David Coogan

David Coogan is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Virginia Commonwealth University and founder of Open Minds, a service-learning program connecting university students with incarcerated individuals at the Richmond City Justice Center. He also established the Write Your Way Out diversion program, offering low-level offenders alternatives to incarceration through personal narrative writing.

• Specializes in rhetoric, prison literature, and civic engagement pedagogy
• Recipient of 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award (College of Humanities and Sciences) and 2020 University Excellence in Service-Learning Faculty Award

His research focuses on rhetoric of redemption narratives, agency in mass incarceration, and transformative prison education. Publications analyze prison literature, pedagogical partnerships, and restorative justice frameworks. Key article themes include rhetorical theory, prison reform, narrative empowerment, and community-university collaborations. Awards highlight his pedagogical innovation in service-learning and civic engagement. Coogan teaches courses on political rhetoric, persuasive writing, and prison literature, maintaining faculty contact via dcoogan@vcu.edu.