S.P. Raj, Distinguished Professor of Marketing and chair of the Department of Marketing, will serve as interim dean, effective immediately. Today’s announcement follows more than a month of conversations between Provost Wheatly, Vice Chancellor and Acting Dean J. Michael Haynie, students, faculty, staff and members of the Whitman School Advisory Council.
“For the last several weeks, I’ve had the good fortune of speaking with a number of stakeholders about the future of the Whitman School,” says Wheatly. “During those conversations, I encountered engaged and passionate students, faculty, staff and alumni, all committed to seeing the Whitman School continue its upward trajectory of growth and success. While many people I spoke with discussed overall qualities and characteristics for an interim leader, an overwhelming number of people specifically recommended Professor Raj. As a former senior associate dean in the Whitman School, Professor Raj is a seasoned leader whose strong institutional knowledge, commitment to shared governance and excellence in teaching and research make him the ideal person to lead the Whitman School in the interim. I am grateful to Professor Raj for stepping into this very important leadership position, and look forward to working with him in his new role.”
Raj, a member of the Syracuse University faculty since 1978, says he is honored to be asked to serve as interim dean at such a critical juncture in the life of the Whitman School.
“Thanks to our incredible students, faculty and staff, the Whitman School continues to be a leader in business education,” says Raj. “I am proud and privileged to have the opportunity to lead one of the University’s highest-achieving schools during this time of transition. I am eager to partner with the great Whitman community as we collectively seek to build on the success achieved in recent years.”
Raj is an expert in marketing strategies, specifically their influence on customer behavior, and on managing new product development and innovation. He has taught marketing strategy, marketing management, integrated marketing communications, marketing and the Internet, and marketing research. His pioneering use of multimedia in the classroom was featured in Apple’s “Imagine” series of videos for educators.
“Professor Raj is a dynamic teacher, a highly sought-after marketing expert and a gifted researcher and publisher,” says Haynie. “After speaking with my colleagues in the Whitman School, our students and our alumni, I am confident the school will continue to thrive with Professor Raj at the helm.”
Raj is the author of several teaching cases, including a best case on Managerial Issues in Transitory Economies awarded by the European Foundation for Management Development in 2006. He consistently receives high commendations for his teaching in full-time and executive programs in the U.S. and internationally. He has published in such prestigious journals as Marketing Science, the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research and the Journal of Consumer Research, among many others. Raj is also the founding editor of the Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies.
Raj has also served as a tenured professor of marketing at Cornell University and as a visiting faculty member at Northwestern University. He earned a Ph.D. and a master’s degree in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor’s degree with distinction in electronics engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India.
