About David Anderson
Age: 55
Education: Bachelor of Arts (English), St. Olaf College, 1974. Doctorate in English, Boston College, 1978. Institute for Educational Management, Harvard University, 2000. Center for Dispute Resolution, Capital University, training in mediation, 2005.
Family: Married to Priscilla Paton, a writer and scholar; son, James; and daughter, Elizabeth, who attends Kenyon College. "And we have a dog named Troy, a black lab mixed with some skinnier breed."
Career: St. Olaf College, 1978-80: assistant professor of English and tutor in the Paracollege. University of Kansas, 1980-81: post-doctoral fellow in English. Texas A&M University, 1981-93: positions included director of undergraduate studies in English. Florida Atlantic University, 1993-97: professor of English and associate dean of arts and humanities. Luther College, 1997-99: vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. Denison University, 1999-2006, provost and professor of English.
Professional Activities: Emeriti Retirement Health Solutions, chair of the advisory council.
Community Work: During his seven years at Denison in Granville, Ohio, David was president of the church council at Hosanna Lutheran Church in Pataskala and vice president of the board of the Mental Health Association of Licking County in Newark.
Interests: A scholar of 18th-century British literature ("especially the long poem, the writings of Samuel Johnson and theodicy as a literary genre"), Anderson "loves words" and has a passion for the "hard-boiled detective novel." Among the numerous academic articles he has published are two on American detective novelist Rex Stout. He also enjoys cooking, tennis, gardening and international travel.
Formative Years: A native of La Crosse, Wis., where his parents still live, Anderson describes himself as a Midwesterner, "and I'm very comfortable with that."
Just for Fun: Anderson enjoys detective novels by Robert B. Parker, Dennis Lehane, Robert Crais and former St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter John Sandford. He burned a CD, Dad's Cool Tunes , for long car rides that includes songs by They Might Be Giants, Tracy Nelson, John Lee Hooker, Diana Krall and the Beatles.