DePaul University’s College of Commerce has appointed real estate executive and scholar Charles H. Wurtzebach to be its first George L. Ruff Visiting Professor in Real Estate Studies. In his new position Wurtzebach will lecture in undergraduate and graduate courses, participate in faculty research projects, and support the activities of the Real Estate Center at DePaul.

Funded by a $1.5 million gift from DePaul Trustee George L. Ruff, co-founder of Trinity Hotel Investors, the visiting professorship enables the college’s Department of Real Estate to recruit leading scholars and practitioners for one to two years to teach complex real estate and urban planning issues from innovative, multidisciplinary approaches. Wurtzebach’s appointment extends to the end of the 2008-2009 academic year.

"Real estate was expanded from a program to a department within the College of Commerce this year because of the excellent quality of it academics," said Ray Whittington, dean of the College of Commerce and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. "Charles Wurtzebach’s appointment further enhances this innovative department, while bolstering the Real Estate Center’s status as the Midwest’s premier home for real estate industry education and research."

Susanne Cannon, the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Director of the Real Estate Center, who also directs the Department of Real Estate, said Wurtzebach "brings that rare combination of academic and senior level professional experience to his teaching, and we are all looking forward to the guidance he can offer our students. He also will be working with faculty members and we all welcome the insight he can bring to our research."

Wurtzebach 59, of Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood, comes to DePaul from Henderson Global Investors Inc. As managing director and property chief investment officer (CIO), he was responsible for strategic portfolio planning and overall management of Henderson’s North American business, which included institutional equity, property, retail equity and fixed-interest investment products. As property CIO he worked directly with the firm’s property portfolio managers developing client investment strategies. A member of Henderson’s global senior management team, he also chaired Henderson’s North American Property Investment and Management Committee. Prior to joining Henderson, Wurtzebach was president and chief executive officer of Heitman Capital Management and president of JMB Institutional Realty.

In academia, Wurtzebach was the director of the Real Estate and Urban Land Economics program within the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin in the mid-1980s. He is co-author or co-editor of several books, including "Modern Real Estate," co-authored with Mike Miles, and "Managing Real Estate Portfolios," co-edited with Susan Hudson-Wilson. He also has penned numerous academic and professional articles.

A frequent featured speaker at professional and academic gatherings, he was the 1994 recipient of the prestigious Graaskamp Award for Research Excellence presented by the Pension Real Estate Association. Wurtzebach is a member of the American Real Estate Society and a past president and director of the Real Estate Research Institute. He earned a doctoral degree in finance from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MBA in finance from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor of science degree in business from DePaul.

Wurtzebach, a founding sponsor of the Real Estate Center, said "I have worked with DePaul for many years and am delighted to continue my commitment in this new, expanded role. The academic program and center has much to contribute to the real estate industry by providing both high-caliber educational opportunities for its students and practical, innovative research.  I look forward to helping DePaul and its students reach their goals."