David Phillip Campbell was born on January 14, 1934. He earned his B.S. degree in 1955 and his M.S. degree in statistics in 1958 from Iowa State University. His Ph.D. was granted in psychology in 1960 from the University of Minnesota. In 1960, Dr. Campbell joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota as an assistant professor of psychology; he was appointed as assistant director of the Student Counseling Bureau in 1962. In 1963, he was promoted to associate professor and named director of the Center for Interest Measurement Research and in 1968 he was promoted to professor. Dr. Campbell left the University of Minnesota in 1974 to become vice president of research and programs at the Center for Creative Leadership, an educational institution devoted to the identification and development of innovative leaders, located in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Professor Campbell was involved with the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, a widely used and highly respected inventory that tests professional and career interests. The Center for Interest Measurement Research project, of which Dr. Campbell led, was to bring the Strong Test up to date by modernizing or substituting new items for 100 items that were out of date. Beginning with the first year of the Center's existence in 1963, the Strong Vocational Interest Blank was under almost continuous revision. The period included revision to the men's form (1963-1966), the women's form (1966-1969) and publication of the Handbook for the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, the definitive test accompanying the men’s and women’s form (1971). By mid-1971, work had begun on the latest revision of the Strong Inventory, the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII), which was published in 1974.
From the guide to the David P. Campbell papers, 1960-1973, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University Archives [uarc])
