Arthur M. Langer

Arthur M. Langer is an American academic whose work focuses on the effect of technology on organizational structure, behavior and workforce development.

Langer is a Vice Provost at Northeastern University, Director of the Center for Technology Management and Digital Leadership, and Professor of Practice at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business Additionally, he is a faculty member in the Department of Organization and Leadership at the Teachers College Graduate School of Education.

In 2001, as part of the Workplace Literacy Program, Langer launched The Inner-City Workplace Literacy Study at Columbia University.

The study included more than 40 low-income adults from Harlem, and it investigated how to prepare them for roles in information technology given their lack of experience in this field.

The project identified challenges they faced as they trained to compete in the job market and showed that in order to successfully integrate underrepresented talent into the workforce, programs must merge technical training with teaching interpersonal and self-esteem building skills.

As he carried out the Literacy Study, Langer developed the Langer Workforce Maturity Arc (LWMA), a tool designed to measure the job readiness of adult learners from underserved communities.

In 2005, Langer founded Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS), a nonprofit organization that trains and places underserved and Veteran job seekers into long-term careers.

Arthur Langer was born to Eastern European immigrant parents in the Bronx, New York.

He did not plan to go to college until he was mentored by a local businessman who offered him a scholarship on condition that he apply to the city's selective high schools.

Langer attended The High School of Music and Art, followed by night school at Queens College, where he received his bachelor's degree in Computer Science.

His MBA is from Iona College, and he earned his Doctorate in Education at Columbia University.

Prior to joining the full-time faculty at Columbia, Langer was Executive Director of Computer Support Services at Coopers and Lybrand, General Manager and Partner of Software Plus, and President and founder of Macco Software.

Langer teaches courses in information technology, human development, leadership, management, and higher education at Columbia University.

He also consults for corporations and universities on these topics as well as on staff development, management transformation, and curriculum.

In his teaching, Langer developed a “theory-to-practice-to-theory” (TPT) approach in order to help adult students engage in transformative learning.

TPT underscores that adults learn best when they can relate theory to their experiences, and then revisit theory for its applicability to their personal situations.

Students then determine through personal critical reflection whether and how to modify their existing belief systems.

By consistently providing students with critical feedback and multiple opportunities to apply new concepts as well as revise their work, TPT helps them gradually examine where their new knowledge can be integrated with their existing ideologies.

Inspired by his own coming of age in the Bronx, Langer founded Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS) in 2005 to provide mentoring and workforce training opportunities to people from underserved communities and underrepresented groups.

Today Workforce Opportunity Services creates custom training programs – along with mentorship and material as well as social supports - that deliver a pipeline of early-career talent to employers from under-represented populations, including military Veterans and spouses.

As of April 2021, WOS has served over 5,300 individuals through partnerships with more than 65 corporations in 60+ locations worldwide.