Accomplishments

Solis Winters, assistant professor of health studies, published "How do repeated financial incentives affect HIV care-seeking behaviours over time? Evidence from a cluster-randomised controlled trial" in BMJ Global Health.

Kitty Hartvigsen, Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, and Olivia Harding, psychology manager of labs, along with Megan Hooper, '23, Evelyn Barringer, '24, Isabel DiLandro, '25, Aditya Narayanan, '25, Brendan Crockett, '23, Yulia Shatalov, '25, Isabella Tome, '25, Paean Luby, '25, and Braden Wixted, '25, published "A rodent model of enhanced anticipation of positive events: sex-specific modifications in cognitive bias and emotional resilience" in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, Jonathan Richardson, associate professor of biology, Kitty Hartvigsen, Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, Olivia Harding, psychology manager of labs, and Jacy Jacob, adjunct lecturer of psychology and former Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, along with Ava Wagner, '24, Isabel DiLandro, '25, Andres Mauco, '26, Paean Luby, '25, and Aditya Narayanan, '25, published “Comparative neurobiology of vigilance and stress adaptation systems in wild and laboratory rodents (Rattus norvegicus)” in Frontiers in Ethology.

Lauren Henley, assistant professor of leadership studies, published Inquisition for Blood: The Making of a Black Female Serial Killer in the Jim Crow South with LSU Press. 

Brittany Nelson, associate professor of photography and extended media, is currently exhibiting List Projects 34: Brittany Nelson at The List Visual Arts Center, MIT’s contemporary art museum. The show highlights photographs and a moving-image work filmed at the Green Bank Observatory. Nelson’s work considers how scientific inquiry and emotional projection converge, transforming instruments of cosmic detection into metaphors for intimacy, distance, and longing.

Kristin M.S. Bezio, professor of leadership studies and Jepson School associate dean of academic affairs, published Shakespeare and Identity in a Divided World with Routledge.

Elizabeth Baughan was promoted to professor of classical studies. Her research focuses on funerary monuments, burial customs, and cultural identity in the ancient Mediterranean as well as African American cemeteries in the Richmond area. 

Elena Calvillo was promoted to professor of art & art history. Her research and writing focus on artistic service and imitative strategies in sixteenth-century papal Rome. She is broadly interested in theories of representation and cultural translation and brokerage in Italy, Spain and Portugal in the sixteenth century. 

Jessie Fillerup was promoted to professor of music. Her research interests are driven by her curiosity about French musical cultures, illusory experiences, and the nature of musical temporality. 

Kristine Grayson was promoted to professor of biology. She is a field ecologist whose areas of expertise include population ecology, thermal physiology, the spread of invasive forest insects, and the conservation of amphibians and reptiles.

Ovidiu Lipan was promoted to professor of physics. His research is focused on various aspects of the interplay between discrete and continuous models in theoretical physics, with a recent highlight on the connection between discrete and continuum electrodynamics.

Maja White was promoted to professor of theatre & dance. She is a lighting and sound designer and has designed lighting for opera, theatre, and dance nationally and internationally. Her research falls in the study of how sustainable equipment and the evolution of technologies are changing the aesthetic of the live entertainment industry.

Eric Yellin was promoted to professor of history. He a historian of the United States with emphasis on twentieth-century American politics, race and racism, and the history of the US federal government. Yellin’s current research examines the intersection of American Jewish experience and public history and memory in twentieth-century Washington, D.C.

Yucong Jiang was promoted to associate professor of computer science. Her current research focuses on building software to analyze music-related data, especially performance data. Her latest project is aimed at visualizing technical aspects of an instrumental performance to provide multifaceted feedback to the player.

Sonja Bertucci was promoted to associate professor of languages, literatures, & cultures. She is a filmmaker and her most recent feature-length documentary, The Diamond Couple (2024), is an intimate meditation on love, aging, and the transmission of memory. She is currently working on a new experimental project inspired by French writer Georges Perec’s Lieux.

Nathan Snaza was promoted to associate professor of English. His work explores how ideas about what it means to be human have been put to work in educational institutions, especially those that engage language, literacy, and literature. He draws on work in the fields of affect theory, new materialisms, queer and feminist theory, and Black and decolonial studies.

Shweta Ware was promoted to associate professor of computer science. Her areas of expertise include ubiquitous computing, machine learning, and Smart Health. Recently, she published groundbreaking research that explores the feasibility of smartphone-based machine learning applications for ADHD symptom prediction.

