David E. Schwalm earned his bachelor's degree in English at Carleton College and his Masters and PhD in English at the University of Chicago. He has served on the faculty in the Department of Rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley and in English Departments at the Ohio State University and the University of Texas at El Paso.

He came to Arizona State University Tempe in 1986 as Associate Professor of English and Director of Composition. In 1992, he was appointed Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at ASU West where he had primary responsibility for academic planning and was involved in the planning of ASU East.

In 1996, he was named Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Services at ASU East (now Polytechnic). In 1997, he was also appointed as founding Dean of East College, a general college created to house new programs at ASU East. In the summer of 2003, he went back to serving only as Vice Provost. In January of 2007, he was named founding Dean of the School of Applied Arts and Sciences at ASU Poly. He retired from that position in June, 2008.

Throughout his career at ASU, Dave has been active locally and statewide in university/community college relations and in developing and implementing statewide transfer articulation policies and procedures. He has written and spoken on a range of subjects, including 18th Century British Literature, biography, rhetoric and composition, outcomes assessment, writing program administration, university administration, and university/community college relations. Dave and his wife Karen have been married for 42 years, and they have two adult children. Since David and Karen are both retired and their children are grown, they are now spending more time with their motorcycles.

Dave was interviewed as part of the Video History Project on March 4, 2015. The complete interview and a short clip from the interview are available for viewing online.