Master in Design Studies, Harvard University, 1999

Diploma in Planning & Regional Development Engineering, University of Thessaly-Greece, 1998

Prof. Sofia Dermisi joined the University of Washington in 2014 as the Jon and Judith Runstad Endowed Professor in Real Estate (2014-19) and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Group for the Master of Science in Real Estate. As of 2018, Dr. Dermisi received the Victor L. Lyon and Alvin J. Wolff Endowed professorship and holds a joint appointment between the Runstad Department of Real Estate and the Department of Urban Design and Planning.

Her role for the first three years at the University of Washington was the establishment of an Interdisciplinary Group of faculty, staff and advisory board members for the oversite of the MSRE program, the restructuring and implementation of a new innovative MSRE program and the outreach to overseas universities for strategic partnerships. Prof. Dermisi was also tasked to focus on the recruitment of a new Director of the Runstad Center/Department chair, tenure-track faculty and instructors. Upon the formation of the Department of Real Estate in September of 2017, Prof. Dermisi continued in her role as Chair of the Interdisciplinary Group for Real Estate (IGRE) and became the Director of Graduate Programs in Real Estate, which includes the MS in Real Estate (MSRE) and the Graduate Certificate in Real Estate.

Prof. Dermisi is slowly shifting her role from pure administrative to research by engaging with colleagues at UW and beyond. She is actively engaged and affiliated with the Urban Form Lab while also collaborating with the Institute for Hazard Mitigation Planning and Research.

Prof. Dermisi was previously, at the W.E. Heller College of Business Administration, Roosevelt University in Chicago (2003-2014), where she was the Pasquinelli Family Distinguished Chair in Real Estate and a Professor of Real Estate. While at Roosevelt University, Prof. Dermisi led the development of a real estate concentration within the MBA and later on the development of an MSRE program within the College. Prof. Dermisi also held a visiting position at the Institute for Quantitative Social Sciences (Harvard University).

Prof. Dermisi has an interdisciplinary approach in her research, focusing on understanding the evolution of office markets and the effect of internal and external shocks. Prof. Dermisi’s research agenda has focused on major downtown locations, with three areas of emphasis: market analysis, disasters and sustainability. She received external grants from the National Science Foundation, Real Estate Research Institute, Land Economics Foundation, Illinois Department of Transportation and BOMA/Chicago.

Prof. Dermisi has published a significant number of papers and book chapters in journals such as: the Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Real Estate Research, Journal of Real Estate Finance & Economics, Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, Real Estate Finance Journal, Journal of Sustainable Real Estate, Journal of Real Estate Literature, Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, International Journal of Built Environment and Asset Management. Prof. Dermisi is a reviewer of multiple journals and on the editorial board of the Journal of Sustainable Real Estate. She has recently stepped down from the Data, Methods, and Technology section of the Journal of Real Estate Literature after a long service as the section editor.

Prof. Dermisi has received multiple awards for her research including the prestigious William Kinnard Award for young scholars in 2011.

Prof. Dermisi was the President of the American Real Estate Society 2019-20 and served as the elected Program Chair of the American Real Estate Society’s Conference in 2018. She is only the second woman to be elevated by members in such a position, but the first non-US born.

Prof. Dermisi was born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece. She enjoys traveling worldwide and spending summers in Greece with extended family and friends, while also working on renovation/construction projects to keep up her engineering skills.

where Prof. Dermisi spends her time when she is not teaching at UW:

Thessaloniki/Greece –

where Prof. Dermisi was born, raised  and spends her summers:

Cambridge/Boston –

where Prof. Dermisi completed her graduate studies:

Volos/Greece –

where Prof. Dermisi completed her undergraduate studies