Weidner Property Management pledges $3M to create business management endowed chair at UAA

Dean Weidner, founder and owner of Weidner Property Management, has pledged $3M to establish an endowed chair in UAA's College of Business and Public Policy (CBPP). The Weidner Chair in Business Management will help the College expand its programs to meet the changing demand of the business community and provide opportunities to hire exceptional professors or professionals in a particular field of study. Dean Weidner is committed to developing excellence in business education at UAA.

In 2006, Weidner made a $1M gift to UAA to create an emphasis in real estate and property management within the Bachelor of Business Administration finance degree. The first appointment to the Weidner Chair will be a professor of property management and real estate. The Chair will interface with the Alaska business community, engage in relevant research and develop an expanded curriculum to include courses in key concepts of residential and commercial property management, affordable housing, military and senior housing and issues relevant to Alaska.

Future areas of emphasis for the Chair will be based on input from a community advisory committee appointed by the chancellor. Appointment will be made by the dean of CBPP based on recommendations put forward by a faculty selection committee.

"Creating an endowed chair in business management represents a significant investment in the future business leaders of Alaska and a deep commitment to business education at UAA," said Elisha "Bear" Baker, dean of CBPP. "Endowed chairs attract and support extraordinary teachers and researchers who sustain excellence in their academic programs."

"To establish an endowed chair is to provide for excellence in a particular field, in perpetuity," said UAA Chancellor Fran Ulmer. "It is a visionary gesture, one that ensures excellence and a winning edge for UAA students for generations to come. This transformative gift will help establish UAA and CBPP as a leader in the fields of business and management education."

The Weidner Chair in Business Management marks UAA's third endowed chair, and CBPP's second. Others include the Rasmuson Chair in Economics and the Herbert P. Schroeder Chair of the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program.

Founded by W. Dean Weidner in 1977, Weidner Property Management is a multi-faceted real estate investment and management company, recognized industry-wide as an efficient, low-cost provider of quality rental homes and a creative developer of new housing. Weidner properties are located in Alaska, Colorado, Texas, Washington, Arizona and Canada.