Commercial Investment Real Estate March/April 2017 | Page 22

CCIM
EDUCATION
CRE CrossFit
CCIM Institute celebrates 50 years of setting the standard for
application-based learning.
by Samuel S. Moon
S
20
March | April 2017
Real-World Approach
By requiring all its instructors to have ongoing experience in the
actual business of commercial real estate investment, CCIM
Institute stands apart from nearly every other association with
education programs.
“Having seasoned, real-world instructors taking students
through the material ensures they aren't just taught facts, fi g-
ures, defi nitions, or formulas,” says CCIM Institute Instructor
Peter Barnett, CCIM. “You can learn the concept of IRR on
the internet for free, but most people would have no idea how
to use it in a simple conversation with a basic investor and that’s
where case studies with real-world based instructors can make
all the difference.”
Not having a full-time faculty, CCIM Institute’s instructors
have always been commercial real estate professionals who taught
what analyses and technology made them successful to students.
This strategy brings real-world application and practical knowl-
edge to every instructional model. It is one of the reasons that
CCIM Institute is well known in both academic and training
circles as the “practical designation.”
COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE
ince its founding in 1967, CCIM Institute has played a
vital role in the development and standardization of com-
mercial real estate education in the U.S. and globally. One
of the clear distinctions of the CCIM curriculum is its
focus on application-based teachings. And being at the forefront of
educational content delivery has always been its defi ning hallmark.
The goal of every course goes back to the very fi rst seminars
of the 1950s developed by the visionary Jim McMichael of the
University of California in Los Angeles and carried on during
the 1960s by CCIM instructors Jay Levine, CCIM, and Vic-
tor Lyon, CCIM. This mantra was to provide the skills and
knowledge for professional decision making by commercial real
estate professionals.
“CCIM Institute has a proud history of being on the leading
edge of teaching immediately applicable content,” says CCIM
Institute Instructor Alec Pacella, CCIM. “From instituting
standardized forms, introducing the use of fi nancial calcula-
tors, popularizing use of Excel-based fi nancial workbooks, and
changing seating from class-room style to small groups, CCIM
was always innovating in its teaching methods.”