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    Honorees  

Notable Classmates

• Donald J. Bennett
• Gia Maione Prima
• Peter E. Thompson

David K. Jeffrey

• Toms River High School
• Class of 1959
• Inducted in 2003

David's training in English began when he received his B.A. degree from Hobart College in 1963, where he was a Trustee Scholar from 1959 to 1963 and where he won the Charles H. Prize for poetry the year he graduated. David was a policeman in Richmond, Virginia, in 1963-64 and a police reporter for the Richmond News Leader briefly in 1964. David earned his master's degree from the University of Virginia in 1965.

He taught for two years at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, leaving after two years to pursue his Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. At Chapel Hill he was awarded an NDEA (National Defense Education Act) Fellowship from 1968-1970 and served as a part-time instructor. He earned his Ph.D. in 1972.

He began teaching at Auburn University in 1970 as an instructor and rose through the ranks to become an associate professor. He was co-editor of the Southern Humanities Review for seven years while he was there. At Auburn too, he was inducted into ODK (Omicron Delta Kappa - National Leadership Honor Society) and AED (Alpha Epsilon Delta - Premedical Honor Society). He left Auburn in 1983 to become Head of the English department at what is now the University of Louisiana--Monroe.

David moved to the English Department at James Madison University as head of that department in 1990. He became Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters in 1995, and assumed the headship of English again in 2001. In addition to serving on numerous university committees, David has edited several books, published thirty-three articles and twenty-nine reviews, presented numerous papers, and participated in a variety of panels pertaining to his profession.

Active in community affairs, David has served as a reserve policeman in Staunton, Virginia, and in Monroe, Louisiana as a vestryman and a youth soccer coach. He enjoys racquetball, gardening, and, especially, fly-fishing. David and his wife live in two historic Staunton town-houses they restored and joined.

David believes the quality of education he received at Toms River High School, where he was taught by committed teachers who insisted on the highest standards, rivaled that of the most exclusive private schools. Dr. David K. Jeffrey's life as an educator has easily earned him high respect for his accomplishments and entrance into the Toms River Schools Hall of Fame.