Karl E. Weick is the Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology, and Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan. He joined the Michigan faculty in 1988 after previous faculty positions at the University of Texas, Cornell University, University of Minnesota, and Purdue University. His BA is from Wittenberg University and his MA and Ph.D. are from Ohio State University in Social and Organizational Psychology. He is a former editor of the journal Administrative Science Quarterly (1977-1985), former Associate editor of the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Performance (1971-1977), and former topic editor for Human Factors at the journal Wildfire.

Dr. Weick's book "The social psychology of organizing", first published in 1969 and revised in 1979, was designated one of the nine best business books ever written by Inc Magazine in December 1996. This work has also been profiled in Wired Magazine, Fast Company, and by Peters and Waterman in their book, "In Search of Excellence." The organizing formulation was expanded into a book titled "Sensemaking in Organizations" (Sage, 1995), and more recent work on organizational accidents has appeared in the recent book “Managing the Unexpected”, co-authored with Kathleen Sutcliffe (Jossey-Bass, 2001) which was voted best book of the year by HR.com. Weick was presented with the Irwin Award for Distinguished Scholarly Contributions by the Academy of Management in 1990. In the same year he received the Best Article of the Year award from the Academy of Management Review for his article "Theory construction as disciplined imagination."

Dr. Weick's research interests include collective sensemaking under pressure, medical errors, handoffs and transitions in dynamic events, high reliability performance, improvisation, and continuous change. Dr. Weick's graduate level teaching is focused on the craft of scholarship, processes of organizing, and the management of uncertainty through sensemaking and mindful action.