Bio
David Twigg is an adjunct instructor for FIU's Department of Politics and International Relations and is a former director of the FIU Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies and Program in National Security Studies. He received a B.A. in Government from Florida Southern College (1972) and a Master of Science in Management, with a concentration in Public Administration, from FIU (1973). He held progressively responsible positions in local south Florida governments from 1974 to 1998, including working with the administration of various federally funded programs in the areas of substance abuse rehabilitation (grants from the National Institute for Drug Abuse - NIDA, the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism - NIAAA, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration -LEAA) and employment training funding (from the U.S. Department of Labor – DOL, and the Department of Health and Human Services – DHHS). In 2004 he completed a Ph.D. in Political Science at FIU, with a dissertation entitled The Winds of Change? Exploring Political Effects of Hurricane Andrew. He has served as Adjunct Instructor in Political Science at Miami Dade College InterAmerican Campus and Barry University, Adjunct Instructor in Public Administration and Political Science and Visiting Lecturer in Political Science at FIU. He joined the Gordon Institute as Associate Director in January 2007. When Dr. Twigg retired in 2015 he was director of the Gordon Institute. He had served in local government for 24 years and at FIU for 11 years: 35 years of service within the Florida Retirement System. He has taught courses in U.S. government/politics, North American government/politics and national security. Dr. Twigg completed the FBI Miami Citizens' Academy in 2014. Publications include The Politics of Disaster: Tracking the Impact of Hurricane Andrew (University Press of Florida 2012), "Florida Elections and Hurricanes," Florida Political Chronicle, Volume 19 Winter 2008-2009, pages 33-54, and (co-authored) "Access, Boundaries, and Cooperation: An Introduction," part of the online Colloquium Proceedings from Access, Boundaries and Cooperation: The ABCs of North American Security. Current interests are countering Human Trafficking (modern day slavery) and Climate Change (and the resulting sea level rise), two huge global, national and local problems.
