Todd Thompson
A long-time member of the Indiana University of Pennsylvania faculty has been selected to serve as director of the IUP Robert E. Cook Honors College.
Todd Thompson, professor of English in the Department of Language, Literature, and Writing, has been selected to lead the Cook Honors College. He will begin his new role on May 18, 2026.
“Following a comprehensive, university-wide search that attracted several highly qualified candidates, we are pleased to appoint Dr. Todd Thompson as Director of the Cook Honors College,” Vice Provost for Academic Success and Dean of the University College Amber Racchini said. “Todd was selected for his strong background in honors education, including his teaching experience with the Honors College at IUP and his work with the honors program at Yeshiva College in New York City. He brings a clear and innovative vision for advancing the Honors College, along with valuable administrative experience at IUP. We are confident that his leadership will further strengthen and elevate the Cook Honors College moving forward,” she said.
“We extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Chauna Craig for her outstanding service as director of the Cook Honors College,” Racchini said. “It has been a privilege to work alongside Chauna over the past two years. During her seven-year tenure as the director, she strengthened recruitment efforts, led a meaningful curriculum revision to incorporate the Crimson Core, and successfully recruited new faculty to support and enrich the Honors College. Her leadership and dedication have had a lasting impact on the College and our students.”
Craig will continue to serve as a faculty member in the IUP Department of Language, Literature, and Writing. Craig has led the Cook Honors College since 2019 while teaching courses in honors, English, and IUP’s graduate Literature and Criticism program.
She was honored for her work with the Cook Honors College in 2022 as the Honors Professional of the Year by the Northeast Regional Honors Council, an affiliate of the National Collegiate Honors Council. She is a nationally respected and award-winning author, selected for IUP’s 2025 Distinguished Faculty Award for Creative Arts. Craig joined the IUP community in 2000 as a creative writing instructor. She has served as director of Women’s and Gender Studies and as a dean’s associate for the then-College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Thompson has been a member of the IUP faculty since 2009, having taught courses in Crimson Core, the English Bachelor of Arts program, the Cook Honors College, and the graduate program in Literature and Criticism.
His teaching and research specialties include pre-1900 American literature, periodical studies, humor studies, satire, and archival theory and practice. He previously served as coordinator for the Master of Arts in Literature and Master of Arts in Composition and Literature programs as well as assistant chair of the Department of English.
He will continue to be a member of the faculty of the Department of Language, Literature, and Writing while serving in this new position.
“It is the honor of my professional career to take on the responsibility of directing the Cook Honors College,” Thompson said. “Teaching at the CHC has inspired me as a teacher-scholar, and I want to pay back that inspiration by helping the next generations of CHC students thrive at IUP and beyond. The CHC is vital to IUP’s mission, and I’m excited to get to work forging meaningful connections between the Honors College and the rest of the IUP community.”
Thompson is the recipient of teaching awards from the IUP Center for Teaching Excellence for Content Pedagogy (2017), Innovation (2013), and Instructional Technology (2024). In 2017, he earned the IUP Distinguished Faculty Award for Research, and in 2022 he won the IUP Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching. He currently serves as executive director of the American Humor Studies Association and as a contributing editor to Studies in American Humor.
He is the author of two books: A Laughable Empire: The US Imagines the Pacific World, 1840-1890 (Penn State University Press, 2023) and The National Joker: Abraham Lincoln and the Politics of Satire (Southern Illinois University Press, 2015).
He has earned research fellowships through the Center for Mark Twain Studies, the American Antiquarian Society, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Clements Library, and the Lilly Library. His work on political satire and pre-1900 American literature has also appeared in American Periodicals, Scholarly Editing, Early American Literature, ESQ, Nineteenth-Century Prose, Teaching American Literature, the Mark Twain Annual, and elsewhere.
Robert E. Cook, a 1964 IUP graduate originally from Altoona, made his first multi-million-dollar philanthropic investment to establish the Robert E. Cook Honors College in 1993. The first class entered in 1996 and graduated in 2000. Cook also established the Cook Honors College Achievement Fund, which provides assistance for the college’s students to study abroad, participate in internships and research, and undertake enrichment activities.
Since its founding in 1875, IUP has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. As IUP celebrates its 150th anniversary during the 2025–26 academic year and through the Impact 150 comprehensive campaign, the university honors a legacy of educational excellence while looking to its next 150 years of student success, innovation, leadership in healthcare education, and public service.