The Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School was named in recognition of its permanent endowment by Samuel Zell in 1998. The Center was established in 1983 to promote excellence in real estate education and research. Our members are leading real estate professionals from the United States and abroad. The Center brings academia and the leaders of industry together to create a unique resource for students, faculty, and members.
We fund five University of Pennsylvania Real Estate Clubs:
We work closely and meet regularly with club leadership. We run a variety of programs that benefit students who are members of one of the five real estate clubs.
Through the Real Estate Clubs, students are invited to attend both the Spring and Fall Members’ Meetings. These Meetings bring together hundreds of real estate professionals, academics and students for a program involving panels and speakers relevant to the real estate profession. Every year at the Spring Members’ Meeting, awards are given to deserving students who have exhibited strong leadership and academic prowess. To view a complete list of the recipients for 2022, please click here.
Each year the Center invites a number of executives to come speak to our student club members as part of the Ballard Program, a unique and valuable opportunity for students to meet with industry leaders. The speaker and students talk over an informal lunch provided by the Center. Afterwards, the speaker typically offers office hours to individual students who meet with the professional for one-on-one sessions of 10 to 20 minutes.
The Zell/Lurie Resume Book is a list of the University’s best and brightest seeking summer internships and full-time positions in real estate. Our members find qualified applicants for positions here.
We regularly send out postings for internships and full-time positions to the club presidents or send them directly to the students. We gather and send information to the clubs about competitions that are available as well as scholarships relevant to club members. Additionally, in the Spring Zell/Lurie awards many scholarships on their own to club members.
The Zell/Lurie Real Estate Career Fair is the largest career fair at Wharton, attracting nearly 100 firms and providing an excellent opportunity for students to learn more about and apply to work for a wide range of companies.
The Eric and Beth Schlager Lecture Series was established in 2006 in order to enable the Center to bring in outstanding real estate entrepreneurs to deliver lectures to the Wharton community about their unique experiences. The Lecture Series provides our community with an invaluable opportunity to hear from and interact with these notable entrepreneurs. Past speakers include:
Career mentors are members of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center who have volunteered to share their advice and expertise with students, speaking with them in person or on the phone at least twice per year. Some of our mentors are Penn/Wharton alumni and some are not. This year we matched 81 mentors with 115 students.
In fall 2022 we held six Career Mentor Information Sessions in the fall.