UNF names new dean of the Coggin College of Business

The University of North Florida has named Dr. Richard Buttimer Jr. as dean of the Coggin College of Business. He will begin his position on June 27, 2020.

In his role as dean, Buttimer will oversee the highly respected faculty, staff and thousands of students that comprise the college. He will also maintain the high professional standards of the college’s accreditation by AACSB, which serves as the gold standard for the best business schools in the world and reflects the opportunities and quality of education that the Coggin College provides students.

The Coggin College of Business has been named a Best Business School every year for more than a decade by The Princeton Review and is the First Coast's only nationally accredited university in both business and accounting.

“Dr. Buttimer will be a great addition to the University and will be instrumental in leading Coggin College and advancing UNF’s partnership with the Jacksonville and Northeast Florida business community and beyond,” said UNF President David Szymanski. “We are excited to see how his experience and leadership will propel the college to further success.”

Buttimer previously served as the director of the Childress Klein Center for Real Estate and the John Crosland, Sr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Finance in the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte. He also served as the interim senior associate dean for the Belk College, having served as the full-time senior associate dean from 2011 through 2017. 

“I am very pleased that Dr. Buttimer will join us as the next Dean of the Coggin College,” said UNF Provost Simon Rhodes. “He brings a wealth of experience and an outstanding vision for student, faculty and economic success. I want to thank the search committee of faculty, staff, students and community members for their dedicated work in attracting such a strong group of candidates.”

Buttimer joined the faculty of the Belk College in 2002. His primary areas of academic research include mortgage finance, real estate development and housing markets. He has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in real estate finance, real estate capital markets, financial management, financial derivatives and fixed income derivatives, as well as advising the student-managed real estate investment fund.

“The Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida is a dynamic organization which is well-situated to grow and achieve even higher prominence over the next several years. This is an exciting opportunity to lead and one that I am honored to take,” said Dr. Buttimer. “My vision is to build upon Coggin College’s already-strong reputation and develop into a nationally prominent business school.”

Buttimer has published papers in many academic journals and has served on the board of directors of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics. 

Prior to his tenure at UNC Charlotte, Buttimer was an associate professor of finance and real estate and held the Gould-Mayfield Professorship of Real Estate at the University of Texas at Arlington. He holds a doctorate in business administration and a bachelor of finance from the University of Georgia.

Buttimer succeeds Dr. Mark Dawkins, who served as dean of the Coggin College for more than five years.