CV

Portrait of Richard Todd Stafford

Richard Todd Stafford

Researcher
Teacher
Communication leader

Printable CV | Contact Information

Education

George Mason University
Ph.D., Cultural Studies (2022)
Fields: Science, Technology, and Culture; Culture and Political Economy
Dissertation: “Misplaced Hopes, Dysfunctional Attachments, and Unplanned Energy Transitions: The Role of Clean Coal Discourse in the Cultivation of Energy Communitarianism along the Ohio River.” https://doi.org/10.13021/MARS/6334
Committee: Denise Albanese (chair), Roger Lancaster, Andrew Light

Virginia Tech
M.A., English (2011)
Thesis: “A Genealogy of Frankenstein’s Creation: Appropriation, Hypermediacy, and Distributed Cognition in Shelley Jackson’s Patchwork Girl, Víctor Erice’s The Spirit of the Beehive, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.” http://hdl.handle.net/10919/76983
Committee: Robert Siegel (chair), Peter Graham, Katarina Powell

College of William and Mary
B.A., English (2001)

Employment

George Mason University
Concentration Head, MAIS in Energy and Sustainability (2023–present)
Director of Communications, Honors College (2019–present) — administrative leadership role, teaching 2–4 courses/year
Instructor and Digital Initiatives Coordinator, Honors College (2015–2019)
Distance Education Assistant, University Libraries (2014–2015)
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Honors College, New Century College, and Cultural Studies Program (2011–2014)

Virginia Tech
Graduate Assistant, Department of English and Center for 21st Century Studies (2010–2011)

Works in Progress

“Solidarity, Community, and Sectoralism: Appalachian Climate Response from ‘Clean Coal’ to the ‘Hydrogen Hub.’” Journal article in preparation focused on acceptance of “clean coal” and “blue hydrogen,” for Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space.

“Residues of Past Production: The Case of ‘Clean Coal.’” Journal article in preparation focused on how different discourse communities interpret “clean coal,” for Cultural Studies.

Dysfunctional Attachments: Clean Coal and Appalachian Energy Transitions [working title]. Monograph in preparation, proposal to university presses in 2027.

Trefil, Jim, and Richard Todd Stafford. Our Next Transition; Or, How Everything from Coal Plants to Wind Farms Is Powered by the Sun — and What Comes Next [working title]. Trade book in preparation, in discussion with Smithsonian Books.

Publications

Ferrari, Matteo “Babe,” Federico Caprari, Damiano Cason, Collin Hawley, Marco Manicardi, Richard Todd Stafford, and Adriana Zdrzalek. “The Sex Pistols and Situationism.” In The Routledge Handbook of the Sex Pistols, edited by Mike Dines, Gabriela Gelain, Paul Graves-Brown, and John Schofield. Routledge, 2027 [forthcoming]. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003489481-29

“Critique at the End of ‘The World.’” Response to Jonathan Pugh and David Chandler. Lateral 13, no. 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.25158/L13.1.6

Gourlay, Kayla M., Maoria J. Kirker, and Richard Todd Stafford. “Flexible, Not Flawless: Teaching Critical Reading Skills through a Bridge Program.” In Teaching Critical Reading Skills: Strategies for Academic Librarians, vol. 1, edited by Hannah Gascho Rempel and Rachel Hamelers. ACRL Press, 2023.

Response to Caroline West, “From Company Town to Post-Industrial: Inquiry on the Redistribution of Space and Capital with a Universal Basic Income.” Lateral 8, no. 1 (2019). https://doi.org/10.25158/L8.1.11

“The Politics of Space in Joe Sacco’s Representations of the Appalachian Coalfields.” In The Comics of Joe Sacco: Journalism in a Visual World, edited by Daniel Worden, 123–39. University Press of Mississippi, 2015. https://doi.org/10.14325/mississippi/9781496802217.003.0008

“Towards an Epistemological Theory of Comics Journalism: Case Studies in Joe Sacco’s War Reportage.” Public Knowledge Journal 3, no. 4 (2011). https://pkjournal.org/?page_id=1490

Applied Research and Consulting

Research consultant. Behavioral segmentation and behavior-change strategy for Our Water, Our World, California Stormwater Quality Association (CASQA), under contract to Stephen Groner Associates, Inc. (2026)
Deliverables: cluster analytic segmentation of behavioral and attitudinal data, messaging persona development, a behavior-change strategy based on community-based social marketing, and a final report grounded in the theory of planned behavior and the transtheoretical model of behavior change.

Research consultant. Quantitative study of resident stormwater behaviors and attitudes, Watershed Protection Division, City of Los Angeles, under contract to Stephen Groner Associates, Inc. (2024)
Deliverables: cluster analytic segmentation of behavioral and attitudinal data, messaging persona development, and a final report.

