Agnieszka Szymańska, associate professor of art history, has been awarded membership to the Institute for Advanced Study, one of the world's foremost centers for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. Szymańska is an expert on the architecture and painted decoration of late antique and medieval monasteries in the Mediterranean. Learn more.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, published “Tackling the (un)affordability of medicines for cardiometabolic risk factors worldwide: a call to action” in BMJ Global Health.
Isaac Skromne, associate professor of biology, published “A cell fate mapping simulation laboratory to increase undergraduate students’ understanding of early developmental processes in frog, zebrafish, and tunicate embryos” in the Journal of Microbiology and Biological Education.
Laura Fitrer, GC’16, has been named to Leadership Metro Richmond (LMR)’s flagship program, Leadership Quest, as a member of the class of 2026. Each year, LMR welcomes a diverse group of community leaders into Leadership Quest. This ten-month experience equips participants with the tools to drive lasting change in the greater Richmond region.
Crystal Hoyt, professor of leadership studies and psychology, co-published the article "Loneliness mindsets: A new measurement approach and implications for predicting wellbeing" in Behavioral Sciences.
Tom Shields, chair of graduate education and associate professor of education and leadership studies, moderated a rare meeting of the Richmond Public Schools Board and the Richmond City Council, including Superintendent Jason Kamras and Mayor Danny Avula. This was the first meeting of the two leadership groups since 2022.
Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, received the Best Avant Garde Film award at the Mesa International Film Festival for his film Monument. The film was also featured in “Zombies, ghosts, videogames: 10 highlights from St Moritz Art Film Festival” in Dazed.
Priscilla Erickson, assistant professor of biology, along with Weston Gray, post baccalaureate research assistant, published “Field Sampling of Zaprionus indianus in the Eastern United States in 2023-2024” in microPublication Biology.
Priscilla Erickson, assistant professor of biology, along with Weston Gray and Logan M Rakes, post baccalaureate research assistants, and students Christine Cole, ’24, Ansleigh Gunter, ’24, Guanting He, ’26, Samantha Morgan, ’23, Camille R Walsh-Antzak, ’24, and Jillian A Yates, ’24, published “Rapid Wing Size Evolution in African Fig Flies (Zaprionus Indianus) Following Temperate Colonization” in Evolution.
Emma Goldman, associate professor of chemistry, and Raymond N. Dominey, associate professor of chemistry, along with students Will Carrick, '21, Emily Kluball, '12, Kaleigh Hall, '12, Bret Adams, '05, and Adam Greenblatt, '05, published "Stereoselective Synthesis of Unsymmetrical 3,3-Diarylpropenals by a Suzuki-Miyaura Reaction of (Z)-3-Aryl-3-chloropropenal Intermediates" in the European Journal of Organic Chemistry.
Priscilla Erickson, assistant professor of biology, along with Alexandra Stellwagen, ’26, and Ansleigh Gunter, ’24 published “Limited population structure but signals of recent selection in introduced African Fig Fly (Zaprionus indianus) in North America” in G3 Genes|Genomes|Genetics.
Miles Johnson, associate professor of chemistry, received the 2025 Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Matthew Oware, Irving May Professor of Human Relations, received the 2025 Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Monti Datta, associate professor of political science, received the 2025 Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Sandra Joireman, Weinstein Chair of International Studies, received the 2025 Distinguished Scholarship Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Carol Parish, Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Professor of Chemistry, received the 2025 Distinguished Scholarship Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Jenny Pribble, professor of political science and global studies, received the 2025 Distinguished Scholarship Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Jennifer Cable, professor of music, received the 2025 Distinguished Faculty Service Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Michelle Hamm, professor of chemistry, received the 2025 Distinguished Faculty Service Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.
Matthew Lowder, associate professor of psychology, published "Comparing Sustained Attention Performance across Laboratory-Based versus Web-Based Settings" in Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics.
Rick Mayes, professor of health policy, published "Inside the Meteoric Rise in Medicare Advantage" in Health Affairs.
Monti Datta, associate professor of political science, received the Bonnor Foundation Spirit of Ubuntu Award, given to individuals who embody the spirit of community engagement.
Emmy Weldon, assistant professor of theatre & dance, received the Bonnor Foundation Spirit of Ubuntu Award, given to individuals who embody the spirit of community engagement.
Mary Finley-Brook, professor of geography, received the Bonnor Foundation From Action to Impact Award for excellence in teaching.
Kyle Redican, teaching faculty of geography, environment, & sustainability and director of the Spatial Analysis Lab, received the Bonner Foundation Engaged Scholar Award, given to scholars who have made significant contributions to the field.
Karina Vázquez, senior teaching faculty and director of community-based learning for Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies, received the Bonner Foundation Engaged Scholar Award, given to scholars who have made significant contributions to the field.
