Lieutenant Colonel
Director, Killology Research Group
ROTC Hall of Heroes Founder-Benefactor
Dave Grossman was born 23 August 1956 in Frankfurt, Germany. In 1984, he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. degree from Columbus College, Columbus, GA., followed, in 1990, by an M.Ed. in counseling psychology from the University of Texas. He served as the Professor of Military Science and Chair, Department of Military Science at ASU from 1994 to 1998, and then as adjunct faculty, Department of Psychology and Counseling, until 1999. LTC Grossman is a former Army Ranger who has combined his experiences to become the founder of a new field of scientific endeavor, which he termed “killology.” In this field, he has made revolutionary contributions to our understanding of killing in war, the psychological costs of war, the root causes of the current “virus” of violent crime that is raging around the world, and the process of healing the victims of violence, in war and peace.
His book, On Killing, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and has been translated into Japanese, Korean, and German. It is on the U.S. Marine Corps’ required reading list and is required reading at the FBI academy and other academies and colleges. LTC Grossman co-authored, Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence which has been translated into Norwegian and German and has received international acclaim. His book, On Combat, has also been placed on the U.S. Marine Commandant’s list and is required reading at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He has written many encyclopedia entries and an entry in The Oxford Companion to American Military History; presented papers to the AMA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association; and co-authored an entry on active shooter terrorism response in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy. He served as an expert witness for the prosecution team in United States vs. Timothy McVeigh. LTC Grossman helped train health professionals after the Jonesboro school shootings and was involved in counseling or court cases in the aftermath of the Paducah, Springfield, Littleton, and Virginia Tech school shootings. He has been called to testify, on his area of expertise, before U.S. Senate, Congressional committees and numerous state legislatures and his research has been cited in a national address by the President of the United States.
LTC Grossman is an Airborne Ranger infantry officer, and a prior-service sergeant and paratrooper, with a total of over 23 years experience in leading U.S. Soldiers worldwide. He retired from the Army in February 1998 and has devoted himself, full-time, to teaching, writing, speaking, and research. Today he is the director of the Killology Research Group, and in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he is on the road almost 300 days a year, speaking to elite military and law enforcement organizations worldwide about the realities of combat. In October 1994, LTC Grossman established the Hall of Heroes to honor ASU ROTC graduates who have distinguished themselves on and off the battlefield. His motto: II Cor. 10:17.
