Auburn University’s Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) program turns developers into savvy business professionals. It’s no wonder Auburn was ranked No. 62 internationally among peer real estate management schools -- and third nationally among MRED-specific programs -- by the web site Eduniversal when its Top 100 rankings were released on Dec. 24, 2014. Eduniversal based its rankings on such factors as name recognition, graduates’ salaries, and student satisfaction. In its fourth year, Auburn’s MRED program is a collaborative effort between the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business, and the College of Architecture, Design and Construction. It is offered to real estate developers and executives with a minimum of three years of professional experience and an undergraduate degree in a related field. “The program offers an outstanding applied learning opportunity by mixing short campus residencies, distance learning, and in-depth, on-site, and hands-on field studies of development projects throughout the country and world,” said Stan Harris, Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs at Harbert College. “Students get exposed to the entire gamut of the development process. The program also benefits from the heavy involvement of a far-flung advisory board made up of seasoned and highly successful real estate development professionals. Our faculty members are steeped in personal experience and share their knowledge in creative and engaging ways.” Michael Robinson, MRED Chair and Hugh Daniel Professor of Real Estate Development, noted the program is the only executive degree-granting program of its kind in the nation. “There are pure distance education programs in real estate development and there are evening courses for real estate professionals in a few major, urban areas, but we are unique in our educational delivery model,” he said. “The program allows student to work full-time while they enrolled in the curriculum. Many of the things they learn in residencies and on field trips can be applied in real time - during the next day or next weeks in their current practices." The two-year, six-semester program involves 10 courses: Principles of Real Estate Development, Real Property Analysis, Real Estate Market Analysis, Building Design and Construction Principles, Site Planning and Infrastructure Development, Real Estate Investment Analysis, Real Estate Project Management, Contract Negotiations, Real Estate Securitization, Real Estate Development Law. “It completely changed my perspective of real estate development,” said Hobie Orton, a 2013 Auburn MRED graduate who is Project Manager for Commercial and Residential Development for Biltmore Farms, LLC, in Asheville, N.C. “Even with having a diverse background and experience in real estate development, I found I gained a tremendous amount of knowledge in areas I do and do not practice every day. This knowledge resulted in immediate positive impacts to my current projects and will certainly affect every deal in the future.” For more information about Auburn University’s Executive Master of Real Estate Development program, visit http://mred.auburn.edu/ or contact Kim Kuerten, Director for Executive MBA Programs, at (334) 844-4853 kuertka@auburn.edu ; or Jana Smith, Assistant Director for Executive MBA Programs, at (334) 844-5078 or smithj3@auburn.edu; or Michael Robinson, Director of the MRED program, at (334) 844-5486 or robinpm@auburn.edu.