Awards and Honors

David W. Rossell Quill Award, George Mason University (2021) — institutional award for teaching and mentorship
Exceptional Support Award, George Mason University (2015) — institutional award for leadership around educational technologies
Carol Chermside Award, Virginia Tech (2011) — institutional award for best thesis in English
XCaliber Award, Virginia Tech (2011) — institutional award to the ePortfolio for English Studies team for innovative teaching practices

Grants and Fellowships

Global Coal Transitions Early Career Fellowship, National Science Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Ohio State University (2024)

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Grant, Early Identification Program (EIP) Pre-Honors Seminar, George Mason University (PI; with EIP, Honors College, and University Libraries team) (2020)

Summer Dissertation Research Support, Cultural Studies Program and College of Humanities and Social Sciences, George Mason University (2019)

4-VA Open Educational Resources Grant, George Mason University (PI) (2016–2017)

Conference Activity

Panels Organized

“Climate Solidarity in the Capitalocene” (co-organizer with David Zeglen). American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, November 3, 2023.

Papers Presented

“From Clean Coal to Blue Hydrogen; or, How Not to Transition off of Fossil Fuels.” Conference on Global Coal Transitions, Columbus, OH, July 17, 2024.

“Solidarity, Community, and Sectoralism: Appalachian Climate Response from ‘Clean Coal’ to the ‘Hydrogen Hub.’” Energy, Climate, and Federal Investments Reshaping North America panel, Critical Rural Geographies group, Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference, Lexington, KY, February 24, 2024.

“Clean Coal, Appalachian Energy Communitarianism, and the Problem of Solidarity.” American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, November 3, 2023.

“Conclusions, Residues, and Wastes: The Aftermath of ‘Clean Coal’ in Appalachia.” Environment, Space and Place Working Group panel, Cultural Studies Association Conference, Fairfax, VA, June 3, 2023.

“How Not to Have a Just Transition; or, The Relationships between ‘Clean Coal,’ Constrained Political Horizons, and Metaphors for State Planning in Central Appalachia.” Energy Reckonings seminar, Cultural Studies Association Conference, Chicago, IL, June 2–4, 2022.

“How Not to Have a Just Energy Transition: The Case of ‘Clean Coal.’” Dimensions of Political Ecology Conference, virtual, March 25, 2022.

“The Art of Coal Waste: Disjunct Temporalities in the Use of Coal Waste as a Material in Contemporary Fine Art.” Cultural Studies Association Conference, Washington, DC, May 24, 2017.

“Towards an Ecocritical Theory of Comics Journalism: Spatial Practices and Affective Engagements in Joe Sacco’s Representations of Inequity in the Appalachian Coal Fields.” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, Washington, DC, March 27, 2013.

“The Epistemology of Comics Journalism.” International Communication Association Conference, Phoenix, AZ, May 28, 2012.

“Towards an Epistemological Theory of Comics Journalism: Case Studies in the War Reportage of Joe Sacco.” Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association Regional Conference, Alexandria, VA, October 2010.

“‘Mutual Aid’ and ‘The Struggle for Existence’ in Darwinist Fiction: Representations of the Primate as Natural Other in H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine and Peter Dickinson’s Eva.” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference, St. Louis, MO, April 2, 2010.

Respondent

“Breaking Things in the Coal Industry: A Reply to Gavin Mueller’s Breaking Things at Work.” Cultural Studies Association Conference, virtual, June 11, 2021.

Teaching Experience

George Mason University

Advanced Undergraduate Courses
Development of Modern Science, with James Trefil (Fall 2025)
Climate Change and Culture (Spring 2024)
Research and Creative Projects Seminar (Fall 2019–Spring 2023)
Youth, Music, and Social Change (Fall 2022)
Teaching Climate Change, with Melanie Fedri (Summer 2020)
Energy and Culture (Fall 2019, Fall 2021)
Globalization and Culture (Fall 2019)
Honors College Thesis Proposal and Thesis (Fall 2017–Spring 2019)
Clean Coal and Culture (Spring 2018)
Science, Technology, and Power (Spring 2016, Spring 2017)

Experiential and Community-Engaged Undergraduate Courses
Honors College Connects: Environmental Nonprofits (Fall 2026)
Research, Technology, and Online Community: Partner Research Teams (Fall 2016–Spring 2020)

Introductory Undergraduate Courses
Responses to Climate Change (Fall 2022–Fall 2025, Spring 2026)
Climate Fiction (Spring 2025)
Research Methods (Fall 2015–Fall 2017; 10 sections)
Inquiry to Action (Spring 2012, Spring 2013)

Pre-College and Bridge Program Courses
Climate Change and Civic Engagement Pre-Honors Seminar, Early Identification Program (Summer 2020)
Critical Reading Workshops, Student Transition Empowerment Program (Summers 2017–2019)

Teaching Assistant
Honors College Thesis Proposal and Thesis (Spring 2016–Spring 2017)
Research Methods (Fall 2011–Fall 2013)

Virginia Tech

Teaching Assistant
ePortfolio for English Studies (Fall 2010, Spring 2011)

Research Supervision and Thesis Committee Service

Advisor, Hannah Bwiza Butare. “Proposal: Experiences of Environmental Injustice in Virginia Correctional Facilities.” Undergraduate research project, George Mason University (2026).