Melinda Yang was promoted to associate professor of biology. Her research focuses on using and developing computational population genetic tools to study the evolutionary history and genetic variation of species, especially humans, by analyzing both ancient and present-day genomes. Her work combines assessing the robustness of these tools with uncovering demographic relationships, with a particular emphasis on ancient human populations.

Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, narrates a new series available on Audible Originals — “Sculpting Healthy Brains with Everyday Activities.”

Kavitha Cardoza, assistant professor of journalism, has been awarded the American Mosaic Journalism Prize for her work as a freelance reporter. The highly selective prize is awarded to journalists who exemplify excellence in reporting on underrepresented communities in the United States.

Volha Chykina was promoted to associate professor of leadership studies. She researches how leadership and politics shape education in the United States and abroad. Her scholarship examines educational inequalities, academic freedom, education policy, and comparative and international education. 

Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, presented his latest film Monument with a live score accompaniment at Studio Two Three. The event also featured Eric Eckhart (Elabor), time-based media production studio manager, performing a live score to a screening of Fugue.

During its meeting on February 27, 2026, the University of Richmond Board of Trustees approved the promotion of Tom Shields to Professor of Education and Leadership Studies.

Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, published the chapter "The Mother of all Brains" in What is Success? A Kaleidoscope of Possibilities from Women in the World Around the World.

David Wilkins, E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies, co-authored the book The Navajo Nation Political Experience, fifth edition, published by Bloomsbury Academic. 

Angie Hilliker, associate professor of biology, along with Audrey J. Panko, '15, Aidan Winters, '17, and Nicholas R. Rothbard, '15, published "A genetic interaction between DED1 and HAT1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae reveals a role for Hat1p in cytoplasmic RNA granule accumulation" in G3: Genes, Genomes, and Genetics.

Omar Quintero-Carmona, associate professor of biology, and Stacey Criswell, director of microscopy and imaging, along with Joanna A. Mas, '26, Chase E. Cristella, '26, Vu Hao M. N. Phan, '26, Lillian S. Wendt, '26, Charlotte A. Rose, '26, Abigail Ali, '25, David F. Carpio, '24, Christine Cole, '24, Paige Embley, '25, Jack E. Hoskins-Harris, '26, Delia Johnson, '25, Noelle Ledoux, '26, Hannah W. Lwin, '25, and Sarah Salah, '24, published "Cells stably expressing shRNA against MYO10 display altered cell motility" in MicroPublication Biology.

Kelly Lambert, professor of behavioral neuroscience and MacEldin Trawick Professor in Psychology, presented the TEDx talk “What teaching rats to drive taught me about joy.”

Michael C. Leopold and Carol Parish, professors and Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Chairs of Chemistry, along with Ben Edelman, ‘27, Charlie Sheppard, ‘26, Arielle Vinnikov, ‘27, and Lucas Chuidian, ‘27 published “Design of Nanomaterial-based Sensors for Enhanced Halogen Bonding” in ACS Omega.

Lauren Henley, assistant professor of leadership studies, published "Revisiting the story of Clementine Barnabet, a Black woman blamed for serial murders in the Jim Crow South" in The Conversation.

President Emeritus and University Professor Ronald A. Crutcher, a national leader in higher education and a distinguished classical musician, has received the American Association of Colleges and Universities President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Liberal Education.

Colleen Carpenter-Swanson, assistant professor of biology, was named to the Wiley Index of Inspiring Black Scientists. The Index is a public database, created by scholars and Wiley, showcasing inspiring Black scientists from diverse backgrounds for education, collaboration, and networking.

Kylie Korsnack, associate director of pedagogical practice in the Faculty Hub, co-published the collection “Creating a Classroom Environment in Which Civil Discourse Can Thrive” in Facilitating Constructive Dialogue in a Challenging World.

Liz St. John, project manager, collegiate licensing and business services, was named the National Association of College Auxiliary Services’ 2025 Rising Star of the Year for the East region.

Emmy Weldon, assistant professor of theatre & dance, was awarded at the 32nd Annual James River Short Film Showcase for As You Liked It! A Reflection on Waste Culture, a documentary short film about the play performed at University of Richmond and its creative set design. 

Taylor Arnold, professor of data science and statistics, and Lauren Tilton, professor of digital humanities and director of UR’s Center for Liberal Arts and AI, received a grant to support their research to develop AI models that analyze film and television. The funding is part of a larger award from Schmidt Sciences and includes collaboration with colleagues at UC Berkeley and Bowdoin College.

