This semester, AYCGL Scholar-in-Residence Walter Fluker, Ph.D., is leading a two-part Teach-In on ethical leadership titled, Wake Up Running! Public Conversations on Spirituality, Ethics, and Leadership for New Rhythms and Times.
On March 19, 2025, Dr. Fluker delivered the first of his two lectures, titled “Keep Awake! Howard Thurman on the Run: Creating and Cultivating Inward Spaces of Democratic Freedom of Spirit, Body, and Mind.” In this lecture, Dr. Fluker examined the life and philosophy of Howard Thurman, presenting him as a Black mystic perpetually “on the run”—not in flight, but as an act of spiritual resistance and a pursuit of holistic freedom. Dr. Fluker positioned Thurman’s inward journey as a crucial democratic practice, highlighting the importance of cultivating inner spaces as foundational to societal transformation.
Dr. Fluker is the Distinguished Professor at the Howard Thurman Center at Hartford University for Religion and Peace and Dean’s Professor of Spirituality, Ethics, and Leadership. He recently served at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and is Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership (formerly the Martin Luther King, Jr. Chair) at Boston University. He also serves as the editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project.
Dr. Fluker was the founding Executive Director of the Leadership Center and the Coca-Cola Professor of Leadership Studies at Morehouse College. Among his many honors, Dr. Fluker was named a 2023 recipient of the Roosevelt Institute’s Freedom of Worship Award, joining fellow laureates Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, the late Ady Barkan, U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson, and Tracie D. Hall, former Executive Director of the American Library Association. Most recently, on May 19, 2024, Boston University awarded Dr. Fluker its highest honor, the Doctor of Laws degree, where he also delivered the Baccalaureate Address to the Class of 2024.
Tag(s):
Centers, Institutes and Programs