Purdue’s School of Management launches Dean V. White Real Estate Finance Program

The Dean V. White Real Estate Finance Program will be launched as an academic minor in the 2022-23 school year and available to management students and students in other disciplines across the university.

Targeting the growing demand for talent within the rapidly evolving real estate industry, the program will provide an academic experience for students that equips them to plan, develop and manage successful commercial real estate projects. High-impact experiential learning opportunities – a key component of Purdue’s Next Moves: Transformative Education 2.0 – will connect students with real estate experts and prepare them for industry-leading positions and careers. Four new faculty positions are created through the new program’s funding.

A portion of the gift will be used to create or renovate space in or on the site of the Krannert Center for Executive Education and Research to house the program.

“We are seeing fascinating changes in real estate markets to how and where people live, work and recreate. These changes represent a fundamental challenge and opportunity for business,” said David Hummels, the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School of Management. “We have brought together an outstanding group of faculty with deep subject matter expertise and significant experience leading and teaching in some of the world’s best real estate programs. Graduates from this program will be ready to take a leadership role in confronting these challenges and seizing these opportunities. 

“We are grateful for the foundation’s generosity and will ensure the program positively represents Dean’s legacy.”

Bill Hanna, executive director of the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation, said, “Dean’s true love – second to his family – was real estate and the creative nuances of crafting the perfect deal, a deal that starts with a new vision for an area and that results in new businesses, jobs and a stronger community. This program will help cultivate a similar passion in students aspiring to do great things in business and in their communities.”

Continued support from the White family

Dean White was a veteran of World War II, attended the University of Nebraska and was a graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy in King’s Point, New York. He spent most of his life in Crown Point, Indiana, where he developed a successful entrepreneurial career in advertising and real estate development, eventually becoming one of Indiana’s most prominent philanthropists and successful business leaders. He died in 2016.

Dean, his son Bruce and the White family have been generous contributors to Purdue over the past three decades. Their generosity includes a combined gift of $30 million that helped transform the Union Club Hotel at Purdue, Autograph Collection, which, in addition to being a luxury boutique hotel on campus, is used as a learning laboratory for Purdue hospitality students.

Bruce White is a Purdue graduate and past Purdue trustee who remains heavily involved in Purdue’s hospitality program through his company, White Lodging, based in Northwest Indiana. In 2021, Purdue renamed its hospitality school the White Lodging-J.W. Marriott, Jr. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management in honor of the company’s ongoing support and partnership. 

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a top public research institution developing practical solutions to today’s toughest challenges. Ranked in each of the last four years as one of the 10 Most Innovative universities in the United States by U.S. News & World Report, Purdue delivers world-changing research and out-of-this-world discovery. Committed to hands-on and online, real-world learning, Purdue offers a transformative education to all. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue has frozen tuition and most fees at 2012-13 levels, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap at https://purdue.edu/.

About the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation

The Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that exists to carry on the philanthropic legacy and values of Dean, Barbara and the White family. The foundation works with partners and communities to support catalytic projects and initiatives that cultivate a strong quality of life in Northwest Indiana and across the state. See more at www.dbwfamilyfoundation.org.