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Luthans Honored with Harvard, Best Places to Work in Omaha Awards

Dr. Fred Luthans, University and George Holmes Distinguished Professor of Management Emeritus at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Business Administration, was honored with two awards for his work in the fields of organizational behavior, management and psychology. Luthans received the Harvard Impact Global Health Catalyst (GHC) Distinguished Leader Award at the Harvard Medical School GHC Summit April 29, and will accept the Individual Contributor Award May 19 at the Best Places to Work in Omaha luncheon.
 
Honored for his work in cognitive and behavioral health in sports, he received the GHC Distinguished Leader award at the GHC Sports Summit Awards Dinner at Harvard Medical School. The award recognizes prominent individuals who exemplify transformational leadership, public service and social engagement while demonstrating a history of outstanding contributions and accomplishments in the elimination of disparities. Awardees were nominated by the Harvard GHC award nominating committee members and a group of interdisciplinary professionals in the areas of education, leadership and player development.
 
Luthans speaking to audience at UNL
Luthans speaking to audience at UNL
“I am deeply humbled and honored to be a recipient of the Harvard Impact GHC Distinguished Leader Award. It is great my recent work on what I call psychological capital or simply PsyCap, consisting of hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism, or the HERO within, may also be of value in contributing to the health and well-being of today’s athletes,” said Luthans. “It is nice to know PsyCap may help the neglected psychological challenges facing concussed athletes trying to recover.”
 
The following day, Luthans spoke on a summit panel at the Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The purpose of the seminar was to create awareness in the sports and science world of the need to pursue solution-based practices to both concussion recovery in living players and behavior development for players at all levels. The summit focused on the lived experience of concussions and behavior to illustrate the importance of solution-based research ideas and initiatives.
 
Luthans receives award at ceremony
Luthans receives award at ceremony
He will receive the Individual Contributor Award at the Best Places to Work in Omaha awards luncheon on May 19. The award is given to a leader in Omaha’s human resource community whose contributions make a lasting impact by creating great places to work. This is the fifth time that this honor has been given since 2003. It is awarded by Baird Holm LLP, founder of the Best Places to Work in Omaha initiative along with its sponsor, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
 
“Throughout his career, Dr. Luthans has been a forerunner in the field of human resources through his contributions to organizational behavior,” said David G. Brown, president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. “His work and dedication have paved the foundational culture of many of Omaha’s great workplaces.”
 
In Luthans’ 50-year academic career he has received multiple honors and awards, including being elected president of the National Academy of Management and received their Distinguished Educator Award, the University of Iowa Distinguished Alumni Award and a honorary doctorate from DePaul University. Luthans authored the first textbooks in Organizational Behavior (now in 13th edition) and International Management (now in 9th edition) and co-authored the book Psychological Capital and Beyond (Oxford University Press, 2015) with Carolyn Youssef-Morgan and Bruce Avolio. He has published his research in more than 200 academic articles and has been cited about 38,000 times. 
Published: May 5, 2016