Walter Earl Fluker

About the Author

Walter Earl Fluker is Distinguished Professor at the Howard Thurman Center and Martin

Luther King Jr. Professor Emeritus of Ethical Leadership at Boston University. A

nationally and internationally recognized scholar, speaker, and mentor, his work

explores ethical leadership, democratic space, spirituality, and social justice through

historical, theological, and cultural lenses.

Fluker previously served as Dean’s Professor of Spirituality, Ethics, and Leadership at

the Candler School of Theology and as founding director of the Leadership

Center—later renamed the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership—at Morehouse

College. He has also served as faculty, visiting professor, and lecturer at numerous

academic institutions, including Vanderbilt University, Harvard University and Harvard

Divinity School, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, the University of London, the

Graduate Business School at University of Cape Town, and the Salzburg Global

Seminar.

A leading scholar of Howard Thurman and Martin Luther King Jr., Fluker is the longtime

editor and steward of the Howard Thurman Papers Project, which has produced eleven

volumes of Thurman’s writings, essays, and critical commentaries. His scholarship and

public leadership have shaped conversations on democracy, ethics, race, religion, and

global citizenship for more than four decades.

His honors include the Freedom of Worship Award from the Roosevelt Institute and the

Beautiful Are the Feet Award, awarded in February 2026 by the Samuel DeWitt Proctor

Conference and shared with his beloved companion, Dr. Sharon Watson Fluker.

He is the author and editor of numerous books, articles, and essays, including Wake Up

Running: Building Democratic Space at The Crossings, scheduled for release in Fall.