UCI names real estate director

Kerry Vandell, an influential professor from the University of

Wisconsin-Madison, has been appointed executive director of the new

Center for Real Estate at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business.

Vandell, who will also serve as a professor of finance, plans to

begin his tenure in July 2006. At Wisconsin, he directed the

Graaskamp real estate program, one of the most heralded business

education programs in the country.

As head of the UCI real estate program, he will preside over the

training of graduate students preparing for careers in the real

estate industry.

“One thing that struck me so much is how much of Orange County

really is a real estate play, starting with the Irvine Ranch

development and other large-scale urban developments,” Vandell said.

“It always seemed ironic that UCI never really had a formal

academic real estate program,” he added. “So it seemed to me like a

real opportunity when the dean suggested an interest in starting one.

It was an opportunity to really fill a void.”

Vandell has headed the real estate program at Wisconsin-Madison

since 1990. During that time, he has also held visiting

professorships at Harvard University and UC Berkeley, and has

published more than 50 papers in academic journals.

“When you’re trying to build the best center in the country, you

go after the best person, and that’s Kerry Vandell,” said Andy

Policano, dean of the Merage School of Business.