New co-major creates pipeline of real estate-committed students for commercial industry
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana University Kelley School of Business is expanding its real estate offerings by offering a new real estate co-major for students in the Indianapolis Undergraduate Program.
The co-major and a new full-time real estate faculty member add to the programming the Kelley School’s Center for Real Estate Studies now offers at IUPUI, allowing the program to better serve the area’s commercial real estate industry.
“The commercial and residential real estate markets in Indianapolis are thriving, even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Doug McCoy, the Al and Shary Oak Director of Real Estate and senior lecturer in finance at the Kelley School. “The majority of Kelley students in the Indianapolis Undergraduate Program stay in Indiana after graduation, and we’ve seen a need from real estate companies in the area to offer this expanded programming.”
“This co-major will institutionalize the school’s commitment to real estate, creating a pipeline of real estate-committed students for the local industry,” said Phil Powell, Kelley’s associate dean of academic programs at IUPUI. “We’ve heard directly from Indianapolis-based commercial real estate companies they need more talent to draw from to fill their central Indiana positions. Our downtown location at IUPUI not only gives students access to this booming industry, but it also gives companies even more access to talented employees.”
The new program bundles five existing real estate courses into a 15-credit hour co-major. Kelley students at IUPUI are able to take the intensive, eight-week Commercial Real Estate Workshop, and they’ve had access to a full complement of real estate courses, including Intro to Real Estate Analysis, Real Estate Appraisal, Real Estate Finance and Investments and Real Estate Law.
This fall, Sara Coers joined the Kelley faculty as associate director of the IU Center for Real Estate Studies. Coers will lead the IU real estate program’s efforts at IUPUI. She has 15 years of experience in commercial real estate appraisal, with a specialty in expert witness testimony. Coers most recently served as senior vice president at Pillar Valuation Group, Inc. and, before that, was the managing director at Valbridge Property Advisors.
“I am most looking forward to bringing greater opportunities in real estate to Kelley Indianapolis students,” said Coers. “I’m also looking forward to building on relationships between IUPUI and real estate companies in the city and growing our real estate presence on campus. By deepening its commitment to real estate through this new co-major, Kelley at IUPUI is opening doors for students to new and greater opportunities and is likewise expanding the potential for local real estate companies to hire talented, prepared candidates who are invested in Indianapolis.”
About the Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI Campus
The Indiana University Kelley School of Business has been a leader in American business education since 1920. With more than 120,000 living alumni and an enrollment exceeding 12,000 students across two campuses and online, the Kelley School is among the premier business schools in the country. The Kelley School at IUPUI is home to a full-time undergraduate program and five graduate programs, including a graduate certificate for healthcare professionals, master’s programs and graduate certificates in accounting and taxation, the Physician MBA and the Evening MBA, which is ranked ninth in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Learn more at kelley.iupui.edu.
Posted By: Teresa Mackin, tmackin@iu.edu