Dr. David J. Ayers serves as Assistant Dean of the Alva J. Calderwood School of Arts and Letters, as well as Chair and Professor of Sociology, at Grove City College, where he has worked since 1996. He is also a fellow with The Center for Vision & Values. He completed his Ph.D. at New York University, his MA at American University, and his BA at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
Immediately prior to coming to Grove City College, Dr. Ayers lived in St. Louis and (among other things) headed his own company there. This included research and consulting for firms as varied as Anhauser-Busch, Milliken Publishing, and Practical Homeschooling Magazine. In fact, in his work for Anhauser-Busch, Ayers scripted a training film “starring” A-B’s Chief Financial Officer, and he wrote a stage presentation that was performed by popular television personality Regis Philbin for an audience including, among others, the mayor of St. Louis.
Dr. Ayers’ varied background also includes teaching at The King’s College in New York and at Dallas Baptist University (Texas), being a Special Research Affiliate in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Studies, and Research Associate for a consulting firm carrying out studies in the health care field in Washington, D.C.. He also carried out two national studies on pro-life pregnancy counseling centers for a consortium of interested parties in D.C. that included the U.S. House of Representatives Pro-Life Caucus. These studies were widely covered in the press at the time.
He has also been a mental health worker, delinquency counselor, short-order cook, factory machine operator, busboy, bagel baker, construction laborer, poet and song-writer—but not necessarily in that order.
Ayers’ research essay “The Inevitability of Failure: The Assumptions and Implementations of Modern Feminism” appeared in a volume edited by John Piper and Wayne Grudem entitled Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. This book went on to win Christianity Today’s “Best Book of the Year” and “Best Book in Theology award in 1991, and is now out in a new, second edition. Dr. Ayers has also written popular articles in publications such as Practical Homeschooling and Crosswinds. He has two books out with one of the world’s largest academic publishers, Cengage/Wadsworth: Experiencing Social Research (2002) and Investigating Social Problems (2005).
David Ayers’ hobbies include fishing, archery hunting white-tail deer, and playing blues and rock guitar. He enjoys jamming on his Fender, Gibson, or Martin guitars using great tunes from fine classical artists such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top, Johnny Winters, and Joe Bonamassa. More than anything else, Ayers is happy to be blessed with a wonderful family that includes his wife Kathy, six children, one son-in-law, two rabbits, and the robins that regularly nest in his front porch. (No grandchildren yet!) He resides in Grove City.