David Ira Cleland (March 21, 1926 – August 1, 2018) was an American

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, Educator and

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in the

School of Engineering Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...

at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

, and was recognized as the "Father of Project Management".

Biography

Cleland received his bachelor's degree from the

in 1954, his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the University of Pittsburgh School of Business in 1958, and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

. He started working at

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene County, Ohio, Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio, Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patte ...

, Dayton, Ohio as a project manager in the development of weapon systems. He was also very active in Project Management at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). He eventually retired as Lieutenant Colonel In 1967 he started his academic career, teaching Project Management for 35 years at the

Swanson School of Engineering The Swanson School of Engineering is the engineering school of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846, the Swanson School of Engineering is the second or third oldest in the United States. History The Swans ...

, University of Pittsburgh.David I. Cleland Professor Emeritus
at engineering.pitt.edu. Accessed April 4, 2013 Cleland received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Project Management in 2010 from the Project Management Institute (PMI), where he was a Founding Member. Cleland also served as consultant for both national and foreign companies. He was co-founder of the University of Pittsburgh’s Manufacturing Assistance Centre (MAC), whose mission was to provide manufacturing systems technology assistance to small and mid-sized manufacturers in Western

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Until 2010 he divided his time between teaching, writing and occasional speaking engagements.

Work

Cleland was the

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

of 41 books on

project management Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. Th ...

, including ''The Project Management handbook (1988)'', ''Engineering Management'' and ''Manufacturing Management''. He was the most published author of project management textbooks in the world.

David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award

A longtime member of the

Project Management Institute The Project Management Institute (PMI, legally Project Management Institute, Inc.) is a U.S.-based not-for-profit professional organization for project management. Overview PMI serves more than five million professionals including over 680,00 ...

, Cleland was named a Fellow of PMI in 1987 and has received PMI’s Distinguished Contribution to Project Management Award an unprecedented three times. The PMI has named an

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

in his honor; the PMI David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award. Its purpose was to recognize and honor the best project management literature published during the previous calendar year. This award recognizes the author for significant contributions and for advancing the project management knowledge, practices, procedures, concepts, or other advanced techniques that demonstrate the value of using project management. The publication may be on historical, current or future endeavors.

Publications

Books, a selection: * 1978. ''Strategic planning and policy''. with W.R. King * 1985. ''A project management dictionary of terms''. With Harold Kerzner. New York : Van Nostrand Reinhold * 1986. ''Project stakeholder management'' Second Edition * 1988. ''Project management handbook''. with W.R. King * 1994. ''Global project management handbook''. with Roland Gareis. * 1999. ''Project management: strategic design and implementation''. With Harold Kerzner

Death

Cleland died on August 1, 2018, while under the care of Passavant Retirement Community in

Zelienople, Pennsylvania Zelienople is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. The population was 3,812 at the 2010 census. Geography Zelienople is located in southwestern Butler County, situated on the south bank of Connoquenessing Creek, in an ...

References

External links

PMI David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleland, David I. University of Pittsburgh alumni University of Pittsburgh faculty Ohio State University alumni Project Management Institute Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business alumni 1926 births 2018 deaths Engineers from Pennsylvania Educators from Pennsylvania