For many, a trip to France represents a once-in-a-lifetime experience, offering renowned cuisine, art, and fashion. For Dustin Read, the new head of the Blackwood Department of Real Estate, it is  an annual tradition. Each year, he travels to the city of Lyon to lead a one-week seminar for students at ESDES, the business school of Lyon Catholic University.

Dr. Read was first invited to teach in Lyon while pursuing his PhD. He participated in a program bringing  together instructors from around the world to deliver short courses to French students pursuing business degrees. During this time, he met a faculty member from ESDES, who later invited him to teach a course at his home institution. Since that initial meeting, Dr. Read has returned to ESDES over a dozen times to teach a seminar focused on real estate finance, investments, and asset management.

The seminar Dr. Read teaches is the only exposure many of the graduate students at ESDES have to real estate, and for some, it opens new career paths they may not have previously considered.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Read was compelled to teach the ESDES seminar online. Although he was initially hesitant about this format, the experience proved positive because it afforded students at Virginia Tech an opportunity to participate. He hopes future opportunities for collaboration will arise.

“In the future,” says Dr. Read, “I hope to bring students from the Blackwood Department of Real Estate to Lyon to participate in a collaborative course with the ESDES students.”