Tom Johnston looks to bridge the gap between the local real estate community and students at Arizona State University and its new bachelor’s program in real estate.

Johnston, who helped grow property management at Cushman and Wakefield, will act as a “liaison” to students and the real estate industry as the executive director of the W. P. Carey Center for Real Estate and Finance at ASU.

This semester is the first where real estate and applied finance will be offered as a bachelor’s degree program since it was suspended in 2011.

At some point, officials want to grow the program to hundreds of ASU students enrolled at the program, Johnston said.

It is unknown how many students are enrolled in the program this semester, he said.

“It’s a work in progress,” Johnston said. “...We are trying

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