Faculty - Science and Humanities

Matt received his BA in English from Alma College, where he also played football and minored in biology. After college, he worked for two years as a technical and professional writer for the mortgage division of NBD Bank in Detroit, Michigan. Interested in the use of language, and its application within the corporate context, Matt decided to attend graduate school to pursue his master's and, eventually, doctoral degrees in English. At the University of Oklahoma, he studied American literatures (the plural usage is intentional) and creative writing, completing a creative master's thesis titled, "Thumbing through Detroit", which is a collection of short fiction and poetry. For the next five years, while completing his PhD course work in composition and 19th and 20th century American Literatures, Matt taught first-year composition and technical communication. These courses added depth to his training as a generalist, and prepared him for the variety of teaching opportunities he enjoys at Husson. Having taken his degree, Matt accepted a professorship at Lake Superior State University, teaching technical communication, world literature, Native American literatures, and creative writing. Looking for a change, he moved to Maine and accepted a professorship at Husson. At Husson, he teaches technical and professional communication, a variety of literature courses, creative writing, and first-year composition.

In addition to following a specific career path, I would suggest to a first-year student that she balance her ambition with a selection of course from other disciplines, pursuing, in this way, her curiosities and eccentricities. A college education should prepare a student to make informed decisions about a variety of important political and social issues; it should prepare her to be an active participant in political and cultural debates rather than passively accepting the opinions of others. Overall, I would suggest that a student never let herself be bored, never be swayed by the apathy of others.

David Prescott taught as an adjunct professor at Husson for seven years before joining the University full time in 2011 as Director of Healthcare Studies. David attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine where he earned a B.A. with a double major in psychology and music. After an unsettled year living for brief periods on Martha’s Vineyard; Bristol, England; and Raymond, Maine he spent the next decade in the great Midwest, completing an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Nebraska and a clinical psychology predoctoral internship at Indiana University Medical School. He worked for 17 years at Acadia Hospital, a psychiatric treatment facility in Bangor, as a psychologist, program director, and quality improvement director.

David has always found teaching to be among his greatest interests and passions. His areas of professional work have included improving the integration of primary care and mental health, improving healthcare quality and organizational performance, and the use of measurement and applied research in healthcare settings. His clinical interests include bariatric surgery, group psychotherapy, and treatment of schizophrenia. Husson’s Healthcare Studies major allows him to pull together these many areas of interest to help prepare the next generation of the healthcare workforce in an industry that provides endless academic and practical challenges.

Living in Hampden, with his wife Diana (also a psychologist) and 3 daughters, David also spends some of his time working for Hampden Psychological Consultation. An avid runner and not-quite-so-avid hiker, he spends what free time is left enjoying the many benefits of living in Maine.