the magazine for alumni and friends of virginia

Transcription

T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R A L U M N I A N D F R I E N D S O F V I R G I N I A C O M M O N W E A LT H U N I V E R S I T Y
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Fall 2010
Through innovative research,
Virginia Commonwealth University
faculty increase their knowledge
and understanding of the world,
enriching their teaching and
inspiring their students
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CIRCA
Chemistry lab: 2010
Newly constructed laboratories in Oliver Hall
allow the Virginia Commonwealth University
Department of Chemistry to enroll 1,000 additional students per semester in the general chemistry program. The sleek, high-tech labs feature a
digital projector, innovative fume hoods and an open design that allows
instructors an unobstructed view of students.
2 | VCU Shafer Court Connections
Contents
[ F E AT U R E S ]
8
14
16
22
24
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The search for solutions
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One of a kind
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Record breakers
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Groundbreaking generosity
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myTuition
Virginia Commonwealth University faculty enrich their
teaching as they engage in groundbreaking research.
VCU’s architectural history symposium provides
a unique forum for showcasing students’ work.
Eight students receive the Fulbright Scholarship,
the most ever for VCU in a single academic year.
Private giving generates opportunities for faculty
to engage students in academic research.
A new online resource brings students into the
conversation about the cost of higher education.
[ D E PA R T M E N T S ]
2
5
18
19
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26
31
37
38
39
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Circa
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University news
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Face to face
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My college town
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The big picture
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Alumni connections
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Class notes
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Then and now
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Datebook
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Circa
Chemistry lab: 2010
Noteworthy news and research at VCU
Kenneth Kahn, Ph.D., talks about transforming the
da Vinci Center for Innovation into a national model.
Richmond residents turn to hyperlocal blogs and
websites to deliver community-specific news.
Virginia high schoolers battle their bots in the
regional FIRST Robotics Competition.
The latest news from the alumni association
Updates from alumni, faculty, staff and friends
Campus technology advances with the times — and
student needs.
Upcoming university and alumni events
Chemistry lab: 1980s
Fall 2010 | 3
Greetings from your alma mater!
Thank you for your active dues membership and support of the Virginia Commonwealth University Alumni
Association and your university during the past year!
Special thanks to all our alumni who have embraced
the association’s call to Connect, Engage and Serve as
active dues members and volunteer leaders. As a result,
new programming and services have been launched
in support of the priorities I shared with you last
fall — Service to Community and VCU, University
Engagement and Student/Alumni Programs, and
Membership Acquisition and Retention.
The association’s monthly e-newsletter has detailed
our progress. To make sure you receive this informative piece, I urge you to verify that we have your current
e-mail address and be sure to register on the alumni
association website (www.vcu-mcvalumni.org).
This summer, we made keeping in touch even easier.
For several years, alumni have requested a permanent
VCU alumni e-mail address. Now, alumni can show
their pride with an @alumni.vcu.edu address! Flip to
the back cover to learn how to get yours.
This issue of Shafer Court Connections showcases your university as a premier public research institution with a national and international presence. As an indication of its evolving status and significance,
VCU recently received a $20 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Other articles in this issue present a day-in-the-life perspective of VCU research and describe how the
presence of a major, urban public research university benefits students, faculty and the community.
I know many of you have heeded the call for alumni to support the Opportunity VCU initiative.
I hope many more will help us reach our goal of raising $50 million in scholarship funds to encourage and support the most qualified and motivated undergraduate, graduate and professional students at
VCU. Your generosity will help the best and brightest attend your university, join our alumni association
and serve their communities as educated citizen leaders. To learn more about Opportunity VCU, visit
www.support.vcu.edu/donors/opportunityvcu.html.
Alumni must play a critical leadership role to ensure the association’s continued success in meeting
its goals and, in turn, the growth of the university as a leading institution in higher education. I urge you
to add your voice and energy as an alumni volunteer leader. I know firsthand that you, the association
and your university all will benefit from your engagement.
Yours for VCU,
Donna Dalton (M.Ed. ’00/E)
President
SConnec
a er our
ons
VCU
Fall 2010 • Volume 16, Number 1
www.vcu-mcvalumni.org
Assistant Vice President,
University Alumni Relations
Gordon A. McDougall
Executive Director,
VCU Alumni Association
Diane Stout-Brown (B.S.W. ’80/SW)
Director of Development
and Alumni Communications
Melanie Irvin Solaimani (B.S. ’96/MC)
Editorial
Kristen Caldwell (B.S. ’94/MC)
Design
Nathan Hanger (B.S. ’01/MC)
Photography
Linda George
Production
Jessica Foster
Contributors
Editorial: Kelli Anderson, Jennifer Carmean
(B.S. ’98/H&S), Teri Dunnivant, Erin Egan,
Polly Roberts, Jamie Stillman (B.S. ’85/MC),
Kim Witt
Design: Pamela Arnold (B.F.A. ’87/A),
Trina Lambert, Matthew Phillips (M.F.A.
’87/A), Shannon Williams
Photography: VCU Libraries – Special Collections
and Archives, Kevin Casey, Allen Jones
(B.F.A. ’82/A; M.F.A. ’92/A), Tom Kojcsich
Shafer Court Connections is published
semiannually by the VCU Office of Alumni
Relations and VCU Creative Services for
Virginia Commonwealth University’s alumni,
faculty, staff and friends. Opinions expressed
in this magazine do not necessarily represent
those of the university or magazine staff.
Send address changes to the Office of Alumni
Relations, Virginia Commonwealth University,
924 W. Franklin St., P.O. Box 843044,
Richmond, VA 23284-3044; telephone
(804) 828-2586; [email protected]
or www.vcu-mcvalumni.org.
Letters to the editor should be sent to Shafer
Court Connections, Virginia Commonwealth
University, 827 W. Franklin St., P.O. Box
842041, Richmond, VA 23284-2041, or
e-mail [email protected]. Please include
your name, address and a daytime phone
number; anonymous letters will not be
published. Letters may be edited for clarity
or space.
On the cover
Cover illustration by Kevin Casey
Contributions of articles, photos and
artwork are welcome, however, Shafer Court
Connections accepts no responsibility for
unsolicited items.
© 2010, Virginia Commonwealth University
an equal opportunity, affirmative action university 100302-09
news and research. For the
latest updates, visit VCU online
at www.news.vcu.edu.
Multimedia studio broadens access
VCU and the VCU Health System announced
new technology that will give media live or taped
interview access to some of the world’s leading
physicians, specialists and researchers for breaking news, features or trend expertise.
“Teaching, research and patient care are the
hallmarks of VCU and the VCU Health System,
and this technology will enable us to quickly
share new knowledge with the world,” says
Marcos Irigaray, vice president of strategy and
marketing for the VCU Health System.
The university installed the broadcast-quality
VideoLink ReadyCam system, a remotely or
locally controlled camera technology that uses
fiber optics to connect to VideoLink’s headquarters in Boston. From there, experts in
VCU’s studio, located on the university’s MCV
Campus, can be routed to virtually any location.
John N. Clore, M.D., professor of medicine and associate vice president for clinical research, speaks
with patient Colleen A. Thoma, as she undergoes a test to monitor brain wave activity.
VCU receives $20 million research grant
VCU received a $20 million grant — the largest federal award in its history — from the
National Institutes of Health to become part of a nationwide consortium of research
institutions working to turn laboratory discoveries into treatments for patients.
The Clinical and Translational Science Award makes VCU the only academic health
center in Virginia to join a national consortium of research centers sponsored by NIH’s
National Center for Research Resources. This network of academic research institutions accelerates the transformation of laboratory discoveries into treatments for
patients, engages communities in clinical research and trains a new generation of clinical and translational researchers.
VCU is among nine institutions selected this year, bringing membership to 55 centers in 28 states and the District of Columbia.
“This is a transformational moment for VCU in terms of our status as a research
university,” says Sheldon Retchin, M.D., M.S.P.H., vice president for Health Sciences
and CEO of the VCU Health System. “This draws on the reputation the university has
developed in community-based participatory research and its national reputation for
delivery of care to the underserved members of the community.”
VCU joins the consortium through its Center for Clinical and Translational Research,
a comprehensive matrix center that will support VCU’s efforts to strengthen ties with
affiliates and community partners to better share resources and respond to community health needs.
John N. Clore, M.D., associate vice president for clinical research and principal
investigator for the grant, says the CCTR “will train the next generation of clinical
investigators to pool medical informatics, genetics, basic science, clinical research
together — and working with the community — to develop a whole new way to do
research with a whole new group of investigators that are trained differently, and
uniquely, to answer the needs of the 21st century.”
VCU’s on-site ReadyCam broadcast studio makes it
convenient for experts to give live broadcast interviews.
Annual Convocation honors faculty
The university recognized the following four
distinguished faculty members during the 28th
Opening Faculty Address and Convocation ceremony in September:
• Richard P. Wenzel, M.D., M.Sc., School of
Medicine, University Award of Excellence
• George W. Vetrovec, M.D., School of
Medicine, Distinguished Service Award
• William E. Haver, Ph.D., College of
Humanities and Sciences, Distinguished
Teaching Award
• Shiv N. Khanna, Ph.D., College of
Humanities and Sciences, Distinguished
Scholarship Award
An annual event that acknowledges and honors the quality and excellence of the VCU
faculty, Convocation also marks the formal
opening of the academic year.
Fall 2010 | 5
[UNIVERSITY
NEWS
]
Student health program wins award
Learning Commons opens at library
VCU’s Wellness Resource Center, part of
University Student Health Services, won an
award from the American College Health
Association for its work improving student
health. VCU was honored for its “Clickerenhanced Social Norms Marketing Intervention”
program, which aims to improve the health of
students by reducing high-risk drinking. The
program combines a campuswide social norms
campaign and the use of audience response
technology in alcohol education sessions with
students during Welcome Week and first-year
orientation classes. Data have demonstrated that
students who participate in the sessions are more
likely to limit their alcohol use.
The new 14,000-square-foot Cabell Learning
Commons on the second floor of James Branch
Cabell Library provides an improved dedicated
study area for students. The space opened during
Welcome Week and adds 438 new seats in the
library, which hosts more than 2 million student
visits each year.
Students have a variety of places to settle and
always nearby are the amenities they require,
including abundant computer monitors, table
space and electrical outlets. There are smaller
touches, such as cupholders, reconfigurable
furniture with flexible lighting and moveable
whiteboards on wheels, and larger ones, such as
impromptu gathering areas, group study rooms
and a multipurpose room big enough to seat as
many as 60 people.
The Learning Commons is the latest in a
series of projects designed to improve the student experience at VCU, following the opening
of the Larrick Student Center on the MCV
Campus and the Cary Street Gym on the
Monroe Park Campus and the establishment of
the Harris Hall Student Services Center as a
one-stop home for enrollment services needs.
The redesign was made possible in part by the
move of hundreds of thousands of bound journals to storage space in the new 500 Academic
Centre building.
Gift supports education partnerships
The VCU School of Education received a $1
million gift from Altria Group Inc. to improve
the preparation and support of school leaders
and to expand education partnerships in the
Richmond area. The gift allows the school’s
Center for School Improvement to expand its
services, infrastructure and community partnerships. CSI partners with school, district,
state and national leaders to build organizational instructional capacity to increase student
achievement and school accountability.
Chinese soccer officials visit VCU
The Center for Sport Leadership at VCU hosted a
Chinese youth soccer delegation to learn the sport’s
newest training methods.
The center organized the July visit in collaboration with the Richmond Strikers Soccer Club, a
large local youth soccer organization, and the U.S.
Department of State’s Bureau of Educational
and Cultural Affairs provided funding through a
$250,000 grant, which will allow an American contingent to travel to China next summer.
“The reason the State Department awards these
grants is to increase cultural understanding between
countries,” says Carrie Le Crom, Ph.D., assistant
director of instruction and academic affairs for the
center.
The Chinese delegation included 13 people —
nine youth coaches, three administrators with the
Shanghai Football Association and one coach/
administrator.
In addition to technical skills, the visit included an
emphasis on the life lessons that soccer can offer
and how coaches can integrate those lessons into
their instruction.
A visiting delegation from China watches a player make a save.
Students fill the study stations at the new Cabell
Learning Commons area on the second floor of
the James Branch Cabell Library.
