PRE Welcomes New Addition to Faculty

Isabel Fernandez will be joining the Cornell Program in Real Estate to teach a design course titled “Graphic Communications” and welcomes its instructor, Isabel Fernandez, to the Program. Ms. Fernandez completed her undergraduate degree in Landscape Architecture at Clemson University and a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University.  She is a native of Puerto Rico, where she eventually plans to return and participate in the design of sustainable forms of development for the island through private practice and education. Ms. Fernandez practiced for six years at Design Workshop in Denver, CO, a design firm that provides landscape architecture, urban design and strategic services to clients in North America and around the world.

The Graphic Communications course will be designed to teach students how to obtain, organize and communicate quantitative information by using software programs such as:
•      AutoCad
•      Photoshop
•      Illustrator
•      In Design
•      Sketch Up

When asked about the motivation behind the course, Ms. Fernandez replied, “In order to succeed in real estate, professionals need to possess the ability to communicate their ideas effectively and to be able to summarize large amounts of information into practical and engaging displays.” Tim Shaughnessy, PRE’12, says “students will benefit from this type of specific information as presentations can be dull and repetitive; this course will provide tools to keep our audience engaged.”

The course will be designed to fit the needs of students in the Program in Real Estate and will be tailored to real estate specific material. Additionally, the course material will allow students to learn how link information from different software programs, easing the daunting task of working with relatively unknown design programs. Students will also be provided with industry specific tools that will allow them to design and create personalized marketing material that are applicable to their academic and professional work. Mr. Shaughnessy, PRE’12, describes this aspect of the course as, “The importance of a first impression is invaluable so becoming effective at producing appealing marketing material will truly be useful.” The course will be integrated into the curriculum starting in the spring semester of 2011 and will be offered to PRE students currently in their second year of the Program but will also be available to first year students with an interest in participating.