David E. Mills Memorial Scholarship Fund | Division of Student Affairs

About David E. Mills

David E. Mills was a loving son, brother and friend. Mills, who was born in Maryland and started his writing career as a reporter at the independent student-run University of Maryland Diamondback newspaper, died suddenly and unexpectedly on March 30, 2010, of a brain aneurysm. A brave and resourceful spirit and an extraordinary writer with a passion for good-intentioned argument and debate, David always aimed at stimulating conversation and improving the final product. David won the prestigious Benjamin Banneker four-year scholarship to attend his alma mater and quickly became a leader at The Diamondback.

Graduating from the University of Maryland in 1984, Mills began his extensive and impressive journalism and television career. After a successful career at The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, Mills became a top writer for many acclaimed TV shows. David was an Emmy-winning writer and producer whose credits included work on "NYPD Blue," "Homicide," "ER," "The Wire," "The Corner" and his own "Kingpin." He was helping to run the writing staff of HBO's "Treme" at the time of his death.

About the Fund

Each year, at least one scholarship will be awarded to an undergraduate student who has worked for two semesters at The Diamondback and who continues to serve as a reporter or editor during the award period. While the scholarship is linked to service at the student newspaper, an applicant can offer writing samples from any media, in keeping with David’s wide-ranging love of both prose and screenwriting.

As David was a key voice in the de facto desegregation of the Diamondback, he would be proud of students whose writing raises a bit of hell (“No, no, no,” he protested in one famous DBK Wall Quote, as he defended an op-ed column, “I’m just trying to be snide.”).