Fred Luthans, Ph.D., is the George Holmes Distinguished Professor of Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Luthans' primary areas of expertise are organizational behavior, leadership, and international management.
A Gallup Senior Scientist since 1998, Luthans instructs in the UNL/Gallup MBA/MA program in Executive Leadership, helps coordinate the Global Leadership Institute, and has been a presenter at the Positive Psychology summit. He conducts research on positive states related to performance outcomes and provides scientific research on positive psychological capital for future Gallup initiatives.
Luthans has built an extensive research program at UNL. His studies on behavioral management and self-efficacy, using meta-analysis techniques for theory building and application for performance improvement, are published in journals in the field of management and industrial and organizational psychology.
Luthans is active in the Academy of Management and was elected a fellow in 1981; he served as the organization's president in 1986. He received the Academy of Management Distinguished Educator Award in 1997. In 2000, Luthans became an inaugural member of the Academy's Hall of Fame for being one of the "top five" all-time published authors in the prestigious Academy journals. He received the Distinguished Alum Award from the University of Iowa and has an honorary doctorate from DePaul University.
Luthans is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of World Business, the editor of Organizational Dynamics and Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies,and is on the editorial board of several other journals. He has published many books and about 150 articles in applied and academic journals. His book Organizational Behavior Modification (Scott Foresman, 1976), coauthored with Robert Krietner, received the American Society of Personnel Administration award for outstanding contribution to human resources management. Real Managers (Ballinger, 1988) is the result of a four-year research study that observed managers in their workplace settings. Organizational Behavior (Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 2005) is recognized as the first text in this field and currently is in its 10 th edition. International Management (McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2006) is in its sixth edition. Most recently, he and Bruce Avolio coauthored The High Impact Leader (McGraw-Hill, 2005) on authentic leadership development.
Luthans has been a visiting scholar at universities in the United States; he has also lectured at universities and conducted workshops for managers in several countries. Recently, he has been actively involved in management training and education in the former East Germany and Russia and in a USAID program conducted in Albania and Macedonia. In addition, Luthans has been on the executive committee of the annual Pan Pacific Conference since its inception in 1984, and in 1995, was elected a fellow. Luthans served on the board of directors of the Foundation of Administrative Research, and he is active in the Decision Sciences Institute and was elected a fellow in 1987. Luthans conducts training and consulting for private and public sector organizations on performance management and leadership effectiveness.
Luthans earned a doctorate from the University of Iowa and did postdoctoral work at Columbia University. While serving in the armed forces, he taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He has been at UNL since 1967, and received the distinguished teaching award in 1986 and the excellence in graduate education award in 2000.
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