Program in Real Estate marks successful first year
Virginia Tech’s Program in Real Estate is celebrating the conclusion of a successful first year.
Since its launch in fall 2013, the undergraduate major has grown to 60 students, won the Meritage Homes Residential Real Estate Challenge, created a pilot professional mentoring program, and sent students to the Institute of Real Estate Management’s Capitol Hill Visit Day.
Virginia Tech’s Program in Real Estate marks the first time that six colleges have partnered to offer a degree at Virginia Tech. The interdisciplinary approach draws expertise from a broad range of faculty and academic units across the university, which makes the degree stand out from real estate programs at other institutions.
A key component of the program is giving students opportunities to learn and interact with industry leaders, and as a result, students are being provided with a variety of valuable hands-on learning and networking experiences. A newly established formal mentoring program pairs students with members of industry.
In addition, three students had the opportunity to attend the Institute of Real Estate Management’s Capitol Hill Visit Day to be involved in the legislative process. The Real Estate Club also organized and hosted a Young Alumni Panel sponsored by Commonwealth Commercial of Richmond, Virginia.
Enrolling 60 students places the Program in Real Estate ahead of schedule toward meeting a projected enrollment of 150 students by the fifth year. The program expects its first graduates in May 2015.
Virginia Tech’s Program in Real Estate offers a comprehensive interdisciplinary bachelor of science degree in real estate that builds on existing strengths in six of Virginia Tech's colleges — the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Architecture and Urban Studies, Pamplin College of Business, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and College of Natural Resources and Environment.
The program’s experiential courses integrate disciplines such as finance, law, construction, and property management by examining commercial, residential, retail, and mixed-use property from initial project conceptualization through sale or management. Graduates of the program are prepared to enter the real estate industry and make immediate professional contributions.
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
Written by Kayleigh Burke, of Manassas, Virginia, a senior majoring in communication in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.
