Expert Bio
Dr. Charles Gilliland, a native of Colorado, grew up on a cattle ranch and graduated from Regis College in Denver, Colorado with an A.B. degree. After a stint as office manager and assistant assessor of the Hidalgo and Cameron Counties Water Control and Improvement District Number 9, an 80,000 acre irrigation district in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Dr. Gilliland earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Texas A&M University. During that time Dr. Gilliland served as chief deputy appraiser with A&M Consolidated Independent School District in College Station. Dr. Gilliland is a research economist with the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University and previously had an appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M. Dr. Gilliland also formerly served as Helen and O.N. Mitchell Fellow of Real Estate and Clinical Professor of Finance, teaching real estate investment analysis in the Master of Real Estate program in the Mays School at Texas A&M University. In 2009, the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers bestowed its Golden Quill Award on Dr. Gilliland. In 2010 The Farm Credit Bank of Texas inducted Dr. Gilliland into the Academy of Honor for significant contributions to agriculture. Dr. Gilliland has served as President of the Bryan Texas Rotary Club where he is a Paul Harris Fellow. More recently, the International Association of Business Communicators awarded him their Bronze Quill Award for writing.
At the Center, Dr. Gilliland concentrates on research of appraisal issues, development issues, property rights, rural land markets, property taxation, water marketing, and associated issues. Dr. Gilliland has contributed expert testimony before the United States Senate, Texas Senate, and Texas House of Representatives. He has an extensive publication record, including a book entitled Buying Rural Land In Texas published by the Texas A&M University Press. Dr. Gilliland has also provided consulting services for the following:
- King Ranch, Inc. — Houston, Texas
- Santa Fe Ranch – Edinburg, Texas
- Valero Energy Corporation — San Antonio, Texas
- Office of the Inspector General — US Department of Agriculture Washington DC United States
- Forest Service — US Department of Agriculture Washington DC
- Kleberg and Head, LLP — Corpus Christi, Texas
- Center for Executive Development — Texas A&M University
- Farm Credit Bank of Texas — Austin, Texas
- Institute for Professionals in Taxation — Atlanta, Georgia
- Realtors Land Institute — Chicago, Illinois
- Southwestern Appraisal Company — Austin, Texas
- State Property Tax Board — Austin, Texas
- Texas Association of Property Tax Professionals — Austin, Texas
- Wichita State University — Wichita, Kansas
Latest Articles
Texas Rural Land Markets | Second Quarter 2025
The second quarter saw a continuation of the rising year-over-year price change, defying expectations, coming in at 4.60 percent. Comparing year-to-date sales from 2Q2024 to 2Q2025 across the 33 Land Market Areas, the sales volume was down in 18 LMAs and down 11 percent overall.
Tierra Grande
Check out the latest issue of our flagship publication.