Advisor, Alani Arnold. “From Disaster Permanence to Resilient Recovery: Local Perspectives on Post-Hurricane Recovery in the U.S. Virgin Islands.” Undergraduate Research Scholars Program research project, Office of Creative Activities and Research, George Mason University (2026).

Committee Member, Jordan Renee Bertaux. “Effects of Place Attachment and Alternative Insurance Models on Disaster Insurance Uptake and Climate Adaptation Decisions.” M.A. thesis, MAIS in Energy and Sustainability, George Mason University (2026).

Advisor, Elizabeth Fortson. “Production and the Environment: Ideological Framings of the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota’s Star Tribune.” Undergraduate Research Scholars Program research project, Office of Creative Activities and Research, George Mason University (2022).

Selected Academic Service

George Mason University
Organizer, Honors College Career Readiness Group (2026–present)
Co-supervisor, Honors College Experiential Learning Coordinator (2026–present)
Co-chair, Honors College Exhibitions Committee (2025–present)
Co-supervisor, Honors College Assistant Director of Student Development and Programming (2025–present)
Member, Honors College Leadership Committee (2025–present)
Chair, Honors College Engaged Alumni Committee (2024–present)
Faculty Organizer, Honors College Professional Development Fellows (2023–present)
Chair, Honors College Advancement Communications Group (2022–present)
Member, Honors College Partner-Engaged Experiential Learning Committee (2021–present)
Supervisor, Graduate Teaching Assistants serving Jim Trefil (2021–present)
Chair, Honors College Strategic Communications Committee (2018–present)
Supervisor, Honors College Communications Interns (2018–present)
Member, Honors College Curriculum Committee (2016–2024)
Co-organizer (with K.L. Akerlof), Society, Culture, and Environment Collaboration (2021–2022)
Chair, Honors College Space Committee (2018–2021)
Member, Honors College Advising Committee (2016–2018)
Member, University Libraries Tutorial Team (2014–2018)
Member, Honors College Data Committee (2017)

Student Organization Advising, George Mason University
Faculty Advisor, Student Environmental Justice Alliance (2026–present; also 2023–2024)
Faculty Advisor, Virginia Environmental Justice Summit (2020–2023)

Virginia Tech
Member, ePortfolio for English Studies Committee, Department of English (2010–2011)

Community-Engaged Environmental Work

Friends of the North Fork of the Shenandoah River
Board of Directors (2021–present)
Chair, Volunteer Coordination Committee (2025–present)
Mentor, Internship Program (2025–present)
Board Secretary (2024–present)
Member, Nomination and Governance Committee (2023–present)
Co-chair, Strategic Planning Committee (2022–2024)
Member, DEIJ Committee (2022)

Warren County Chapter, Izaak Walton League of America
Board of Directors (2021–2023)
Second Vice President (2022–2023)
Chair, Save Our Streams Benthic Macroinvertebrate Monitoring Program (2020–2022)
Representative, Save Happy Creek Coalition (2020–2021)

Other Academic Engagement

Podcasts

“On Humanisms, Anti-Humanism, and Capitalism.” Christopher Nealon interviewed by Richard Todd Stafford. Second Nature (podcast), Cultural Studies Program, George Mason University, Spring 2022.

Climate, Capitalism, and Culture (podcast series), Cultural Studies Program, George Mason University (2018–2019)

Interview, production, audiography, editing, transcription, and publication:

Interview, transcription, and production:

Production, audiography, editing, transcription, and publication:

Editing, transcription, and publication:

Transcription and publication:

Web

Interviewer. “Chris Newfield on Higher Education.” Cultural Studies Program News, George Mason University, November 29, 2017. https://culturalstudies.gmu.edu/articles/11367

Video

Producer. Our Future, Transformed (video series). George Mason University (2023).

Producer and director. Research Basics (video series). George Mason University (2012–2014).

Performance/Intermedia Arts

Collaborator. Singing Darwin, a 24-hour performance art and intermedia piece by Carol Burch-Brown on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA (2009).

Presentations and Events

Featured guest. “Green Convene,” DC Climate Week events, organized by Converge/The Washington Forum. Washington, DC, April 18 and 25, 2026.

