The school of business has created a new master’s program in real estate development.
The U Board of Trustees unanimously approved the new degree June 9.
“We’re extremely excited about it,” said Taylor Randall, incumbent dean of the school of business. “Real estate is growing big in this state.”
The program is five years in the making. Its director, Buzz Welch, who works for JP Morgan and Chase, helped create the program because he had to teach professionals about real estate when they first came to work for him, which he thought was annoying.
The program was created from the best aspects of other programs from Columbia to the University of Southern California, Welch said.
It’s an inter-collegiate program that brings together the finance department and the architecture and planning department. The program will eventually integrate other departments at the U, including geography, engineering and the law school.
Graduate students will have the option of receiving the degree or a certificate. The degree consists of 39 credit hours–27 hours of core classes and 12 for the track. The track helps students have an emphasis on what they specifically want to do.
The degree offers a wide variety in real-estate training and development and is the only program of its kind in the state, Randall said.
There will also be a center to help the program’s students. Community members Ivory and Boyer have donated money to help deepen the program and the center, Welch said.
The program will begin Fall Semester and will accept no more than 25 students. Twelve students have already been accepted, five from the finance program at Brigham Young University and four from the professional world.
The program takes two semesters to complete and was constructed of existing classes at the U, he said.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to get the plug from professionals from day one,” said Chris Treasure, a marketing analyst in the David Eccles School of Business.
For more information, contact the David Eccles School of Business at 801-581-7676 or visit them on their website at www.business.utah.edu.