Donald P. Lauda

Donald P. Lauda was inducted into the inaugural College of Applied Human Sciences Hall of Fame in the fall of 2025. He was previously inducted into the College of Education and Human Services Hall of Fame in 2014.

Lauda came to West Virginia University as a post-doctoral student in 1969–70, supported by a federal grant in the Technology Education Department. He returned in 1973 as professor and chairperson of the department, where he became a national leader in advancing technology-based industrial arts programs in public schools. His influence extended to service on the Board of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and leadership as president of both the American Council of Industrial Arts Teacher Education and the International Technology Education Association.

In 1975, Lauda was named dean of the School of Technology at Eastern Illinois University, where he mentored numerous students who later assumed leadership positions in education. He went on to serve as dean of the College of Health and Human Services at California State University, Long Beach, where he guided one of the largest colleges on campus for more than 20 years. In 2002, CSULB established the Donald P. Lauda Wellness Lecture Series, supported by Kaiser Permanente and other partners, to bring leading voices in health and wellness to the campus and broader community.

Lauda’s career also included extensive international consulting and lectures on the status of alternative and complementary medicine in the United States.