Martinez receives endowed professorship focused on leadership

Tuesday, Jul 09, 2024 • Greg Pederson :

The Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Arlington recently named a new endowed professor, enhancing the department’s robust program in industrial and organizational (I/O) psychology and opening new avenues for the study of leadership development.

Larry Martinez was named the A. Dale Thompson Professor of Leadership. The position was established through a gift from Leadership Worth Following, LLC, an Irving-based company which helps organizations identify and develop leadership worth following, in honor of its founder and executive chair, A. Dale Thompson, a longtime friend and supporter of the department.

“Endowed positions aren’t very common in I/O psychology, so being recognized in this way is a huge honor,” Martinez said. “Dale has been one of the most ardent supporters of the I/O program at UTA and we are so grateful to him for his generosity in establishing this professorship.”

Thompson said he is thrilled to have Martinez in the position and was impressed with him from their first meeting.

“Larry is the real deal, and he’s committed,” Thompson said. “I'm very proud of being a part of supporting UTA. I've been very impressed with how they've worked to build the psychology department and make a difference in students’ lives and in the community. It’s an honor for me to have my name attached to this position.”

Martinez has spent more than a decade conducting research in the I/O psychology field and trying to improve organizational functioning by improving the lives of employees.

“This often begins with supervisors and organizational leaders, so much of my work is focused on helping these stakeholders support those who work for them, ultimately contributing to broader organizational goals,” he said. “It’s about helping to establish the link between employee well-being and productivity/retention.”

Martinez has studied diversity and inclusion in work contexts, as well as employee identity and authenticity, occupational health and well-being, and stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination reduction. He has extensive experience in managing community-based research projects with organizational partners. This is also the purpose of UTA’s Insights for Organizations Center (I/O Center), a research-based group that provides business solutions that are grounded in science for companies trying to enhance the workplace. Martinez took over as director of the I/O Center when he came to UTA this spring.

“The I/O Center is a great resource which helps bridge the gap between science and practice, and between universities and the communities in which they exist,” he said. “I am excited to be the new director of the I/O Center to help strengthen ties between UTA and the D-FW Metroplex.”

“We are very pleased that Larry has joined our I/O psychology program,” said Nicolette Hass, UTA professor of practice in psychology and director of the M.S. in I/O psychology program. “Larry brings a wealth of knowledge and experience working with external stakeholders which will be integral to the partnerships between the I/O Center and the D-FW community. I look forward to working with him to engage our students with hands-on opportunities that will build their skills and ready them for the workplace.”

Martinez became interested in I/O psychology while taking classes as a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He met a colonel who was an I/O psychologist, and the academy offered a major in Behavioral Science and Leadership.

“Understanding how psychological principles could be leveraged to inform best practices for leaders and employees was really fascinating to me,” he said.

He transferred to Rice University and completed a B.A. degree in Psychology in 2007, then went on to do graduate studies in I/O psychology. He earned an M.A. degree in 2010 and a Ph.D. in 2012, both from Rice.

In fall 2012 Martinez took a faculty position as an assistant professor of psychology at Penn State University. In 2016 he joined the faculty at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. In 2020 he was promoted to associate professor and began a two-year stint as associate chair of the Department of Psychology.

In 2020 the National Science Foundation awarded Martinez a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant. NSF CAREER awards support early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department. He received a five-year, $497,679 award for his project, “Organizational diversity management through supportive, skills-focused allyship training.”

Thompson’s path to creating his own highly successful company began not in the field of I/O psychology but in music. Born an “Army brat” in Aberdeen, Maryland, his family moved to California and then a few years later to Minnesota. In fifth grade he began playing the trumpet and enjoyed playing music so much that he continued doing so in college at the University of Minnesota. He earned a B.S. degree in Music Education but came to the realization not long after that a career as a musician wasn’t in the cards.