VCU adds campaign reinvestment fee
Joining universities statewide and nationally,
on Oct. 1 VCU implemented a 4 percent campaign reinvestment fee on all qualifying gifts to
further fund its development and alumni relations efforts.
Half of the fee will support centralized advancement efforts on the university level, increasing
functionality and efficiency of gift processing,
donor stewardship and alumni engagement, as
well as helping execute future fundraising campaigns. The remaining 2 percent will support the
advancement infrastructure for the school or unit
to which the original gift was made. Depending
on available resources, some schools and units,
including VCU Massey Cancer Center, may opt
out of assessing their portion of the fee.
As it faces one of the toughest economic scenarios in its history, VCU must raise support for
key education and research initiatives. The
reinvestment fee is one part of the process.
Additionally, VCU President Michael Rao,
Ph.D., and other senior leaders are committed
to developing and strengthening relationships
with external audiences, such as the General
Assembly, alumni and corporate partners.
Grant improves geriatrics training
The Virginia Center on Aging in the VCU
School of Allied Health Professions received a
$2.2 million grant from the U.S. Health
Resources and Services Administration for the
development of the Virginia Geriatric Education
Center Consortium.
A collaborative response to Virginia’s aging
population and the shortage of geriatrically
trained health care professionals, the new VGEC
aims to improve geriatrics training.
“This award comes after an intense national
competition, so it is confirmation of the strength
of our consortium, with VCU as the leading
institution,” says Edward Ansello, Ph.D., director of the VCoA and professor in the Department
of Gerontology.
As project director, the VCoA will partner
with the schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Social
Work and Nursing at VCU and at partnering
consortium member institutions, the
University of Virginia and the Eastern Virginia
Medical School.
[UNIVERSITY
Reading program earns high marks
VCU’s AmeriCorps/America Reads effort was
recognized as one of the most innovative programs
in the country. The program is highlighted in the
newest edition of “Transforming Communities
through Service: A Collection of 52 of the Most
Innovative AmeriCorps Programs in the United
States,” which was published by Innovations in Civic
Participations and America’s Service Commissions.
“This recognition acknowledges that the longterm partnership between VCU and the area
public schools has been successful in developing
an approach to help children learn to read,” says
Catherine W. Howard, Ph.D., vice provost in the
Division of Community Engagement.
VCU’s 57 AmeriCorps members offer oneon-one and small-group tutoring and mentoring
services for nearly 1,000 children at 17 elementary schools and three Boys and Girls Clubs.
NEWS
]
Research report
VCU joins nationwide TBI clinical trial
VCU Medical Center researchers geared up to participate in a nationwide study of the use of progesterone, a
hormone that occurs naturally in the body, to treat patients
with an acute, severe traumatic brain injury.
The National Institutes of Health Phase III clinical
trial, called ProTECT III, is being conducted at 17 institutions across the U.S. The VCU Medical Center is the
only participating hospital in Virginia.
The study will examine if treatment with progesterone
for the first four days following a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, improves the outcome of
these patients. Previous studies suggest that progesterone, given immediately after a TBI,
might help treat brain injuries by reducing brain swelling and damage.
New hospital enhances pediatric care
Researchers identify new gene in the development of liver cancer
The VCU Health System and Children’s
Hospital have joined to become Children’s
Hospital of Richmond. The new hospital provides
a unified source of comprehensive, coordinated
specialty pediatric care to children and their
families at 10 locations throughout the greater
Richmond area and in Fredericksburg, Va.
Children’s Hospital of Richmond provides
increased access to all levels of health care for
children — from well-child checks to advanced
medical and surgical services for serious conditions to long-term care and therapy.
More than 350 Children’s Hospital employees join the nearly 1,000 VCU Health System
employees dedicated to pediatric care as well as
an additional 1,200 health system employees in
medical and surgical specialties who care for
children and adults.
VCU researchers have identified a new tumor-promoting gene that might play a key
role in the development of liver cancer. Levels of the gene’s expression are significantly
higher in more than 90 percent of patients with the disease compared with their healthy
counterparts.
“Researchers have been studying the role of LSF for more than 25 years in fields outside of cancer, but our work is the first demonstration that LSF plays an important role
in HCC,” says principal investigator Devanand Sarkar, Ph.D., M.B.B.S., assistant professor
in the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics in the VCU School of Medicine,
Harrison Endowed Scholar in Cancer Research at the VCU Massey Cancer Center and
a member of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine.
Researchers at the VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU Institute of Molecular
Medicine found that LSF plays an important role in the development and progression of
hepatocellular carcinoma and that inhibiting this gene can reverse the aggressive properties of human liver cancer cells. They also have identified the molecular mechanism by
which LSF promotes the growth of tumors.
VCU expands transfer student access
When it comes to helping smokers kick the habit, primary-care practices that employ a
telephone quitline are better able to help their patients, according to a study conducted
by VCU and the Virginia Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network.
Although telephone quitlines have been found to be effective for counseling and helping smokers quit, relatively few are offered in collaboration with clinicians.
In a study published in the April 2010 issue of the American Journal of Preventive
Medicine, the VCU group found that practices with a quitline provided help quitting to 41
percent of smokers who came to the office, compared with only 28 percent of smokers in
practices that did not have a referral system in place.
“Practices that used a systematic process to ask about smoking, advise tobacco cessation and assess interest in quitting, along with a fax
mechanism to refer interested patients to a quitline,
were more likely to provide support to help smokers quit, compared with practices that did not have
such a system for assessment and referral,” said
Stephen Rothemich, M.D., corresponding author of
the study and co-director of the Virginia Ambulatory
Care Outcomes Research Network in the VCU
Department of Family Medicine.
VCU expanded guaranteed-admission agreements with Virginia’s community colleges that
will provide more services and make the transition to the four-year university even easier for
community college students.
The new agreement, effective fall 2011, guarantees that students who complete a General
Education certificate at a Virginia community
college with at least a 2.5 grade-point average
and who meet other eligibility requirements
will be admitted to VCU and will have met the
core requirements of the university’s undergraduate curriculum.
VCU was among the first universities to sign
a systemwide guaranteed-admission
agreement with Virginia’s community colleges, ensuring admission
for eligible students from any
of the 23 community colleges.
Using quitlines with physician support improves smoking cessation
Fall 2010 | 7
Through innovative research,
university faculty increase their
knowledge and understanding
of the world as they inspire and
enrich their teaching
by Erin Egan
Every day, a new discovery. At
— designated as a research university with high research activity by the
Carnegie Foundation — it happens to
be true. Every day, faculty members
— from professors to physicianscientists — from all schools and
units on the Monroe Park Campus
and the MCV Campus pool their many
talents and resources to engage in
scholarship and creative exploration.
These individuals mentor undergraduate and graduate students in
the quest for answers about subjects
ranging from anesthesia to autism,
from cancer to crisis communication,
from wildlife to Web-based tools,
and then translate the results of their
findings to the community.
What follows represents just
some of the exploration occurring
across the university, the breadth
of which is truly inspiring.
HE PADDLES GLIDE into the James River with a quiet splash. Cathy Viverette,
research associate at the VCU Center for Environmental Studies; Lesley Bulluck, Ph.D.,
instructor in the VCU Department of Biology; and Nyla Khan, a senior biology major,
maneuver two green canoes on a clear, cloud-free morning at VCU’s Inger and
Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences.
For the next three hours, the three women will visit nearly 50 nest boxes of the prothonotary warbler along the river and take note of nest conditions, bird weight, wing
measurements and plumage condition.
Viverette serves as the field coordinator for VCU’s Prothonotary Warbler Monitoring
Project. Begun in 1987 by retired VCU Department of Biology ornithologists and
ecologists Charles Blem, Ph.D., and Leann Blem, Ph.D., the project studies the breeding biology of prothonotary warblers, which had been experiencing a population
decline throughout much of the U.S. The birds migrate from coastal Central and
South America in the summer and winter.
As field coordinator, Viverette oversees banding and data collection for sites
located on the James and Appomattox rivers, trains volunteers and students and
participates in related outreach activities with the community. Since the project
began, more than 26,000 prothonotary warblers have been raised in the nest boxes,
steadily increasing the species’ population.
The availability of birds makes the project perfect for faculty and undergraduate
and graduate students to engage in research. “When you get these large sample sizes,
you have freedom to ask a lot of cool questions,” Bulluck says. “The prothonotary warbler
project has allowed me to ask a broader set of research questions.”
Aside from the obvious perks of the project (“You can’t complain about being out in a
canoe on the river on a daily basis,” Viverette says), the project offers numerous opportunities
for collaboration. In May 2010, VCU’s Council for Community Engagement awarded a one-year
$15,000 grant to “Team Warbler: From Chesapeake Bay to Panama Bay and Back — Cross Cultural
Connections Supporting Sustainable Communities,” a partnership among VCU’s departments
of Biology and Biostatistics, the Center for Environmental Studies, the National Audubon Society and
Panama Audubon Society. The project will create a bird-monitoring and habitat-protection program that
partners local middle school students with students in Panama, with coordination and assistance
from the Audubon Society’s International Alliance Program.
“The prothonotary warbler project has endless possibilities,” Viverette says. “It’s going to keep
going and expanding.”
CREATIVE ENERGY CRACKLES in the VCU
University Student Commons Commonwealth Ballroom as more than
60 undergraduates present their findings at the second annual Poster
Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creativity on April 28,
2010.
Among the presenters, Priscilla Witwer, a senior social work major,
stands out in her bright red dress. Her project, “Web-based Research
on Intercountry Adoption (ICA) Agencies” examines whether agencies’
websites are consistent with the policies of the Hague Convention on
Intercountry Adoption, specifically with regard to marketing children.
“This topic is pretty controversial,” Witwer says. “It’s not what people want to hear when they think about adoption.”
Witwer first became interested in the topic while traveling to
Guatemala, which, under the guise of intercountry adoption, had unusually high rates of child theft and kidnapping. Using systematic sampling,
she selected 100 intercountry adoption placement agencies from the
2009 membership list of the Joint Council on International Children’s
Services. From each agency website, Witwer collected content including
Cathy Viverette monitors the breeding
habits of the migrant prothonotary
warbler along the James River.
Hague accreditation, photo-listing of children, sending countries’
programs utilized by the agency, number of children placed, religious
affiliation, humanitarian activities and quality level of the website.
Collecting the data proved to be a
grueling process because additional
questions Witwer posed tripled
her hours on the project. Still, she
remains pleased with the outcome.
The results provide a snapshot of
agencies with Web-based storefronts and their compliance to the
- Priscilla Witwer, B.S.W. program
HCIA as well as characteristics of
an industry in transition.
The project has fueled a spark in
Witwer, who hopes to continue doing research with the goal of getting
published in scholarly journals and pursuing a career in academia.
“I’m a very inquisitive person,” she says. “My motto is ‘Life is
a treasure hunt. Follow the clues.’ Really, life itself is research.”
“Really, life itself
is research.”
Fall 2010 | 9
MORE THAN 100 people pack Educational Room 163
at Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital on June 14, 2010. The spectators gather to witness six Henrico County high school students with
autism spectrum disorder become the first graduates of the Project
Search internship program. For a year, instead of attending their regular high school, the students worked in various areas of the hospital
on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Project Search, a national program with 150 outlets, assists
people with disabilities. This Project Search partnership among
VCU, Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital, Henrico County Public
Schools and the Virginia departments of Rehabilitative Services
and Education, provides work-skills training for young adults with
autism with the goal of competitive employment. The collaboration in Henrico is the only program in the country that focuses on
young people with autism.
“This group has been left out of the employment picture,” says
Carol Schall, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’03/E), affiliate assistant professor in the VCU
School of Education and special education and disability policy director at the Virginia Autism Resource Center, who worked on the project.
“When you look at the statistics of people who are employed, it’s much
lower for people with autism than every single other disability. That’s
one reason this program is so important.”
Brightly colored local anesthetic
fills the glass spine teaching tool
created by Lukeythia Bastardi
(left) and Jill Schroeder.
Jennifer McDonough (M.S. ’96/AHP), associate director of
training at the VCU Rehabilitation Research and Training Center
and project coordinator for the Vocational Rehabilitation Service
Models for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, serves as
the research coordinator for Project Search. With about 1 percent
of school-age children having ASD, McDonough says the issue of
finding employment for them needs to be addressed. Programs
like Project Search can help.
