VCU real estate students receive $130,000 in scholarships

By Mary Beth Alford

RICHMOND, Va. – Over the past four years, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Real Estate Circle of Excellence - representing real-estate and mortgage-lending executives from throughout Virginia - have donated more than $130,000 in academic scholarships to VCU School of Business students.

The Circle of Excellence includes more than 35 Richmond-area members, including Hunton & Williams, Morton G. Thalhimer Inc. and Long & Foster Real Estate Inc. In addition to scholarship funds, the circle offers real-world advice to VCU School of Business real-estate faculty on their educational and research programs and hands-on learning opportunities for both real-estate and land development students.

"Our goal is to help VCU’s real estate and urban land development program grow and evolve into one of the premier programs in the country," said Gary Fenchuk, circle president and president of East West Partners of Virginia, a Richmond-based real estate firm. "By providing these scholarships, we can better attract the high-caliber students that can help fulfill that goal."

Since establishing the program in 1990, the circle’s scholarships have grown considerably. In the past four years, the circle has awarded $72,000 in scholarships to 47 students, $32,000 will be awarded this year alone. The circle also has taken steps to create a scholarship endowment with a base of nearly $26,000.

"It is rare that a single group of individuals can generate such strong support for students," said James H Boykin, Ph.D., professor and Alfred L. Blake Chair of Real Estate. "The scholarship program serves both as a means of rewarding academic achievement, as well as a means for attracting outstanding students."

One scholarship recipient is E.G. Kim, a certified appraiser from Seoul, Korea, who came to the United States to earn her master’s degree in real-estate at VCU.

"You can’t even compare VCU’s high standards to other real-estate programs available in other countries," said Kim, currently an intern with Integra Rountrey & Associates in Richmond.

"At VCU, real-estate students interact with the state’s leading real-estate professionals and appraisers. Students are not only receiving training in the classroom, but being assisted in taking their first step into a profession."