Tulane University has instituted a real estate major for the upcoming fall semester. This new major will be facilitated through the School of Architecture and directed by Tulane University alumni Casius Pealer and John Huppi. A summer minor in real estate has been offered for the last five years, but no courses were previously offered during the academic year.

Now, real estate classes are offered through a summer minor program and a major program. Pealer and Huppi said they decided to create the major because they saw an opportunity to teach more specialized real estate classes that were not offered previously. 

“We, from a curriculum standpoint, know that there are more skill sets and material that we can cover, so this major is really going to … allow us to do that work,” Huppi said. “Also our housing [in] the School of Architecture is pretty unique. A lot of real estate programs, not all of them, but a lot of them, are offered in the School of Business.”

There has been a high demand for real estate courses in the past, and the new major will give students the opportunity to gain skills in this field. 

Both Pealer and Huppi are professors of the curriculum as well. Pealer teaches the Capstone for graduate students while Huppi teaches Fundamental of Real Estate Development, while they both teach a TIDES course for freshmen. 

Although the major is through the School of Architecture, students will have the opportunity to take classes in many different areas of study as well to complete electives.

Through this major, students will have the opportunity to explore all of New Orleans and the community. A main focus of this new major is community development that addresses affordable housing and food access.

“The entire program at Tulane is responding to the opportunities and challenges that the city has seen post-Katrina, so some students come to Tulane because they are interested in learning from the city of New Orleans,” Pealer said. “The program has been very responsive to that, so we are addressing challenges and we have insight from professionals who are doing more integrated work here.”

Pealer and Huppi have high expectations for the major as they have seen success within both the graduate program and the summer minor. 

“We have had so much demand for more real estate programming and so much success with not just enrollment but also with what students do with the degree afterward,” Huppi said. “About 70% of students are going off and getting internships or jobs in real estate after they graduate.”