In Memory of David Campbell

The Counseling Psychology Program is saddened by the passing of Dr. David Campbell, but celebrate his legacy as a Minnesota Psychologist. David was admitted to the psychology doctoral program in the late 1950s and was advised by Dr. Kenneth E. Clark. He successfully defended his dissertation, Psychometric Analysis of Response Patterns to Interest Inventory Items (1960), which is #269 in the UMN Psychology Book of Dissertations. After completing his dissertation, he joined the faculty in the Student Counseling Bureau, Office of Student Affairs. As a faculty member, he continued his work on revising the Strong Vocational Interest Blank with his advisor, Kenneth Clark, and E.K. Strong, Jr. (Stanford University). In 1963, Strong’s son-in-law, Ralph Berdie, who was the director of the Student Counseling Bureau, worked with university administration to transfer Strong’s research from Stanford University to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Interest Measurement Research (CIMR). Campbell was named director of CIMR.

In 1973, David was named a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) in Greensboro, North Carolina. He stayed on as a vice president of CCL, which ended his tenure with the UMN. In 1985, David moved permanently to Colorado Springs after facilitating the development of CCL's Colorado branch. He also developed the Campbell Skills and Interest Survey, which became a widely used instrument for corporate career management.

In 2002, David was speaker for the Counseling Psychology Program’s 50th anniversary of APA accreditation. During the celebration, he presented the workshop, Optimism: The Leadership Edge. David’s honors include the E.K. Strong, Jr. Gold Medal for excellence in psychological testing research practices, an honorary doctorate from the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs, and the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

David’s extensive travel allowed him to assemble “the world’s largest” private postcard collection. He donated his collection of nearly 300,000 postcards along with his papers to the Archives of Psychology located in Akron, Ohio.

Online gifts can be made to the Campbell Graduate Research Fellowship, which was established by Dr. Campbell to provide expanded opportunities for Ph.D. candidates in psychology. Priority for awards is given to support students attending international psychology workshops or conferences. If you prefer to mail-in your gift, please download the Mail-In Gift Form.

Dr. David P. Campbell's obituary from the Wichita, KS Gazette is available by clicking on his name.