Dody Riggs, Associate Editor

Dody’s career began 38 years ago at Electronic Engineering Times, where she started as a typesetter and rose quickly to become Associate Manager Editor. In the 1980s she was an Editorial Production Coordinator at Time magazine and Production Editor of Adweek, and then took a sabbatical to volunteer with various organizations overseas. While in Germany she worked for Spotlight magazine, a fledgling magazine for English learners that is now an international enterprise.

For nearly two decades, Dody was the Production Manager of Harvard Education Press (HEP), the publishing arm of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She managed production of all HEP products, including negotiating with vendors, overseeing designers and other freelancers, and working closely with authors to help them keep their projects moving forward. During her tenure at HEP, she copy edited 70 issues of the esteemed Harvard Educational Review, more than 70 books, and countless issues of the award-winning Harvard Education Letter. She also worked with the student editorial board, providing workshops in copy editing, the production process—and how to meet deadlines. Dody retired from the university in 2008.

In addition to her role as Associate Editor of HPP, Dody is an Associate Editor of Innovations, a journal out of MIT Press. She also runs a freelance business, providing expertise as a copy editor and editorial workflow manager.

Dody has worked with scholars and students from around the world. She always takes a personal interest in her clients’ goals, and has coached many of them through writer’s block and even job searches. Her technical expertise ranges from heavy rewriting to routine copyediting. She has worked extensively in the areas of education research and practice, history, international development, entrepreneurship, critical pedagogy, linguistics, economics, and sociology; she also edits fiction. In her free time, Dody volunteers with several organizations, and she is an award-winning photographer.