Over the next five years, Yang, an ancient DNA expert, will create an easy-to-use tool for researchers to identify genetic changes that have helped humans adapt and survive over time by combining data from both present-day and ancient DNA.
SOAR: Soaring through Strategic Leadership is our newest leadership development program for managers with five or more years of experience. SOAR is a cohort-based program, with participants meeting once a month for eight months. Participants will receive their own resource toolkit including a multi-rater assessment, interactive reflections, and artifacts documenting their leadership journey.
Fill out the SOAR application today.
The Goal Setting Review task will be available in Workday for full-time and part-time regular employees beginning on Tuesday, July 7 and should be fully completed by Friday, August 14.
Residence Life & Housing works in collaboration with select faculty members to support our residential students. Each faculty member is paired with a residential community to plan and implement activities geared toward linking what students learn in the classroom to what students experience in real life.
Learn more about the FIR Program or apply here. Applications will be reviewed beginning July 6.
Please contact Emily DiMaria at edimaria@richmond.edu if you have any questions.
Parking lot R42 (east stands) will be closed for construction parking starting Monday, June 8, and will be unavailable until mid to end of July 2026. Questions can be directed to parking@richmond.edu.
“Best Classroom Experience”
—The Princeton Review (2026)Melinda A. Yang, associate professor of biology, received a National Science Foundation CAREER award of more than $990,000 to support her research on genetic adaptations in modern humans. Over the next five years, Yang, an ancient DNA expert, will build an easy-to-use tool that combines present-day and ancient DNA data to help researchers identify the genetic changes that have helped humans adapt and survive over time. Yang will also develop a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) using ancient DNA datasets for students taking her Human Evolutionary Genomics course at UR.
Jennifer Jones Cavenaugh, professor of theatre and dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, published “Reclaiming Narrative Authority: Gendered Violence and Feminist Reauthorship in Sharon Pollock's Saucy Jack” in Frame, Journal of Literary Studies.
Priscilla Erickson, assistant professor of biology, along with co-first authors Mia Hollekim, '26, and Lucy Smith, '26, published “Invasive African fig flies (Zaprionus indianus) have reduced cold acclimation ability compared to cosmopolitan drosophilid species” in microPublication Biology.
Sandy Williams IV, assistant professor of art, is exhibiting 00:10:00 (The Declaration of Independence) as part of the City of Alexandria’s Time and Place 2026 project that commemorates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Bill Ross, professor of mathematics and Roger Francis and Mary Saunders Richardson Chair in Mathematics, received a National Science Foundation grant to host the SEAM 42 Conference: Southeastern Analysis Meeting at the University of Richmond. The annual meeting focuses on recent work and advances in operator theory, classical complex analysis and harmonic analysis, function theoretic operator theory, and related areas.
David Giancaspro, associate professor of Spanish, received the El Corazón Award from the Latinx Student Programming Board. The award recognizes outstanding dedication and commitment to uplifting the Latinx community at the University of Richmond and honors passion, advocacy, and meaningful contributions that have impacted the lives of Latinx students, staff, and faculty.
Jonathan Shank, associate university librarian for budget, operations, and technical services, was selected for the 2026 UCLA Library Senior Fellows cohort. The three-week program brings together emerging leaders for an immersive experience focused on the evolving role of academic libraries.
Adam Stanaland, assistant professor of psychology, published “Falling in line: Children’s gender conformity after feedback signaling gender atypicality” in Developmental Psychology.
Lionel Mew, assistant professor of information systems, has published the article “Enhancing Programming Productivity for Individuals with ADHD through Generative Artificial Intelligence: An Inductive Analysis” in the Journal of Information Systems Applied Research and Analytics. The article identifies four primary mechanisms by which generative AI tools mitigate ADHD-related programming challenges.
Need to spend time in the salt air? The Well-Being Center offers salt therapy to students, faculty, staff, and Weinstein Center for Recreation members through walk-ins from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. or scheduled sessions from 12:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday via the FusionGo app. To learn more, click here.
“American Visions,” a book by Edward L. Ayers, professor of the humanities and president emeritus, is reviewed.
Geography, sustainability, and environment professor Stephanie Spera is quoted.
Chemistry professor Julie Pollock authored this piece, originally published in The Conversation.
Law professor Joel Eisen, an expert on energy law, is quoted.
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