Todd D. Snyder

Born and raised in Cowen, West Virginia, the son of a coal miner turned boxing trainer, Dr. Todd D. Snyder’s research is deeply intertwined with his own life experience, the theme of working-class masculinity serving as his primary focus. Regardless of topic, be it Appalachian culture, hip-hop rhetoric, or professional boxing, Dr. Snyder’s research looks to highlight perspectives relegated to the margins of history. A truly eclectic scholar, Dr. Snyder’s work borrows from a variety of fields: rhetoric and composition, community literacy studies, hip-hop studies, and sports journalism.

Since joining the faculty at Siena College in 2011, Dr. Snyder has published four books: The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity (McFarland, 2014), 12 Rounds in Lo’s Gym: Boxing and Manhood in Appalachia (West Virginia University Press, 2018), Bundini: Don’t Believe the Hype (Hamilcar, 2020), and Beat Boxing: How Hip-Hop Changed the Fight Game (Hamilcar, 2021). Dr. Snyder’s work has also been published by the University of Kentucky Press, Oxford University Press, and The Community Literacy Journal.

Dr. Snyder has presented this body of work at numerous national conferences, guest lectures, and public presentations. In addition to these activities, Dr. Snyder has made over fifty appearances on local, national, and international media outlets. His books have been excerpted in Sports Illustrated, Ring Magazine, Lit Hub, and The Wall Street Journal and have been featured on mainstream media outlets such as ESPN’s The Undefeated and reviewed in scholarly journals such as Appalachian Journal and The Journal of the Sports Literature Association. More recently, Dr. Snyder has worked as a screen writer and production consultant for film and television. He is the 2024 recipient of the Raymond C. Kennedy Excellence in Scholarship Award. 

My Professional Experience

Articles & Book Reviews

• The Webster County Blues: An Exploration of the Educational Attitudes of a Poor Appalachian Community
  Community Literacy Journal, vol. 2
  2007

Awards & Distinctions

• Raymond C. Kennedy Excellence in Scholarship Award
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2024
• Siena Award for Excellence
  Category: Research
  Siena College, 2021
• Friar Peter Fiore Excellent in English Research Fellowship
  Category: Research
  Siena College English Department, 2020
• Faculty Mentor of the Year.
  Category: Service-University
  The Office of Academic and Community Engagement, 2017

Books & Book Chapters

• BeatBoxing: How Hip-Hop Changed the Fight Game
  Hamilcar Publlications
  2021
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
  Hamilcar Publications
  2020
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym: Boxing and Manhood in Appalachia
  University of Virginia Press
  2018
• The Oxford Handbook of Hip-Hop Studies
  
  2018
• Re-Reading Appalachia
  University of Kentucky Press
  2015
• The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity.
  McFarland
  2014
• Sounds of Resistance: The Role of Music in Multicultural Activism
  Praegar
  2013