“A huge wave of students with autism is coming down the
pipeline through the school systems, and we’re really on the
edge of that wave,” she says. “What we’re able to figure out and
learn will be able to show us best practices for students going
forward.”
At the start of the internship program in fall 2009, several of the
students made little or no eye contact and barely spoke. On graduation day, they confidently express what the program has given them:
“Work skills,” “Confidence,” “New friends,” “Love.” The waterworks
really flow when the hospital’s human resources representative
announces that all six students will be offered employment.
“This really is how we have to do our work,” Schall says. “We’re
always collaborating. We have to be out in the community. Our work
is always out there.”
HE PHOTOGRAPHER’S CAMERA shutter goes off
in rapid succession. In front of the lens sit Lukeythia Bastardi and
Jill Schroeder, both dual master’s degree and doctoral students in
the VCU Department of Nurse Anesthesia. The women pose with
a model of “B.E.S.T,” the baricity educational spinal tool they developed as part
of the Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice program. The 3-D model allows users to
inject colored local anesthetic into the spinal canal and visualize how anesthetics
with varying baricity, or heaviness, move in the spinal canal space.
“We wanted something that students could use on a daily basis,” Schroeder says.
“We wanted to have a hands-on tool so you could see what would happen when you
gave different local anesthetics.”
The spine, built to scale, holds 30 milliliters of fluid (a human spinal canal holds
25 to 35 milliliters), follows a human spine’s correct curve and includes tick marks to
identify the nerves spaced along the column. The spine sits on a wood block but can
move to different positions to mimic possible patient positions.
“So much of being a nurse anesthetist is intangible,” Bastardi says. “We’re always
trying to find simple things to help teach ourselves. This is something that’s really
inexpensive to make. It’s simple and easy to replicate and gets the point across quickly.”
Since the project was conceived in January 2010, the glass spine has created much
buzz. An image from the photo shoot may appear in a future issue of the American Association of Nurse
Anesthetists Journal. In March 2010, Bastardi and Schroeder presented the spine at the Nurse Anesthesiology
Faculty Associates summit in Snowshoe, W.Va. They exhibited the spine at the 13th annual Graduate Student
Symposium and Exhibit, an event that highlights grad students’ scholarly work and research, at the University
Student Commons on April 20, 2010. In August, a poster presentation of the spine also was exhibited at the
AANA annual meeting.
Bastardi and Schroeder knew the project was a hit when fellow nurse anesthetists lauded their model.
Perhaps the most telling comment came at a conference on regional anesthesia. “Everybody thought it was
great,” Schroeder says. “One guy said the only problem was that he didn’t think of it first.”
Alton Hart, M.D., M.P.H., recruits African-American barbershops for
prostate cancer education.
“In terms of
community-based
research, it’s
extremely important
to have community
partners.”
– Alton Hart, M.D., M.P.H., VCU Department of Internal
Medicine, VCU Massey Cancer Center
and VCU Center on Health Disparities
EVERAL ACTORS GATHER at the Unique Barbershop in
Richmond, Va., to film a scene from “It’s a Big Decision,” a video produced to educate African-American men about prostate cancer and
the potential benefits and uncertainties about prostate cancer screening.
Watching the action from the sidelines stands the video’s creator, Alton Hart,
M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor with joint appointments in the VCU Department of
Internal Medicine and the Massey Cancer Center and associate scientific director
of VCU’s Center on Health Disparities.
The film shoot represents the culmination of work supported by a five-year mentored career development grant from the American Cancer Society to develop an
interactive decision-making aid.
Connecting his research interest in health disparities with a culturally relevant
and appropriate setting for reaching African-American men, Hart — with the help
of a community advisory council made up of barbershop proprietors — developed
a network of 24 shops in the Richmond area open to participating in research. The
council reviewed Hart’s protocols, consent forms and documents.
“I found having the barbershop advisory council to be a valuable resource,”
Hart says. “In terms of community-based research, it’s extremely important to have
community partners.”
The first two parts of the project involved interviewing and surveying 240 men.
Interviews with 40 of the men formed the basis for the video’s format. In addition to
scenes with men in the barbershop talking about a barber with prostate problems
and family members discussing the disease, the video features information such as
technical explanations of procedures, benefits and risks.
“It’s providing information in an entertaining way,” Hart says. “It was set to keep
the viewer engaged and keep it moving along.”
The computer-based decision-making aid could be housed in barbershops and
physicians’ offices or on the American Cancer Society website.
The latest prostate cancer screening guidelines from the American Cancer
Society recommend that men have a chance to make an informed decision with their
doctor about whether to be screened for prostate cancer. Hart says the guidelines
suggest that a decision aid might be an appropriate way to provide this information.
“So the timing is really, really great,” he says.
NSIDE SNEAD HALL’S Capital Markets Center,
Dan Salandro, Ph.D., associate professor, and Cory
Bunting, the center’s associate director, sit in front of a
30-foot-wide video screen as it flashes Bloomberg News, a stock ticker
and ratings from Standard and Poor’s. The two Department of Finance,
Insurance and Real Estate professors in the VCU School of Business
banter back and forth, their warm rapport quickly evident.
The duo’s easygoing manner served them well while working
together. Two years ago, the folks at ClearPoint Credit Counseling
Solutions, a national nonprofit credit counseling company, approached
Salandro and asked for his help in assessing their industry. [Full disclosure: Salandro sits on the board of directors at ClearPoint.]
Initially, Salandro and Bunting recruited four graduate students to
work on the industry study project. Then they took the results and
expanded the research themselves. The two professors sensed that
consumer credit counseling should have some correlation with the
economic cycle. As the economic cycle declines and unemployment
increases, consumers would increasingly find themselves in financial
difficulty and would seek credit counseling services.
“We just wanted to verify that our assumptions were correct,”
Bunting says.
Salandro and Bunting looked at numerous data and developed correlations among revenues and profits and the economic cycle. Much
as they suspected, there was a very strong connection.
“What we discovered was that the correlation came with a lag,”
Bunting says. “So in a sense, consumers were reluctant to seek credit
counseling and they lagged the economic cycle.”
The two are now in the process of building a more lengthy data
set. Nevertheless, they presented their findings at ClearPoint’s annual
board meeting. The company found the information important because
it will help them with staffing needs, fundraising and cost containment
efforts.
The chance to work on the project excited and inspired Salandro,
who has compiled abundant research in his 21 years at VCU. “The kind
of research I’ve been involved in is standard research that finance folks
do,” he says. “A lot of useful information comes out of it, but with this
project I enjoyed doing something that’s more quickly useful.”
For his part, Bunting, a longtime Wall Street veteran, relished the
idea of sinking his teeth into a new area of interest — and the chance
to join forces with Salandro.
“He’s got tremendous academic credentials and I come from
industry, so it’s a good collaboration,” he says.
Fall 2010 | 11
HE SIX MODULES in the second-floor lab of the
Goodwin Research Laboratory hum with activity as 20
researchers move from fume hoods to incubators to centrifuge machines, carefully handling leukemia cells.
The nonstop action occurs in the lab of Steven Grant, M.D., professor of medicine, biochemistry and pharmacology, who holds the Shirley
Carter Olsson and Sture Gordon Olsson Chair in Oncology at the VCU
Massey Cancer Center and serves as associate director of translational
research for Massey.
One of Grant’s most recent projects involves a Phase I clinical trial
for patients with acute forms of leukemia, partially subsidized by a $1.2
million National Cancer Society Grand Opportunities grant. Funded
by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, “GO” grants support
research that is ready to “go” from the laboratory to patients through
early phase clinical trials.
The study employs two novel, targeted agents, belinostat and bortezomib, in combination to develop a new therapeutic approach for
treating acute myeloid and lymphoid leukemias; blast crisis of chronic
myelogenous leukemia; and myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS.
Grant’s team is collaborating with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
in Houston and the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. Grant,
whose team has extensive experience leading such multi-institutional
trials, says partnerships with other NCI-designated cancer centers
benefit all involved.
Yan Jin, Ph.D., offers a model for harnessing social media to communicate through
a crisis.
“We form alliances,” Grant says. “In that way, many institutions can
participate in these trials, and we have the opportunity to explore
many new concepts. Our philosophy is that the more concepts we
test, the greater the likelihood that one or two of them will turn into a
meaningful advance in cancer therapy.”
The basis for the clinical trial stems from preclinical evidence
developed by Yun Dai, M.D., Ph.D., a Massey researcher and assistant
professor of hematology and oncology in the Department of Internal
Medicine. A long-standing member of Grant’s lab, Dai remains energized to come to work each day. He often writes down ideas to test
in the lab.
“If it works, that’s the most exciting thing for me as a researcher,”
he says. “If something’s not what I expected, at least it gave me a clue
leading me in another direction.”
Beata Holkova, M.D., assistant professor of hematology and oncology in the Department of Internal Medicine and a Massey researcher,
joined Grant’s group two years ago when the leukemia project was
just getting off the ground. Based on Grant’s preclinical data, she
wrote the protocol for the Phase I clinical trial.
Holkova feels extremely fortunate to join her colleagues in such a
significant study. “To be a part of grant writing, designing the protocol,
going through protocol-approval process, enrolling the first patient
and conducting this trial at a multi-institutional level is really exciting,”
she says. “Obviously this is the result of great teamwork.”
AN JIN, PH.D., assistant professor of public relations in the VCU School
of Mass Communications, waits in her office on the second floor of the
T. Edward Temple Building for the phone to ring. At any moment, Brooke Fisher
Liu, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Communications at the
University of Maryland, will be calling. The two women, who met in graduate school
at the University of Missouri, reconnected at an academic conference. The chance
meeting spurred them to collaborate on the “Blog Mediated Crisis Communication
Model,” a new theoretical framework in understanding crisis communications in
the blogosphere. Their paper on the subject was accepted for publication in the
Journal of Public Relations Research later this year.
“We’re both interested in knowing that, given all this evolution of media, what
does this mean to crisis communication?” says Jin, whose area of interest focuses
on the role human emotions play in crisis communications and conflict management,
particularly among public relations leaders and the public during crisis situations.
The two conducted an extensive literature review to see what other researchers reported about crisis communications and social media, whether information
was dispersed via a blog or through Facebook, for example. Jin and Liu found many
case studies describing how people were using social media and how companies
have utilized different functions of social media, but no theoretical piece addressing
a framework that could be applied to different organizations when they experience a
disaster, accident or reputational threat.
“There’s something common behind all those incidents,” Jin says. “There’s something
we believe could be more beneficial in providing reference for decision-makers and practitioners in general.”
Jin and Liu will move ahead with in-depth interviews, experiments and surveys to test the
model. “Give it a few more months and we can really tighten up this model with all the empirical
data from different research methodologies,” Jin says.
Jin’s funding comes from various sources, including an internal grant from the College
of Humanities and Sciences and an external grant from The Plank Center for Leadership in
Public Relations, a research center based at the University of Alabama. Her research efforts
earned her the College’s Excellence in Research Award in 2008.
“This is something I really want to do,” Jin says of her research. “It just feels natural.”
ASAL PUNS FLY at the meeting of the “Nose Study Group” in the Molecular
Medicine Research Building. Once the laughs diminish, the group, which thrives on
strong, black coffee served in mugs with “mucus” printed on them, gets down to the
business at hand, which — not surprisingly — focuses on the nose.
Bruce K. Rubin, M.Engr., M.D., M.B.A., FRCPC, the Jessie Ball duPont Professor and chair of the
VCU Department of Pediatrics, physician-in-chief of Children’s Hospital of Richmond and professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, co-directs the 12-member group, with Kelley
Dodson, M.D., assistant professor in the VCU Department of Otolaryngology, and P. Worth
Longest, Ph.D., who holds joint appointments as Qimonda associate professor in the VCU
Department of Mechanical Engineering and associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutics.
For a group that began convening in January 2010, its progress is nothing to sneeze at. Each of
the group leaders has been awarded independent research funding to study new medications for
chronic rhinosinusitis, mathematical modeling of the nasal passage and trachea in health and disease, the effects of humidity on nasal mucus clearance, ways to improve the comfort of nasal CPAP
and devices to suction excess mucus from the airway.
The team discusses plans to model the airways, with Longest working on a model of a nose
complete with sinuses and artificial mucus and Dodson looking into disorders such as post-headand-neck irradiation, empty nose syndrome and chronic sinusitis.
