Ben J. Wallace, Professor of Anthropology in Dedman College, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He joined SMU's anthropology faculty in 1969, soon after the department was established. He served as Anthropology Department chair from 1985-1992 and as vice president of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at SMU from 1989-2000. He directed the SMU Study Abroad Program from 1992-2008 and contributed to development of the International Studies major, which he directed for several years. Professor Wallace spent most of his research career in the Philippines, starting as a traditional anthropologist and later focusing on social and environmental problem solving. He has published several books on his research in the Philippines and Bangladesh. They include Hill and Valley Farmers: Socio-Economic Change Among A Philippine People, Village Life in Insular Southeast Asia, Social Sciences and Farming Systems Research and The Invisible Resource: Women's Work and Time in Rural Bangladesh. His most recent book, Weeds, Roads and God: A Half Century of Culture Change Among the Philippine Ga'dang, published in 2013, examines change in a Philippine village where his field research began more than 50 years ago. He retires as Professor Emeritus of Anthropology.
Ben J. Wallace, Professor of Anthropology in Dedman College, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. He joined SMU's anthropology faculty in 1969, soon after the department was established. He served as Anthropology Department chair from 1985-1992 and as vice president of the Institute for the Study of Earth and Man at SMU from 1989-2000. He directed the SMU Study Abroad Program from 1992-2008 and contributed to development of the International Studies major, which he directed for several years. Professor Wallace spent most of his research career in the Philippines, starting as a traditional anthropologist and later focusing on social and environmental problem solving. He has published several books on his research in the Philippines and Bangladesh. They include Hill and Valley Farmers: Socio-Economic Change Among A Philippine People, Village Life in Insular Southeast Asia, Social Sciences and Farming Systems Research and The Invisible Resource: Women's Work and Time in Rural Bangladesh. His most recent book, Weeds, Roads and God: A Half Century of Culture Change Among the Philippine Ga'dang, published in 2013, examines change in a Philippine village where his field research began more than 50 years ago. He retires as Professor Emeritus of Anthropology.