Alicia Díaz, associate professor of dance, and Patricia Herrera, professor of theatre, presented two new short films at New Spiritualities: Film as Ritual at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. The program recognized their collaborative project, ruinas/ruins, developed through long-term artistic research at the abandoned sugar mill in Central Aguirre, Puerto Rico. Díaz and Herrera collaborated previously on an award-winning dance film.

Grant Rissler, assistant professor of organizational studies and chair of nonprofit studies, presented “Barriers to the Integration of Virginia’s Immigrants” as part of the January 16 Advocates for Intercultural RVA (AIRVA) meeting.

Donnie Lewis, aka Mad Skillz, adjunct instructor and former SPCS artist-in-residence, won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album for his project Words For Days Vol. 1 at the 2026 Grammy Awards. Mad Skillz has has co-taught a class with Erik Nielson, professor and chair of liberal arts.

Sharon G. Feldman, William Judson Gaines Chair in Modern Foreign Languages and professor of Spanish and Catalan Studies, translated Liberto, from the original Catalan Llibert, an award-winning play by Barcelona playwright Gemma Brió. The new work is premiering at Theater for the New City.

Ben Pettis, assistant professor of rhetoric and communication studies, published a book review of Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.

Jorge A. Wong Medina, assistant professor of classical studies, presented “Homeric ὑπόδρα ἰδών” at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Classical Studies. 

Courtney Blondino, assistant professor of health studies, published "A Community Conversation Process to Establish Resident and Service Provider Perspectives on Needs Related to Use and Treatment of Opioids and Substances" in Frontiers in Public Health.

Courtney Blondino, assistant professor of health studies, published "Describing psychosocial risk in the Mexican working population by sex, generation, and industry: a cross-sectional study" in Safety Science.

Associate Professor of Art, Jeremy Drummond’s latest film Monument was presented at the Dresdner Schmalfilmtage, and listed as an Official Selection at the Anticensura Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, Ethnografilm Paris,Wide Open Experimental Film Festival, and the Arquiteturas Film Festival. The film won the First Place Award and the Kathryn Stephens Virginia Filmmaker Award at the James River Film Society's 32nd Short Film Showcase at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where it was an Official Selection. See the full list of screenings.

Joonsuk Park, associate professor of computer science, published the paper "Supporting Reviewing Reviews: How HCI Authors Handle Peer Reviews of Manuscripts" in the Proceedings of the International Conference on Human-Engaged Computing (ICHEC). 

Carol Parish, Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Chair in Chemistry, and Euguene Wu, associate professor of biology and biochemistry, published "Understanding the Fidelity and Specificity of DNA Polymerase I" in ACS Omega, along with Alexis Blake, ‘19, and Elise Tate, ‘19.

Patricia Herrera, professor of theatre, and Alicia Díaz, associate professor of dance, published the chapter “Radical Imaginings of Feminist Solidarities Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond” in Porque Estamos Aquí: Puerto Rican Feminisms Against Empire.

Allison Cornell, assistant professor of biology, published "Life-history stage-dependent effects of food supplementation on gut microbiome diversity in Sialia sialis (Eastern Bluebird)" in Ornithology.

Kamal Gasimov, assistant professor of Arabic studies, published “Eurasia and eschatology. Dugin’s antiliberal resonances in the Muslim world” in Studies in East European Thought.

Rick Mayes, professor of health policy, published “From Disappointment to Predominance: Medicare Advantage's Ascendancy and Transformation of Medicare” in The Milbank Quarterly.

Allison Cornell, assistant professor of biology, published "Sequestration of plant defenses by spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) and effects on avian predators" in the Journal of Chemical Ecology.

Kamal Gasimov, assistant professor of Arabic studies, published “Philosophical Encyclopedia in a Mystical Fatwā: The Sufi Readers of the ‘Brethren of Purity’ (Iḫwān al-Ṣafāʾ) in Sixteenth-Century Cairo under Ottoman Rule” in Arabica: Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies.

James J. Broomall, professor of history and William Binford Vest Chair in History, is serving as an academic advisor of and reviewer for the exhibition and book, The Soldier's Gaze: Picturing the Civil War. The Virginia Museum of History and Culture will premiere the exhibition in 2027, and Rizzoli Press will publish the book/exhibition catalog.

Volha Chykina, assistant professor of leadership studies, co-published the article "Examining Institutional Academic Freedom and STEM Research Production in the OECD" in International Journal of Educational Research.

LaRee Sugg, deputy director of athletics for policy and sports management, was named to the Chesterfield Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2026 in recognition of her decades-long impact as a golfer, coach, and athletics administrator.

