Luther Trey Denton

Prof. Denton joined Georgia Southern University in 1992 and retired in 2020.

— Biography from the 2020 Fall Commencement program —

Dr. Denton earned his B.A. in psychology and his M.B.A. from Emory University, then completed his Ph.D. in marketing at the University of Georgia. During the two years immediately preceding his career at Georgia Southern, and while completing his dissertation on the distribution of U.S. joint venture products in China, he taught marketing at Hong Kong Baptist University in Hong Kong. Joining the faculty at Georgia Southern in 1992, he taught a variety of marketing and honors courses but was the principal teacher for the International Marketing course. Every marketing major in the last 20 plus years passed through Dr. Denton’s classroom as a requirement for graduation. Dr. Denton’s teaching evaluations were consistently among the highest in his department. He is the recipient of two University Awards for Excellence, earning the award for Contributions to Instruction in 1995 and the award for Excellence in Service in 2016-2017. He was named Outstanding Advocate for First Year Students in 2011. Selected Parker College of Business awards include Teaching (1995), Service (2000 and 2015), and Professor of the Year (2004). Dr. Denton chaired two Presidential Search Committees (Grube and Keel) and served on a third (Marrero). He was a member of the four-person committee that drafted the proposal for the creation of a University Honors Program. He chaired the University Strategic Planning Committee for three consecutive three-year terms and led this group in a campus-wide planning initiative that pushed for higher admission standards, a freshman on-campus living requirement, a more conscious effort to promote sustainability, and fruitful initiatives to promote diversity. He is proud that under his stewardship, “kindness” remained a core value specifically espoused in the University Mission. He served as the original and sole Coordinator of Parker College Honors and served faithfully on the University Honors Program Faculty Advisory Committee. He was one of two faculty members on the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) Leadership Team that worked for more than two years to earn the University’s SACSCOC reaffirmation in 2007. During his tenure, he published an eclectic set of 26 refereed journal articles on topics as wide ranging as Chinese food, banking, and gift preferences, national stereotypes and their influence on country of origin perceptions, vigilante online reviews of products, and the impact of animation in pharmaceutical advertising. He has consulted and/or provided training for many area companies including Crider Foods, Sea Island Bank, JCB, SNF Chemtall, Imperial Sugar, and Willingway Hospital. He has led strategic planning sessions for many leadership groups including the Averitt Center of the Arts, Boys and Girls Club of Bulloch County, Downtown Statesboro Development Authority, the 24th Annual Statesboro-Bulloch Leadership Conference, and numerous others. He was the Bulloch County Parks and Recreation Volunteer of the Year in 2000 and serves on the Board of Directors for the Bulloch County Boys and Girls Club. He was the faculty keynote speaker at many Scholars Day banquets and was frequently asked to speak to various groups on “Creating a Happy Organization.” He was inducted into honorary societies Beta Gamma Sigma, Omicron Delta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi. For his many distinguished contributions to the department, college, University, profession, and community, Dr. Luther (Trey) Denton deserves the title Professor Emeritus of Marketing.*