Biographical Text
Professor Emeritus of Marketing Wesley E. "Pat" Patton, III (January 8, 1939-) was born in Colbert County, Alabama, to Mary Sammons and Wesley E. Patton, Jr. He was the first of three children. His sisters are Caroline, who is married to William Young of Memphis, Tennessee, and Susan, who is married to James D. Robinson IV of Princeton, New Jersey. When he was growing up, in the World War II years, Patton lived all over the United States. He attended primary and secondary schools in Waynesboro, Tennessee, and Florence, Alabama. In 1961, Patton earned a B.S. degree in marketing from the College of Business Administration at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. He then entered the United States Naval Officer Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island, where he graduated with distinction and was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy Supply Corps. He graduated also, with distinction, from the United States Naval Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia. From 1963 to 1964, Patton was a supply officer of the U.S.S. Maddox (DD731), a destroyer on duty in the Pacific. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant j.g., he served as Navy Exchange Officer for the Eighth Naval District Headquarters in New Orleans from 1964 to 1965, managing the Navy Exchange retail facilities for several naval installations in the New Orleans area. Released from active duty, he remained in the Naval Reserve for four more years, reaching the rank of full lieutenant. In 1964, Patton married Lynn Vickery at the Naval Station Chapel, Eighth Naval District Headquarters, in New Orleans. They celebrated their fortieth anniversary on October 10, 2004. From 1965 to 1975, Patton worked as sales manager, general manager, and vice president of Campbell Motors, Inc., the Ford dealership in Florence, Alabama. During this time, he served as an officer and was on the board of directors of the New Car Dealers Association of Alabama, as well as being involved in other professional and civic organizations. Patton earned an M.A. degree in marketing from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, where he won the American Marketing Association Outstanding Graduate Student Award. His wife, Lynn, also earned her master's degree in social work from the University of Alabama at the same time. In 1978, Patton earned his Ph.D. degree in marketing from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He taught as a part-time instructor on the marketing faculty and received the university's Graduate Teaching Excellence Award and the North American-Rockwell Fellowship. He was also selected as an American Marketing Association fellow for the Doctoral Consortium at the Wharton School. Patton joined the faculty at Appalachian State University in 1978 as an assistant professor of marketing. In 1980, he was promoted to associate professor, and he served as a full professor from 1985 to 1998. During his career at Appalachian State, he taught every course in the marketing curriculum-including courses taught abroad. Additionally, Patton coordinated the marketing internship program. In recognition of his academic contributions, he was honored with the University of North Carolina Board of Governors' Award for Excellence in Teaching (1996), the Appalachian State University Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award (1989), and the Appalachian State University Student Government Association Teaching Excellence Award (1984). In addition to his teaching duties, Patton served on numerous university committees, including the Faculty Senate; the Teaching Excellence Committee; the Graduate Faculty Task Force on Service; the University Summer School Advisory Council; the Graduate School Council; and the University Self-Study Committee, Southern Association Accreditation. Within the College of Business, Patton served on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Teaching Award Development Committee, the Faculty Advisors Council, the Dean's Search Committee, and the Workload Committee. In addition, he was the chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on faculty performance appraisal, chair of the Faculty Personnel Policies Advisory Committee, and editor of the Appalachian Business Review from 1980 to 1983. Patton's other professional service activities included being on the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing Education and being a reviewer of Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, the International Journal of Research in Marketing, and the Journal of Business Research. He reviewed, as well, revisions of the text Management of the Sales Force, by Stanton and Buskirk, and Modern Retailing, by Mason and Mayer. He also was an invited panelist on programs at the Academy of Marketing Science, Southern Marketing, and Southwest Marketing; reviewer, discussant, and/or session chair for the Academy of Marketing Science, Southern Marketing, Southwest Marketing, DSI, SEDSI, and SWDSI; and a featured speaker at regional sales rallies for Realty World Southeast and Pi Sigma Epsilon regional conferences. Patton conducted the Center for Management Development training sessions for the Appalachian State University Small Business Institute, the North Carolina Savings and Loan League, C.E.T.A. Revitalization Project, Cablevision Division of United Artists, and chambers of commerce. He also supervised the Mountain Tourism Project for Grandfather Mountain, in addition to speaking at a variety of campus, civic, and business organizations. While at Appalachian State, Patton authored or co-authored over eighty journal articles, papers, monographs, and cases. During Patton's service to Appalachian State, his wife, worked as a clinical social worker for New River Mental Health, and served as a therapist on the psychiatric unit at Cannon Memorial Hospital; she was a clinical supervisor in Ashe County, a director of the Avery County Mental Health Center, and a director of the psychiatric unit at Cannon Memorial Hospital. Mrs. Patton retired in 1993. Patton retired from Appalachian State in 1998 and was awarded emeritus status. He was also honored with the establishment and funding of the W. E. "Pat" Patton Endowed Marketing Scholarship. Since retirement, the Pattons have enjoyed traveling; they have visited Spain, Portugal, Africa, Italy, and much of the United States. They have also visited with kinfolk they have not seen enough of over the past twenty years. Dr. Patton spends lots of time gardening, working in the yard of his home in Crestview Estates, and working on a few computer projects. Sources: Appalachian State University files. -Dr. Richard Howe
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