About the author
Narrative Resume' of
David W. Wallace, PhD
113 Witman Way
Macon Georgia 31210
925-768-0266
Wallace@brandman.edu
Dwwallace2333@gmail.com
I was raised in Dallas, Texas and went to Southwestern University in 1964 on an academic and athletic scholarship. I graduated in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in Psychology and was immediately drafted into the Army. Three weeks after I graduated from College I was in Basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood Missouri. I was, however, selected to attend Artillery Officer Candidate School and became a Second Lieutenant in September 1969. The Army immediately choose me for a branch transfer and because of my strong math and science background I became a nuclear missile officer after having trained in electronic and defense tactics at White Sands Missile Proving grounds in New Mexico and Ft. Bliss Missile training school in El Paso. Thereafter, I served in Florida and Kimje South Korea as commander of the Nike Hercules nuclear missile battery in Kimje and became a Captain in three years.
In 1972, I left the Army after having been awarded the Army commendation medal, and went to graduate school using a small fellowship I received from the Texas State Department of Education and my GI Bill allocation. I enrolled at the University of North Texas where I was awarded the MS and PhD in Counseling Psychology. While at North Texas, I supervised Master's School Counseling candidates in their practicum experience and assisted Dr. Byron Medler with Doctoral students taking Individual and Group Counseling courses in the experiential portion of the courses. I completed my internship at the University hospital in Denton, Texas and a postdoctoral residency at the prestigious Alameda Clinic of St. Joseph's Hospital in Houston. After passing my licensing examinations and required supervision, I obtained a valid Psychologist license in 1977 which I still hold today.
My first professional job was as a staff psychologist at the University of Houston Downtown campus. I subsequently was promoted to the Director of Counseling and testing position and finally, was made the University's first Dean of Students at age 34. While at the University of Houston, I taught at least one undergraduate psychology course each semester for five years, and supervised master's practicum students and doctoral interns from the main campus of the University of Houston as they completed requirements in my counseling center.
My next position was as Dean of College Affairs at Samuel Merritt College in Oakland, a growing institution that offered great and diverse opportunities. At Samuel Merritt, I supervised all aspects of Student Services including counseling, registrar, academic advising, recruitment, financial aids and student health services. I was Samuel Merritt's chairperson for the initial accreditation with the Western Association of Colleges and Schools and was part of the Samuel Meritt College administration, which received full accreditation with the National League for Nurses in 1984 as the first single purpose nursing and former diploma institution.
I started a broadcast quality television and multi media production facility as an ancillary operation inside the College and subsequently produced over 470 television productions. Studio Three Productions produced the first media ancillary products for medically oriented textbook companies in 1988, including Times-Mirror, Mosby, Lippincott, Addison Westley and went on to dominate the nursing, psychology and allied health markets in the 90s. I produced both the landmark Nurse Theorist Portrait's of Excellence series for the Helene Fuld Health Institute and the Cameo; Outstanding Nurse Researchers and Their Work series for Mosby and Sigma Theta Tau. I produced and directed two nationally televised medical and health related series that aired on Lifetime and CNBC for two years. And, finally, I produced the first Press laser disc and CD-ROM educational series for nurses with Mosby and Lippincott. I was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau as an Honorary Member in 1993 and received many honors and awards for my media productions including a Medical Oscar from the Academy of Medical Films in 1993 for a series of documentaries on the state of the art in home health; and a Telly, a medical emmy, for a documentary I wrote, produced and directed on the life of Florence Nightingale.
I continued to teach at Samuel Merritt's sister institution Saint Mary's College since Merritt did not have counseling or psychology students. Over a period of 15 years I taught one and sometimes two undergraduate and graduate courses a semester in Clinical psychology, Individual and Group Counseling Theory, Marriage and Family Counseling and General Psychology. I also supervised a variety of counseling Master's students and an occasional doctoral candidate from Saint Mary's College and/or California State University of Hayward in the Merritt counseling center.
In 1996, I left Merritt to start my own educational media and consulting company. My company was quite successful but a drain on my energy and time due, in large part, to the huge amount of travel it demanded; so I sold it in 2000 and retired. I have worked with such prestigious institutions as The Cleveland Clinic Foundation where I recently completed a project that helped them organize and develop a new cooperative Health Institute with Cleveland State University for the purpose of educating nurses and allied health professionals. The agreement was signed in January 1999 and was fully implemented in October 1999. The Cleveland Health Institute has over one thousand students studying in a wide array of health and clinical programs, undergraduate and graduate degrees. I have also developed a Nova series for PBS on the History of Medical Innovation and War and several other media projects. I also served on the Board of Overseers at the University of California at San Francisco Nursing School.
I have continued to keep a presence in the classroom and seventeen years ago I joined the Chapman University faculty at the Walnut Creek California Campus. I have taught Introduction to Lifelong Learning and Career Assessment, General Psychology, Counseling Theory, Learning Theory, Personality Theory, Research, Critical Thinking in Behavioral Science, Cognitive Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy, Abnormal Psychology, Cultural Diversity and Internship at Chapman/Brandman. And, I developed the initial On-line Critical Thinking in Psychology and Counseling Theory Psychology classes at Chapman in 2001. In 2005 I was hired to develop two Psychology courses for the University of Phoenix including their Abnormal Psychology undergraduate course and their two graduate Psychopathology courses currently being used across the country. I continue to work with nurses, physicians, mental health professionals and in clinical and academic environments as a consultant at Fairview Health Center, Meredia Health, Rutgers University, The University of Phoenix, The University of California at San Francisco Nursing school and with Sigma Theta Tau International.