Dr. Robert Wallace Named Interim Dean of the WVSU College of Arts and Humanities

5/18/2016

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Contact: Kimberly Osborne
(304) 766-3363
kosborne@wvstateu.edu
 
 
Dr. Robert Wallace Named Interim Dean of the WVSU College of Arts and Humanities
 
INSTITUTE, W.Va. – Dr. Robert Wallace has been named the Interim Dean for the West Virginia State University (WVSU) College of Arts and Humanities effective immediately.

Former Dean Scott Woodard, D.M.A., was recently named Interim Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs for the University.  In the coming months, WVSU will conduct a national search for a permanent appointment for the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

“I am pleased Interim Dean Wallace and Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Woodard have accepted these leadership positions as they both have an unparalleled passion for the University and its students,” said WVSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Kumara Jayasuriya, Ph.D. “Throughout his 12 year tenure at West Virginia State University, Dr. Wallace has served on numerous Faculty Senate committees, participated in a special committee on leadership and had numerous academic writings published in national journals. His commitment to quality education, access to unique and challenge opportunities for our students and support for faculty will serve the College and the University well.”

Wallace has been a professor at WVSU since 2004 and, most recently, served as Chair of the Department of English. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses including Composition and Rhetoric I and II; Writing for Publication; Technical Writing; Composition for Pre-service Teachers; Approaches to Teaching Literature; Creative Writing; and more. Wallace also advises students and serves as the faculty advisor for the Kanawha Review, a WVSU student publication.

In 2015, Louisiana Literature Press published Wallace’s first collection of poetry, “Hawk on a Power Line.”  Wallace’s review, “Singing School: Learning to Write (and read) Poetry by Studying the Masters,” was published by the National Council of Teachers of English that same year. Awards and honors received by Wallace include the nomination of “Bunting” in 2016 for a Pushcart Prize; a nomination for Developmental Instructor of the Year by the West Virginia Association for Development Education in 2015; the Retention Connection Award by WVSU in 2014; and being named finalist in the James Applewhite Poetry Prize in North Carolina Literacy Review in 2013.

Prior to joining WVSU in 2004, Wallace worked as an Adjunct Instructor in the Department of English at Bluefield State College. His work experience also includes serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of English at Marshall University and Assistant Professor in the Division of Languages and Literature at Concord College, now University.

Wallace earned his doctorate of philosophy from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his master of fine arts in creative writing from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he was awarded an Academy of American Poets Prize. Wallace earned his bachelor of arts from Pfeiffer College.

Wallace resides in Charleston, W.Va., with his wife, Cathy. He has two daughters, Rachel, who attends the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, and Claire, who attends Marshall University and majors in Computer Science.

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West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.