Reid-Wallace taught the humanities at Talladega College, Howard University, Grinnell College and Bowie State University.[3] At Bowie State University, she served as the dean of instruction from 1974 to 1975, dean of undergraduate studies from 1975 to 1976, dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs from 1976 to 1978, and as the acting chief executive from 1977 to 1978.[1][4] From 1979 to 1980, she was the director of the NAFEO/NEH humanities program.[1] She completed a Ph.D. in English and American literature at the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University in 1981.[1] Her dissertation was titled, Jean Toomer: Death on the Modern Desert.[5] Reid-Wallace was the director for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education Clearinghouse (NAFEO) from 1981 to 1982.[1] In 1982, Reid-Wallace became the at the National Endowment for the Humanities.[1][4] In 1987, U.S. president Ronald Reagan appointed her as a member of the National Council on the Humanities, succeeding Samuel DuBois Cook.[1] Her term was set to expire on January 26, 1992.[1] She served as the vice chancellor for academic affairs of City University of New York from 1987 to 1991.[3][4]
Reid married law student Addison Wallace.[10] They moved to Washington, D.C.[10] He died in 1970 from cancer when Reid was eight months pregnant with their first child.[10]
^Reid-Wallace, Carolynn (1981). Jean Toomer: Death on the Modern Desert (Ph.D. thesis). George Washington University. OCLC8392974.
^ abcdBates, Gerri (2007). "These Hallowed Halls: African American Women College and University Presidents". The Journal of Negro Education. 76 (3): 373–390. ISSN0022-2984. JSTOR40034579.
^ abTrattner, John H. (2010). The 2000 Prune Book: How to Succeed in Washington's Top Jobs. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 290. ISBN978-0-8157-0517-8.
