David Walls (academic)

David Walls (born October 21, 1941) is an activist and academic who has made significant contributions to Appalachian studies and to the popular understanding of social movements. He is professor emeritus of sociology at Sonoma State University (SSU) in California, where he was dean of extended education from 1984 to 2000.

Born David Stuart Walls in Chicago, Illinois, he grew up on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and in Duluth, Minnesota. He finished the last two years of high school in Coral Gables, Florida. He attended the University of California, Berkeley as an undergraduate from 1959 to 1964, earning a bachelor's degree in economics. While at Berkeley, he was active in SLATE, the campus political party, and served a term on the board of directors of the Associated Students of the University of California.

After graduating from UC Berkeley, he began work in 1964 as a management intern at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington, DC, serving as an assistant to Mary E. Switzer, commissioner of the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration, and her deputy. In 1965 he transferred to the newly established War on Poverty headquarters, the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), where he worked in the Community Action Program, assisting Jule Sugarman with the launch of Project Head Start and funding student volunteer programs.