10th Anniversary Celebration of the Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate

DiLella Center for Real Estate 10th Anniversary
Cross-College Real Estate Education at Villanova
Dr. Shawn Howton, Faculty Director
As we developed our VSB real estate curriculum one
thing we all agreed on was that the perfect real estate
program would reach across colleges and disciplines.
Many of Villanova’s colleges were already studying
issues central to the built environment—we just needed
to facilitate the bridge that would connect them and
give our students more complete perspective. Curran
Darling ’13 CLAS, a Communications major whose story
is in this issue, was one of our society presidents and a
great fit for the real estate industry. We knew there were
students like Curran all over campus that our initially
VSB-exclusive co-major was missing.
The reasons a real estate education is cross-disciplinary
by nature lie in the broad, interconnectedness of the
industry. Real estate, and the built environment, touches
the lives of everyone. It surrounds us as we live, work
and play and contributes to the collective well-being of
society, including providing reasonable returns to
institutional investors investing for retirement on behalf
of workers throughout the country and world. The design
and thoughtful development of the built environment
can enhance employee productivity, create communities,
mitigate the negative effects that buildings can have on
the environment, and provide quality of life improvements
for all parts of the socioeconomic spectrum.
Given the obvious importance of the built environment
in the everyday lives of people, the lack of formal
educational programs in universities around the world
is somewhat surprising.
The process of planning, developing, owning and
operating commercial real estate is cross functional and
does not occur in silos. Engineers, architects, general
contractors, developers, and ultimately property owner
and operators all need to work together to ensure the
resulting built environment services a growing global
population in a way that is functional and minimizes the
negative effects on the environment. Each participant
must also realize that the institutions and individuals
providing capital for these endeavors need to receive a
fair risk-adjusted return for contributing their capital.
These issues are only going to grow in importance over
the coming decades, as developed economies will have
to replace often crumbling infrastructures and rethink
their urban cores where more and more people reside.
Emerging economies also have to create infrastructure
to support moving into the developed world. The
United Nations recently forecast the global population
will grow by approximately 2 billion people by 2050.
Fitting that many people into the built environment
provides many challenges to policy makers and industry
professionals in the coming decades. Training the
future leaders of the real estate industry to understand
the breadth of their endeavor will help ensure the future
development works for all involved with and impacted
by the built environment.
The DiLella Center has been training
students for careers in real estate since
its inception.
Last year, the president and provost started an initiative
to support cross-college education. The DiLella team
jumped at the opportunity and the first cross-college
program in the built environment was created. Launching
fall of 2018 with a focus on giving all incoming VU
undergrads a chance to broadly explore the built
environment, it will be taught by instructors from
multiple colleges. Students will gain a broad view of
the issues involved in creating and maintaining a built
environment that works for all stakeholders.
The strength of Villanova is in its broad-based,
Augustinian-informed education. Creating programs
that build on this core by teaching students about the
interconnected nature of their chosen field can lead
to innovative programs that enhance the lifelong
employment opportunities of our graduates and increase
their ability to become leaders and ignite change in an
industry central to the well-being of us all.
“The exposure the DiLella Center for Real Estate provided me during my undergraduate career at Villanova University
was unrivaled, and has continued to stimulate my career and personal life since my graduation. Despite being a
Communications major in the School of Liberals Arts, I immersed myself in the real estate program after my
involvement in the Summer Business Institute. I quickly realized my passion for the real estate industry and became
President of the Villanova Real Estate Society. My involvement with VRES occurred at a pivotal time, as we were
working hand-in-hand with the DiLella Center to introduce students to the expanded real estate curriculum offered
as part of the Business School’s double major.
Dan DiLella hosted me spring semester of my junior year to discuss my interest in the real estate industry. The passion
with which he spoke about his career, his philanthropic responsibilities and the DiLella Center for Real Estate was
captivating. I was determined to emulate his successes. Dan offered me a summer internship at Equus Capital Partners
during my final semester at Villanova—the experience jump-started my career.
Today, I am a member of the Nova Next Council, working with the DiLella Center to advance the Villanova real estate
community around the country. The relationships I have formed through my involvement with Nova Next and the
DiLella Center have been paramount to my success thus far. I recently joined Distribution Realty Group, a privatelyheld
owner and developer of industrial real estate, and been able to leverage relationships formed through Villanova
to further my career and our firm’s success. I am ever-grateful for what the Center and specifically Dan DiLella
has done for me in both my professional and personal life.”
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
– Curran Darling, ’13 CLAS
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