Biography

David Dodds is the UND Communication Director and a member of the Division of Marketing & Communications. In those roles, Dodds develops and implements media and communications strategies for UND, develops strategic media plans, coordinates public relations, UND Today, manages media contacts, pitches stories and responds to media inquiries.

Dodds began his Communication Director duties on Feb. 19, 2019. He is the founding editor and developer of UND Today.

Dodds has been with UND for 13 years, and has worked primarily with media, publications and public relations. Previously, he was a reporter for The Grand Forks Herald, where he mostly covered higher education in North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota.

Retired from the North Dakota Army National Guard, Dodds has served on several deployments, including to the Middle East as a military journalist. While with the Army, Dodds routinely managed visits by and escorted national and international civilian reporters, helping them embed with troops who were serving overseas. He has also been deployed to Kosovo, Germany, Italy and South Korea.

Dodds, who was born in New Rockford, N.D., and grew up in Dickinson, N.D., earned his bachelor’s degree in communication from UND in 1998. He is married to Jennifer, an elementary teacher in Grand Forks, where they have chosen to settle and raise their children: Emma, Eliza, Josephine, Amelia and Lydia.

He succeeded longtime University spokesman and former Interim Vice President for University Relations Peter Johnson.