David Dodds joins Office Of University Relations as writer/editor David Dodds, a Grand Forks Herald reporter who spent several years covering higher education, has been named a writer/editor at the Office of University Relations. He starts May 19. The New Rockford, N.D., native will serve as managing editor of the University's research magazine, UND Discovery, and will serve as a writer and editor for other University Relations publications and projects. Dodds will also serve as an additional media contact. Peter Johnson, who serves as interim executive associate vice president for University Relations, will retain his position as Media Relations Coordinator and as a spokesman for UND. Dodds lived in New Rockford and Leeds, N.D., before moving to Dickinson, where he attended public school and Dickinson State University before transferring to UND. He spent a semester as the news editor of the Dakota Student before taking an internship at the Pulitzer Prize-winning Grand Forks Herald in December in 1997. He graduated from UND in 1998 with a degree in communication and joined the Herald part time. He became a full time reporter in February 1999. He covered an array of "beats," including police and courts, city government and regional happenings. He spent most of 2001 to 2006 as the UND beat reporter. Dodds has served with the North Dakota National Guard for nearly 19 years, including deployment in 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served 12 months in the Middle East, including stops in Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. He was the top enlisted leader of the U.S. Central Command Public Affairs Office in the Middle East, where his primary duties were to manage day-to-day operations of the office and to escort private-sector media members during visits to the area. "We are delighted that David will be joining our staff," said Johnson. "We had an excellent pool of candidates to choose from, but David brings a great background in writing and editing through his work at the Grand Forks Herald, and a great background in public relations through his work with the North Dakota National Guard. Since David covered UND for most of this decade, he already has a solid relationship with many key personnel at UND. Those relationships and the depth of understanding he already has about the University will be great assets to our office." Dodds and his wife Jennifer, a library media specialist at Ben Franklin Elementary in Grand Forks, have two daughters, Emma and Eliza. -- University Relations.