David Hassler directs Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center, which collaborated with poet Jane Hirshfield in 2017 to create the Poets for Science exhibit. In 2009, Hassler cofounded Traveling Stanzas, a community arts project which brings poetry to the most urgent and evolving needs of our communities through expressive writing interventions, interactive exhibits and digital platforms.

Hassler is the author or editor of ten books of poetry and nonfiction, including Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic. His play, What We Learned While Alone, drawn from the Dear Vaccine anthology, debuted at the National Academy of Sciences in 2022. Hassler is also the author of the play, May 4th Voices: Kent State, 1970, based on the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project, which was produced in 2020 as a national radio play. Hassler’s awards include Ohio Poet of the Year, the Ohioana Book Award, and the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award. In addition to his creative writing publications, he has co-authored articles on poetry, technology, and healing in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education and the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.