Ko Wang, PhD
R. Clayton Emory Chair in Real Estate and Infrastructure
When Ko Wang joined the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in 2014 as the executive director of the Edward St. John Real Estate program, he did so with one goal in mind: to build a fuller, more comprehensive way to educate real estate students.
Wang puts the goal more boldly: “We want to establish the leader of real estate graduate education here at the Carey Business School.”
Almost two full years into his tenure, the program appears well on its way.
Wang cites several reasons why he thinks the Carey program is uniquely suited to become the standard for progressive real estate education. First and foremost is that Carey presents real estate education through the lens of business education. This, he says, is best exemplified by the school’s flagship real estate offering, a Master of Science degree in Real Estate and Infrastructure.
“Normally there are two types of real estate programs: a master of science at a planning or architecture school, or a real estate focus within an MBA program or business school. Real estate is one of the four pillars of the Carey Business School; and by having that dedication, Carey has differentiated itself,” Wang states.
Wang says that the umbrella of business education enables the MS degree to chart a new course for real estate students. After all, real estate is a business. Ultimately, the course work reflects the overall program’s central objective, which is to offer an education that best prepares students for employment in the industry.
“We want to make sure this program has a curriculum that meets both the industry need and the student need,” he says. “We wanted a program very much supported by the industry, and we’ve done that.”
According to Wang, the curriculum contains two elements that drive this distinction. First is the program’s focus on infrastructure, a critical topic that is often overlooked.
“We want to build a critical mass in infrastructure,” Wang says. “McKinsey estimates the world will need $57 trillion in infrastructure (repairs) by 2030. That is a very large asset class, and it is largely ignored by other real estate programs.”
The second element is the Carey program’s intense focus on finance, another overlooked aspect of the discipline.
“I think a lot of real estate programs pay attention to development and construction – and we do pay attention to that – but we also place a focus on financing and the investment aspect of the real estate industry,” he says.
To accomplish this, Wang has built on the school’s existing core strength: its faculty. Last year, he hired three new full-time faculty members, bringing the number of full-time real estate and infrastructure professors to eight.
He says he hopes to hire two more in 2016, a move that would ensure that the Carey faculty will be one of the largest group of dedicated real estate faculty members among business schools.
This, combined with the existing faculty core that includes full- and part-time industry professionals, helps the program deliver its curriculum to full- and part-time students with varying focuses and interests.
Wang says it is an added bonus that Johns Hopkins has offered real estate education in one form or another since 1993 – and boasts over 1,000 alumni in the industry.
“This program has a good history and a good foundation,” Wang said. “What we are doing now is looking at how the industry has changed, and changing the program to meet those needs.”
In April 2016, it was announced that Ko Wang is the recipient of the inaugural R. Clayton Emory Chair in Real Estate and Infrastructure. The chaired professorship was endowed by Johns Hopkins alumnus R. Clayton Emory, founder of Emory Properties. This is the first endowed chaired professorship at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.