Master of Real Estate Development

Courses will be taught by graduate faculty from the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction and the College of Business, as well as nationally recognized leaders in the field. Disciplines represented by participating faculty include Finance, Marketing, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Planning, Construction, and Law.

Michael Robinson, ASLA, MRED Chair

Michael Robinson serves as a Professor of Architecture and Landscape Architecture and CADC Chair of the Master of Real Estate Development Program at Auburn University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1996. He teaches graduate landscape architecture thesis studios and seminars on urban history and theory. In addition, Professor Robinson is actively engaged in research on urban and ecological resilience in the post-disaster Northern Gulf Coast.

Professor Robinson’s efforts in design practice have earned him regional and national acclaim, including an American Institute of Architects Environmental Education Award (1992), a Public Education and Awareness Award from the National Endowment for the Arts (1980), and an Urban Environmental Design Award from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.(1980), the American Society of Landscape Architects Honor Award (1992), an Audubon International Planning Award (2004),and others for historic preservation. Robinson has been recognized for his teaching with the Ralph Rapson Distinguished Teaching Award and the Bronze Medal for Distinguished Teaching by the University of Minnesota.

Before his tenure as a full time educator, Robinson practiced for 20 years in Cambridge, Massachusetts as an executive officer of a non-profit urban design organization and as President of a design/build/development company. He has been a Fellow of the Urban Design Institute; a Visiting Design Scholar in the American Urban Landscape and an H. W. S. Cleveland Chaired Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota, a USA Fellow from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Fulbright Senior Specialist.

Professor Robinson holds a Master of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design (1977) from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and a Bachelor of Architecture with Distinction (1972) from the University of Kentucky. Robinson has taught at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, Kent State University, and Auburn University.

Quotes from MRED focus groups:

“General contractors and people in my position (Project Manager for General Contractor) rarely get the chance to understand this side of the business.”