Meet Professor Rice

Dr. David Wall Rice is Professor of Psychology at Morehouse College and Principal Investigator of the Identity, Art and Democracy Lab, a research space that looks at expressions of identity balance through engagement, the exploration of varied contexts and personal narratives. It is a strengths-based lab that works to understand and to elicit behavioral bests.

Dr. David Wall Rice is Professor of Psychology at Morehouse College, with a program of study that places emphasis on identity and personality. The primary vehicle for this work is the Identity, Art and Democracy Lab, a research space where Rice et al. examine identity through life stories and an asset-based lens.

The Lab explores the best parts of how people adapt to a variety of contexts, with special attention to popular culture because of its capacity to influence perception and behavior.

An extension of this lab work is found in Rice’s role as one of five Principal Investigators for the National Science Foundation-funded Center for the Development of Identity and Motivation of African American Students in STEM [award #2010779]; and in social impact work that includes programming with collaborators ranging from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Polo by Ralph Lauren to The Players Coalition.

Rice is the former Danforth Endowed Chair of Psychology at Morehouse College, was founding director of the Institute for Social Justice Inquiry and Praxis and founding Co-Director of the School’s Cinema, Television and Emerging Media Studies (CTEMS) Program.

Rice presently serves Morehouse as curator for Crown Forum, a contemporary spin on the College’s weekly Chapel experience, and is coordinator for Justice-Mester, the school’s social impact-based winter term.

Rice graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and earned a master’s degree and doctorate in personality psychology from Howard University.

With a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, Rice frequently applies his research to cultural criticism. He has served on the Editorial Advisory Boards for both The Journal of Negro Education and The Journal of Popular Culture; he has provided commentary for C-SPAN, NPR, PRI, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC; and his writing and opinion have appeared in The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Magazine, Vibe magazine, and Ebony among other media outlets. His writing is also represented in the Cornell Hip Hop Collection as part of the Adler Hip Hop Archive.

An emphasis on “the positive” is an approach that informs Rice’s work in identity development that finds root in youth culture, music culture, media, politics, psychology, education and faith.

Rice’s edited volume, Identity Orchestration: Black Lives, Balance and the Psychology of Self Stories (2022) — a follow-up to Balance: Advancing Identity Theory by Engaging the Black Male Adolescent (2008) — is an effective representation of Rice, the Identity, Art and Democracy research Lab and the work they engage.