C. Bradley Olson will be the new director of the Program in Real Estate at Cornell University. He will assume his duties in July.

Hosted by Cornell's College of Architecture, Art and Planning, the real estate program sponsors an interdisciplinary two-year master's degree program that draws faculty from colleges, schools and departments throughout the university. The program's core courses and electives touch on such diverse subject areas as landscape architecture, environmental design, housing economics, civil and environmental engineering and facilities planning, in addition to the more traditional subjects of management, finance and investment, market analysis and real estate law.

In addition to its academic involvement, the real estate program seeks to foster research and publications in the relatively new academic field of real estate. It was launched formally in 1996 in response to seismic shifts in the real estate industry, among them globalization of what had once been a regionally driven business and the emergence of REITs -- publicly traded real estate investment trusts -- to finance growth.

Olson will succeed Robert Abrams, who has been director of the program since its inception. Abrams, who managed and leased such major New York City edifices as the Seagram and Chrysler buildings before coming to Cornell, will continue to teach in the program.

"Brad is a recognized professional in the real estate industry, with significant experience in both industrial and community development," said Abrams. "His appointment will enable us to take the Program in Real Estate to the next level."

Olson is a leader in real estate development in the western United States. For the past six years he has been president of the Carson Companies in Rancho Dominguez, Calif. The privately owned real estate consortium develops, owns and manages a diversified portfolio of industrial, research-and-development and commercial properties in California and Texas.

Before heading up Carson, Olson was an executive for 10 years with the Irvine Company, a real estate development firm in Orange County, Calif., and was involved in directing the development of new communities in Irvine, Tustin, Orange, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach. He also directed the planning, processing and approval of major new development projects in Anaheim and Orange County.

Olson received his B.S. degree from Cornell in 1963 (he and his wife, Lila, met on campus while both were students). He earned an M.B.A. in finance and administration from the University of California at Berkeley in 1967.

Olson said of his new appointment: "I am looking forward to coming back to Cornell to work with the students and faculty in the Program in Real Estate, which I think has the potential to be a world-class program. I am also excited by the opportunity to give back to the industry and the university some of what I've learned along the way."

Olson is a member of the Advisory Council for Cornell's Program in Real Estate. The program came about partially through the support and encouragement of the council, a group of alumni in real estate who saw the need for a course of study dedicated entirely to all aspects of real estate management and development. Members of the group, which now numbers close to 900, meet regularly with students to present case studies and offer real estate industry perspectives. They are active in Cornell's Real Estate Job Network, which assists students in finding summer and permanent employment in the industry. They also advise on the program's curriculum and sponsor a yearly gathering on campus to discuss current issues in the industry.