Larraine Matusak

Dr. Larraine Matusak is a Leadership Scholar and President of the consulting firm, LARCON ASSOCIATES. She has been a scholar and practitioner of leadership for many years in a wide variety of leadership roles. She has served as Program Officer in Education and Leadership and as the first Leadership Scholar at the W.K.Kellogg Foundation. Matusak designed and directed the Kellogg National Fellowship Program, a leadership development program for people in the early years of their career. She also led in the creation of the Leadership grant making area at the W.K.Kellogg Foundation and then served as the first administrator for the department.

Dr. Matusak is presently a Senior Scholar at the James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership of the University of Maryland. She has also served as a graduate advisor and mentor for the Fielding Institute of Graduate Studies of Santa Barbara, California, and The Union of Graduate Schools in Ohio. She has served as a consultant and keynote speaker to many communities, organizations, businesses, academic institutions and foundations on topics of organizational design, leadership development, creativity and adult learning. The Blandin Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Lily Foundation, University of Denver, University of Maryland, Michigan State University, University of Georgia, Franklin College, Marietta College and the National League of Cities are just a few of the organizations included on the list. Creativity and innovative approaches to problem solving and leadership have gained her recognition by educators, business leaders, nonprofit groups and community organizations.

Dr. Matusak has been the president of Thomas A. Edison State College of New Jersey, and the dean and founder of the College of Alternative Programs at the University of Evansville, Indiana. She served on the original design team and directed the Alternative Baccalaureate Program at the University of Minnesota, and was a professor of Natural Sciences at that institution. She has received numerous honors including the 1996 International Morris T. Keeton Award recognizing her contributions in adult learning and leadership. In 1974 she also received the Outstanding American Educator award from the Medical College of Augusta, Georgia and has been awarded several Honorary Doctorates.

She holds many professional appointments with regional and national education organizations. Dr. Matusak is a trustee of The ILA (International Leadership Association); Leadership Institute, Los Angeles, California; Dia-Logos-Institute for Generative Learning and Collaborative Social Change, Inc., Cambridge, Mass; BCACSF (Battle Creek Area Catholic Schools Foundation), The Humane Society of Battle Creek; and is past president of the board of SAFE Place and the College of St. Benedict, Minnesota.

Dr. Matusak has authored numerous publications and articles in the field of nontraditional adult education and leadership. She has recently (1996) completed a book on leadership aimed at public consumption and focusing on citizen leadership. The title of the book is Finding Your Voice: Learning to Lead…Anywhere You Want To Make A Difference; Jossey Bass Publishers. In 1998 she completed a Monograph entitled The First Ten Years of the Kellogg National Fellowship Program; In 1999 she co-edited with Barbara Kellerman, and contributed a chapter to Cutting Edge: Leadership 2000; University of Maryland Press. She also co-edited Building Leadership Bridges, 2001. She is presently working on a book that addresses Philanthropic leadership and co-edited Building Leadership Bridges, 2002, Center For Creative Leadership, North Carolina Press.

Dr. Matusak received her bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from the College of St. Benedict, a master’s degree in entomology from the University Minnesota, Minneapolis. Her doctorate in higher education administration was earned at Fielding Institute of Graduate Studies, Santa Barbara, California.

© 1998-2012 International Leadership Association. This page last updated on January 30, 2012.