Five Questions with Chuck Flink, Director of the Pappas Real Estate Development Program
NC State’s Peter A. Pappas Real Estate Development Program supports building resilient and sustainable communities throughout all of North Carolina’s 100 counties. The program understands the disparities within the state and is committed to supporting education, research and engagement that addresses and offers solutions to some of the state’s most vexing community growth challenges.
We recently spoke with Director Chuck Flink about the program, how it serves students, and what’s next in terms of strategy and growth.
What is the mission and vision of the Pappas Real Estate Development Program?
The Pappas Real Estate Development Program champions community building through placemaking by fostering student and professional growth in interdisciplinary real estate development education, engagement and research. Aligned with NC State’s commitment as a research-extensive land-grant university, the Pappas Program embodies the university’s dedication to excellence in teaching, knowledge application and engagement with community partners. We promote an integrated problem-solving approach by leveraging our strengths in design, science, engineering and technology and combining them with a comprehensive range of academic disciplines.
What is your role within the program? What do you enjoy most about your position?
My professional career, as a landscape architect, spans more than 40 years. I hold two degrees in landscape architecture (BEDLA ‘82, MLA ‘17) from NC State. Previously, I owned and operated my company for more than 30 years. In 2019, I was asked by College of Design Dean Mark Hoversten to assist him in developing a vision and an operating structure for what is now the Pappas Program. Beginning in March 2020, I was named inaugural director of the program, and during the past five years I have worked to define three core activities of the program: academics, sponsored research and engagement. The strength of the program is our focus on a design-oriented approach (rather than financial and capital markets) to real estate development, an interdisciplinary framework, and our commitment to a student-centric curriculum. I have known from the outset that the Pappas Program would be successful if we could integrate the design and real estate development industries into program operations.
I also want to add that I am fortunate to be supported by an outstanding NC State team, including Senior Vice Provost for Instructional Programs Helen Chen, Associate Director Adam Walters, Elizabeth Gabriel, our operations and design lead, and a number of amazing adjunct faculty who teach our classes.
I have a couple of answers to the second question. First, I love working with students at NC State who understand the importance of what we are trying to achieve with the program. Second, I am an entrepreneur at heart, and I like the challenge of starting a new endeavor within the university. There is never a dull day in the Pappas Program. Third, I appreciate the outstanding team of people that I am privileged to work with every day at NC State. I am grateful for the institutional support we have received.
How does the Pappas Real Estate Development program provide unique educational opportunities for students and position them for future success?
We achieve this in a few ways. First, our curriculum is practicum-based. Students learn from industry leaders, who are in the classroom offering real-world examples for how to solve the challenges associated with real estate development. Second, we are interdisciplinary, combining design, engineering, business, natural sciences and other disciplines in our curriculum. Therefore, we mirror the way in which the world works, where many disciplines are routinely called upon to resolve real estate development challenges. Third, for each of our courses, students are asked to solve problems that they will encounter in their professional career. Finally, our program focuses on student success, and the student experience is rewarding.
What plans does the Pappas Real Estate Development Program have for this year? What growth opportunities will you pursue?
A major objective for our program is to launch our first graduate certificate in real estate development with a focus in design. This is a 12-credit hour certificate, and it will be awarded to students who complete four three-credit hour classes in our program. If you hold an undergraduate degree, and have an interest in completing our certificate, you can enroll in our program and begin working to complete the 12 credit hours required.
A second major objective is to continue growing our program endowment. Peter Pappas and his family made a generous leadership gift of $10 million to launch our endowment. Working in partnership with Peter and NC State Advancement, we will be aggressive this year in hoping to raise another $10 million to match the Pappas leadership gift. Finally, we will continue to expand our academic program offerings, pursue sponsored research opportunities, and broaden our outreach and engagement across North Carolina.
What is something that people may not know about the Pappas Real Estate Development Program?
At this point in our existence, my guess is there is more that people don’t know about the Pappas Program than they know! We are brand new and just finding our footing. I do believe there is a misconception about our mission, why we were established, and what we are trying to achieve. My answer to all of that is — North Carolina is going to grow, population-wise, significantly in the next 25 years. That population growth, coupled with impacts from a rapidly warming planet, is creating lots of challenges for the people and natural resources of our state. We need to educate and graduate the next generation of leaders who are equipped with the skills and experiences necessary to meet those challenges. Simply put, that is what we hope to achieve with this new academic program at NC State.