Rubin highlights the work of Soichiro Kano, M.D., M.P.H., a postdoctoral fellow from Japan, who
evaluates drugs that alter inflammatory response. Kano discovered that a rarely used antibiotic,
when dispensed in a very low dose, has a profound effect on chronic inflammation.
Tsuyoshi Tanabe, M.D., M.P.H., a second postdoctoral fellow also from Japan, investigates the cause
of a rare disorder that affects children, plastic bronchitis, in which the body makes so much mucus that
the airway tubes fill up. Patients cannot breathe and doctors pull out the whole bronchial tree. The
international registry for this rare disease resides in Rubin’s lab, as do several of these mucus casts.
“We have a very interesting freezer,” Rubin says.
The word is out that this multidisciplinary group, which also includes an allergist and a radiologist,
focuses on the study of nasal and sinus disease. This has led to collaborations within the university
as well as interest from outside companies. “People started coming to us with an interest in working
with us and that’s nice,” Dodson says.
Rubin revels in mentoring his team and guiding them to identify other promising and radical
avenues that might lead to treatment. “We’re making connections,” he says.
AT 7 P.M. ON a summer evening, 15
women filter into the mirrored exercise room
of the Neighborhood Resource Center in the
Fulton Hill area of Richmond, Va. The teacher
welcomes the class and begins to lead them in a
series of movements in the mind-body practice
of tai chi, an ancient Chinese martial art. The
scene might seem like a typical workout session, but it embodies the results of a research
project launched by Jo Lynne Robins, Ph.D.,
RN (M.S. 91/N; Ph.D. ‘99/N), assistant professor in the VCU School of Nursing.
In 2009, the VCU Institute for Women’s Health
awarded Robins a $10,000 community-based
research grant to improve the health of women
in the Richmond area for her project, “Exploring
the feasibility and acceptability of a novel tai chi
program for stress management in women.”
The 12-week tai chi intervention enrolled 22
women and retained 12 of them for the entire
session. Good numbers, Robins says, considering
the program required an after-work commitment
from busy women.
“The intervention was well-received,” she
says. “People found it to be beneficial, the
practice piece and the cognitive piece, as
well as the gathering with women to discuss
stresses, how they cope and how they find
time in their lives to care for themselves.”
Because the Neighborhood Resource Center
wanted to expand holistic health options and
stress management, tai chi appealed to its staff.
The project’s focus all along was to help the center create and sustain its own program so that it
would be available for the community.
A longtime practitioner of tai chi who has
taught numerous people the martial art, Robins
delighted in her roles as instructor and investigator. “It had a much more family feel than
a regular clinical trial would have,” she says.
“They really embraced me in the community
and were excited about what I brought.”
One serendipitous outcome of the research
included learning about community-based
participatory research and experiencing what
Robins calls “the blessing” of being paired with
the Neighborhood Resource Center.
“I just can’t say enough about them,” she
says. “It will be a place that I will continue to do
work and volunteer. It just hooks you.”
A pediatric pulmonary expert, Bruce K.
Rubin, M.Engr., M.D., M.B.A., FRCPC, and his
team explore new therapies for chronic lung
diseases.
PRIP provides funding
for faculty research
Announced in March 2010,
the VCU Presidential Research
Incentive Program affords all VCU
faculty members the opportunity
to apply for internal funding to
support new, emerging or continuing research. Grounded in
the commitment to develop and
boost faculty scholarship by VCU
President Michael Rao, Ph.D.,
PRIP provides new opportunities
for VCU faculty to expand their
research interests while enhancing the research enterprise across
the institution.
In August, 22 awards were
announced in the inaugural round
of competition for research grants
under PRIP. The support given will
help colleagues across the university gain better position for major
external research funding. Future
rounds of PRIP competition will
be ongoing.
For more information about
PRIP and research at VCU, visit
www.research.vcu.edu.
Erin Egan is a contributing writer for Shafer Court Connections.
Fall 2010 | 13
One of
a kind
VCU’s annual symposium on architectural
history and the decorative arts gives
students a forum to share their research
on a national stage — an opportunity
they won’t find anywhere else in the U.S.
By Polly Roberts
For most art history undergraduate and graduate students throughout the country, the moment of truth in many classes comes when
they turn in their research paper and receive a grade.
But to a select group of Virginia Commonwealth University
School of the Arts students, finishing their research papers is just
one piece of a learning puzzle that’s only complete after they share
their knowledge with other scholars and enthusiasts during VCU’s
annual symposium on architectural history and the decorative arts,
held in November at the Virginia Historical Society.
“VCU is the only American university that has a nationally advertised annual symposium purely to show off the work of its own students
in architectural history and the decorative arts,” says art history
professor Charles E. Brownell, Ph.D., who founded the symposium
in 1993 as a way for his students to learn the difference between writing
a paper to be read and writing a paper to be presented.
At symposiums of similar caliber throughout the U.S., presenters
include established scholars and experts in the field. At VCU, graduate
— and sometimes undergraduate — students get an early start to hone
their craft.
“It’s a rigorous program,” Brownell says. “Someone who goes
through this is prepared to be a professional. They can research topics
on architectural history, decoration, preservation, urban planning —
and they’re prepared to get up and talk.”
The student-centered symposium has no trouble attracting an
audience diverse in location (Deep South, New England, Midwest)
and background (doctors, lawyers, history buffs). Nearly 400 people
attended the 2009 symposium.
Regular attendee Calder Loth, who served as the state’s senior
architectural historian for 41 years and now works part time for
the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, says the original
research of students continues to impress him.
“They turn up a lot about architecture, the makers, who was
involved,” he says. “It’s invaluable research that my office doesn’t
always have time to do. It’s a big supplement for our work.”
For example, a past symposium presentation made Loth and his
staff aware of the cast-iron firebacks found in homes throughout
Richmond’s Fan District. Now they can use that information
when preserving historic buildings.
The symposium papers represent two semesters (fall and spring) of research, plus six
months of the students rehearsing, revising and
working closely with Brownell to perfect their
25-minute presentations, complete with images
and illustrations.
Brownell says the success of the program wouldn’t be possible
During this process, four-time presenter Susan Hume Frazer
(Ph.D. ’01/A) says she gained invaluable skills while researching a without VCU’s “open-air museum” — the blocks of mansions along
Franklin Street that date back to 1890 or earlier.
variety of topics, including Richmond architect D. Wiley Anderson.
“We have enough research topics in our historic buildings to keep
“I was encouraged to explore all types of sources,” she says. “I traveled all over to see buildings, how they stood, how they were being you busy the rest of your life,” he says. “I’ve been here 18 years and
it just gets better. We use what we have at VCU
used. I talked to the people who worked in and
to study national and international themes, and
used them to determine how the buildings “The fantastic thing about
what really packs the wallop.”
stood the test of time.”
architectural research as that’s
Finding the hidden gems in those buildings
That combination, says 2009 presenter
and introducing them to the preservation comAllison Frew (B.A. ’10/A), is what makes opposed to bioresearch
brings a sense of accomplishment to
architectural research so unique.
or medicine is that we get munity
Brownell’s students.
“The fantastic thing about architectural
“That’s where the satisfaction comes from,”
research as opposed to bioresearch or medi- to experience the space
Frazer says. “You know what you’re doing is going
cine is that we get to experience the space we
we are in. That kind of
to really last, ultimately saving or discovering
are in,” she says. “That kind of emotional and
something important to the field.”
perceptual response to space adds a whole level emotional and perceptual
the sharing of knowledge doesn’t
of knowledge to your research … you feel a
response to space adds a endIndeed,
with the symposium. The student research
really deep satisfaction with knowing how to
papers that serve as the basis for the presentations
look at something and appreciate all these dif- whole level of knowledge
live on for reference in the Special Collections
ferent aspects of it that create this one thing
to your research.”
and Archives at VCU’s James Branch Cabell
that means something to you.”
In 2009, Frew presented her research on
– Allison Frew, Class of 2010, Library.
“It’s so other researchers can use it and so
Palladian windows in the Fan. Before the
VCU School of the Arts
nothing gets lost,” says Brownell, promptly
symposium, she says she was very happy and
honored — and very nervous. This year, when she speaks about Ionic chanting one of his mottos. “Don’t keep it to yourself. 2-4-6-8. It’s
columns from the Renaissance in Italy to the Colonial Revival in the really great to radiate.”
The total number of Brownell student papers in Special Collections
Fan District, she will enter the symposium as a veteran with a more
and Archives stands at more than 300 … and counting.
confident attitude.
“I learned how I have these really great ideas, and now I can intelligently
speak about them to other people and convey them,” Frew says. “That is Polly Roberts is a contributing writer for Shafer Court Connections.
the best skill that I’ve learned from the symposium — in addition to the
research and travel — that will benefit me for the rest of my career.”
The symposium also serves as a forum for the preservation community to make connections. After the symposium, Frew gave a
VCU’s 18th annual symposium on architectural history
presentation to the Fan District Association and learned even more
and the decorative arts will take place Nov. 19, 2010,
from the neighborhood’s residents.
at the Virginia Historical Society. For more information,
For Frazer, the contacts and exposure she gained at the symposium
led to a publishing deal for her to research and write “The Architecture
call (804) 828-2784.
of William Lawrence Bottomley.”
To view the architectural resources in the
“That says a lot about the program,”
she says. “You gain confidence among
those in the community, you meet
them, they become your friends and
then they support you later.”
library’s Special Collections and Archives, visit
www.library.vcu.edu/jbc/speccoll/vcuarch.html.
Fall 2010 | 15
record
By Polly Roberts
Eight
VCU students and alumni,
representing a variety
of programs, receive
Fulbright Scholarships —
the most ever for the
university in a single
academic year
When Jeff Wing, Virginia Commonwealth University’s national
scholarship director, began reviewing the Fulbright Student
Scholarship applicants for the 2010-11 academic year, he knew
VCU had something special.
“They are an extraordinary group of candidates,” he says
of the 20 applicants.
Wing’s instincts proved right when, in spring 2010,
eight VCU students and alumni learned that they had
received the prestigious scholarship, giving the university a 40 percent acceptance rate — double the national
average — and its largest number of Fulbright Student
Scholars ever in a single academic year.
The recipients — who include graduating seniors,
graduate students and alumni from a variety of programs
— will study, conduct research, teach or collaborate
on artistic projects abroad for up to one year.
“They truly reflect the diversity of VCU,” Wing
says. “To have a world-class institution in the biomedical fields and a world-class institution in the arts
is a bit of an anomaly. Not a lot of universities bring
that same diversity of interests into play.”
Since 2005, VCU has produced 14 Fulbright
Student Scholars. This year’s class includes biology
graduate student Philip Shirk, who will travel to Tanzania
to study the ecology and potential effects of harvesting on
chameleons in the East Usambara Mountains.
“I would really like to meet a lot of other scientists — in Tanzania
and those from other foreign countries — to get to know them, what
they’re doing and to become more familiar with what it’s like to do longterm research in another country without easy access to the resources we’re
accustomed to here in the U.S.,” Shirk says.
VCU student receives Goldwater Scholarship
Earlier this year, VCU senior and biology major Christopher
Pang received the Goldwater Scholarship, the premier
national scholarship for undergraduate math, science and
engineering students.
Pang became the university’s seventh Goldwater Scholar
since 2006. These scholars are selected based on academic
merit and the potential to pursue a research career. The oneand two-year scholarships cover the cost of tuition, fees,
books, and room and board up to a maximum of $7,500 per
year.
(From left to right) Alison Alexander, Laura Baker, Kerry Lucinda Brown, Tennessee
Dixon, Tarfia Faizullah, HaNa Kim, Aaron Kunk and Philip Shirk
The eight Fulbright Student Scholars
and their research interests are:
•
Alison Alexander (M.U.R.P. ’10/GPA), who will research the
effects of politics on public spaces in Germany
•
Laura Baker (M.U.R.P. ’09/GPA), who will examine sustainability in the spatial planning process in Ireland
•
Kerry Lucinda Brown, a doctoral candidate in art history who
will travel to Nepal to further her research in South Asian and
Himalayan art
•
Tennessee Dixon, an M.F.A. student in scene design who will
pursue creative collaborations with two contemporary dance
companies in Budapest, Hungary
•
Tarfia Faizullah (M.F.A. ’09/H&S), who will write poems
based on recorded testimonies of Bangladeshi birangona (war
heroines) taken as sex slaves during the war for independence
in the 1970s
•
HaNa Kim, a doctoral candidate in counseling psychology who
will examine self-concept in South Korean adolescent cancer
survivors
•
Aaron Kunk, an education graduate student who will serve as
a teaching assistant in an English classroom in Germany and
continue his research on music pedagogy
•
Philip Shirk, who will study the ecology and potential effects of
harvesting on chameleons in Tanzania’s East Usambara Mountains
“Teaching is an important part of promoting
research. Students are encouraged to think more
broadly about research, put it into international
context.”
