As part of its push to create a world class center for real estate education, research, and leadership, Southern Methodist University has tapped a director for its Robert and Margaret Folsom Institute for Real Estate. He’s Joseph Cahoon, former managing director of the Real Estate and Finance Center at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, where he has also served as lecturer in graduate and undergraduate real estate finance since 2009.
Al Niemi Jr., dean of SMU’s Cox School of Business, said Cahoon brings a blend of academic and practical working knowledge that’s needed at this “critical juncture” in the expansion of SMU’s real estate efforts.
“With half of U.S. job growth having taken place in Texas since 2000, and a projected population increase of 4 million people in Dallas-Fort Worth over the next 20 years, a veritable real estate boom lies ahead,” he said. “The Folsom Institute, under Joseph’s capable direction, will empower current and future SMU Cox graduates to seize those boundless opportunities.”
Cahoon previously held development and investment posts at Gables Residential and Champion Partners in Dallas, and Century Development in Houston. He earned his MBA and Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin.
SMU’s Robert and Margaret Folsom Institute for Real Estate was established in the 1980s with a gift from Robert S. Folsom, a Cox alumnus and a former mayor of Dallas.
Chuck Dannis, co-founder of Crosson Dannis Inc. and a longtime adjunct lecturer in real estate and urban land economics at SMU’s Cox School, said Cahoon was selected after a global search for the insitute’s director. “We believe he offers the perfect blend of boots-on-the ground real estate experience, creative teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and hands-on management of an academic partnership within one of the most vibrant and robust real estate economies in the world.”
Cahoon will take the helm of the Folsom Institute in January.
