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David Todd

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Senior Lecturer, English

(301) 405-3763

1228 Tawes Hall
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Research Expertise

Creative Writing
Language, Writing and Rhetoric

David Y. Todd began teaching at College Park in 2014.  Previous work includes:

  • Strategic communications advisor - Peace Corps Office of Global Health, 2011-12.
  • Speechwriter and editor for president - Amherst College, 2003-11.
  • Publications director - National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 2006-08.
  • Associate director of communications and editor - Georgetown Law Center, 2001-06.
  • Editor and writer - Florida Departments of Labor and of Children & Families, 1998-2000.
  • Workshop instructor - The Writer's Center, University of the South (Sewanee) and county public schools, 1996-2010.
  • Adjunct English instructor - College of Charleston, Citadel and Florida State, 1994-99.
  • Developmental editor of essays in The Atlantic, Best American Essays and elsewhere, 1994-99.
  • Reporter - The Patriot Ledger, 1988-89.
  • Civil litigation attorney - Hartford, CT, and Boston, MA, 1985-89.

Writing published by The Boston Globe, The Nation, Peace Corps, Sewanee Review, Yale Review and others. 

Awards & Grants

Regional Gold, Silver and Bronze Quill Award

International Association of Business Communicators

English

Author/Lead: David Todd
Dates: -

These awards, recognizing exceptional communication works’ strategic relevance, timeliness and
innovation, further raise the bar and grow the body of work of our profession.

Individual Artist Fellowship

South Carolina Arts Commission

English

Author/Lead: David Todd
Dates: -

Fellowships recognize and reward the artistic achievements of South Carolina’s exceptional individual artists and are made through a highly competitive process.

Resident Fellow

Virginia Center for Creative Arts

English

Author/Lead: David Todd
Dates: -

Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), one of the leading artists communities in the world with
locations in Amherst, Virginia, and Auvillar, France, hosts more than 400 visual artists, writers, and
composers each year. The artists who come to VCCA, whether emerging or established, are selected by peer review on the basis of the important or innovative work they are doing in their respective fields.

Publications

Excel Awards

David Todd volunteered as a returning judge for the annual “Excel Awards” national publications competition hosted by Association Media & Publishing in Washington, D.C.

English

Author/Lead: David Todd
Dates:
Annual judge for publication competitions.

Teacher's Guide to Kentucky Educational Television's "Signature" documentary series.

"Signature" profiles a diverse group of contemporary Southern writers who have brought distinctive voices to American literature.

English

Author/Lead: David Todd
Dates:

This guide accompanies the television series, which is a production of Kentucky Educational Television funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Center for the Arts and the Annenberg/CPB Project. 

Grading the States: A Report on America's Health Care System for Serious Mental Illnesses.

We live in a time where people with serious mental illness are at increased risk. State systems are under tremendous financial strain.

English

Author/Lead: David Todd
Dates:
As this report goes to press, actions that are being considered in Congress are likely to do more harm than good. Sadly, the promise of community mental health remains unfulfilled. In 1990, NAMI released its last state ratings report. It described a system of services that, despite enormous expenditure of resources, was not “even minimally acceptable.” It detailed great regional and state variations in the existing system of care. Sixteen years later, mental illnesses cause more disability than any other class of medical illness in America. Recent reports from the U.S. Surgeon General, President Bush’s New Freedom Commission, and the Institute of Medicine describe well a “system in shambles” and the “chasm” between promise and performance.

Read More about Grading the States: A Report on America's Health Care System for Serious Mental Illnesses.

Association of Writers and Writing Programs Pedagogy Handbooks

Contributions

English

Author/Lead: David Todd
Dates:

"Spontaneous Verse in the Composition Classroom" and "Final Exams for the Writing Workshop" provoke narrative writers to try new directions.