Maribel Street, director of emergency management, received the International Association of Emergency Managers Presidential Citation for her contributions to the emergency management field for 2024–25.

Agnieszka Szymańska, associate professor of art history, published "Slaying the Embodiment of Lust: A Painting of a Martyr-Monk Vanquishing a Female Demon" in the Journal of Early Christian Studies.

Derek Miller, associate director of community-engaged research, scholarship, and relationships in the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, presented “Developing a Community of Care: Interdisciplinary Enagagement with East End Cemetery” with musician Leyla McCalla at the 2025 Place Based Justice Network Annual Symposium in New Orleans.

Sylvia Gale, executive director of the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement; Nicole Maurantonio, associate provost of academic affairs and professor of rhetoric and communications; and Derek Miller, associate director of community-engaged research, scholarship, and relationships, presented “Supporting Early Career Community-Engaged Faculty and Their Evaluators” at the 2025 Engagement Scholarship Consortium in Roanoke, Virginia.

Christopher Shugrue, assistant professor of chemistry, along with Phoebe R. Rubio, ’26, Gavin A. Clausen, ’26, Zachary D. Ruighaver, ’26, Abigail F. Dalton, ’24, John Blobe, ’24, and Amanda L. Moore, ’26, published "Benzothiazole sulfones as a tool for peptide modification and cleavage" in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry.

John Craft, director of information security, presented “Staying Secure in Today’s Digital World” for the Commonwealth Women’s Club.

Patrick Martin, assistant professor of computer science, received the Claude C. Gravatt and Ann S. Gravatt Faculty Fellowship for "Live Coding Language for Real-Time Coordination of Human-Robot Teams." The fellowship, awarded by the University of Richmond, supports faculty research in STEM fields in the School of Arts & Sciences.

Margaret Tait, assistant professor of health studies, received the Anders Andren Faculty Fellowship for “Health and Hype: Exploring the Spread of Health-Related Misinformation Through Multi-Level Marketing Programs.” The fellowship, awarded by the University of Richmond, supports outstanding faculty members performing innovative teaching, scholarship, research, or creative work in the School of Arts & Sciences.

David Wilkins, professor of leadership studies, co-published the article "Indigenous invisibility: Gaps in education about Indigenous peoples among environmental decision-makers" in Earth Stewardship.

Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias, associate professor of physics, published “Physics-informed generative adversarial networks applied to dichroic filters’ properties regression” in Physica Scripta.

Tianyuan Xu, assistant professor of mathematics & statistics, presented his research on orthogonal roots at The Interplay Between Distance Geometry, Combinatorics, and Coding Theory workshop held at the Brin Mathematics Research Center at the University of Maryland.

Kelling Donald, Clarence E. Denoon Jr. Chair in the Natural Sciences, published “Why are elements like radium dangerous? A chemist explains radioactivity and its health effects” in The Conversation.

Hemali Oza, assistant professor of health studies, published “Household resilience and adaptation strategies for enhancing access to energy, water, and food during droughts and floods: A qualitative study” in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health.

Kelling Donald, Clarence E. Denoon Jr. Chair in the Natural Sciences, along with student Brice Di Carlo, ’27, published “Chapter 10 - On the origins of local positive potentials on group 13 central atoms and the ouroboric cyclization of heteroorganic chains” in Theoretical and Computational Chemistry.

Hemali Oza, assistant professor of health studies, presented "Household Energy and Water Resource Disruptions and Coping Strategies During Floods and Droughts in Kenya" at the 2025 UNC Water and Health Conference.

Kelling Donald, Clarence E. Denoon Jr. Chair in the Natural Sciences, along with students Donovan Hoilette, Jr., ‘25, and Gabriel F. Stewart, ’19, published “Sigma-hole-supported interactions in complexes of group 5 oxyhalides (MOX3) with insights for their extended solids” in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

Christopher von Rueden, professor of leadership studies, co-published the article "Egalitarianism is not equality: Moving from outcome to process in the study of human political organisation" in Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Vladimir Chlouba, assistant professor of leadership studies, presented his new research on traditional leadership and democracy at the African Studies Association annual meeting in Atlanta on Nov. 20-22.

Terry Price, professor of leadership studies and PPEL, appears on the Virginia Business list of 100 People to Meet in 2026: Educators.

Julie Pollock, associate professor of chemistry, has received the 2025 Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. The Dreyfus Foundation is dedicated to advancing the chemical sciences and established the Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award to support the research of outstanding early career faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions.

Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, presents his latest film, Monument, at the Mykonos Biennale, 37th Girona Film Festival, and SPE Media Festival, and as an Official Selection at CineSalon Experimental Film Festival, Centre Film Festival 2025 and RPM25/Revolutions Per Minute Film Festival, where it won the Best of RPM 25 Film Award. Drummond presented the film at XV ENCUENTRO PARA CINÉFAGOS and UFF - Underground Film Festival, where it won Best Video Art Award at both festivals. Drummond received the First Place Award in Classic Experimental Film at the Denver Underground Film Festival. See the full list of screenings.

Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, was awarded the 2025 American Public Health Association Cancer Forum Global Health Award for “Transforming Detection: Assessing the Impact of Task Shifting in Nurse-Led Breast Cancer Screening in Rural Ghana.” James received the highest award in the global health category.

James J. Broomall, professor of history and William Binford Vest Chair in History, was invited to serve on the American Civil War Museum’s Historian Advisory Council, a standing body that advises on initiatives and projects to ensure the museum remains a leading resource on the American Civil War and its legacies.

Laura Knouse, professor of psychology, published “Bridging the Gap: Digital CBT for Adults Managing ADHD Challenges” in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

Jennifer Bowie, professor of political science, published the 13th edition of the book Judicial Process in America.

Sylvia Gale, executive director of the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, delivered the keynote “Seeking epistemic justice or, why practitioner scholarship matters” at the University of Helsinki as part of the Helsinki Inequality Initiative.

Sylvia Gale, executive director of the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, published the Deaconess Foundation Report “Practicing Community, Cultivating Democracy: Lessons from Professional Power Shifters.”

Writing for The Conversation, Volha Chykina, assistant professor of leadership studies, and colleagues cite research that shows rising threats to academic freedom have a chilling effect on scientific research.

David Wilkins, professor of leadership studies, served on the 2025 Native American Cultural Celebration History Panel on Nov. 12 at the University of Mary Washington.  

Rhiannon Graybill, Marcus M. and Carole M. Weinstein & Gilbert M. and Fannie S. Rosenthal Chair of Jewish Studies, published the book Ruth: Themes and Issues in Biblical Studies.

Allison Brenning, teaching faculty of education, received the 2024 Henrico Police Athletic League (PAL) Significant Contributor Award. The award honors her partnership with the Henrico PAL after-school program at Dumbarton Elementary, where she coaches and supports University of Richmond students providing literacy and math instruction to elementary students.

Tammy Milby, senior teaching faculty of education, received the 2024 Henrico Police Athletic League (PAL) Significant Contributor Award. The award honors her partnership with the Henrico PAL after-school program at Dumbarton Elementary, where she coaches and supports University of Richmond students providing literacy and math instruction to elementary students.

Michelle Kahn, associate professor of history, won the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prize for her book Foreign in Two Homelands: Racism, Return Migration, and Turkish-German History.

Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, joined the Editorial Board of the International Journal for Middle East Studies (IJMES), the flagship interdisciplinary journal in the field of Middle East studies. 

David Brandenberger, professor of history and global studies, published Stalin’s Usable Past, which analyzes Stalin’s role in rewriting Soviet history to emphasize a thousand-year legacy before the 1917 Revolution and reshape Soviet identity.

Rick Mayes, professor of health policy, presented his research on Medicare policy at the 2025 American Public Health Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C., and for the Better Healthcare Policy Group at the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health.

David Brandenberger, professor of history and global studies, published “‘Basically, it’s a History of the Russian State’: Russocentrism, Etatism, and the Ukrainian Question in Stalin’s Editing of the 1937 Short History of the USSR” in Nationalities Papers.

Rania Kassab Sweis, associate professor of anthropology, presented “The Making of Syrian American Medical Humanitarians” at the Global Health in a Turbulent Middle East and North Africa: Anthropological Perspectives conference hosted by the Yale MacMillan Center Council on Middle East Studies.

Kathryn Jacobsen, William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair and professor of health studies, published “Newborn screening for sickle cell disease in Caluquembe, southwestern Angola, 2024–2025” in PLoS One.

Jorge Wong Medina, assistant professor of classics published a review of Alloglōssoi: Multilingualism and Minority Languages in Ancient Europe in the Journal of Literary Multilingualism.

David Brandenberger, professor of history and global studies, presented “The Foundations of Russian Statehood: An Analysis of the New ‘Civilizationism’ Curriculum in Russia’s Higher Educational Institutions” at a conference hosted by the Polish Academy of Sciences’ Institute of History. The paper analyzes a new mandatory civics course taught today in all Russian colleges and universities.