– Jeff Wing, VCU National Scholarship Office
Pang’s research in the School of Medicine’s Department of
Human and Molecular Genetics focuses on understanding
gene expression in erythroid cells. He hopes that his research
ultimately will lead to new ways to treat patients with hemoglobinopathies, such as sickle cell disease.
Pang also founded and organized a medical science internship program for high school students at VCU and is the
founding editor-in-chief of “Auctus: Research and Creative
Scholarship Journal at VCU,” an annual publication that promotes and showcases the products of VCU students’ scholarly
pursuits.
In addition to the student recipients, VCU faculty members
received four Fulbright Scholarships and a Fulbright grant for the
2010-11 academic year: Kevin Beanland, Ph.D., mathematics and
applied mathematics assistant professor; Paul Bukaveckas, Ph.D.,
biology associate professor; Wendy Kliewer, Ph.D., psychology professor; Marie E. Anzalone, Sc.D., occupational therapy assistant
professor; and Timothy Bajkiewicz, Ph.D., mass communications
associate professor.
Wing attributes much of VCU’s Fulbright success to the eagerness
of the faculty to engage students in research.
“It’s not necessarily research at the expense of teaching,” he says.
“Teaching is an important part of promoting research. Students are
encouraged to think more broadly about research, put it into international context.”
Now eight VCU students will travel abroad to continue to learn
through research.
“This is, to some extent, a watershed year,” Wing says. “Success breeds
success. The best students in any program can apply for Fulbright,
if they have an interest and international aspirations.”
Shirk says he expects student application numbers to grow.
“It still takes a good project and a lot of work toward your application,” he says, “but when students start to see people they know or
people at their school who can do it, they’ll be encouraged to go out
and do the same thing.”
Polly Roberts is a contributing writer for Shafer Court Connections.
Fall 2010 | 17
[ FAC E
t o FAC E
]
The innovator:
VCU director celebrates one year at the
helm of a thriving university center
Kenneth Kahn, Ph.D., became the inaugural director of the Virginia Commonwealth University da Vinci Center for
Innovation in August 2009. In just one year, Kahn has expanded and transformed the center that bridges the gaps between
the arts, business and engineering disciplines. Student teams collaborate throughout the semester on real-world projects
posed by companies throughout the Richmond metropolitan area. The center provides opportunities outside the classroom for VCU students as they “learn and do innovation,” Kahn says. “If you participate with da Vinci, you truly get an
experience that you won’t get in a typical class.”
Kahn recently sat down to talk about how the da Vinci Center has grown and plans he’s already started to implement.
As director, what are your goals for the
da Vinci Center and how do you hope
to reach them? My goal is to make the
da Vinci Center a national model for a center
of innovation at a university. This idea isn’t
new but it’s still very novel for universities.
The immediate goal is to make the da Vinci
Center sustainable and that includes ensuring that we have sponsors every semester for
our projects and that we have a very solid
curriculum.
When I got here, we had the da Vinci
Project course. I thought that we shouldn’t
just have a stand-alone course but a whole
program around the topic. So now we are
creating a whole program — a curriculum
— around innovation. We had an undergrad curriculum and certificate program
launched this fall and hopefully a Master
of Product Innovation in fall 2011. In the
future, who knows, maybe we’ll do something at the doctoral level.
How are the students grouped to take on
product development projects and design
challenges? We try our best to balance each
project with two arts, two business and two
engineering students. We’re creating interdisciplinary teams versus multidisciplinary
teams. There is a very keen difference. Multidisciplinary is when you have representatives
from different disciplines but then you take
the project on from your own lens. Da Vinci
students work together on what may be
disciplinary problems but from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Why is the collaboration between the disciplines of arts, engineering and business
important? Product concepts reflect the
three elements of form, function and benefit. Form pertains to aesthetics and human
factors, including how the product relates to
the customer or user. This is very much an
art aspect. Function concerns technology and
how the product operates. This is very much
an engineering aspect. Benefit addresses
what the customer wants and articulating
the product in such a way so customers can
understand it. Benefit also may clarify the
opportunity for the company. This is very
much a business aspect. Form, function and
benefit are elements that arts, engineering
and business students help to achieve; jointly
arts, engineering and business students
achieve a total product concept.
What is an interesting project that students
created? There was a group of six students
that were tasked to design a space to teach
innovation for K through 12th-graders at the
Science Museum of Virginia. Students created three distinct spaces: an idea generation
space, a collaboration space and a prototype
space. The science museum took their design
and built it this past summer as a permanent
exhibit. Some of the students were even hired
part time to work with the contractor as they
built this space.
How can the da Vinci Center aid in establishing VCU as a research university? If you
want to study the innovation process, why not
use da Vinci as a laboratory? We have two- to
four-student teams working on product development projects every semester. This affords
us the opportunity to observe how that process
works and how teams really behave. We have the
teaching aspect, the learning aspect and are now
working to develop the research aspect.
What role do companies in Richmond have
with the da Vinci Center? It’s a way for companies to engage with the VCU community and
observe the students. My intent also is to help
people network and have the da Vinci Center be a
focal point. While the da Vinci Center is at VCU,
it’s also about the city of Richmond. Through
the center, I think we can connect people and
companies to create an innovation network. If
we can do this, we’ll help spur innovation regionally and that’s really what the da Vinci Center
can do. It truly is a center for innovation.
Interview conducted by Kelli Anderson, a contributing
writer for Shafer Court Connections.
[MY
New voices
COLLEGE TOWN
]
Peter Feddo overlooks Richmond’s Boulevard,
the subject of his blog, Boulevardizen.
Hyperlocal blogs alert
neighbors of the news
By Kim Witt
Richmond’s newest journalists hunt down their next big
story while out walking their dog, shopping at the grocery
store or chatting with their neighbors.
Across the city, residents are taking part in a growing trend
toward hyperlocal news targeted to a specific geographic
area. Many news sites take the form of a neighborhood blog,
such as Boulevardizen, founded in 2007 by Joe Schilling
(M.B.A. ’09/B) and Peter Feddo, who attended Virginia
Commonwealth University from 2001-05 as an information
systems major. The website covers the neighborhoods along
the Boulevard — from The Diamond to Byrd Park — including
the Museum District, the Fan and Carytown.
“The site fills an important gap between the news that
the Richmond Times-Dispatch and other local media outlets
don’t adequately fill,” Feddo says. “When people come to my
site, they know what they’re getting is relevant to them, and
I will give it to them straight up and as quickly as possible.”
VCU’s School of Mass Communications also supports the
pro-am — or professional-amateur — model of journalism.
With funds from a New Voices grant administered by J-Lab,
an organization that promotes high-tech news experiments
to engage communities, and supported by the John S.
and James L. Knight Foundation, the school worked
with the Fulton Hill community to start the
Greater Fulton News website. VCU mass
communications students were tasked
with contributing content to the site and
faculty supported the program by
holding monthly journalism workshops for community members that
covered topics such as writing skills,
interviewing, shooting photos and
video, and website maintenance.
“News looks easy to generate, but
when you get right down to it, it can be difficult to sit down and distill your thoughts into
300 words,” says Jeff South, associate professor in
the School of Mass Communications. “Sometimes it’s tough
to get people over that barrier.”
As more readers of the Fulton Hill site turned into contributors, the content began to reflect the varied interests of the
community’s residents. One revealing and moving article
showed pictures of the Fulton neighborhood before it was
razed in the 1970s after flooding.
“Younger community members and leaders had no idea
how devastating it was until reading the article,” says Bridgette
Huff, a Greater Fulton News contributor. “It pushed the community dialogue in a different direction, just as new urban
renewal and construction projects were getting under way.”
Feddo agrees that the blog’s format welcomes a solutionoriented dialogue.
“I can inject a certain amount of opinion and use it as
more of an advocacy platform,” he says. “A lot of news organizations would prefer to be more objective, but I think, as a
member of the community, I can take a nonobjective position
because I want the neighborhood to be a better place.”
South explains that the Fulton Hill site’s emphasis on
improvement is evident in the success of fundraising events,
community meetings and fruitful discussion about crime
prevention and public safety.
“We wanted to get people more engaged,
whether with neighborhood watch or participation in civic activities,” he says. “We wanted
to foster community building and start a
dialogue about enhancing the community
and environment.”
Visit Greater Fulton News at
http://greaterfultonnews.org and
Boulevardizen at www.boulevardizen
.com, or find a list of Richmond-area
blogs at http://rvablogs.com.
Kim Witt is a contributing writer
for Shafer Court Connections.
Fall 2010 | 19
THE
PICTURE
BATTLE BOTS > The Stags, a team from Martinsville, Va., battle in the
FIRST Robotics Competition Virginia Regional, an annual engineering
challenge held at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Stuart C. Siegel
Center. With VCU engineering students serving as mentors, more
than 60 high school teams from five states design, build and program a
robot, before premiering at the competition to a crowd of 3,000.
Fall 2010 | 21
Groundbrea
generosity
Philanthropic support creates opportunities
for faculty to engage students in research
By Melanie Irvin Solaimani
ewly minted Ph.D. graduate Ev Worthington embarked
on his career in the fledgling Counseling Psychology
Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1978.
He jumped at the chance to help shape a program and to
enjoy significant interaction with undergraduate students. He also
liked the diversity of VCU’s student body.
Today, VCU’s Counseling Psychology Program in the College
of Humanities and Sciences is ranked among the top five in the
nation by the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Worthington has
developed a robust body of research on forgiveness, other virtues
— humility, mercy, justice, gratitude — and religious and spiritual
issues in families, individual life and society.
“Now, I am also exceptionally impressed with the idealistic commitment VCU students have to making a difference in the world.
I couldn’t be at a better place,” he says.
Much of Worthington’s research has been funded through private giving. Most recently, he received grants from the Kalamazoo,
Mich.-based Fetzer Institute, which aims to “foster the awareness
of the power of love and forgiveness.”
Following the scientist-practitioner-leader model of training,
students play a major role in Worthington’s research.
“My students are simply exceptionally bright and hard-working
colleagues who serve as primary authors of most of the research
I’m fortunate enough to collaborate with them in doing,” he says.
“We publish a lot, so the students get to be part of making science
actually happen.”
That student involvement in academic research not only helps
students develop confidence and critical thinking skills but also
benefits the university as a whole by creating an engaged student
body.
“Students report that they learn to work independently and gain
experience in how to handle uncertainty as they work on problems that may have no clear solutions,” says Interim Provost and
Vice President for Academic Affairs Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D.
“Research mentorship is a powerful relationship for both the faculty
member and the student. At VCU, the pursuit of new knowledge is
a team approach, where faculty members work collaboratively with
colleagues, undergraduate, graduate and professional students.”
aking
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Jeff Jennings, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in counseling psychology
and works with Worthington, echoes Warren’s assessment.
“Being able to work with Dr. Worthington really gives me the
opportunity to see what good science is. The most important skill I’ve
acquired is to be a more critical thinker,” he says. “Dr. Worthington
takes time with students and really invests in them. He sees it as his
role to mentor his students and really teach them how to do what he
does.”
In addition, Warren values the investment made by private
sources and underscores the critical impact that generosity has on
the university and its students’ development.
“Engaging in academic research can be costly. Donor-funded
research expands opportunities for faculty and students and often
provides funding for community-engaged research that may not be
well funded through state and federal sources,” she says. “Donors
often have a passion for particular areas of interest that blend well
with vital research focusing on solutions to real-world problems.”
Donor-funded research is prevalent throughout the university.
For example, Altria supports fellowships for out-of-state graduate
research assistants in the chemistry department; Marjorie and
Charles Cooke support the Melissa Lynn Rowley Memorial Fund
for head and neck cancer research at the VCU Massey Cancer
Center; and a bequest from a former high school teacher funds
the Inez Caudill Eminent Professor of Biomedical Engineering and
supports the pioneering flow control, fluid mechanics and disaster
science research of Mohamed Gad-el-Hak, Ph.D.
