USD Magazine, 1993 Winter-Spring 1994

funded by grants. Fellmeth spent 60 per– cent of his time trying to raise money for the center. If the grants ended, so too would the long list of accomplish– ments by students and faculty, including creating the only civil remedy for Cali– fornia's sunshine (open meeting) laws, writing in part the rules of 10 state reg– ulatory agencies, and developing a "sun– rise" law to guide (and limit) the creation of new agencies. "This chair provides a sense of per– manence and also a shows a commitment by the university to public interest law, which is very important to morale," Fellmeth says. "This allows us to recruit the very best and to plan long-range - because we are assured of a future."

He is teaching a new undergraduate course called "Financing Real Estate" and a revamped version on the graduate level called "Policy Issues in Real Estate Finance." Through these classes, Riedy wants to share practical knowledge in a lively atmosphere. "I think the students will learn more when having fun. I want to translate my last 22 years in the busi– ness world to what students need to know to get into the business world. I want them to be able to relate their work to life, to understand how finan– cial institutions work and how they lend money to real estate." He has definite ideas about the direc– tion the USD program in real estate finance should take, even though it's still in its embryonic stage. One of the long-term goals is the establishment of a center for the study of the San Diego economy, which would include northern Baja California and Tijuana. "If there's no real estate to be done in San Diego, head south and there's a lot to be done," Riedy says. "You've just got to learn how to get involved with real estate workings in Tijuana or northern Baja. If I can be the catalyst, then I'll be happy to do that." The Fletcher Jones Foundation over a period of several years. Once the chair is fully funded - probably by the fall of 1996 - the holder will be selected from outside the university in a nationwide search. The fifth chair will be funded by Churchill and Mary Knapp through an estate planning technique with the gift of their home, which will be bequeathed to the university after their passing. Proceeds from the sale of the house will be used to fund the chair in the College of Arts and Sciences. Drinan says the chair might be estab– lished as a visiting professorship or it might be used to pay the salaries of USD professors who need reassigned time from teaching to do research. This is particularly beneficial for professors who can't afford to live on the half-pay that full-year sabbaticals offer. Several other options for the Knapp Chair also will be considered during the next few years. he fourth chair will be estab– lished in developmental biolo– gy with funds contributed by

irector of Capital Programs Elizabeth Schiff says the first five chairs at the Uni–

versity of San Diego are good examples of the various ways to fund endowed positions. "As part of the 10-year, long-range planning process which led to the Education for a New Age capital cam– paign, we set our goal as trying to raise an endowed chair in each of our five academic units," Schiff says, pointing out that two have been established for the College of Arts and Sciences but one has not been established yet in the School of Nursing. The means were not always available for individual donations of $1 million to $2 million, so the campaign fund-raisers explored other avenues, including pool– ing several smaller resources to fund a single endowed chair, encouraging the funding through estate planning and submitting several different proposals to a possible source. With the tradition of endowed chairs established at Alcala Park, many new possibilities are opened. DeRoche fore– sees the rotating chair in special educa– tion eventually becoming a full-time position, and he would like to see a chair in leadership established in the School of Education. Fellmeth would like to devel– op a chair for the Children's Advocacy Institute. While the wish lists in each of the academic disciplines continue to grow, they all have one goal in common - improving the educational experience for both the faculty and the students.

n his first semester as holder of the Ernest W. Hahn Chair of Real Estate Finance, Mark

Riedy is working to make an impact as well. He brings a wealth of practical national experience to the university - his previous positions included president

and chief executive officer of the National Council of Community

Bankers, president and chief operating officer of the J.E. Robert Cos., one of the nation's largest real estate workout firms, and president, chief operating officer and a director of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). The chair, which was officially dedi– cated Nov. 15, honors the late Ernest W. Hahn, the first lay chairman of USD's board of trustees and a national pioneer of commercial real estate devel– opment. A 23-member steering commit– tee headed by Daniel F. Mulvihill, chairman of the board and chief execu– tive officer of Pacific Southwest Mort– gage, raised the $ 1.5 million to create the endowment fund supporting the chair. Riedy will be developing for USD students an extensive range of courses, seminars and lecture series emphasizing the importance of real estate finance in the regional and national economies. His game plan is action-oriented and is intended to increase dramatically the extent of interaction among students, faculty and industry executives, both in the classroom and in the business community.

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