New dean of the School of Business named

An expert in marketing, management and organizational behavior has been named dean of the School of Business.

James L. Brock, 63, has had a distinguished career in higher education administration, teaching and writing. He has been the dean of business schools in Pennsylvania and Montana and has been a corporate marketing executive.

PLU Provost Patricia O’Connell Killen announced the appointment.

“Jim Brock brings just the expertise we need to provide proven leadership to our talented business faculty and to take full advantage of our new facilities in PLU’s Morken Center for Learning and Technology,” Killen said.

“The campus community looks forward to continued collaboration with Dean Brock on our current endeavor to build our values-based business program into one of the truly distinctive, top-quality programs in the West,” she said.

Brock sees the position as an opportunity to “help galvanize the PLU School of Business and strengthen the high quality reputation that PLU carries regionally and nationally.

“The challenge and the great opportunity in coming to PLU is providing continuity of leadership on three levels: inside the business school, in the interface between the business school and the larger PLU community, and with several external constituencies, including alumni, employers and business leaders in the region, and prospective students,” he said.

Brock served 11 years as dean of the Sigmund Weis School of Business at Susquehanna University (Pa.), stepping down last year to return to teaching.

He was vice president of marketing at Pacific Steel & Recycling, a Great Falls, Mont., steel and distribution company from 1991 to 1996.

He was business dean at Montana State University for five years beginning in 1987. Prior to that he was marketing professor at Montana State for seven years and held academic posts at Oakland University (Mich.), and Michigan State University.

Brock has written many articles for scholarly journals and presented numerous conference papers. Most recently, he and a Chinese co-author submitted an article for publication on awareness and redemption behavior with respect to credit card reward programs.

He took his Ph.D. in Marketing from Michigan State University, earned his MBA at San Francisco State University, and his bachelor’s degree in marketing from University of California (Berkeley).

Brock succeeds William Frame who has served as interim dean of the PLU School of Business since September.