about 20 students per year, and Mildner has the same expectations for the MRED program. In fall, he hopes to enroll 20–25 students.

Mildner has overseen much of the change in the real estate program over the past eight years.  

Beginning in 2002, PSU offered the graduate certificate in real estate development. In 2004, however, the PSU Center for Real Estate opened an undergraduate major in real estate finance and a minor in real estate development.

The Center for Real Estate was then moved to the School of Business Administration in 2009. The university’s goal was to better assist real estate students in integrating and networking with other areas in the industry.

MRED has a similar aim. The program will offer extensive instruction in a variety of real estate fields, including finance, development and planning. Mildner hopes that half of the MRED courses will be taught by PSU professors and half will be taught by professionals in the real estate industry.  

“We [will] try to offer a number of ways in which [the students] can link up with the industry,” Milder said.

Members of the industry will include developers, architects, finance and market analysts, employees of construction firms, brokers and urban planners.

An advisory board composed of members of construction companies, banks and development and investment firms will also oversee the Center for Real Estate. The board will meet with faculty, deans and students “to best serve the economic needs of the region,” according to the MRED website.

In addition to networking opportunities, the program already plans to offer workshops with the Commercial Real Estate Development Association and the Building Owners and Managers Association International.

According to Mildner, students will take part in projects related to the Boeing Field and Seahawks stadium in Seattle, and the Post Office Blocks and Lincoln High School redevelopment here in Portland.

Many plans are in the works, but the program is yet to be approved by the Oregon University System, and some faculty members are yet to be hired.

“The process is complicated,” Mildner said. “We basically try to make sure the program is financially sustainable.”  

He feels confident, however, that the program will be approved and is pressing forward in that spirit.  

Applications to the program will be accepted beginning this month. Regular admission to the program begins May 1. ?