Innovation

UL System Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year

Award-winning novelist and Southeastern Assistant Professor of Creative Writing David Armand has been named the University of Louisiana (UL) System’s Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year. “The Universities of Louisiana […]

Sarah Schoonmaker

October 8, 2020

Award-winning novelist and Southeastern Assistant Professor of Creative Writing David Armand has been named the University of Louisiana (UL) System’s Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year.

“The Universities of Louisiana Outstanding Faculty Award is intended to recognize faculty with a commitment to higher education from within the University of Louisiana System. This award recognizes superior accomplishments in teaching, research, and public service,” said UL System Communication Director Katelyn Wilkerson. “David Armand was selected from a highly eligible pool of nominees for his exemplification of the qualities of an outstanding faculty member.”

A native of Folsom and resident of Hammond with both undergraduate and graduate degrees in English from Southeastern, Armand is the author of four novels, two books of poetry, and a memoir based on the mental health struggles of his mother. His latest novel, The Lord’s Acre, was published this year.

Armand has spoken at a number of universities as a visiting writer, including James Madison University, Southeast Missouri State University, and the Mississippi University for Women, where students studied his work and attended readings and workshops that he conducted.

Armand served as Writer-in-Residence at Southeastern from 2017-2019 and has been recognized as a Gambit Magazine “40 Under 40” recipient. In 2016 he was honored with Southeastern’s President’s Award for Artistic Activity, the Southeastern Faculty Senate President’s Award, and was named the St. Tammany President’s Artist of the Year. His first novel, The Pugilist’s Wife, earned the George Garrett Fiction Prize, and his second novel, Harlow, was listed on Amazon’s best novels about dysfunctional families. His other publications include the novel The Gorge, the memoir My Mother’s House, and the book of poetry The Deep Woods.

Armand has been recognized by reviewers as an up-and-coming Southern author whose works have been compared to William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, and Cormac McCarthy. He draws heavily from his experiences in South Louisiana in his work.

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