Panel co-organizer and presenter. “From ‘Clean Coal’ to the Monarch Compute Campus.” Environmental Justice panel featuring Ilona Moore (discussant), Laura Sauls, Hannah LeComte Greer, Ted Chen, and Richard Todd Stafford, Space, Territory, and Mobility Symposium, Center for Humanities Research, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, April 23–24, 2026.

Career talks. Washington Youth Summit on the Environment and Washington Journalism and Media Conference, George Mason University, June 21, June 30, and July 14, 2026; June 24 and July 16, 2025; June 25 and July 10, 2024; July 12, 2023.

Host, moderator, and event consultant. “Reflections on Water” panel, organized by Artvocate and Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, featuring Anna Mahan, Mike Gangloff, and Betsy Bannan. Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA, April 9, 2025.

Presenter. “Integrating the Communications Function and Experiential Learning.” College Communicators Association Conference, Norfolk, VA, January 10, 2025.

Host, moderator, and event consultant. Science and Art Café, organized by Artvocate and Johns Hopkins Science Diplomacy Hub:

  • “Longevity,” featuring Maksim Tsvetovat, Bella Patnaik, Tomas Drgon, Shelley Lowenstein, and Cybele Mayes-Osterman. Arlington, VA, September 5, 2024.
  • “AI and Creativity,” featuring Tomas Drgon, Elisabeth Deeb, and Matthew Maciejewski. Washington, DC, June 6, 2024.

Presenter. University Scholars Institute, George Mason University:

  • “Contradictions in Climate Policy: The Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.” August 19, 2024.
  • “Just Transitions.” August 17, 2023.
  • “Challenges for Sustainable Energy Infrastructure Transitions in the Anthropocene: A Preliminary Report on Fieldwork Concerning ‘Clean Coal’ in a Community along the Ohio River.” August 22, 2019.

Panel co-organizer and presenter. “‘Clean Coal’: Community Economic Identity, Sectoral Bargaining, and Energy Transition in Appalachia.” Environment/(In)justice/Community panel featuring Tianna Cobb, Levi Van Sant, Laura Sauls, and Richard Todd Stafford, Connecting/Not Connecting Symposium, Center for Humanities Research, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, April 28, 2023.

Co-organizer. “Connecting/Not Connecting in Climate Justice Organizing” panel, with the Center for Humanities Research Environmental Justice Reading Group, featuring Tianna Cobb (moderator), Malini Ranganathan, Justin Lini, and Kari Fulton. George Mason University, November 11, 2022.

Presenter. “How Not to Have a ‘Just Transition’: The Case of ‘Clean Coal.’” #EnviroSocSci Lunch Seminar, George Mason University, May 6, 2022.

Co-organizer. “Climate Justice: Past/Presents/Futures” panel, with the Center for Humanities Research Environmental Justice Reading Group, featuring Levi Van Sant (moderator), Olúfẹmi O. Táíwò, Jamie Haverkamp, and Kai Bosworth. George Mason University, April 1, 2022.

Presenter. “What’s ‘Social’ about the ‘Social Cost of Carbon’? Or, Does the Rising Sea Level Lift All Ships?” Cultural Studies Colloquium student panel, Cultural Studies Student Organizing Committee, George Mason University, Fall 2018.

Presenter. “Coal Mining, Labor Unrest, and Automation: Opening Remarks before a Screening of the PBS Documentary The Mine Wars.” Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter, George Mason University, May 2017.

Presenter. “Ethical and Political Relations to the Distant Other in Hedges and Sacco’s Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.” New Century College Cornerstones, George Mason University, September 2013.

Research and Reading Groups
Member, Landscape Futures Working Group (with Levi Van Sant, Laura Sauls, and Catherine Olien) (2025–present)
Organizer, DC-Area AI Reading Group (2025–present)
Participant, Anne Pasek’s Theories of Value Reading Group (2022–present)
Organizer, Environmental Justice Reading Group, Center for Humanities Research, George Mason University (2020–present)
Organizer, Climate Justice and Energy Transition Reading Group (2020–present)

Selected Institutional and Media Coverage

Parkes, Xia Amari. “Richard Todd Stafford Teaches Youth about Water Pollution and to Monitor Stream Health.” George Mason University Honors College (June 23, 2023).

Butler, Audrey, and Sophia Chapin. “Honors College’s Richard Todd Stafford Recognized with David W. Rossell Quill Award.” George Mason University Honors College (April 14, 2021).

Allen, Laura Harbart. “After Coal and COVID-19, Appalachia Needs More Than a One-Time Check. Universal Basic Income Could Be Next.” 100 Days in Appalachia (August 4, 2020). [Interviewed and quoted]

last updated 18 October 2026