Updates from the Director

The Center for Real Estate and Finance typically publishes updates from its director a few times each year. You can see all of CREF’s news and features on BusinessFeed.

Steve Carvell

Steven Carvell

Arthur Adler '78 and Karen Newman Adler '78 Director of the Center for Real Estate and Finance 607.255.2606

October 2022

As I reflect on the past year my thoughts go first to all of our board members. Over the past year we have been fortunate to add many new board members and to have the vast majority of the rest of our board continue their support. The resources they all provide through their guidance, and physical and financial support are so very much appreciated. I am looking forward to working with all of our board members, new and continuing, over the coming academic year.

This past year we were fortunate enough to provide support for students going on treks, consulting activities, seminars, and a variety of D&I initiatives. We provided support to our faculty through board member guidance as liaisons, and by providing financial support for database purchases. We provided support to the academic mission of CREF and Cornell through our support of various real estate academic conferences. CREF also ran the 13th Annual International Real Estate Case Competition and the 7th Annual Titans of Real Estate here on campus. We also co-sponsored the 7th Annual ICSC Case Competition, the Philip Payton HBCU Case Competition, as well as the CREC Conference in NYC.

Looking ahead, we will be holding our first board meeting in many years on our Ithaca campus. We have a busy day planned. Aside from our board meeting where Dean Andrew Karolyi will visit with us and discuss the new Rubacha Department of Real Estate; we will host a round table where we will discuss the significant challenges facing hotel ownership and management, as well as a meet and greet with students. I have invited our faculty to attend the board meeting and the roundtable. We will, of course, have time to gather informally at dinner the night before the board meeting, during lunch, and at a reception in the late afternoon/early evening where students from our six real estate clubs will join us to discuss real estate education here at Cornell and how CREF is providing support for their various initiatives.

As we move forward in the 2023-24 academic year, we have many activities planned. We expect to expand our support of students from each of the real estate clubs, continue the RE Faculty Liaison Program as well as our support for the array of other activities both here on campus and in NYC. I also will be at ALIS this year and hope to see many of our board members at a planned breakfast meeting.

Finally, I am happy to report that, over the summer, Dean Walsh and the college leadership extended me a second three-year term. I am grateful to be able to provide leadership for CREF through June 2026 and hope to continue to expand our support of all aspects of Real Estate at the Nolan School, the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, and Cornell University.


CREF director's previous updates

Below are previous messages from the current director at the Center for Real Estate and Finance.

Steve Carvell, current director


Previous CREF director's updates

Below are previous message from directors at the Center for Real Estate and Finance.

Dan Quan, former director


Jan deRoos, former director