Monti Datta, associate professor of political science, received the APSA Distinguished Teaching Award, honoring outstanding contributions to undergraduate and graduate teaching of political science at two- and four-year institutions. The American Political Science Association (APSA) presents the award annually.
Dr. Tom Shields, chair of the SPCS graduate education program and associate professor of education and leadership studies, received the Distinguished Faculty Service Award for the School of Professional and Continuing Studies during University of Richmond Colloquy on Wednesday, August 20.
Agnieszka Szymańska, associate professor of art history, published “Painted Plaster” in City and Cemetery: Excavations at Kourion’s Amathous Gate Cemetery, Cyprus: The Excavations of Danielle A. Parks, vol. 2: Human Skeletal Remains, Ecofacts, and Artifacts and “Deposition and Dumping in Area A” and “The Cist Tombs” in City and Cemetery: Excavations at Kourion’s Amathous Gate Cemetery, Cyprus: The Excavations of Danielle A. Parks, vol. 1: Context, Analysis, and Conclusions.
Agnieszka Szymańska, associate professor of art history, presented "Sailing the Desert Seas: Images of Ships in Monastic Spaces of Late Antique Egypt," at the Byzantine Studies Symposium.
Associate Professor of Art Jeremy Drummond’s film Monument, has been named an Official Selection by Brooklyn Film Festival, Digerati Experimental Media Festival, St. Moritz Art Film Festival, Umbria Underground Film Festival, TerraLenta International Environmental Documentary Film Festival, Experimental Brasil Film Festival, Mesa International Film Festival, Beaufort Film Festival and Santa Cruz Film Festival.
Bob Spires, associate professor of education, has been recognized for leading a workshop for educators at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The recognition is posted in an institutional news brief and Facebook post.
Black Women with Eating Disorders: Clinical Treatment Considerations (W. W. Norton & Company), co-authored by Charlynn Small, assistant director of health promotion, was reviewed and featured in The Eating Disorder Journal.
Brittany Nelson, associate professor of photography and extended media, opened the solo exhibition To Leave is to Return at Quartz Studio at the EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival in Italy.
Brittany Nelson, associate professor of photography and extended media, was named an artist to watch by Art in America, who selected 20 “New Talent” artists from around the world, working in all mediums. In publishing the announcement, Art News also featured one of Nelson’s photographs as a collectable print.
Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, will presents Monument, at Rhizome DC, a nonprofit community arts space dedicated to promoting creativity as a force for personal empowerment and community engagement.
Tianyuan Xu, assistant professor of mathematics & statistics, is a recipient of the AMS-Simons Research Enhancement Grants for Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Faculty. The grant supports Xu’s research in combinatorial representation theory.
Stephanie Spera, associate professor of geography, environment, & sustainability, and David Salisbury, associate professor of geography, environment, & sustainability, published “Transboundary Road-Building in the Southwestern Amazon” in the Journal of Latin American Geography.
Sandra F. Joireman, Weinstein Chair of International Studies, published “In the Shadow of the Dragon: Chinese soft power in Central Asia” in International Affairs.
Kathryn Jacobsen, William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair and professor of health studies, published “Hepatitis B (HBsAg) prevalence among obstetric patients in Caluquembe, Angola, 2023–2024” in the journal PLoS One.
Colleen Carpenter-Swanson, assistant professor of Biology, along with students, Audrey Breckenridge, '25, Sanskriti Basnyat, '26, and Eva Fitch, '25, published “Validating the antiseizure effects of vitexin and related flavone glycosides in zebrafish” in Frontiers in Pharmacology.
Daniel L. Hocutt, marketing web manager and SPCS adjunct liberal arts professor, has co-authored a chapter titled “Give Yourself a Break: Juggling Rugrats, Experiencing Regrets, and Cultivating Compassionate Community” in an edited collection titled Parenting while PhDing published by Rutgers University Press.
David Giancaspro, associate professor of Spanish, published "Lost and found? Shifts in Heritage Speakers' Processing of Mood Morphology Over the Course of a Semester Abroad" in Languages.
Aaryn Robbins, assistant professor of psychology, published “The Pictures by Category and Similarity (PiCS) database: A multidimensional scaling database of 1200 images across 20 categories” in Behavior Research Methods.
Tianyuan Xu, assistant professor of mathematics & statistics, published "Orthogonal roots, Macdonald representations, and quasiparabolic sets" in Forum of Mathematics.
Elizabeth Baughan, associate professor of classics and archaeology, presented “Concrete Gravemarkers as Regional Cultural Heritage” at the Association for Gravestone Studies Conference and Annual Meeting.