Presentations

• Beat Boxing: How Hip-Hop Changed the Fight Game
  2022
  Conference of the Sport Literature Association, Online, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype.
  February, 2021
  WCONA Live! Sponsored by the Conference of Northern Appalachia., Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
  February, 2021
  English Department Colloquium, Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype /Discussion
  January, 2021
  Sponsored by Siena Alumni Relations, Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
  November, 2020
  Sponsored by Baker McKenzie Law Firm, the Washington DC Diversity Committee, DC Book Club, and the North American Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype.
  October, 2020
  Visiting Writer event sponsored by the Marshall University College of Liberal Arts, Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
  October, 2020
  Sponsored by the New York State Writer's Institute, Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
  September, 2020
  Literary Soul Fest. Sponsored by the Dock Bookshop (Dallas, TX), Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
  September, 2020
  Northshire Live: Todd D. Snyder Presents Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype. Sponsored by Northsire Books, Zoom, Virtual
• Bundini: Don't Believe the Hype
  August, 2020
  Sponsored by Fighter's Heaven: Deer Lake, Pennsylvania and the Muhammad Ali Center: Louisville, Kentucky., Zoom, Virtual
• "Coal Dust Encomium: The Rhetoric of Appalachian Propaganda."
  2020
  The Conference of the Appalachian Studies Association, Lexington, Kentucky
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym
  November, 2019
  Poughkeepsie Public Library District Presents the NEA Big Read, Zoom, Virtual
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym
  January, 2019
  Northshire Books. Saratoga Springs, New York., Saratoga Springs, New York
• "Rappalachia: The Performance of Appalachian Identity in Hip Hop Music."
  2019
  The Conference of the Appalachian Studies Association, Asheville, North Carolina
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  September, 2018
  New York Writer's Institute Book Festival, Albany, New York
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  June, 2018
  City Books, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  June, 2018
  Lunch with Books, Sponsored by The Ohio County Public Library., Wheeling, West Virginia
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  April, 2018
  -- Visiting Writer, sponsored by the Marshall University English Department, Huntington, West Virginia
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  March, 2018
  - Visiting Writer, sponsored by the Ohio University English Department, Athens, Ohio
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  March, 2018
  Little Bookhouse of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, New York
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  March, 2018
  Siena College Book Release Event, Loudonville, New York
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  March, 2018
  State University of New York, at Albany, Albany, New York
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym Reading
  March, 2018
  Taylor Books, Charleston, West Virginia
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym: Boxing and Manhood in Appalachia
  2018
  Appalachian Studies Association, Cincinnati, Ohio
• 12 Rounds in Lo's Gym: Boxing and Manhood in Appalachia
  2018
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, Kansas, City, Missouri
• Guest Lecture
  February, 2017
  The First Generation in College Speaking Series, Sponsored by the Diversity Action Committee, Loudonville, New York
• Fighting Noah Milton
  2017
  Conference of the Sport Literature Association, Wheeling, West Virginia
• Writing About Fighting: Rhetoric and Working-Class Appalachian Masculinity
  2016
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, Houston, Texas
• "I Ain't No College Boy: Voices from Hip-Hop's Dirty South"
  2015
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, Tampa, Florida
• The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity -- Visiting Writer
  November, 2014
  Sponsored by the Virginia Military Institute English Department, Lexington, Virginia
• The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity -- Visiting Writer
  October, 2014
  Sponsored by The Marshall University Visiting Writers Series, Huntington, West Virginia
• The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity -- Visiting Writer
  October, 2014
  Sponsored by the Ohio University English Department, Athens, Ohio
• The Rhetoric of Appalachian Identity
  October, 2014
  Empire Books Reading, Huntington, West Virginia
• "Soundtrack to Hip-Hop Values: Family, Feminism, and Education."
  March, 2014
  Sponsored by Damietta Cross Cultural Center, Loudonville, New York
• Spatial Rhetorics of Identity: Hip-Hop's Impact on Working-Class Appalachian College Students
  March, 2014
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Faces of Hip-Hop: A Discussion of Race and Identity
  November, 2013
  Sponsored by Damietta Cross Cultural Center, Loudonville, New York
• "Rhetoric(s) of the College Diploma: Acadmic Ethos in Rural Appalachia."
  March, 2013
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, Las Vegas, Nevada
• "The Hillbilly as Rhetorical Myth: (Re)framing Appalachian Identity."
  May, 2012
  15th Biennial Rhetoric Society of America Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• "College is Not a Fairytale: Re-Reading First-Year Writing."
  March, 2012
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, St. Louis, Missouri
• "The Hillbilly Speaks of Rhetoric."
  March, 2012
  English Department Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
• "Barack Obama and the New Political Conversation with Hip-Hop Culture."
  April, 2011
  College English Association of Ohio – Spring Conference, Athens, Ohio
• "Contesting Hillbilly Identity: Appalachia and the American Imagination."
  April, 2011
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, Atlanta, Georgia
• "Writing with The Working Hands of Society: Critical-Rhetorical Inquiry and Localized Pedagogy."
  October, 2010
  Thomas R. Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, Louisville, Kentucky
• "Appalachian Culture and Rhetoric-Based Learning: New Horizons on the Critical Pedagogy Landscape."
  April, 2010
  College English Association of Ohio – Spring Conference, Columbus, Ohio
• "Writing Identity: Rhetoric(s) of Appalachian Lives."
  March, 2010
  Conference on College Composition and Communication, Louisville, Kentucky
• "Digital Rhetoric: Unlocking Hip-Hop Literacy's Potential in the Composition Classroom"
  April, 2009
  The Ohio State University Expanding Literacy Studies Conference, Columbus, Ohio
• "Making 'Invisible Administrators' Visible: (Re) Designing the GSA Position"
  March, 2009
  College English Association Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• "The Rhetoric of Hip-Hop Culture: (Re) Defining Text in the Composition Classroom"
  October, 2008
  Thomas R. Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, Louisville, Kentucky
• "Bad People use Bad Grammar: How Students Respond to Student Error"
  April, 2008
  College English Association of Ohio – Spring Conference, Columbus, Ohio
• "The Hillbilly Speaks of Rhetoric: Negotiating Identity in the Introductory Composition Classroom":
  April, 2007
  College English Association of Ohio – Spring Conference, Columbus, Ohio
• "The Webster County Blues: An Exploration of the Educational Attitudes of a Poor Appalachian Community":
  October, 2006
  Thomas R. Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, Louisville, Kentucky