Funds will help USC Price compete at the highest level for senior real estate faculty.
A $1 million gift from FivePoint will support real estate faculty recruitment, student scholarships and a series of disruptive dialogues on developing future sustainable communities, the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy announced.
FivePoint Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Emile Haddad, who also serves as chairman of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate’s Advisory Board, said that the gift is an investment in the future of the real estate industry.
“This is an investment in a partnership with one of the premier schools of public policy in the country. It is a partnership that will invite the leaders in the industry to collaborate with leading educators to create the vision of sustainable communities, balancing environmental justice and social equity,” Haddad said. “This donation is a significant step forward in helping USC’s Price School of Public Policy analyze and discuss how communities of the future will be imagined and ultimately built.”
Based in Irvine, FivePoint designs and develops large mixed-use, master-planned communities across coastal California that combine residential, commercial, retail, educational and recreational elements with public amenities, including civic areas for parks and open space. FivePoint’s communities include Great Park Neighborhoods® in Irvine, Valencia® (formerly Newhall Ranch) in Los Angeles County, and Candlestick Point® and The San Francisco Shipyard® in San Francisco. These communities are designed to include approximately 40,000 residential homes and 23 million square feet of commercial space.
A majority of the gift will be used to recruit new faculty to teach in the Price School’s graduate and undergraduate real estate programs, by providing support for research and innovation—support that will allow the school to attract and retain top real estate minds. A portion of the gift will also create scholarships and other student support to enhance USC Price’s ability to recruit a more diverse student body in Real Estate Development as well as Urban Planning.
“As one of only four universities nationwide that offers both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in real estate development, this gift further solidifies USC’s Price’s ability to compete at the highest levels for senior real estate faculty and produce diverse graduates prepared for leadership in the real estate industry,” said USC Price Dean Jack Knott.
Another portion of the gift supports a series of interdisciplinary disruptive dialogues, produced in partnership with the USC Lusk Center, which will gather industry leaders, disruptors, faculty and students to discuss and create a new vision for sustainable communities of the future.
“Technology, transportation and our lifestyles are evolving at a rapid pace and will cause the structures we build in the future to be very different from those built in the past,” said Lusk Center director Richard Green. “FivePoint’s gift provides an incredible opportunity to gather stakeholders and envision a new approach to building our future.”
About the USC Price School of Public Policy
For nearly 90 years, the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy has earned the public trust by creating path-breaking research and scholarship. We believe it is our ethical responsibility to continue serving our global community at the highest level of excellence. Solving societal issues of such complexity requires not only great minds but also great action. USC Price fosters collaboration and partnerships to better understand problems through varied perspectives. We use the vast influence of California and greater Los Angeles as a resource for setting new paradigms. And we translate research into communities by working directly with the public, private and nonprofit sectors. For more information please visit www.priceschool.usc.edu.
About the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate
The University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate (www.usc.edu/lusk) seeks to advance real estate knowledge, inform business practice, and address timely issues that affect the real estate industry, the urban economy, and public policy. The Lusk Center produces relevant and timely real estate research, supports educational programs for students and executives, and convenes professional forums that bring together academics, students, business executives, and community leaders.