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UW to rename its real estate center

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by Bridget Roby

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

To honor a former University of Wisconsin professor, the UW Real Estate Center will take on a new name after raising $11 million for its programs.

According to a UW release issued Tuesday, the center will be renamed after the late James Graaskamp, a former UW real estate professor. With donations from nearly 600 alumni and friends, the program is now $9 million shy of its $20 million goal.

"We are trying to enhance the student educational experience," said Timothy Riddiough, director of the Real Estate Center. "It also allows us to work on public relations and be more visible, and to have impact in the real-estate community."

According to Riddiough, specific plans for the money include subsidizing student trips — both domestic and abroad — and other opportunities, such as recruiting specialists to help train students in a particular field.

The center will be starting a distinguished-speaker series this spring, inviting people in the industry to speak with students.

The program plans to honor Graaskamp, a celebrated professor who joined the UW School of Real Estate in 1964, at a dedication ceremony to rename the center April 25.

According to those who knew him, Graaskamp was a passionate teacher who often stepped outside the traditional realm of real estate.

"People respect him for being a complete iconoclast," said Katherine Esposito, an associate outreach specialist for the center. "He was concerned about the impact of development upon communities and [maintained] that developers have a responsibility to their communities."

Graaskamp also founded the McBurney Disability Resource Center at UW in 1977, as he himself was diagnosed with polio at age 17.

The money raised by the program will help to continue Graaskamp's legacy and continue UW's history of excellence in the field of real estate.

"The UW School of Real Estate is currently ranked second in the country by US News and World Report," Esposito said. "This will help to maintain it, to make it even stronger."

The money will also help specifically keep the program competing with private schools with huge endowments, as real estate schools continue to grow throughout the country, Esposito said.

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