Photo from The Craig School of Business Facebook page
The real estate community in Fresno continues to grow, fueled by a network of partners including Fresno State.
What was once the Department of Finance and Business Law at Fresno State’s Craig School of Business was recently renamed the Department of Finance, Real Estate, and Business Law.
The department includes faculty specializing in all areas of finance, real estate and business law and also offers an option in real estate and urban land economics as part of a business degree.
According to Department Chair Jennifer Miele, one of the reasons to change the name was to highlight the inclusion of all faculty and students in the department. It also helps increase the visibility of the real estate and urban land economics option to the whole campus community.
“I think it helps foster belongingness amongst our faculty and students, and it gives them a home in our school,” said Miele. “Our campus community has a central catalog of [campus] visits to the Central Valley and even beyond that so that we can grow enrollment in the area and also grow professionals coming out of that area to help serve our community.”
Miele is in her second year as department chair and has been a faculty member for seven years. Working closely with associate professor Andres Jauregui, they have promoted their extensive real estate-oriented offerings. Jauregui is also the director of the Gazarian Real Estate Center, which is funded through the support of Dr. Arnold and Mrs. Dianne Gazarian. The purpose of the Center is to promote communication and provide information on real estate markets and the Craig School of Business Real Estate program to the real estate community, students and faculty of Fresno State.
Jauregui has hosted a series of symposiums and events, including outreach to community colleges. The result has been an increase in real estate interest. From 2020, about 8% of the department was made up of real estate and urban economic students. This fall, it made up about 21% of the department.
“I think that the outreach that’s being done and the community support that we have has helped grow that major – as well as I think there is an interest in real estate, in the housing market,” said Miele.
Real estate courses at the university include foot-in-the-door internship opportunities with the local industry. Through the Gazarian Real Estate Center, there are several different speaker events, panel events and networking opportunities that students can also participate in. It allows students to learn more about the industry and get to know even more individuals in the fields they’re considering.
Their hope, said Miele, is that as the real estate department grows, it can offer even more opportunities and events so that when students graduate, they’re prepared for what’s to come and have strong community support.
One thing the faculty saw at an open house on Dec. 6 was support for the real estate department.
Up to 75 people attended the hour-and-a-half event. Faculty, students and staff were present, as well as alumni. Representatives of the real estate industry also participated. They were all supportive and excited about the new department name, said Miele.
“It was just so good to see in person the amount of support that we do have from our community, and I think the more opportunities we have to engage with them will make a stronger program,” she said.
At Fresno State, they offer courses for jobs other than real estate agents and real estate brokers. For future agents, they can go directly and sit for the broker’s exam, which means they can sit for their license and the broker’s exam simultaneously.
“The cool thing is there are also so many other careers in real estate that are available and that we need experts in. Things like mortgages and lending, appraisals, property management, managing real estate portfolios, and even those who review government policies or taxation rules around real estate,” said Miele.
Students in the program can also take classes in business and real estate economics, business forecasting, financial institutions and markets. These courses give students an in-depth approach to real estate and all its career opportunities.
The department will also begin offering a minor in real estate. Meaning students across campus can participate and get those same credentials as part of their degrees, said Miele.
They are also working on articulations from community college. So, students taking the first courses – principles and practices in community college – can transfer those in and then complete their full undergraduate degree at Fresno State.
The name change is just the beginning of what the department is trying to do to help grow the numbers.
“I think the name change is the first step to show we’re here, we have these amazing experts available, and we’re putting them into the community,” said Miele. “They’re an important part of our business school in our degree.”
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