Areas I Teach
William Todd Schultz is a personality PhD who lives and teaches in Portland, Oregon. He’s published four books—Tiny Terror on Truman Capote (2011), An Emergency in Slow Motion on Diane Arbus (2011), Torment Saint on Elliott Smith (2013), and The Mind of the Artist (2021)—along with numerous articles and book chapters. He curates and edits the Oxford book series Inner Lives. He’s appeared in VQR, Huffington Post, Salon, Slate, The Spectator, Seattle Weekly, and other venues. In 2015, Schultz was awarded the Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media; from 2016-2017 he was a Shearing Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute in Las Vegas; in summer, 2021, he completed a Yaddo Artist Residency; and in 2024, his essay “You Probably Think This Song is About You” was selected as notable by Best American Essays. His personal webpage is HERE
Education:
Courses:
Abnormal Psychology
Personality
The Mind of the Artist
Advanced Personality
Intro to Psych
Grants, Honors & Awards:
2021, Yaddo Artist Residency
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.
1989, Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award, UC Davis
Selected Publications and Presentations:
Schultz, William Todd (2024). "You probably think this song is about you: The new science of narcissism." VQR, 2024.
Schultz, William Todd (2021). The Mind of the Artist: Personality and the Drive to Create. Oxford University Press, 2021.
Schultz, William Todd (2018). "Something That Needs be Said." Poetry Foundation, November 26.
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). "Peaches and Me." The Spectator, 2014.
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: Click HERE