The Martin J. Whitman School of Management opened a center Friday, Oct. 6 devoted entirely to real estate with the assistance of a seven-figure gift from Syracuse University alumnus James D. Kuhn.

Kuhn, who received both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from SU, donated the undisclosed amount of money to revitalize a once prominent program at the school of management.

‘For many years, we had a major in real estate, but over time, faculty retired and the major just disappeared,’ said Melvin Stith, dean of the school of management.

Kuhn, who is the president of the global commercial real estate firm Newmark Knight Frank, believes the times have changed, and so has the demand for a strong real estate program in the school of management.

‘Twenty years ago, real estate wasn’t thought of in the academic community with the same stature of accounting and finance,’ Kuhn said. ‘Now, with the securitization of debt and equity over the last few years, real estate is as prominent a field in academia as any core business idea.’

The money donated will be used to fund the James D. Kuhn Real Estate Center, and bring back programs in the field to interested students.

‘By offering this program, we’re giving our students the ability to study something that is both relevant and interesting and enhances their academic experience here at Whitman,’ said Peter Koveos, a finance professor.

Koveos, who plans to teach a course in international real estate, said he believes without the gift, the program would never have been put together. Now the school should be well on its way to establishing a major and minor in the field, adding roughly two courses per year during the next four years.

The importance of adding such a field to the curriculum has been a hot topic in the school of management during the last four years, said Yildiray Yildirim, a finance professor.

‘The first time we offered the course was in fall of 2005, and we didn’t know how many students to expect,’ Yildirim said. ‘But because of the boom in the market in the last few years, students want to know how they can invest in the industry and what they need to know about it. We had many more students than we expected.’

With such a substantial gift from Kuhn, the school of management will be able to offer more courses to more students in the coming years, Koveos said.

Many said they feel that with an already outstanding faculty, the school of management’s newly-revived real estate program will quickly climb to a nationally recognized program.

‘I would be very disappointed if we’re not in the top five real estate programs within the next five years,’ Koveos said.

Kuhn echoed Koveos’ optimism.

‘In the last couple of years, with the tremendous success of the Whitman school, I feel that this is a program that can very quickly become top five in the country,’ Kuhn said.

Published on October 9, 2006 at 12:00 pm