The University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce announced today that Dragana Cvijanovic will join its faculty in the Finance Area as the Robert M. White Jr. Bicentennial Professor in Real Estate, and she will serve as the Academic Director of the White Ruffin Byron Center for Real Estate. In her Academic Director role, she succeeds McIntire Professor Mike Gallmeyer, who served as the Center’s Interim Academic Director.
Cvijanovic comes to UVA from Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business, where she held the HVS Professorship in Hotel Finance and Real Estate and was Associate Professor of Applied Economics and Policy at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration. At Cornell, she received the 2025 Ted Teng ’79 Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award, as well as awards for her courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. She earned her PhD in Finance from the London School of Economics, and has previously held faculty positions at The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, Warwick Business School, and HEC Paris.
Exploring issues in real estate, finance, and public policy, Cvijanovic’s research has appeared in top journals including The Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, and Real Estate Economics. Her work examines how factors such as air pollution, capital structure, and institutional investment affect property markets and the built environment. In addition to her teaching responsibilities and scholarship, she serves as a Research Member of the European Corporate Governance Institute and has also served on the board of directors of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.
“I was drawn to the University of Virginia because of its deep commitment to academic excellence, public service, and preparing students to lead with purpose,” says Cvijanovic. “The White Ruffin Byron Center for Real Estate has extraordinary potential to become a leading hub for real estate education and thought leadership, and I’m excited about building connections across students, faculty, alumni, and industry partners.”
Describing how she views the position, Cvijanovic sees her role helping fulfill the Center’s meaningful long-term vision through initiatives in academic programming, industry engagement, and relevant research with “clear implications for policy and practice,” she says. “My hope is that the Center continues to be a place where students gain practical insight, faculty are supported in producing impactful work, and the broader real estate industry looks to UVA for thoughtful, evidence-based leadership.”
Her appointment follows a strategic planning process that set the Center’s priorities for the coming decade.
“Having an academic director who is both a highly respected researcher in the real estate industry and an award-winning teacher is incredibly important for the future of the Center, and Dragana brings that rare combination,” says Robert M. White Jr. (McIntire ’87), Chairman of UVA’s White Ruffin Byron Center for Real Estate and Founder of Real Capital Analytics Inc. “Just as important, she truly shares our vision for what the Center can become. Last spring, we completed a strategic planning process that defined a clear and ambitious path for the next 10 years, and Dragana will be instrumental in helping us bring that vision to life.”
White also extended his heartfelt thanks to Gallmeyer for his “exceptional leadership” as Interim Academic Director: “His commitment and service during a critical period have meant a great deal to our success.”
Keven Lindemann, Executive Director of the Center, pointed to the breadth of Cvijanovic’s experience. “Dragana brings two things the Center most needs in this role: a strong research reputation and a teaching record that students respond to,” he says. “Her work also delves into the questions our partners care about, from how markets price risk to how the built environment shapes the way people live. That combination gives us a real foundation to build on as we carry out the strategic plan.”
Regarding her approach to teaching, Cvijanovic says her philosophy is grounded in connecting finance and real estate concepts to the decisions practitioners and policymakers face every day. “More than anything,” she says, “I hope students leave my classroom with genuine curiosity, an eagerness to keep learning, and the confidence to ask thoughtful questions long after the course ends.”
About UVA’s White Ruffin Byron Center for Real Estate
Established in 2021 and administered by the McIntire School of Commerce Foundation, the White Ruffin Byron Center for Real Estate serves students, faculty, alumni, and industry partners across Grounds. Driven by its mission of enhancing the quality of the built environment, the Center aims to increase understanding of the built environment’s influence on our lives through discovery and debate relating to the art and science of real estate. Guided by a vision of becoming a globally preeminent academic real estate center recognized for supporting UVA’s real estate academic programs and serving as the pan-University hub for real estate activity, the Center creates extracurricular programs prioritizing students while enhancing their preparation to lead, learn, and serve. By enabling and sharing research that enriches lives, improves market functionality and policy-making, the Center helps cultivate a vibrant community of students, researchers, alumni, and industry partners who gather regularly for applied and shared learning.
