Todd Schultz, PhD
Professor William Todd Schultz (Ph.D., Psychology, University of California, Davis, Personality; M.A., Psychology, University of California, Davis, Personality; B.A., Psychology, Lewis and Clark College; B.A., Philosophy, Lewis and Clark College) is a psychobiographer and personality psychologist.
He’s published three books, each a psychologically-focused study of an artist: Tiny Terror: Why Truman Capote Almost Wrote Answered Prayers (2011, Oxford University Press); An Emergency in Slow Motion: The Inner Life of Diane Arbus (2011, Bloomsbury); and Torment Saint: The Life of Elliott Smith (2013, Bloomsbury).
In 2005, Schultz conceptualized and edited Oxford’s Handbook of Psychobiography. Schultz also wrote five chapters for the book, three on psychobiographical method, two on Diane Arbus and Sylvia Plath, respectively. Schultz curates and edits Oxford’s Inner Lives series. Five titles have appeared so far, books on George W. Bush, John Lennon, Truman Capote, Philip K. Dick, and Bob Dylan, with two more—on Maria Callas and Gloria Steinem--forthcoming. Schultz has published book chapters or articles on Jack Kerouac, Roald Dahl, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Kathryn Harrison, James Agee, Sylvia Plath, Oscar Wilde, and others, as well as several book reviews. He’s written for Huffington Post, Poetry Foundation, Slate, Salon, the Spectator, Seattle Weekly, and Bookish, and he blogs for Psychology Today. Schultz’s more recent work includes a chapter on psychobiography and genius for the Handbook of Genius (July, 2014), a profile of Peaches Geldof for London’s Spectator Magazine, an essay on the 20th anniversary of Elliott Smith’s “Roman Candle” record for Salon (July 14, 2014), an article on psychobiography for Britain’s The Psychologist magazine (2016), and a scholarly overview of psychobiography theory and method for the American Psychologist (2017).
Schultz is a recipient of the Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media, and in 2016-2017 was a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas.
Education
Courses
Abnormal Psychology
Personality
The Mind of the Artist
Advanced Personality
Intro to Psych
History & Systems of Psychology
Grants, Honors & Awards
2016, Shearing Fellow Award, Carol Harter & Beverly Rogers Black Mountain Institute, UNLV.
2015, Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media. Austen-Riggs, Stockbridge, MA.
2015, Faculty Achievement Award, Pacific University.
1987, Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, UC Davis
Selected Publications and Presentations (*denotes undergraduate co-author)
Schultz, William Todd (2018). "Something That Needs be Said." Poetry Foundation, November 26. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/148521/something-that-needs-said
Schultz, William Todd (2018). Invited career retrospective interview, Clio's Psyche, 25(10).
Schultz, William Todd (2018). "Sometimes a cigar is more than a cigar." Flaunt Magazine, September, Double Standards Issue #162.
Schultz, William Todd (2017). Psychobiography: Theory and Practice. American Psychologist, 72(5), p. 434-445.
Schultz, William Todd (2016). Behind the masks. The Psychologist, v29, pp. 614-617.
Schultz, William Todd (2014). The psychobiography of genius. In D.K. Simonton, Handbook of Genius, Guilford, pp. 20-32.
Schultz, William Todd (2013). Torment Saint: The Life of Elliott Smith. Bloomsbury, New York, NY. Due out October 1, 2013.
Schultz, William Todd (2012). An Emergency in Slow Motion: The Inner Life of Diane Arbus. Bloomsbury, New York, NY.
Schultz, William Todd (2012). Tiny Terror: Why Truman Capote (Almost) Wrote Answered Prayers. Oxford, New York, NY.
Selected Presentations
Schultz, William Todd (April, 2018). "The Mind of the Artist." Distinguished Speaker Talk, Western Psychological Association Convention, Portland, OR.
Schultz, William Todd (December, 2016). "Why did Van Gogh cut off his ear?" Honors Antheneum, UNLV.
Schultz, William Todd (October 21, 2016). "Lucy, Lennon, and loss." Black Mountain Institute, UNLV.
Schultz, William Todd (October 6, 2013). Powell's Book Reading, Torment Saint.
Schultz, William Todd (October 19, 2013). LiveWire Radio, Torment Saint reading & interview.
Schultz, William Todd (October 11, 2013). LA radio interview, NPR affiliate, Torment Saint.
Schultz, William Todd (October 12, 2013). Skylight Books, LA, Torment Saint reading.
Schultz, William Todd (October 29, 2013). Town Hall Seattle. Torment Saint interview with Seattle Weekly editor Mark Baumgarten.
Schultz, William Todd (2012, September 3). In discussion with Eric Erlandson ("Letters to Kurt"), Powell's Books.
Schultz, William Todd (2011, September). Diane Arbus's Photographic Autobiography. Powell's Books, Author Event, Portland, OR.
Schultz, William Todd (2011, June). Torment Saint: An Elliott Smith Biography. UC Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA.
Website
For more information, please visit his personal webpage: williamtoddschultz.com