For Worthington, such generosity is crucial.
“I believe that donors can catch the vision of a scientist’s
work and can get a strong feeling of being truly able to multiply
their own resources to change the world for the better,” he says.
“Private support has placed me in contact with many scientific
and political world leaders, which I hope has played a role in
bringing forgiveness into the world. That is my life mission: to
do all I can to promote forgiveness in every willing heart, home
and homeland.”
To help support research at VCU, contact Thomas C. Burke
(B.S. ’79/E; M.P.A. ’95/H&S), executive director of the VCU
Foundation, at (804) 828-3958 or [email protected].
Melanie Irvin Solaimani (B.S. ’96/MC) is director of development and alumni communications at VCU.
Fall 2010 | 23
myTuition
The university brings students into the conversation,
responds to questions about the cost of higher education
By Jamie Stillman
The myTuition website answers many of the
questions raised following the university’s
recent tuition increase such as:
• How is my tuition determined?
• What’s new for me?
T
his past summer, Virginia Commonwealth University launched
a new online resource to help students and their parents
understand the costs of higher education. Developed jointly
by staff and students, the myTuition website at www.mytuition.vcu.edu
provides an overview of the various facets of tuition revenue and allocation as well as an easy-to-access link to more detailed information.
“Initially, a lot of students did not understand why there was such
a substantial tuition increase,” says Adele McClure, a senior business
major and president of the VCU Student Government Association.
“They wanted to know why tuition increased and where the money was
going. Transparency is the key to alleviating this general feeling among
the student body.”
In May, McClure, Tobias Guennel, a biostatistics major and
president of the VCU Graduate Student Association, and several
other student leaders met with Interim Provost and Vice President
for Academic Affairs Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., and John C.
Doswell II, D.D.S., chair of the VCU Board of Visitors’ Student Affairs
• How does VCU compare with other
schools?
• Where does my money go?
• How can I get help?
Committee, to discuss student sentiment about the tuition increase.
“It was an outstanding meeting with a focus on ensuring that the
students’ perspectives were heard,” Warren says. “The students thanked
us for keeping them informed and basically said ‘Keep the dialogue
going.’ They asked the administration to work with them to keep
students in the loop about how their tuition dollars were being used
now and into the future.”
Although the university had maintained minimal increases throughout its 42-year history, the significant decline in financial resources
from the commonwealth made this year’s increase an essential, yet
difficult, decision, according to VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D.
“The board took this action only after careful deliberation and after
considering at length the impact it might have on continuing and
entering students,” he says.
Rao noted that even after the increase in tuition, which is part of
an $892 million operating budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year, VCU’s
tuition is still below average for the state’s 15 four-year institutions.
The increase was a critical step to ensuring the quality of the VCU
degree, representing a new focus on setting priorities for more faculty,
course sections and student financial aid. “These are investments in
student success,” he says. “More faculty and class sections mean that
students are able to graduate on time with a quality education.”
A portion of the revenue from the tuition increase was earmarked
for 2010-11 to more than double the financial aid available to students,
VCU students (left) return to the university for the start of the fall 2010 semester.
First-year medical students (above) gather before the 2010 White Coat Ceremony,
where they mark their entry into the VCU School of Medicine. Banners (right) hang
from lampposts in Linden Court highlighting VCU traditions and events.
bringing support more in line with what is offered at other doctoral
institutions and allowing VCU to be more competitive with other universities and colleges.
“Everyone pays for a college education differently,” says Brenda
Burke, interim director of financial aid for VCU. “Students use a
combination of federal and state grants, government and private loans,
private and university scholarships, student employment programs or
veterans benefits to pay their expenses. At VCU, we also have needbased grant programs for students who do well academically or whose
family income is considered to be at the poverty level,” she says.
Another concern for students is the ability to enroll in the courses
they need to stay on track toward completion of their degrees. “Some
students find that they aren’t able to graduate on time because of ‘bottleneck’ courses — those courses that large numbers of students must
successfully complete in order to move forward in their programs,
including courses that are specialized, upper-level courses in the
major,” says James Mays, assistant dean for undergraduate academic
affairs in the College of Humanities and Sciences. “Others find that
they are limited in their choices for core education courses.”
To date, 57 full-time faculty have been hired on the Monroe Park
Campus specifically to meet the demands for these courses. Just in the
College of Humanities and Sciences, which is the university’s largest
academic unit, additional sections have been added for Basic Human
Anatomy (BIOL 205), Medical Microbiology Laboratory (BIOZ 209),
Principles of Nutrition (BIOL 217), Biochemistry I (CHEM 403),
Organic Chemistry and Laboratory (CHEM/Z 301-302), Life Span
Developmental Psychology (PSYC 304), Psychology of the Abnormal
(PSYC 407), interdisciplinary science courses (INSC 301, 310),
Calculus with Analytic Geometry (MATH 200-201), statistics (STAT
208, 312, 314, 541) and numerous upper-level courses in English,
forensic science, mathematics, political science, criminal justice, and
homeland security and emergency preparedness.
“All of these courses are offered through the college,” Mays says.
“But these courses also address needs for other programs outside the
college, for example, pre-health science programs, health, physical
education and exercise science, life sciences, nursing, social work,
engineering, liberal studies for early and elementary education, and
interdisciplinary science.”
To address core education pressures, approximately 2,700 additional seats have been made available in core education courses for fall
2010 compared with the enrollments last year at this time.
McClure had mixed emotions about the tuition increase but says
she’s excited about how the added tuition dollars are ensuring the quality of education at the university and the value of a VCU degree. She’s
especially proud of the collaborative outcomes, such as the myTuition
website. She and Guennel
worked closely with their constituents to ensure the voices
of the students were heard by
the administration.
“A lot of different perspectives and opinions went
into the development of this
website,” McClure says. “I am
happy to have been a part of
that development process.”
Guennel agrees. “After Dr.
Warren, Dr. Doswell and
the staff collected feedback
from the student leadership
and other groups across
campuses, members representing each part of the VCU
community were brought
together to make this website
as useful as possible. It was a collaborative effort,” he says. “I really
feel like this process exemplifies the new spirit of togetherness and
inclusiveness Dr. Rao has created since he took office. The reality is
this: The VCU community has lots to offer and we can achieve more
when we join forces.”
Jamie Stillman (B.S. ’85/MC) is director of external relations for the
VCU Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Fall 2010 | 25
News, highlights and event photos from the
Virginia Commonwealth University Alumni Association
and the African-American Alumni Council.
Rams at Work
Photo Marsha Polier Grossman
Connections
Alumni
April 23
April 24
A new tradition: VCU Alumni Month ramps up Ram pride
VCU celebrated the inaugural
April 1
April 22
Alumni Month in April with an
Open houses held at the Richard T.
Robertson Alumni House and the MCV
Alumni House allowed students, faculty, staff
and alumni to visit, pick up Alumni Month
buttons, posters and spirit items and learn
more about the benefits and services offered
through the alumni associations.
The VCU Alumni Association presented
the Alumni Award to Roberto Celis during
the Leadership and Service Awards Ceremony.
Celis, who was a member of Students Today
Alumni Tomorrow, graduated in May with
degrees from the School of the Arts and the
College of Humanities and Sciences.
April 10
April 23
Rams Night Out brought 60 VCU alumni
and graduate students together for a night of
food and fun at the VCU Chili’s, Gibson’s
Grill, T. Miller’s and Home Team Grill.
Participants traveled from place to place in
trolley cars and received cool VCU gear at
each stop.
The African-American Alumni Council
hosted its annual golf outing at Sycamore Creek
Golf Course in Manakin-Sabot, Va., to kick off
the 2010 AAAC Reunion Weekend. Afterward,
50 juniors from Richmond Community High
School visited VCU as part of the AAAC’s
Reunion Weekend community-service project. The students toured the campus, dined at
Shafer Court Dining Center and interacted
with alumni and VCU undergraduates.
array of exciting activities held
on campus and throughout the
Richmond community. As part
of the monthlong celebration,
the VCU Alumni Association
offered a new spirit program:
Rams at Work. Alumni in more
than 70 workplaces across the
U.S. requested and received
packages of VCU gear to display
April 17
and wear. More than 400 alumni
About 40 alumni, students and other
volunteers participated in a communityservice project at Richmond Community
High School, where they created new flower
beds, planted flowers and shrubs and gave the
exterior of the school a makeover.
in all participated, showing their
VCU pride at work.
April 23
More than 100 alumni, faculty and friends
gathered at the Richard T. Robertson Alumni
House to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. Richard
[ALUMNI
April 24
April 30
T. “Dick” Robertson (B.S. ’67/MC) was the featured speaker, with additional remarks by VCUAA
President Donna Dalton (M.Ed. ’00/E), VCU
President Michael Rao, Ph.D., and Ken Magill
(B.S. ’65/B; M.S. ’69/E), chair of the original
alumni house planning committee. Following the
anniversary celebration, a reception was held in
the Scott House to welcome RPI alumni back to
campus for their annual Reunion Weekend.
April 24
Alumni and friends attended the dedication of the Henry H. Hibbs and Margaret
L. Johnson Plaza, which surrounds the RPI
Commemorative Sculpture, “Tableith.” A
gift from the late William R. O’Connell Jr.
(B.M.E. ’55/A) and his wife, the late Peggy
O’Connell, funded the construction of the
plaza. After the dedication, the annual RPI 50
Year Golden Circle Alumni Club dinner — a
luau this year — was held at the Scott House.
April 24
More than 200 alumni and friends gathered at Crump Park for the AAAC’s annual
Park Outing. Later, about 600 alumni and
friends attended the annual AAAC Reunion
Weekend Dance, co-hosted by the Eta Tau
chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
and the Delta Upsilon chapter of Phi Beta
Sigma Fraternity Inc.
April 28
The chemistry department hosted a bakeoff in support of the VCUAA, raising $137.
Department staff promoted the event with
handmade signs and fliers posted around
campus, while chemistry graduate students
and members of the ACS Organization-VCU
Chapter contributed baked goods.
April 30
VCU Alumni Night at The Diamond
offered reduced ticket prices to alumni and
friends of VCU and brought in more than
500 guests. VCU had a visible presence
throughout the game with “Did You Know”
facts posted on the video boards and at the
VCUAA tent. President Rao, with help from
his son, Miguel, threw out the first pitch.
]
Photo Marsha Polier Grossman
Benefit spotlight: CareerBeam
Photo Michael Andrews
Photo Jesse DePriest
Photo Jesse DePriest
April 23
CONNECTIONS
As a VCU graduate, you have access to
CareerBeam, a virtual career center. Even
if you’re currently employed, you can use
CareerBeam’s unique tools to help you
improve your career. The site will help you
explore and understand your personal
assets, enhance your communication skills
and guide you on strategic career growth.
To learn more about CareerBeam, visit
the VCU Alumni Association website at
www.vcu-mcvalumni.org and select Benefits
and Services and then Benefits for Active,
Dues-Paying Members.
Program honors young scholars
The VCU Alumni Association recognized eight Richmond high school juniors
as recipients of this year’s Monroe Scholars
Book Award. Established in 2009, the scholars program honors students who embody
the leadership and citizenship ideals of U.S.
President James Monroe.
In addition, award recipients and their
parents are invited to attend a number of
events at VCU to familiarize them with the
university and encourage students to apply
for admission. Award recipients who enroll at
VCU in fall 2011 receive a $1,000 scholarship.
The association plans to expand the
program next year to high schools outside
the city of Richmond. If you’re interested in
making a donation to the Monroe Scholars
Book Award, please call (804) 828-2586 or
e-mail [email protected].
RPI council seeks fellow grads
The Richmond Professional Institute
Alumni Council is recruiting RPI graduates
to join the group and the fun. Anyone who
is an RPI graduate can join the council.
In 2011, the council will celebrate the
50-year anniversary of the Class of 1961, and
RPI alumni have already begun planning
for this big occasion. If you are celebrating
your 50-year graduation anniversary in 2011
and would like to contact your fellow classmates, call Diane Stout-Brown (B.S.W. ’80/
SW), executive director of the VCU Alumni
Association, at (804) 828-7020 or e-mail
[email protected].
