Elwood F. Holton, III.
Hall of Fame Class of 2005
Elwood F. “Ed” Holton III, holds a distinguished record of accomplishments in adult and continuing education and human resource development. His scholarly work about adult and workplace learning is recognized by adult and continuing education scholars and practitioners around the world. He is the Jones S. Davis Distinguished Professor of Human Resource, Leadership and Organization Development in the School of Human Resource Education at Louisiana State University. He coordinates the university’s B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degree programs in Human Resource and Leadership Development and teaches a variety of courses including Advanced Theory in Adult Education, Advanced Theory in HRD, Needs Assessment, Leadership in Organizations, and Managing Change in Organizational Systems.
Dr. Holton has advanced the theory and practice of both adult education and human resource development through his co-authored books TheAdult Learner – 5 th Editionand Foundations of Human Resource Development. He is the founding editor of Human Resource Development Review and a past president of the Academy of Human Resource Development. Dr. Holton is the author of over 200 publications including academic and professional articles in journals such as Advances in Developing Human Resources, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Human Resource Development International,Performance Improvement Quarterly, Human Resource Management Review, Human Resource Planning, Human Performance, International Journal of Training and Development, Public Personnel Management, Journal of Organizational and Occupational Psychology, Training and Development, and the Journal of Business and Psychology.
Dr. Holton has over twenty years experience consulting with a wide variety of private, public, and non-profit organizations on human resource development and performance-improvement issues. These organizations include: J. P. Morgan, Cigna Corp., Ciba-Geigy Corp., Entergy Corp., Ford Motor Company, Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. General Services Administration, the Louisiana Office of Mental Health and eleven Louisiana state government departments.
Dr. Holton has personally designed and delivered adult learning programs to thousands of people during the last twenty years through his many workshops and training programs. He is also trained in organizational development and consults on issues such as organizational climate and culture, organizational change, team building and organizational design.
He is the author or editor of 19 books, including recently co-authoring Approaches to Training and Development and Results: How to Assess Performance, Learning, and Perceptions in Organizations and co-editing Improving Learning Transfer in Organizations. His books have also been translated into several foreign languages.
Dr. Holton received his B.S. in Business, an M.B.A., and an Ed.D. in Human Resource Development, all from Virginia Tech. His other career positions include being President of his own human resource and organizational development consulting firm; Director of Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia M.B.A. program and directing their M.B.A. career planning and placement services; and an analyst in international finance with the DuPont Co.