By: Lauren Hett
11/17/2005

When they die, most people hope to be able to say what Bill Allan has been proclaiming for years:  “I’ve had a very fun life.”

As an associate professor of psychology and the division chairman for Social and Behavioral Sciences, Allan does enjoy life. 

Allan was born in Canada to Scottish parents, but he and his older brother moved frequently because of his father’s pastoral duties.  Allan has lived in Michigan, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas and California, as well as completing his second grade school year in Scotland.

Born Scottish citizens, Allan’s parents never became naturalized Americans, instead “filling out residency forms every year like immigrants have to do,” Allan said.  He and his brother, however, applied as teenagers.

“At Christmastime when I was in high school, I tried to get a job at the post office,” Allan recalls. “They only hired U.S. citizens, so I decided to get my citizenship.”

Allan describes moving around a lot as “good news, bad news.  I made a lot of friends, but then left them and had to start all over again.” 

However, Allan believes his experiences have enabled him to make friends easily, and he likes having friends in many places.

Allan graduated from high school in Dallas and went to college at North Texas State University. He obtained his degree in elementary education and religion from Abilene Christian College, where he met his wife, Joan.  The two married immediately after graduation and moved to California so Allan could teach fifth grade and work at a local church.

Two years later, Allan decided to pursue his master’s degree in counseling and psychology at California Polytechnic University. While attending classes and befriending students in hopes of starting a campus ministry, Allan served as pastor at a small church of about 120-150 members.

“I was the only staff,” he said.

In the next few years, Allan accepted jobs at Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas, and then at a church in Friendswood, Texas. Finally, in 1980, Allan landed a job teaching psychology and marriage and family counseling at Friends.

In 1982, the Friends president expressed a desire to offer new graduate programs, so Allan and two other professors dreamed up the marriage and family program that is currently in place.

“It’s a solid graduate program,” Allan said.  After the president stamped his approval, “boom, it took off like a rocket and did really well.”

Allan attributes his critical thinking abilities and easy-going personality to life lessons he learned in college. Allan and his friends played a lot of practical jokes, he said, like blowing baby powder under somebody’s door.

“It was like fog,” Allan said, laughing.

Also, flooding the residence hall’s tile floors created a makeshift slip ’n’ slide, Allan recalled. The fun stopped when the water leaked on the first floor football players, who then retaliated by filling Allan’s room with water.

“It’s discouraging to wake up in the morning and open your eyes and see your flip-flops floating in your room. That’s ugly,” Allan said. 

The perpetrators had to pay for the damage they caused, but Allan does not regret the experience because he learned to think things through before acting on them. Allan also appreciates his prankster years as a time when he learned how to handle someone making fun of him or playing a joke on him.

Last year, Allan’s treasured 35-year-old coffee cup was kidnapped from his office. He received a ransom note and a coded message, along with pictures of the cup with a hammer, hanging from a noose. After a few days of picking his brain, Allan finally solved the riddle and retrieved his mug. Instead of being upset, as some people might be, Allan laughed along with his guilty students.

Another talent Allan believes he developed in college is his ability to read people. 

“Generally I size someone up and determine if they can handle being made fun of or embarrassed or a joke pulled,” Allan said.  “And if you size them up and they can’t, there’s no need to do it. Or you size up somebody that you know it’s going to really irritate them, and then you do it just because you’re really mean.”  

Allan’s life experiences have led him to believe that the most important things to be learned at college are not in the classroom. 

“Learn to think critically,” he said.  “Don’t be afraid to ask questions.” 

Allan also recommends having a good network of friends and trusting them.

“Maybe I should say, first, build a good network, then trust it, because sometimes we choose the wrong people and they mess us up,” he said. 

College buddies Allan hasn’t seen for 30 years or more are still considered close friends, because “that intense time (in college) was really special,” Allan said.

Finally, Allan reminds everyone to have fun, study and try not to get priorities mixed up.

“I know students who come out of here sometimes with a 4.0 or a 3.8, but they still can’t think. They can write a good paper and take a test, but they still can’t think – really question things and reason it through. To me, that’s more important than somebody who’s got a 3.8.”