Changes to the Real Estate program

This just in from the Real Estate Program at CBS:

Subject: Real Estate Courses for the 2007/8 Academic Year

To: Real Estate Concentrators and MBA students interested in real estate

From: Professor Chris Mayer, director of the MBA Real Estate Program


Next year will be an exciting year for the MBA Real Estate Program, but also a year of changes. While the course offerings will remain unchanged, we will change the timing of Real Estate Transactions, welcome two new faculty members, and also make some changes to the requirements for the Master Class in Real Estate Investment. In addition, I will be taking a sabbatical leave next academic year. These changes are detailed below:

1) The course schedule for real estate classes in 2007-2008 will be as follows:


Class Professor(s) Credits Time Co-requisites

FALL
B8314 Real Estate Finance Neng Wang 3 TBA B6302
B8314 Real Estate Finance Neng Wang 3 TBA B6302
B8399 Real Estate Capital Markets Dan Adkinson / 3 W 9-12:15 B8314, B6302
Michael Giliberto

SPRING
B8314 Real Estate Finance Tomasz Piskorski 3 TBA B6302
B8314 Real Estate Finance Tomasz Piskorski 3 TBA B6302
B8158 Real Estate Transactions Lynne Sagalyn 3 Tu 2:15-5:30 B8314
B9317 Master Class in RE Invstmt Jeff Barclay / 6 M,W 4-7:15 B8314, B8399
Camille Douglas

2) We will be joined by two new full-time faculty members, plus a new adjunct faculty member.

Assistant Professor Tomasz Piskorski joins us from NYU where he recently earned his PhD. Professor Piskorski specializes in Real Estate Finance and has written on Optimal Mortgage Design and the link between lending and housing markets.

Visiting Professor Lynne Sagalyn will be at Columbia Business School for the entire academic year, while she is on leave from the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Sagalyn was previously the Director of the MBA Real Estate Program at Columbia Business School and has authored two books on real estate and numerous real estate cases. She will be writing cases and teaching Real Estate Transactions during her visit at Columbia.

Adjunct Professor Michael Giliberto will be co-teaching Real Estate Capital Markets. Dr. Giliberto is Managing Director and Director of Real Estate Strategy at JPMorgan Asset Management, where he has worked since 1996. Previously he worked at Lehman Brothers, Solomon Brothers, and was a Professor at Southern Methodist University.

3) The Master Class in Real Estate Investment debuted in Spring ’07 to rave reviews and has quickly become the signature course for the MBA Real Estate Program. The Master Class is a mix of cases, guest speakers, and a semester-long group business project. Last year's projects included such diverse business plans as student housing in Manhattanville, a Latin American Land Fund, a development plan for a new casino hotel in Reno, NV, and a draft privatization of Boston Properties, a large REIT.

In order to facilitate the full development of the projects, the Master Class in Real Estate Investment will require students to apply in writing and receive advanced approval in order to register for the class. Prior to registering, students must form a group of 2-4 members (no more than 4 members will be allowed under any circumstances) and develop a preliminary version of their project. Projects must also have an industry sponsor. The Milstein Center will help provide support in creating a project and finding an industry sponsor if a group needs the help. The project summary with a list of group members must be submitted and approved by faculty prior to registration. Under no circumstances will students be allowed to register after the class has started.

4) Finally, I will be taking a sabbatical leave for the 2007-2008 academic year to pursue independent research, which means I will not be teaching or holding regular office hours. After more than a decade of teaching and serving in numerous academic roles, this will be my first sabbatical. The MBA Real Estate Program will be well-served with a very distinguished line-up of teaching faculty. In addition, Executive-in-Residence Leanne Lachman will be available to provide career advice and Visiting Professor Sagalyn, my predecessor, will be on campus and holding regular office hours during the entire academic year. I will maintain my position as Director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate to ensure continuity with our outside constituencies and that there is no break in programs. We have a very strong staff in the Milstein Center who will continue to work closely with the Real Estate Association on programming throughout the year.

I hope that everyone is enjoying a very nice and relaxing summer.

Sincerely,
Professor Chris Mayer