Real estate center celebrates scholarship donors and recipients

The Center for Real Estate recently hosted its fifth annual scholarship celebration at the Rutgers Club in Piscataway. Fifty students who received awards ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 over the past two semesters were honored.

The Center for Real Estate has awarded over $2,100,000 in scholarships since its inception in 2014.

Donors of the scholarships, which include members of the center’s executive committee, advisory board, and leaders’ council, comprised the other half of the guest list. Several students were awarded named scholarships donated by Glenn and Mary Rufrano/ICSC, and the Kokes family. 

Michael Kokes, donor of the Kokes Family Scholarship and one of the most generous donors, said, “Being able to meet and speak with the scholarship recipients provides me much hope about the future of our industry.”

Lei Lei, the dean of Rutgers Business School, was among the guests who had a chance to meet some of the real estate students and alumni. “Rutgers Business School is committed to rewarding excellent students, and this celebration is proof of that philosophy,” Lei said. “It was heartwarming to see the appreciation students and alumni have for the donors who work closely with the Center for Real Estate.”

Morris Davis, the Paul V. Profeta Chair of Real Estate, and the academic director of the Rutgers Center for Real Estate, spoke about the quality of the students.

“In 2024, we had so many excellent students in the program," David said. "Teams of these students participated on real estate case competitions and won or placed against large, well-known universities. The center awards so many scholarships thanks to the generosity of our corporate sponsors, the advisory board, leaders’ council, and our many supporters, and we are so grateful to them.”

As chair of the scholarship committee, Ed San George, president and owner of the Integra Management Corporation, said the process of reviewing hundreds of applications and reading why students want to pursue a career in real estate, coupled with the high GPAs of the applicants, demonstrates the quality of the future workforce for commercial real estate. “The program has so many excellent students,” he said. “We continue to be thrilled to award them scholarships.”

The Center for Real Estate has awarded 746 scholarships since the first year of its existence.