David I. Cleland

David I. Cleland (born ca 1931) an American Engineer, Educator and Professor Emeritus in the School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, and is recognized as the "Father of Project Management".

Cleland received his bachelor's degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1954, his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh School of Business in 1958, and his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. He started working at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio as where project manager in the development of weapon systems. He eventually retired as Lieutenant Colonel In 1967 he started his academic career at the Swanson School of Engineering.

Cleland also served as consultant for both national and foreign companies. He is co-founder of the University of Pittsburgh’s Manufacturing Assistance Centre (MAC), whose mission is to provide manufacturing systems technology assistance to small and mid-sized manufacturers in Western Pennsylvania.

He is currently semi-retired and divides his time between teaching, writing and occasional speaking engagements.

Cleland is the author or editor of 39 books on project management, including The Project Management handbook (1988), Engineering Management and Manufacturing Management. He is 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, 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 in his honour; the PMI David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award.

Its purpose is to recognize and honour 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 endeavours.

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 R. Gareis.
• 1999. Project management: strategic design and implementation. With Harold Kerzner