New Ruff Professors Will Teach Real Estate From Nontraditional Perspectives

New York hotel investor George L. Ruff has donated $1.5 million to his alma mater, DePaul University in Chicago, to establish a professorship in real estate studies.

The gift from the Trinity Hotel Investors co-founder will allow the university’s Real Estate Center to hire leading scholars who will teach complex real estate and urban planning issues from innovative, multidisciplinary approaches. The one- to two-year faculty position is designed to attract professors from a variety of disciplines, such as anthropology, sociology, geography or public policy. The center expects to name its first George L. Ruff Endowed Professor next year.

“This generous gift will enrich our real estate curricula through the creative work of professors who will look beyond the typical business perspective to teach, develop interdisciplinary curriculum, conduct research and host industry outreach programs,” said Finance Professor Susanne Cannon, the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Endowed Director of the Real Estate Center. “It will allow us to produce real estate professionals who understand that building communities requires knowledge of a wide range of issues related to real estate, from environmental protection, historic preservation and legal considerations, to transportation, taxation, politics and access to schools and employment.”

Ruff, who graduated cum laude from DePaul with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1974, credited his DePaul education with helping him become a success in real estate. “Through this gift, I want to thank DePaul and help the next generation of real estate leaders succeed through exposure to rising academic stars who will diversify their education.”

Ruff has engineered, negotiated and closed more than $3 billion in transactions during his 30-year career in domestic and international real estate, hotel investment and operations. He currently leads overall investment and strategic initiatives as senior principal for Trinity, which owns and invests in boutique hotels around the world.

He has been actively involved with DePaul as a founding sponsor and member of the fundraising committee for the Real Estate Center, which opened in 2002. He also is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the College of Commerce and has been a generous contributor to the college’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center.

Ruff’s donation is the second, seven-figure gift that the Real Estate Center has attracted in the last year. Last summer Douglas Crocker II, retired CEO of Equity Residential Properties Trust, and his wife, Cynthia, donated $2 million to endow the directorship of the center. Based in DePaul’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, the Real Estate Center offers one of the most comprehensive real estate education, research and outreach programs in the Midwest.

“These gifts from George Ruff and Doug and Cynthia Crocker are much-needed investments in the future of our dynamic and versatile real estate program,” said Ray Whittington, dean of the College of Commerce and the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. “They give us the means to strengthen the quality of our academics and further position DePaul as a national leader in real estate education and research.”

The Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul’s president, thanked Ruff for his generosity at DePaul’s Convocation, an annual faculty-staff event that launches the new academic year in September. “Alumni giving is key to the university achieving the goals of its new strategic plan, which focuses on enriching academic quality,” he said. “Such support gives us the means to promote academic excellence through enhanced scholarship and teaching.”

ABOUT THE REAL ESTATE CENTER AT DEPAUL

Founded in 2002 with funding from more than 40 prominent real estate executives and institutions, The Real Estate Center at DePaul offers the most comprehensive array of real estate courses available in the Midwest, including accessible continuing education courses designed for working professionals and specifically tailored training programs for organizations.

The center offers an MBA concentration in real estate finance and investment as well as a master’s of science degree in real estate through DePaul’s accredited Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and its highly ranked MBA program. The center also offers the only undergraduate real estate major in Illinois. Though housed in the finance department, the programs are multidisciplinary, encompassing marketing, law and public policy. Students benefit from pragmatic courses that use the vibrant Chicago-area real estate market as a laboratory for research and hands-on experience.

DePaul graduates are highly prized because the university has decades of experience in offering high-quality, practical academic programs in real estate. Since 1990, more than 5,000 students have taken at least one real estate course at DePaul. Current career-focused paths of study prepare students for a broad range of options in brokerage, consulting, development, institutional investment, finance, planning, real estate law, asset management, lending and construction.

The Real Estate Center regularly organizes compelling topical conferences of interest to the real estate industry. Recent conferences have focused on Chicago-area urban and suburban retail, housing and commercial real estate trends and forecasts for those industries.

For a photo, click here: Academic Convocation Photo with George L. Ruff,

CAPTION: New York hotel investor and DePaul University alumnus, George L. Ruff (center) joins College of Commerce Dean Ray Whittington and Real Estate Center Director Susanne Cannon at the school year's opening convocation on DePaul's Lincoln Park Campus. Ruff was honored at the convocation for his generous gift of $1.5 million to establish a professorship in real estate studies.