The C. T. Bauer College of Business received a legacy gift from the foundation named after Houston’s Weingarten Realty Investors’ chairman and his wife, to create The Stanford Alexander Center for Excellence in Real Estate.

The Center will support and complement Bauer’s graduate real estate program in partnership with Houston-area real estate leaders by bringing professional practice into the classroom.

“The Stanford Alexander Center for Excellence in Real Estate will be one of the cornerstones of the specialized programming in the practice of real estate development offered at the C. T. Bauer College of Business,” said dean Latha Ramchand.

“Here, we look for opportunities to customize learning for our students, giving them not just a degree but an experiential learning opportunity, where they learn about best business practices from academic and industry leaders. The Alexander Center will help us to fulfill that mission by providing practice-based learning for graduate students interested in the real estate industry.”

The center will offer career scholarships, internships, counseling and placement, as well as a “best practices initiative” beginning in 2014 to promote collaboration between students, faculty and real estate professional through the exploration of different segments of the industry each year. The initiative will result in the publication of a paper, research seminar, conference and awards ceremony.

John E. Walsh, director of the graduate real estate program and former president of Friendswood Development Co., said the Center will be dedicated to instilling students with Stanford Alexander’s values, which are of the highest level of professional expertise and personal integrity.

“The Center, with its unique mission of advancing expertise in the professional practice of real estate, will establish the UH Bauer Graduate Real Estate Program as a leader among the 64 universities in America that offer an advanced degree in real estate,” Walsh said. “Mr. Alexander represents the best in real estate professionals and is an outstanding role model for students, faculty and staff of the graduate real estate program.”

The Stanford Alexander Center for Excellence in Real Estate will build on the vision set by its founders by giving students expertise and experience because “creating great cities” is a guiding principle of the real estate program, and it reflects the industry’s commitment to serve the community through responsible development of the built environment.

“For over 50 years, Stanford Alexander has set the standard of what a Houston real estate executive should be,” said Welcome W. Wilson Sr., founding chair of the program’s Executive Advisory Board and former chair of the UH System Board of Regents. “Now, because of his leadership, Houston will have one of the nation’s most attractive programs in real estate education.”

news@thedailycougar.com