Elizabeth Baughan, associate professor of classics and archaeology, published "Contextualizing Reuse: Marble Furniture Tops in the J. Henry Brown Monuments Order Books" in AGS Quarterly: Bulletin of the Association for Gravestone Studies.
Jonathan Dattelbaum, professor of chemistry, published "Isolation and Whole Genome Sequence Analysis of Alcaligenes and Chromobacterium Strains with Antimicrobial Activity Against ESKAPE Pathogen Relatives" in Journal of Genomics along with Hannah Lwin, ’25.
Chiles Wade Downey, professor of chemistry and Clarence E. Denoon Jr. Chair in Natural Sciences, along with students Katie Marchione, ‘25 and Karmen Smith, ‘25, published “One-pot enol silane formation-alkylation reactions of ketones promoted by trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate: Direct access to β,β-diarylated ketones and related compounds” in Tetrahedron Letters.
Bob Spires, associate professor of education, has edited and introduced a special issue of The Urban Review on the Continued Impact of Neoliberalism on Urban Education. The special issue is being published in two parts. Part one, including Spires’ introduction, is now available.
Patrick Martin, assistant professor of computer science, presented “On the Design and Implementation of a Live Human-Robot Coding Platform for Contemporary Dance Performances” at the International Conference on Live Coding.
Jamelle S. Wilson, dean of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, has been re-elected to the board of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) as board secretary. She joined the VECF board in 2020.
Crystal Hoyt, professor of leadership studies and psychology, co-published the article "Distinguishing between individual and societal socioeconomic mobility beliefs: Understanding attitudes toward those in poverty" in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.
Joe Torrence, SPCS director of community engagement and external relations, has been appointed to the Community Engagement Committee of the Virginia Association of Fundraising Executives (VAFRE). The committee works to develop and steward partnerships with other organizations to build a more vital and inclusive philanthropic community throughout the Commonwealth.
Grant Rissler, assistant professor of organizational studies, co-presented a paper titled “Megaphone or Modulator? Examining The Role of Non-Profit Organizations in Amplifying the Voices of Immigrants” with co-author Saltanat Liebert of VCU's Wilder School at a panel titled Continuing the Conversation: Conference w/in a Conference on Borders and Migration at the summer virtual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association (SPSA).
Jorge Wong Medina, assistant professor of classics presented “The Formulaic Template and Linguistic Innovation in Homer” at the Formulaic Language in Historical Linguistics: Data, Methods, Tools, and Theory conference at the Finnish House of Learned Societies.
Kyle Redican, teaching faculty of geography, environment, & sustainability and director of the Spatial Analysis Lab, along with undergraduate Matteo Gonzalez, ‘24, published “Generative AI in Undergraduate Education: An Early View of Developments, Prospects, and Challenges of the AI Revolution” in The Professional Geographer.
Jorge Wong Medina, assistant professor of classics presented "Homeric Diectasis" at the 11th International Colloquium of Ancient Greek Linguistics.
Julie Pollock, associate professor of chemistry and Beth Zizzamia, Spatial Analysis Lab GIS operations manager, along with Hannah Parker '23, published "An Online Interactive Map of Human Metabolic Pathways and Associated Genetic Disorders as a Tool for the Biochemistry Classroom" in the Journal of Chemical Education.
Megan Driscoll, assistant professor of art history published “Being Seen: An Art History of the Blackness of Technology” in The Routledge Companion to African Diaspora Art History.
Associate Professor of Art Jeremy Drummond’s film Monument, is an Official Selection of the 2025 Richmond International Film Festival. The film makes its Richmond premiere at the event.
Jeremy Drummond, associate professor of art, will present his latest film, Monument, at Revelation Perth International Film Festival, MicroActs Intimate Histories, Vancouver International Film Festival, and the Chicago Underground Film Festival. See all screenings.
Elizabeth Kissling, associate professor of Spanish and applied linguistics, presented "Teaching grammatical concepts in real life: Fulfilling the promise of concept-based language instruction" at the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) annual conference.
Grant Rissler, assistant professor of organizational studies, served as discussant for a panel titled Peace and Public Administration: Using Overlapping Insights to Inform Praxis at the virtual 2025 annual meeting of the Public Administration Theory Network (PATNet). Rissler helped organize the panel as part of co-editing a special issue on “Peacebuilding and Public Administration” in Administrative Theory & Praxis.
Grant Rissler, assistant professor of organizational studies, presented a paper titled “Administrative Evil: A Public Administration Failure Examined through a Peacebuilding Lens” at a panel titled Peace and Public Administration: Theoretical Insights at the virtual 2025 annual meeting of the Public Administration Theory Network (PATNet).
George Hiller, adjunct professor of liberal arts, received the International Trade Educator of the Year award from NASBITE, an organization focused on global business education, trade credentialing, training and practice, at its annual conference.
