Dr.William M. "Bill" White, the founding Dean of Mountain State University's School of Leadership and Professional Development, lived most of the first quarter of his life in Bluefield, WV. He grew up under the shadow of the mountains, in the center of West Virginia's coal empire, in a still segregated college town.
During the summers, Bill spent most days at the side of his pastor and mentor, Rev. C. Anderson Davis. Long afternoons, Bill and his friends stood behind the pulpit in their church's sanctuary, taking turns speaking, Bill learning cadences and mannerisms he would later bring to the boardroom and the classroom. Davis invited Bill along to the summer camp that he led, to visits with parishioners, on trips throughout West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee. He encouraged Bill to pursue his love of science, theater, and music.
As a result of a close knit family, church, and community around him, Bill emerged to adulthood with a strong sense of confidence in his abilities and potential. After gaining valuable leadership experience as class president throughout his years at Bluefield State College, he pursued a career as a research chemist in the 1970s. His status as the only minority in management at a time when corporate acceptance of diversity was still evolving only reinforced his development and growth as a leader.
After a highly successful career as a chemist, Bill founded and directed The Marketing Development Group, a company which provided organizational development consulting for Fortune 100 companies including AT&T, Texico, and Bell Labs. He completed his doctoral work at Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California, in the area of Leadership and Change, and worked as an adjunct professor and course designer at The University of California/Davis. In the back of his mind, Bill had a dream of working at a university to create a leadership program focused on helping people succeed as leaders in business and industry. He even told his doctoral advisor, Dr. Marie Fielder about his aspirations, and she helped him create a doctorate to fit his unique interests.
At this point, despite his success, Bill faced a crossroads. Back in WV, his mother was ailing. As the single father of a teenage son, he felt the strain of juggling his career and caring for family. After moving back to West Virginia for these reasons, he began teaching at Mountain State University as an adjunct professor, and quickly made the transition to full time faculty. After less than two years, Bill became the founding Dean of Mountain State's new School of Leadership and Professional Development.
In his current position as Dean, Dr. White brings all of his past education and work experiences together. Under his direction, Mountain State University's School of Leadership and Professional Development has become the only comprehensive leadership school in the country, offering a bachelors, masters, and doctorate in leadership. Dr. White is the architect of MSU's leading edge Doctor of Executive Leadership degree. The new doctorate is not only the first for Mountain State University, it is the first for southern West Virginia as well.
Dr. White is the co-author of two books with Mountain State's President, Charles F. Polk: Apex Thinking, and What Leaders Believe , which will be released later this year. In addition, he collaborated with Associate Dean Dr. Frank Hitt to write a chapter for a text book for doctoral students in Education Administration entitled Leadership as a Discipline. The book is currently in publication. Dr. White wants to see leadership recognized as an academic discipline and to create scholar-practitioners who will conserve, generate, and transform leadership knowledge.
Dr. William M. "Bill" White seemed destined to lead even from a young age. As others inspired him to do his best, he is now encouraging others to develop to their maximum potential. In a job that brings together so much of his knowledge, experience, and expertise, both MSU and Dr. White seem to have found a perfect fit.
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