James F. David

Background

James F. David is the pseudonym of James D. Foster. He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in Twin Falls Idaho and then Portland Oregon.

Education

James F. David studied at Seattle Pacific University. Later, he attended Ohio State University, where he received a Master of Arts degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Developmental Psychology.

Career

James F. David has been a professor of psychology and dean of the School of Behavioral and Health Sciences at George Fox University in Newberg for 39 years. He was also a chairperson of the Undergraduate Psychology Department there.

As the author of science fiction novels and short stories, James wrote Footprints of Thunder in 1995, Fragments in 1997, Ship of the Damned in 2000. His most recent work, Silent Star, was written in 2014.

Achievements

• In the 39 years James F. David (Jim Foster) worked at George Fox, he served in almost every administrative role in academics, from department chair to interim provost. He was dean, at one time or another, over every faculty area at the university.
  
  David's thrilling novels have received acclaim for their intriguing, provocative narratives, superb suspense and riveting, nonstop action.

Works

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  • Fragments

    (A team of psychologists has gathered in a small college t...)

    1997
  • Thunder of Time

    (Ten years ago, the prehistoric past collided with the pre...)

    2006
  • Dinosaur Thunder

    (Eighteen years ago, the prehistoric past collided with th...)

    2012
  • Before the Cradle Falls

    (Paralyzed by drink and despair since the accidental death...)

    2002
  • Judgment Day

    (Even the universe is not big enough for the both of them ...)

    2005
  • Footprints of Thunder

    (When a freak natural phenomenon dissolves the boundaries ...)

    1995
  • The Book of Summer

    (Thanks to a gift from God, Ira Breitling has taken his fo...)

    2008
  • Ship of the Damned

    (More than fifty years after a scientific experiment has a...)

    2000
  • Silent Star

    (An unknown object, UNOB, is approaching Earth. Coming in ...)

    2014
  • 32 Great Road Bike Tours in Central Pennsylvania 1994

Views

Quotations: "I love teaching, and on the few occasions when I did not teach in a semester I felt like I was disconnected from what the university is all about. I think I am a teacher at heart and could never quite leave it behind."

"When you find yourself teaching the children of the first students you taught it is affirming, since their parents wanted their children to have the same experience, but it is also a reminder about how much time has passed. Time to retire."

"One year I instituted a policy that if students missed a certain number of classes they would not pass the class. I had one student who kept missing class, and finally toward the end of the semester he missed again, dropping below the minimum number of attendance days. So, I took the whole class to his dorm and got him out of bed."

Personality

Known for his quick wit and humor, Foster often used both to keep his students engaged in the material – or, in one instance, to keep them from failing. The literal wake-up call was just one instance in which Foster endeared himself to his students. He also took the time to get to know them outside the classroom, as he did on a number of Juniors Abroad trips.

Foster says his favorite class to teach was Human Development because, unlike some subjects, "it relates to everyone in the class" and "is all about them, from the beginning of their lives to wherever they are in development."

Connections

James F. David is married and has three daughters.