Walter Fluker

Rev. Dr. Walter Fluker was born in Vaiden, Mississippi and raised in Chicago, Illinois where he attended public schools. He served in the United States Army as a Chaplain’s Assistant from 1971-1973. He received his BA degree in philosophy and biblical studies from Trinity College in 1977, and an MDiv degree in 1980 from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Fluker completed his PhD degree in social ethics at Boston University, in 1988.

He served as pastor of the historic St. John’s Congregational Church, UCC in Springfield, Massachusetts from 1981-1986. In 1986, Fluker was university chaplain and assistant professor of religion at Dillard University. He became assistant professor of Christian ethics at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and assistant pastor at First Baptist Church. He became assistant professor of Christian ethics at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and assistant pastor at First Baptist Church in Capitol Hill, in 1987. In 1991, Fluker was named dean of black church studies and Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial professor of theology and black church studies at the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School. In 1992, Fluker became editor of the Howard Thurman Papers Project. He served as director, National Resource Center for the Development of Ethical Leadership from the Black Church Tradition from CRCD in 1993-1998. In 1998, Fluker joined Morehouse College as executive director of The Leadership Center (renamed the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership), The Coca Cola professor of leadership studies and professor of philosophy and religion.

In 2004, Fluker served as visiting professor for the University of Capetown Graduate School of Business,  Distinguished Lecturer in the International Human Rights Exchange Program and faculty at The Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Austria. Fluker was a distinguished speaker for the US Embassy in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria; Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban, South Africa, China; and India. Having served visiting professorships at the Harvard College and Divinity School and Candler School of Theology; and visiting scholar at  Princeton Theological Seminary, and Columbia Theological Seminary. Fluker joined the Boston University School of Theology faculty as the Martin Luther King, Jr. professor of ethical leadership and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Initiative for the Development of Ethical Leadership in 2010. He consulted for the Democratic Leadership Council National Conversation, Goldman Sachs Global Leaders Program, the Department of Education, the Department of State, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Georgia State Superintendents’ Association, and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.