Fall 2010 | 27
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CelebrateVCU
Your membership in the Virginia Commonwealth
University Alumni Association allows you to connect
with other alumni, engage in activities to support
the university and serve your community. Your
membership is critical to our ability to continue
communication with you and to fund programs that
benefit alumni like you and the VCU students following in your footsteps.
Membership includes exclusive benefits, such as:
• Online Journals access
• CareerBeam
• Shafer Court Connections alumni magazine
• License plate frame
Plus, money-saving discounts:
• Save 10% at Barnes & Noble @ VCU
• Save $5 per ticket for men’s basketball games (limit two per game)
• Save up to 25% on car rental and hotels
• Save $86 on VCU Recreational Sports membership
Not a member?
Join the ranks of fellow Rams making a difference at VCU
and in the world. One of our membership options is perfectly
suited for you.
Single membership
Annual
Recent Grad*
Lifetime
Lifetime Installment
Senior (55 and older)
$40
$25
$495
$110 annually for five years
$225
Joint membership**
Annual
Recent Grad*
Lifetime
Lifetime Installment
Senior (55 and older)
$55
$35
$595
$130 annually for five years
$275
* Recent Grad: First VCU degree within last five years
** Joint: Two people living at the same address
Join the VCUAA today! • (804) 828-2586 • www.vcu-mcvalumni.org
t
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[ALUMNI
CONNECTIONS
]
Photo Markus Elblaus
VCU Qatar hosts networking reception for alumni
VCU Qatar alumni visit with Monica Rao (fourth from left); Mohammed Al-Ansari,
chairman of Barwa Media; Michael Rao, Ph.D.; Allyson Vanstone, dean of VCU Qatar;
Matthew Woolman, director of Design Entrepreneurship at VCU Qatar; and Sana
Al-Buainain (far right), VCU Qatar alumni affairs director.
The VCU School of the Arts in Qatar held an alumni networking
reception in May with VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., and VCU
International Alumni Relations Liaison Monica Rao at Bistro Café in
Alfardan Towers.
The alumni reception was preceded by a presentation by Barwa Media,
80 percent of whose staff members are VCU Qatar graduates, with 90
percent of the design department comprising VCU Qatar alumni. The
event also included a tour of the new Barwa Media offices, designed by
VCU Qatar alumni. The visitors then proceeded to the café where alumni,
including those from Barwa Media, gathered to meet with the Raos.
“Interacting with VCU Qatar graduates at this alumni event has been
most gratifying,” Monica Rao says. “These are clearly talented and bright
individuals who value their VCU education and want to stay engaged in the
life of the university. My husband and I look forward to keeping alumni
engaged and involved as VCU advances to the next level. We see tremendous potential at VCU Qatar and look forward to making great strides in
the years to come. What I observed is evidence that VCU and its graduates
in Qatar are helping to shape the future, society and economy of Qatar.”
VCUAA welcomes new and returning board members
Three directors joined the VCU Alumni Association board in June:
Carolyn L. Bishop (B.A. ’86/H&S; M.P.A. ’88/H&S), administrator for
Powhatan County; Steven B. Brincefield (M.S. ’74/B), senior vice president with Thalhimer Corp.; and Franklin B. Wallace (B.F.A. ’87/A),
director of operations, VCU L. Douglas Wilder School of Government
and Public Affairs. In addition, the following current directors were reelected to serve a second three-year term: Rejena G. Carreras (B.F.A.
’70/A; M.A.E. ’80/A), William L. Davis (B.S. ’74/H&S; M.S. ’79/H&S),
David R. Dennier (B.S. ’75/B) and John Jay Schwartz (B.S. ’69/B).
Carolyn L. Bishop
Steven B. Brincefield
Franklin B. Wallace
A portion of all proceeds from the sale
of Rams Roast will go directly to the
Alumni Association and the MCV Alumni
Association of VCU to support programs
that benefit graduates and students.
Rams Roast coffee
The perfect gift for your VCU friends
Order 12-ounce cans online or sign up for
a six-month subscription and save 10 percent.
www.vcu-mcvalumni.org/ramsroast
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The World ...
brought to you by the VCU Alumni Association.
2011 Travel Destinations
2011 Trips
Jan. 5-15
Cruise Costa Rica on the Wind Star
Feb. 7-15
Insider’s Perspective: Rome
Feb. 15-25
Mayan Mystique Cruise
March 6-17
Cruise the Panama Canal
March 10-26
Asian Explorations Cruise
March 30-April 12
Mysteries of the Mekong River
April 2-13
Historic Reflections Cruise
April 26-May 12
Passage to Panama Cruise
May 6-15
Celtic Lands Cruise
May 7-16 ACA Normandy with Paris
May 9-22 Cradle of History Cruise
June 7-17
Alaskan Adventures Cruise
June 9-20
Changing Tides of History/Baltic Sea
and Norwegian Fjords Cruise
Aug. 26-Sept. 10
China and Tibet Land and Yangtze River
Cruise Journey
Sept. 18-Oct. 1
Greek Isles Odyssey Cruise
Oct. 10-19
Crossroads of the Classical Mediterranean
(C’est Bon culinary cruise)
Oct. 22-31
ACA Israel
(Look for travel discount information at the website.)
For more information call (804) 828-2586 or visit
www.vcu-mcvalumni.org/travel
Class notes
Send information about your professional and personal
accomplishments to [email protected]. Or, mail your news
to Shafer Court Connections, Virginia Commonwealth University,
924 W. Franklin St., P.O. Box 843044, Richmond, VA 23284-3044.
Updates
Joyce (Bly) Fletcher (M.S.W. ’69/SW) retired in Florida
after working as a clinical social worker, EAP account
manager and hospital social worker/discharge planner.
William “Bill” Ginther* (B.S. ’69/B; M.S. ’74/B) serves
on the Virginians for the Arts board of directors and
was named to the VCU Board of Visitors.
Robert G. Green (B.S. ’67/H&S; M.S.W. ’70/SW) is a
retired VCU School of Social Work faculty member
and volunteers in his new hometown of Corolla, N.C.
Jacquelin Moore Williams* (B.S.W. ’64/SW) retired
from the St. Louis County Department of Family
and Children’s Services.
1970s
Debbie L. (Stubbs) Bell (M.S.W. ’76/SW) is the corrections director for the Naval Consolidated Brig
Miramar Medical Inspector in San Diego. She is also
a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and inspects
mental health programs as part of a military/Joint
Commission team that accredits hospitals worldwide.
Donna (Lackey) Betteridge (B.F.A. ’74/A) works at
Deloitte Tax. She and her husband, Michael, as part of
a consortium, purchased a radio station in Thurmont,
Md., where she hosts a live radio show every Sunday night.
Jane Dowrick* (B.A. ’74/H&S; M.Ed. ’92/E) completed the spring
2010 HIGHER Ground leadership program with VCU’s
Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute. Dowrick is director
of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in the School
of Continuing Studies at the University of Richmond.
Karen C. Gillett (M.S.W. ’77/SW) is alpha counselor for
the Center for Drug-Free Living and works with at-risk
elementary school-children in Orlando, Fla.
Michael J. Mastropaolo (M.S.W. ’76/SW) retired after
a 40-year career in Virginia’s juvenile justice system.
Eileen McClellan (B.F.A. ’70/A) was awarded the Outstanding Middle School Art Teacher for Texas from
the Texas Art Education Association.
Linda W. Pharis (B.F.A. ’70/A; M.Ed. ’75/E) retired as
vice president of education at Blue Ridge PBS. Her
husband, John H. Pharis (B.F.A. ’73/A), also retired as
assistant principal for Roanoke County Public Schools.
Phillip Sager (B.S. ’73/MC) retired from teaching and
started a business in Baltimore dealing in stamps and
historical letters for collectors.
Dan E. Shorter (B.S. ’78/MC) is vice president, digital
media, for the New York Times Co.’s Regional Media
Group.
1980s
Martha Randolph Carr (B.S. ’83/H&S) started a free
newsletter based on her syndicated column and latest
book, “Live Your Big Adventure.”
Brett Cole* (B.S. ’83/B) is a professor of business at
Westwood College in Annandale, Va. He also operates
Family Financial Development, assisting consumers
with financial recovery and career advice.
Mabel Washington Jenkins* (B.S. ’81/B) was recognized
by the Virginia Municipal Clerks Association as the
2010 Clerk of the Year in acknowledgment of her
accomplishments as city clerk for Newport News, Va.
Kevin W. Johnson* (B.S. ’83/B) was appointed pastor
of ministry at Celebration Church in Columbia, Md.
Educational game teaches 4th-graders peace
Thirty years ago as an undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University, John
Hunter (B.S. ’78/E) took part in a groundbreaking “nontextbook” model teaching program
that placed teachers-in-training in the field immediately. Today, the elementary school
teacher is breaking ground of his own.
A dedicated student of Eastern philosophy and religions who traveled to India, China
and Japan during college, Hunter combined those interests to create the World Peace
Game to use in his classroom. A
hands-on political science simulation,
the game pits four countries against
one another in every way possible —
politically, socially, militarily and economically. Over the course of eight
weeks, students have to solve all
the world’s problems simultaneously
without combat, if possible.
Since the game’s inception, Hunter,
who teaches at Agnor-Hurt Elementary
School in Charlottesville, Va., says he
still never knows what’s going to happen. Each class is a blank slate and
brings a unique perspective to the
game.
The game, and Hunter’s teaching
Fourth-graders play the World Peace Game, created
philosophy, intrigued filmmaker Chris
by VCU alumnus John Hunter.
Farina so much that he approached
Hunter to make a documentary about it. “John is a master at allowing students to think
for themselves,” Farina says. “He’s very comfortable with himself and in not knowing the
answers. Kids are struck by that. Being wrong is not a problem. It’s a part of the learning
experience.”
“World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements” premiered in February 2010 and
is currently making the film festival rounds. It will be shown Oct. 20-27 at the Bergen
International Film Festival in Norway and at the Virginia Film Festival in November.
Promoting the film has been a slightly overwhelming experience for Hunter, but he appreciates the opportunity. “I’ve gotten to see what I do from a different perspective,” he says.
“It’s an inspiration to get that kind of affirmation to keep on doing what we teachers do.”
Hunter harbors no illusions that world peace will come about because of his game but
hopes that “if an individual child becomes inspired to have a personal peace or seek
peace or help others do that, then the game has more than fulfilled its purpose for me.”
For more information about “World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements,” visit
www.rosaliafilms.com.
Bonnie Matthews (B.F.A. ’85/A) was featured as a Wellness
Warrior on “The Dr. Oz Show” in January 2010 after
losing 130 pounds. She now blogs on the Dr. Oz website.
Carol D. Nardini (M.S.W. ’80/SW), director of community
services for Orange, Conn., received the Humanitarian
Award from Bridges Inc. for advocating on behalf of
persons with behavioral health issues.
Mary (Crews) Nunnally (B.S.W. ’81/SW; M.S. ’01/AHP) is program coordinator for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services
in the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services.
Fall 2010 | 31
Photo © Will May
1960s
[CLASS
NOTES
]
Alumna celebrates her lifetime of learning
Marlene Mondziel’s (B.I.S. ’10/H&S) diploma represents more than the degree she
earned at Virginia Commonwealth University — it’s a symbol of her lifelong appreciation
for education.
Mondziel, executive assistant to the chancellor for the
Virginia Community College
System, earned an associate
degree in 1996 from Genesee
Community College in Batvia,
N.Y., but she always had her
sights on continuing her education. She took classes at
Francis Marion University in
Florence, S.C., while employed
at the college in the late 1980s,
and in 1999 she enrolled at
John Tyler Community College
in Chester, Va.
“There were times when I
got very discouraged because
it was taking so long,” she
says. “There are things that
you have to give up because
Marlene Mondziel celebrates her graduation from VCU with her
son, Steve (left), daughter, Karen, and husband, Bob.
you have papers to write and
tests to study for.”
With the support of her husband and two children, Mondziel forged ahead and completed her general-education course requirements before transferring to VCU in 2004.
She continued to take one course a semester for the next six years, working toward a B.I.S.
with a concentration in public administration.
“She really caught my eye,” says Anne Stratton (B.S. ’83/MC; M.A. ’95/H&S), director of administration for the College of Humanities and Sciences and the instructor for
Mondziel’s final course at VCU. “She brought the perspective of someone who’s already
successful and knows that what she’s getting from school is real knowledge.”
