Home > Gazette > February 2007

Real Estate Center to be Renamed James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate

Nearly 600 alumni and friends have raised almost $11 million in donations for the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Real Estate. The Center will be renamed after the late professor James A. Graaskamp, a legendary figure in real estate education. A special two-day ceremony to rename the center will be held April 25 and 26.

The program is more than halfway toward its goal of raising $20 million over five years to maintain Wisconsin as the premier real estate program in the nation. Donations will help the center strengthen current offerings, such as required overseas study tours to France, China and other countries, feasibility and development project analyses, and a $1 million portfolio of REIT stocks that students manage as part of the Applied Security Analysis Program.

James Graaskamp, who taught real estate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1964 to 1988 and was program chairman from 1968 until his death in 1988, was instrumental in creating the modern real estate curriculum and elevating the discipline to a position of national prominence. He promoted new thinking about feasibility analysis, development investment and risk management, eschewing traditional economic models in favor of instruction through practical field studies.

The campaign, unveiled in December 2005, was part of a five-year effort to raise $20 million for the Wisconsin Real Estate program. The initiative spurred a challenge from Bryant Wangard, BBA ‘77, MS ’79; and Mike Arneson, MS ’81, as well as other principals of TOLD Development, who gave $1.7 million to rename the center. They encouraged other alumni to follow suit. An anonymous donor contributed $1 million. Alumnus Chuck Heath, BBA ‘81, MS ’83, and his wife, Kathleen, also gave $1 million.

“I would not be where I am today without the influence of Jim Graaskamp in my life,” said Chuck Heath. “Now is the time to formally connect his name with the UW Real Estate program forever.”

The Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association provided the foundation for the fundraising effort and was led by Jim Curtis, Jim Haft, Craig Manske, and Jim Smith, all graduates of the real estate program under James Graaskamp. They were supported by many other dedicated alumni and friends throughout the country. School of Business Dean Michael Knetter, applauded real estate alumni for their support: “I have been impressed with the way that real estate alumni have stepped up to take this outstanding program to even higher levels.”

The Wisconsin Real Estate program consistently ranks as one of the top three real estate programs nationwide and is widely recognized for its rigorous curriculum, top students, outstanding faculty and extensive alumni network. In 2004, as part of a school-wide strategy to develop specialized MBA programs, the center absorbed administration of the Real Estate MBA. The additional resources now available to the new James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate will allow it to compete even more effectively with dozens of new real estate programs that have recently emerged around the country.

Through his teachings, Graaskamp instilled a concern for ethics and a comprehensive approach to improving the quality of the built environment. Today’s UW-Madison Real Estate program honors and builds on that ethic, offering a multi-disciplinary approach to real estate with a focus on development, international topics, feasibility analysis, finance and investment, valuation, law and urban land economics.

The donations will allow the center to move forward with its goals, said Tim Riddiough, center director. “We are extremely grateful to our alumni, Center for Real Estate Board of Advisors, and friends for helping us achieve this important outcome. Our role is to act as the caretaker of Jim Graaskamp’s legacy, with the additional responsibility of fostering innovation in real estate research and education. Tradition and innovation are really what real estate at Wisconsin is all about.”