A career counselor suggested that Thompson would make a great psychologist and encouraged him to take some counseling psychology courses at the University of Minnesota. Six years later, Thompson had an M.S. degree and a Ph.D., both in Counseling Psychology.

During his graduate studies, he got an offer to help with a study of leaders in business, which he enjoyed. Then in 1982, while working on his Ph.D., he took a job at a Minneapolis consulting firm to help establish what would become the field of coaching psychology. Teaching employees how to be effective leaders was a new concept at the time. Previously, assessment of business leaders involved IQ tests and a lot of trial and error. Identifying, assessing, and developing leaders was a groundbreaking idea.

“The history books now say that program was the first one of its kind in the country, and then I did my dissertation on that program and it was the first dissertation in executive coaching,” Thompson said. “I sort of got swept up in the currents of growth and change, and I've been doing the executive coaching and leadership thing ever since, for 42 years now.”

After completing his doctoral degree, Thompson and his wife moved to Texas, where he co-founded a truckload transportation company. From there he joined a leadership consulting firm, where he rose to executive vice president of the company’s North American offices.

In January 2004, Thompson took the experience and know-how he had gained in executive assessment and coaching and started his own company, Leadership Worth Following. He envisioned LWF as a remedy for failures in corporate leadership such as those that led to the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

“We have a couple of fundamental keys, and the first is that we really emphasize doing what we call great science — that is, we think leadership is a scientific study,” he said. “The second is our model of leadership, where we look at three constructs: the capacity to lead, the commitment to lead, and the character to lead.”

Shortly after starting LWF, Thompson met some UTA students and faculty at an area meeting of I/O psychologists. UTA’s I/O program was just getting started, and Thompson saw the potential benefit in partnering with a university to explore the science behind his new company’s focus on leadership. He funded a study by a faculty member and five students in UTA’s I/O program. The students presented their findings at a three-day LWF board meeting in late 2004. Thompson and the board members were highly impressed with their work.

“That really anchored and cemented the relationship between UTA and LWF, and we've been hiring UTA students ever since,” Thompson said. “Two of our three senior leaders in the company today are Ph.D. graduates from of the UTA psychology department.”

Thompson noted that the partnership was greatly aided by the work of three people in particular: Paul Paulus, UTA dean emeritus and professor of psychology who was dean of the College of Science at the time; Robert Gatchel, retired UTA professor of psychology who was then psychology department chair; and Hass, who helped start the I/O Center and was its first director.

“We have delighted in supporting UTA’s I/O program by providing internships, doing ongoing research, hiring students post-graduation, and having them get powerful experiences in the consulting world working for us,” Thompson said. “We’ve had a number of UTA students who have come through our place and have gone on to very impressive positions outside of LWF and outside of UTA.”

“Dale has championed our I/O program for well over two decades,” Hass said. “We are so thankful for the unwavering support he has provided to both our students and our faculty. His contributions have been integral to their continued professional growth. Our program would not be where it is today without Dale and we are fortunate knowing he has our back.”

Among the awards Thompson has received are the prestigious RHR International Award for Excellence in Consultation from the Society of Consulting Psychology in 2004; and the Distinguished Psychologist in Management Award from the Society of Psychologists in Management in 2011.

He is a founding member of the advisory board of UTA’s Goolsby Leadership Academy, a two-year program for juniors and seniors which challenges students to be problem solvers and ethical leaders. Goolsby Scholars engage with executives both in the classroom and the real world through internships, exploratory study, and special projects. In 2011 he was named the academy’s Distinguished Visiting Leader.

“I’ve been fortunate to get to know Dale and his company in the time since I moved to UTA,” Martinez said. “It’s clear that Dale has a talent for investing in people and empowering them to do the best work they can by personally getting to know those he works with and treating them as people before employees.

“The Department of Psychology has amazing potential to be a top program. My hope is that this endowed position will help bring attention to many of the wonderful things happening in the psychology department at UTA.”

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