Forming the Teams

A university, college, department, or school can form as many teams as it likes. However, each team must have the following characteristics:

1. Teams must be composed of five students.

2. The team members must represent a minimum of three disciplines that grant three different degrees; at least one of the team members must represent the function of a financial expert and be enrolled in a degree program that is not design related, e.g., business or real estate.

For example, a team could consist of the following:

2 architecture students
1 landscape architecture student
1 planning or geography student
1 business student, real estate finance student, or real estate development student

Or

1 architecture student
1 landscape architecture student
1 urban design student
1 real estate finance student
1 real estate development student

Or

1 architecture student
1 landscape architecture student
2 urban design students
1 real estate development student.

Other combinations are possible.

3. Each student team member must be a currently enrolled full-time graduate student in a degree-granting program. Exception: A part-time student may participate if the student is enrolled in a program that is offered only as a part-time or work-study program.

4. Students from different institutions may form a team, as long as all other individual and team requirements are satisfied.

5. Each team must designate one student member as the team leader who will be responsible for all communications to and from ULI. The team leader must supply an E-mail address and a telephone number. ULI and its competition agent will correspond only with the designated team leader through the E-mail address he or she supplies. It is the responsibility of the team leader to keep his or her team informed and up to date.

6. Each team must create a six-digit code that will be its identifier throughout the competition. This competition is to be judged anonymously; thus, this six-digit code must be the only identifying mark on any materials submitted (except during the application phase).

7. Each team must have a faculty adviser from its university. The faculty adviser can be either from the design program(s) or from the real estate/business program(s). The adviser is expected to be just that—an adviser and not an active team participant or a direct participant in the production of any competition materials—and will be required to sign a statement to that effect when materials are submitted to ULI.

8. Each team must have its application signed by the program head, e.g., the program director, the department chair, the dean, etc. The individual who signs the application does not have to be the faculty adviser. By signing the application, the program head confirms that all team members are full-time graduate students enrolled for the winter 2007/2008 term and that the university is committed to supporting the team's efforts.

9. Each team has the option of using one outside professional who agrees to act as a secondary adviser. The purpose of this adviser is to provide a different area of expertise than the faculty adviser. For example, if the faculty adviser is an architecture professor, the secondary adviser should be a real estate professional. If the faculty adviser is a real estate professor, the secondary professional adviser should be a practicing architect or landscape architect or other design professional.

In the case of the real estate professional—although ULI prefers that it be a local ULI member, it is not a requirement. If you have a local real estate contact you want to work with, feel free to contact him or her directly.

The secondary adviser, like the faculty adviser, must function as an adviser and not as an active team participant and will be required to sign a statement to that effect when materials are submitted to ULI.

10. Once the team has been registered with ULI, that team must remain intact throughout the whole process. Replacements among students or advisers are allowed only in the case of extraordinary circumstances as adjudged by ULI and then by written approval from ULI. Thus, if a member of a registered team decides not to continue, the team must replace the departing member while satisfying the requirements for team composition (see numbers 1-4 above).

11. Team members—students, faculty, outside professionals—are not required to be members of ULI.