From marionoc at MIT.EDU Tue Jul 22 09:51:15 2003 From: marionoc at MIT.EDU (Marion Cunningham) Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 09:51:15 -0400 Subject: [Crealums] MIT/CRE LETTER from the DIRECTOR, July 2003 Message-ID: July 21, 2003 Dear CRE Alumns, On July 1st, I assumed the directorship of the MIT Center for Real Estate (CRE), less than a year after arriving at MIT as Professor of Real Estate Finance in our Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) program. As CRE stands on the threshold of enrolling our 20th MSRED class, I want you to know that I value your continued support of the Center, and I want to relate to you my initial perspective on the big picture of the MIT CRE. For nearly twenty years, the Center has run a top-notch, unique graduate educational program. MIT?s MSRED program contributes to the global real estate industry by providing a bright, energetic, creative talent pool with a focused real estate curriculum and educational experience that is second to none. MSRED alums number over 600 worldwide, and are rising throughout the ranks of the real estate industry. I know I share your hope that the MSRED program will continue to evolve and serve the industry for many years to come. When MIT established the Center for Real Estate in 1984, its stated mission was to improve the quality of the built environment and to raise the level of the real estate industry by increasing the skills, knowledge and creativity of those in that industry. These aims were to be achieved primarily through graduate and professional education, basic and applied research, and industry/academia outreach. At the inception of my term as director, I must say that as impressed as I am with how well the Center has developed its educational objective, I believe it is currently falling short of what it needs to do in the other dimension of its mission: industry relevant research and outreach. We need to do more to develop the synergy that should exist between this great research institution, MIT, and the global real estate industry. It is both a symptom and a cause of this shortcoming that CRE currently finds itself too isolated--isolated from the rest of MIT, and isolated from the real estate industry that we serve. To ensure the CRE?s long-range health, including our continued ability to provide and improve the MSRED program, the vital research and outreach spark must be rekindled. As director, I am viewing this need as Job #1. In recent weeks, I have met with the top leadership of the Institute--from President Vest to the leaders of the Sloan School of Management, the School of Engineering, and our ?home? School of Architecture and Planning, as well as many faculty and administrators. There is no question that real estate is one of the greatest and most important fields of interdisciplinary research application in the world. Academic disciplines and departments ranging from economics through architecture, from sociology through logistics, from urban planning through corporate finance, and many more, are vitally relevant for real estate. Real estate is one-third of all global wealth, over one-tenth of the GDP, largely defines our cities and humankind?s imprint on the earth?s physical environment, and affects everyone?s daily lives. What other field of application should be more important than real estate for an Institute that aims to make the world a better place? The cross-disciplinary nature of both the real estate industry and the Institute has not waned in the twenty years since the Center?s founding; in fact it is quite the opposite! I see great potential to leverage and respond to the synergy between MIT and the real estate industry in ways that will increase the intellectual capital of all parties. We are committed to building the Center into an effective bridge linking MIT ?s unique capabilities to the cutting edge of the global real estate industry. Of course, this must be done in partnership with industry. MIT cannot dance alone. We plan to approach leaders in the industry soon, for their input and perspective. Right now, I am working within MIT to ensure that we are organized in a manner that allows us to be substantively responsive to industry. Clearly this is a pivotal time in the Center?s history. Your continued support is vital to realizing the strategic vision of the Center. I am very interested in hearing from you. Please feel free to contact me at (617) 253-8311 or dgeltner at MIT.EDU. As we ?build the future? together, I hope that I can count on your continued support. With best regards, David Geltner Professor, Director, MIT Center for Real Estate -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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