Kent Nakamoto
Kent Nakamoto

Kent Nakamoto, retired professor of marketing in the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech, has been conferred the title of professor emeritus by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.

The emeritus title may be conferred on retired professors, associate professors, and administrative officers who are specially recommended to the board by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands in recognition of exemplary service to the university. Nominated individuals who are approved by the board receive a copy of the resolution and a certificate of appreciation.

Nakamoto joined Virginia Tech in 1997. He served as head of the Department of Marketing from 1999 to 2013. He also served as associate dean for research from 2008 to 2013 and as associate dean for research and faculty affairs from 2014 to 2017.

His scholarship was published in numerous peer-reviewed academic journals in marketing. In addition, Nakamoto co-authored two books and several book chapters, made numerous presentations at prestigious academic conferences, published several peer-reviewed proceedings, and gave numerous invited presentations, all of which increased the reputation of the college and the university.

Nakamoto twice received the annual William F. O’Dell Award for an article published in the Journal of Marketing Research judged to have made the most significant long-term contribution to the marketing discipline.

In the classroom, Nakamoto taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate-level marketing courses and served on the dissertation committees of several doctoral students in the Department of Marketing. He also helped lead the college through a successful re-accreditation by AACSB International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

Nakamoto received his bachelor's degree from the California Institute of Technology, two master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Written by Sookhan Ho and Mark Owczarski