Dr. John Mellon, Associate Professor of Business, was raised in a business-oriented family, and he knew he would start a business of his own.

“My family was involved in supermarkets and food service catering. I thought about other areas, but I always kept coming back to the business world,” said Mellon.

His first big idea came to him through hard-earned experience: He was a banquet waiter during college.

“Banquet waiting was fun because there was always an event, parties, wedding, non-profits. At the time, things weren’t as expensive so they’d bring in big bands or DJs,” Mellon said.

He started an upscale food catering business called Catering By John Mellon after he finished his degree,

“One of the items I specialized in was to help plan parties at your home. I would come in with all of the dishes, food, waiters and waitresses,and would even help rearrange your furniture to flow well for the event,” he said.

So he started working a little while later because he was pulled to achieve another goal – earning his doctorate – so he sold his business and started working on getting his master’s degree.

“I decided to go to college at the University of New Haven in Connecticut. While there, I was a graduate teaching assistant for the dean,” he said.

Dr. Ron Usevich, The Dean of Students at the University of New Haven, served as his role model.

“He helped me decide to stay in academic employment. I really admired the way he was able to command respect and achievement. His mannerisms really stuck with me throughout the years,” said Mellon.

After graduating with his Master’s in business and a minor in hotel and restaurant management and marketing, he ended up back in Pennsylvania.

“After 11 years, I decided I wanted to move back to Pennsylvania. I just looked for jobs and saw an opening at Misericordia,” he remembered.

He said he capitalized on his activities during college. He helped out at a community coffee shop and was part of the Business Club.

“Extracurricular activities weren’t big when I was your age. Believe it or not though, I had helped with something that was like a Friday night at the Cougar’s Den. We would reach out to the community and have people come and sing. It was like a coffee shop-type of atmosphere,” said Mellon.

Mellon also enjoyed his hobbies: exercising and traveling.

“At one time I used to jog a 2.5 miles course. I also really like to travel to warm climates. My favorite is going to Southern California in L.A .County and Manhattan Beach,” he said.

Mellon has three pieces of advice for students. The first is time management.

“I knew in eleventh grade in high school that I wanted to be a scuba diver. And then 18 years later, I became a certified scuba diver. If there are things you want to do, work to do them.”

The next is to think before you speak.

“If you think someday that you want to go on to be in politics, and I don’t mean major politics, but maybe running for something simple that you may not even get paid for, when people see your name on the ballot, they will remember the things you’ve said to them over the years,” Mellon said.

Last, increase your vocabulary.

“I often like to use the line, which sounds more professional, how long did it take you to get here, or how long did it take you to arrive? And when you think about it, ‘get here’ is seven letters and ‘arrive’ is six, so the fallacy is you don’t need big words to sound professional,” he said.