Frederic W. Widlak, Ph.D.
Fred Widlak was born in Chicago, Illinois and educated through secondary school in the Chicago Public School System. He entered Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), majoring in Chemistry, Biology, and Psychology. Mr.
Widlak continued study while employed as an assembly-line worker in manufacturing and food processing factories, and as a
laboratory technician for Sherwin-Williams Paint Co., Corn Products Co., and Michael
Reese Hospital. He received the Bachelor of Science degree from IIT in 1966 and entered the Graduate School of Marquette
University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
majoring in Psychology and Business Administration.
Mr. Widlak continued study while employed as a
security guard for General Electric Co., as a computer programmer for Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., and as a teaching
and research assistant for Marquette University. He received the Master of Arts degree in January 1971, having entered the Graduate
School of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
in September 1970, majoring in Educational and Industrial Psychology. Mr. Widlak
continued study while employed as a teaching and research assistant for Purdue, as an assistant professor for Indiana University in Indianapolis,
as an evaluation research fellow at Northwestern University
in Evanston, Illinois and
as a research administrator for the Indianapolis Health Department.
In August 1983, Mr. Widlak received the Doctor
of Philosophy degree from Purdue University. Since then, he completed additional graduate coursework in Business Administration
at Indiana University, in Information Systems
at Keller Graduate School of Management, and in Human Resource Development at the University
of Illinois. In July 1984,
he was appointed Director of Field Research at National College of Education (NCE) in Evanston,
Illinois. Dr. Widlak was assigned
the rank of Associate Professor and later became the Director of Graduate Management Programs for Illinois
when NCE became National-Louis University
in 1990.
In September 1992, Dr. Widlak was appointed Prorector
for Academic Affairs at the Higher School of Business (WSB-NLU) in Nowy Sącz, Poland. This private, independent
business college became a partner with National-Louis University
to provide education in free enterprise and the market economy after the fall of the communist system in Poland. At this point he was the first
United States citizen to become the chief academic officer of a collegiate
institution in Poland.
In 1994, Dr. Widlak completed his full-time duties
in Poland and returned to the National-Louis
University campus in Wheaton, Illinois,
and later became an Assistant Dean in NLU’s College of
Management and Business. Until
September 2005, Dr. Widlak split his time between the U.S. and overseas,
serving as the Director of NLU Programs in Poland
and teaching a wide variety of live and online courses in management, statistics, and research methods. In 2004, he founded "Encouraging Enterprise", based in Krakow, an organization that conducts market research,
trains managers, and publishes articles and reports aimed at promoting economic progress in Poland.
Dr. Widlak is currently a Professor of Management
and Psycology at WSB-NLU. His major research interests are the organizational
culture issues of business mergers and acquisitions, conflict resolution, and the education and development of managers in
Central and Eastern Europe, specifically in Poland and Ukraine. His non-academic interests are in classical music and opera and performing as a Country and Western singer.
