Marvin Lee Pelton (born September 27, 1950) is an academic administrator and college president. A native of Kansas, US, he held deanships at Colgate University and Dartmouth College before becoming the first African-American president of an independent college when he became Willamette University's president in 1998. He served at the Salem, Oregon school until 2011, when he became the 12th president at Emerson College on July 1.