Kristin Bezio co-published a chapter on the East India Company.
Kristin Bezio, professor of leadership studies and Jepson School associate dean of academic affairs, published the chapter "A Case Study in Empire: The East India Company" in the edited volume Case Studies in Political Leadership published by Edward Elgar Publishing.
Michelle Kahn, associate professor of history, has been awarded a fellowship from the American Jewish Archives for 2025-26 to support research for her book tentatively titled Neo-Nazis in Germany and the United States: An Entangled History of Hate, 1945-2000.
Omar Quintero-Carmona, associate professor of biology, and John Warrick, associate professor of biology published "Transcriptomic Analysis of CAD Cell Differentiation" in MicroPublication Biology, along with students Lillie Wendt '26, Carlos Cevallos, '17, Anna Leigh White, '20, Brooke Fazio, '21 and GC '22, Jasmine Feng, '20, and Dora Posfai, '13.
Christopher von Rueden, professor of leadership studies, co-published the article "Why collective music-making is sometimes rare: A study of four indigenous societies" in Evolution and Human Behavior.
Crystal Hoyt, professor of leadership studies and psychology, co-published the article "Gender identity awareness as a shadow pillar of the gender hierarchy: How it can undermine women in leadership" in Sex Roles: A Journal of Research.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, presented “Conflict, Climate, and Child Health: Evidence from Sub Saharan Africa” at the Population Association of America Annual Meeting.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, presented “Does Health Insurance Coverage Reduce Childhood Morbidity? Evidence from Zimbabwe” at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Annual Conference.
Daniel L. Hocutt, web manager and adjunct professor of liberal arts, presented “Writing Futures: Authoring with AI in Digital Ad Platforms” at the Computers & Writing 2025 conference at the University of Georgia.
Joonsuk Park, associate professor of computer science, published the paper "tRAG: Term-level Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Zero-shot Retrieval" in Proceedings of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL).
Joonsuk Park, associate professor of computer science, published the paper "Return of EM: Entity-driven Answer Set Expansion for QA Evaluation" in Proceedings of the International Conference on Computational Linguistics (COLING).
Camilla W. Nonterah, associate professor of psychology, published "Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Organ Transplantation" in the American Journal of Transplantation.
Kathryn Jacobsen, William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair and professor of health studies was promoted to Global Burden of Disease (GBD) principal collaborator at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. The position is the highest tier within the GBD Collaborator Network.
Miriam McCormick, professor of philosophy, was appointed Lewis T. Booker Professor in Ethics.
Karina Vázquez, senior teaching faculty of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies, published "Escritoras que nos rescatan. La reedición literaria en el aula universitaria como práctica de investigación-creación / Female Writers Come to the Rescue: Literary Reedition as a Research-Creative Pedagogy in the University Classroom" in (an)ecdótica.
Karina Vázquez, senior teaching faculty of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies, presented "Bridging Humanities, Professions and Communities" at the University of Georgia (Athens), highlighting course design strategies that connect the humanities with Career Services and community partners through experiential learning, interdisciplinary projects, and student reflections on professional growth and social agency.
Karina Vázquez, senior teaching faculty of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies, presented “Bridging the Gap: Students Translators and Interpreters within the Community” at the National Council Undergraduate Research Conference.
Joonsuk Park, associate professor of computer science, published the paper "AdvisorQA: Towards Helpful and Harmless Advice-seeking Question Answering with Collective Intelligence" in Proceedings of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL).
Patrick Martin, assistant professor of computer science, along with students Tyeon Ford, ’27, and Jordan Attys, ’27, developed the robotics algorithms and wearable computing systems that facilitated the live choreography of humans and robots in “Interconnected,” an improvisational dance performance.
Karina Vázquez, senior teaching faculty of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies, published “Intimate Experiences: War and Food in Lee Miller” in The Recipes Project.
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, presented "The Impact of Old Age Non-contributory Pension Programs on Depression in Low and Middle Income Countries: The case of Rural Mexico" at the Population Association of America Annual Meeting and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Annual Conference.
Courtney Blondino, assistant professor of health studies, published "Latent Structure of Past 12-Month Tobacco Use in Wave 6 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health: Examining for Differential Substructure by Generational Status" in Substance Use and Misuse with students, Fernanda Moya Quezada, ’26, and Caitlyn Hall, ’26.
Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias, associate professor of physics, published "Anisotropic Optical Response of Gold-Silver Alloys" in Physica Status Solidi (RRL) - Rapid Research Letters.
Kathryn Jacobsen, William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair and professor of health studies published “Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific burden of diarrhoeal diseases, their risk factors, and aetiologies, 1990–2021, for 204 countries and territories: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021” in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
