Professor & Howard Phillips Eminent Scholar Chair in Real Estate
By: Kendall Harrison (Posted on October 1, 2024)
Dr. Harrison is a proficient researcher in Real Estate and is in his 10th year of instructing Business Knights! You’ll find him passing his knowledge on to his students, looking for the “lightbulb” moment, and when he’s out of the classroom, keep an eye out around the Disney World parks for this Knight.
How long have you been a Knight? I started in August 2015, so this will be my 10th academic year this Fall.
What is your area of research at UCF? Securitized Real Estate and Mortgage Markets. My specific focus is on the application of information economics to both commercial and residential real estate applications.
What awards or honors are you most proud of? 2022 recipient of the David Ricardo Medal – the American Real Estate Society’s (ARES) lifetime achievement award and highest research honor; 2023 International Real Estate Society (IRES) career achievement award; 28 “Best Paper” awards from major national conferences and/or journals; multiple teaching awards.
What do you love about what you do? Seeing the light bulb come on for my students and challenging them to think and push themselves.
What do you find most exciting and rewarding about your field of study? More than many other business disciplines, real estate research has direct, practical implications which shape everyday life outcomes for individuals and businesses.
When you’re not in the classroom, what can we find you doing? When I’m not teaching, I’m likely to be at a UCF sporting event, a Disney theme park, or traveling.
What is your favorite UCF memory? As a sports fan, the undefeated football season and “National Championship” of 2017.
What is something most people don’t know about you? I enjoy traveling, especially seeing things which are new/different and can’t be found at home. I’ve been to all 50 U.S. states, lived in Hawai’i, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and swam with sharks (both inside and outside of shark cages).
What is your best advice for Business Knights? There are lots of ways to be successful in life. Most involve finding the intersection of three key attributes:
1) what do you care passionately about;
2) what do you do well;
3) what creates value/utility for others.
Finding a path which incorporates all three dimensions will lead to success.