Luedtke was born and raised on a Minnesota dairy farm and for six years attended a one-room country school. Valedictorian of his high school class, he attended Gustavus Adolphus College with a National Merit Scholarship graduating summa cum laude in English, German, and history in 1965.[1] He received his Ph.D. in American Civilization Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University in 1971.[1]
Career
Teaching and research
From 1970 to 1992 Luedtke was a professor of English at the University of Southern California specializing in 19th and 20th century American literature.[2] At various times he also directed USC's School of Journalism, American Studies Program, and graduate studies in English.[2] Notable among his many publications is his book Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Romance of the Orient (1989), which was greeted as "the first genuinely original scholarship on Hawthorne's life and work that has appeared in almost a decade."[3]
Public diplomacy
Beginning with a Fulbright grant and American Studies lectureship at the University of Kiel, Germany (1968-1969), Luedtke's teaching and research were weighted towards internationalism. His appointment as Resident Scholar for American Studies with the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) in Washington, D.C. (1979) launched more than a decade of lecturing and consultations for developing U.S. studies programs in Europe, Asia, and South America. This included an appointment as Distinguished Fulbright Scholar and Director of the American Studies Research Centre in Hyderabad, India (1984-1985).[4] His book Making America: The Society and Culture of the United States (1987, revised 1992), originally commissioned by the Voice of America and prepared in collaboration with twenty-six other leading American scholars, was widely translated and became a leading text for students, journalists, and America watchers abroad as well as within the United States.[5]
Non-profit leadership
Luedtke served as president of California Lutheran University from 1992 to 2006, the longest term of any president, a period of major growth in the university's undergraduate and graduate degree programs, enrollment, faculty, physical facilities, endowment, and national rankings.[6][7] From 2006 until 2015, he was president and CEO of Education Development Center, a global non-profit headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.[8] At any time, EDC has some 1,500 research, design, and program staff in education, health, and workforce development working across the U.S. and more than twenty countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South America.[9]
Boards and offices
Luedtke has chaired or served on the boards of numerous library, symphony, community service, philanthropic, professional, private equity, and financial service organizations including Thrivent Financial,[10]American Studies Association, Ojai Music Festival,[11] Jackson Memorial Library, Vesper Society,[12] and Harvard Global Education Innovation Initiative.[13]
