Melvin Stith returned to his alma mater, Syracuse University, in January 2005 to become the Whitman School’s sixteenth dean. From 1991 to 2004, he was dean and the Jim Moran Professor of Business Administration in the College of Business at The Florida State University and previously was associate professor and chair of the marketing department at FSU. In addition, he was a visiting professor in the School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University from 1982 to 1985, and associate dean and assistant professor in the College of Business at the University of South Florida from 1977 to 1982.

A Vietnam veteran, Stith served in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Command from 1968 to 1971, achieving the rank of captain. A native of Jarratt, Va., he received his undergraduate education at Norfolk State University and his MBA and PhD in marketing from Whitman. He has shared his research and professional expertise with corporations, academic institutions and government agencies.

Stith currently serves as director of the board for Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society, trustee of the Synovus Financial Corporation’s Leadership Institute and director of the Synovus Member Audit Committee, director and past chairman of the board of PHT Services Ltd., founding director and vice chair of the grant making committee of the Jim Moran Foundation, director of the board for Flowers Food Corporation and sits on the corporation’s compliance and governor’s committee and director of the Pathways Commission. He is also director of the Everson Museum of Art and Crouse Hospital boards, vice president of the Crouse Hospital Foundation and member of the Syracuse Stage board, all in Syracuse, N.Y. Stith is a founding member and remains active in the Ph.D. Project—which aims to significantly increase the pool of highly qualified African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Native Americans for positions in the academy—and was recently named to its inaugural Hall of Fame.

Stith’s previous corporate board experiences include serving as director for GMAC, the Florida Endowment Fund, JM Family Enterprises Youth Automotive Training Center, Tallahassee State Bank, Correctional Services Corporation, Corporate and Estate Analysis Inc., Keebler Foods Company, Sprint/United Telephone Florida and Rexall Sundown Inc.