On May 22, 2010, at VCU’s Commencement exercises, Mondziel celebrated the culmination of 11 consecutive years in school.
“I was ecstatic,” she says. “It was great to finally get to that long-range goal. My husband,
son and daughter were there and were just as excited as I was — maybe even more so.”
Mondziel says she hasn’t finished learning yet. She and her husband, Bob, plan to sign
up for tennis classes and a white-water rafting class on the James River, and she hopes to
pursue guitar lessons in the future.
“I believe in lifelong learning, obviously,” she says. “It’s been an interesting journey,
but I finished [my degree] and that’s the most important thing.”
Victoria Oakley (M.Ed. ’88/E) is the chief academic
officer for Richmond Public Schools.
Stephanie (Peyton) Shea (B.S.W. ’86/SW; M.S.W. ’88/
SW) is a social work case manager at Mary Washington
Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va. She recently celebrated
her 20th anniversary with the hospital.
James E. Williams* (M.S. ’82/SW) is semiretired and
works for the Bruder Counseling Center in Virginia
Beach, Va.
Vernon R. Williams (B.A. ’80/H&S) is senior vice president
and regional manager for PNC Bank in the greater
Philadelphia area.
Dawn Walton Wilson (M.S.W. ’87/SW) has worked for 30
years as a professional social worker, including 19 years
as a dialysis social worker.
1990s
Lee Archard (M.S.W. ’98/SW), a prevention consultant
with Chesterfield Mental Health Support Services in
Chesterfield, Va., serves as a field instructor for VCU
M.S.W. students and coordinates Chesterfield’s field
placement program.
Andrea Leigh Barnes (B.S. ’93/E; M.S.W. ’99/SW) is a
placement supervisor at the National Counseling
Group in Richmond, Va.
Karl Burkheimer (M.F.A. ’96/A) is associate professor and
head of the wood department at the Oregon College of
Art and Craft.
Linnie S. Carter* (B.S. ’92/MC; M.S. ’98/MC) completed
her Ph.D. at Old Dominion University in November
2009. She is president and CEO of Linnie Carter and
Associates and assistant professor of public relations at
North Carolina A&T State University.
Karen Ann Case* (M.S.W. ’90/SW) is a psychiatric social
worker for Kaiser Permanente’s Psychology Department
in Clayton, Calif. She recently completed a two-year
certificate program with the The Sanville
Institute in psychodynamic psychotherapy.
Valerie K. Cauthorne (M.S.W. ’90/SW) is a clinical social worker with the VCU Medical Center
and Massey Cancer Center in Richmond, Va.
Theresa A. Clark, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’97/SW) is an
associate professor and chair of the Department
of Social Work and Communication Sciences
and Disorders at Longwood University in
Farmville, Va.
Dawn E. Farrell-Moore (M.S.W. ’95/SW) is a
special projects manager at the Richmond
Behavioral Health Authority.
Frank Gilliam (B.F.A. ’90/A), co-owner of
Richmond advertising agency Elevation, was
recognized as one of the Ad Persons of the
Year by the Richmond Ad Club.
Janice B. Hairston (B.S. ’93/H&S; M.S.W. ’99/
SW), a licensed clinical social worker, provides
outpatient psychotherapy in Richmond, Va.
Sofia A. Hiort-Wright (B.S.W. ’98/SW; M.S.W.
’99/SW; Ph.D. ’06/SW) is director of VCU
Student Athlete Support Services.
Kimberly Y. Hunter (B.S.W. ’94/SW; M.S.W. ’95/
SW) is a research analyst for the VCU Survey
and Evaluation Research Lab and manages
the Ryan White AIDS grant.
J. Neal Insley (B.S. ’92/H&S) was appointed chair
and commissioner of the Virginia Department
of Alcoholic Beverage Control in May 2010.
Héloïse “Ginger” Levit* (M.A. ’98/A) won two first-place
awards in the Virginia Press Women 2009 Communications
Contest for her articles on museum exhibits and artists
John Singer Sargent and Andrew Wyeth.
Adam Mathew Lipton (B.F.A. ’93/A) won round three
of the Hugo Create Global Advertising and Design
Competition for his “City Sounds” consumer advertising
concept. It was selected from more than 3,000 entries.
Sherman Kelley Ryan (B.S.W. ’93/SW; M.S.W. ’94/SW) is
a grief counselor for the Hospice and Palliative Care
Center in Clemmons, N.C. Ryan is also an elected
member of the North Carolina National Association
of Social Workers board of directors.
Kenneth S. Smith* (B.A. ’90/H&S; M.P.A. ’93/H&S) was
named associate provost for resource management and
planning at Virginia Tech.
Erica Lavette Stewart (M.S.W. ’98/SW) is a school social
worker for Dinwiddie County Public Schools.
2000s
LaToya S. Artis (M.S.W. ’04/SW) is an LCSW for the
U.S. Air Force in District Heights, Md.
Lisa (Colegrove) Asiamah* (Cert. ’05/AHP; M.S.W. ’05/SW)
is a community social worker for the Better Housing
Coalition in Richmond, Va.
Margaret A. Brammer (M.S.W. ’09/SW) is the youth
advocacy coordinator for the Bright Future Foundation
in Eagle, Colo.
Danika R. (Ricks) Briggs (M.S.W. ’03/SW) is a senior
social worker for the Chesterfield Department of Social
Services in Chesterfield, Va. She is also in practice at
the Behavioral Awareness Center.
Alva F. Carter-Kershaw (M.S.W. ’01/SW) is a clinical
social worker for Veterans Affairs in Richmond, Va.
Brian Lee Christopher (Cert. ’09/B) was licensed as
a certified public accountant in January 2010.
Sarah (Kinder) Cook (M.S.W. ’06/SW), an LICSW with
Child Protective Services, D.C. Child and Family
Services Agency, blogs about child welfare issues
on the Just Child Welfare website.
[CLASS
Gabriel Craig (M.F.A. ’09/A) and Arthur Hash (B.F.A.
’01/A) were in the show “Not the Family Jewels” at
Gallery 1724 in Houston. Craig also spoke at the 2010
Society of North American Goldsmiths in March about
his thesis work at VCU.
John Z. Crandall (B.A. ’06/H&S) is the head wrestling
coach for the University of Florida’s club team.
Amanda B. Cruey (M.S.W. ’00/SW) is a social worker
for Greene County Public Schools in Madison, Va.
Christine D. Delo (M.S.W. ’04/SW) is a case manager
for the city of Virginia Beach, Va.
Keesha T. Edwards (M.S.W. ’05/SW) is an LCSW for the
Fairfax County parenting education programs.
Katie Glusica (B.F.A. ’05/A), a graduate student at Savannah
College of Art and Design, received an award for best
thesis proposal.
Ryan Gothrup (M.F.A. ’09/A), Akiko Jackson (M.F.A.
’09/A) and Sarah Mizer (M.F.A. ’07/A) were featured
in the “New Waves 2010” exhibit at the Contemporary
Art Center of Virginia in Virginia Beach.
Colin R. Greggs (B.M. ’09/A) completed U.S. Navy basic
training in Great Lakes, Ill.
Brooke Hine (M.F.A. ’04/A) curated an exhibit of
ceramics and prints during the National Council on
Education for the Ceramic Arts and Philagrafika 2010
symposiums. She also had a solo exhibit, “In-Motion,”
at the Philadelphia Art Alliance.
Sarah Holden (B.F.A. ’08/A) had work in the “Charmed”
exhibit at the Society of Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh,
and the 2010 juried exhibit “Textural Patois” at the
Allen Priebe Gallery in Oshkosh, Wisc.
Katie Hudnall (M.F.A. ’05/A), an assistant professor in the
furniture design program at Murray State University,
exhibited her work in “Studio Furniture: The Next
Generation” at the Minneapolis College of Art and
Design and had two pieces featured in Lark Books’
“500 Cabinets.”
Matt Isaacson (M.F.A. ’07/A) is the ceramics coordinator
and instructor at St. Louis Community College.
Amity N. Kim (M.S.W. ’05/SW) is the children’s program
coordinator for Doorways for Women and Families in
Northern Virginia where she built a children’s program
addressing the needs of families facing homelessness
and domestic violence.
Hsiang-Hsing Kung (Cert. ’08/AHP; M.S.W. ’08/SW)
is a doctoral candidate in applied gerontology at the
University of North Texas.
Katie Laub (B.F.A. ’08/A) was accepted into Rhode Island
School of Design’s glass master’s program.
Heath Matysek-Snyder (B.F.A. ’00/A) was appointed
faculty associate for the Wood/Furniture Design Program
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was also in
the exhibit, “Studio Furniture: The Next Generation.”
Helen M. O’Beirne* (M.S.W. ’06/SW) is director of the Center
for Housing Leadership at Housing Opportunities Made
Equal of Virginia in Richmond, Va. She was appointed
to the Governor’s Council on the Status of Women and
teaches social justice at the VCU School of Social Work.
Craig D. Patterson (M.S.W. ’07/SW) is a court social work
specialist for the Richmond Department of Social Services.
Elizabeth Perkins (M.F.A. ’04/A) was awarded an artistin-residence at North Lands Creative Glass in Scotland.
Cheryl D. Riley (M.S.W. ’07/SW) is a program administrator for the Department of Housing and Community
Development in Richmond, Va.
Michael Schoenwetter (B.F.A. ’09/A) completed basic
training for the U.S. Navy in Great Lakes, Ill.
Michael B. Steele (M.P.A. ’05/H&S) joined Kaufman
and Canoles’ Newport News office as an associate in
the Litigation Section.
Kazue Taguchi (M.F.A. ’07/A) moved to Paris in April
2010 to begin her one-year artist-in-residence
program at Cite Internationale des Arts Paris.
Angella S. Thuotte (B.S. ’08/H&S) graduated from the U.S.
Coast Guard Recruit Training Center in Cape May, N.J.
Travis Townsend (M.F.A. ’00/A) presented his work and
gave a workshop at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Art Department Colloquium.
Barbara M. Vazquez (M.S.W. ’03/SW) is an emergency
services therapist in Chesterfield, Va.
Adam Welch (M.F.A. ’03/A) was in a group exhibit,
“Artaxis.org: An Evolving Independent Network
of Artists,” at the Gladys Wagner Gallery/Cheltenham
Art Center in Pennsylvania.
2010s
Roberto Celis* (B.S. ’10/H&S; B.F.A. ’10/A) received
the Elena Prentice Scholarship to attend
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts this past
summer.
Andrea Donnelly (M.F.A. ’10/A) had work included
in the International Student Triennial in June 2010
at the University of Marmara in Istanbul.
NOTES
]
Younseal Eum (M.F.A. ’10/A) is an off-site kinetic art
researcher at HanSung University in Seoul, South Korea.
In addition, a robot she helped design with a Virginia
Tech team appeared on the cover of Popular Science.
James Ryan Tanner (B.F.A. ’10/A) had work included
in the Corning Museum of Glass magazine’s New
Glass Review 31, released in May 2010.
Faculty and staff
George Hoffer, economics professor, retired from
VCU in June after 40 years with the university. A
renowned transportation economics expert, Hoffer
taught approximately 16,000 students during his
VCU career.
Friends of VCU
Sandra Lee Kjerulf was elected secretary of the
Virginians for the Arts Foundation.
Faculty and alumni books
Brian Castleberry (M.F.A. ’08/H&S) and Andrew Blossom (M.F.A. ’07/H&S) were co-editors of “Richmond
Noir,” a collection of short fiction by local authors, published by Akashic Books. The collection features works
set in Richmond from a number of recent VCU graduates and faculty members.
Tom De Haven, professor of creative writing in the Department of English, published “Our Hero: Superman
on Earth” as part of Yale’s Icons of America Series. The book addresses three primary questions — why
Superman has lasted for almost 70 years, how we can explain his appeal and whether he still matters.
Elisabeth Crawford (B.F.A. ’91/A) published “Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy,”
which explores the unique fusion of cuisines in the northern mountains, central hills and plains, and the southern coastline of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The book was awarded a bronze medal in the Independent Publisher
Book Awards and a silver medal in the Living Now Book Awards.
Kevin Wayne Johnson* (B.S. ’83/B) is publishing his seventh book, “The Power in the Local Church,” in the
nine-book “Give God the Glory!” series. The books focus on putting God first and foremost in personal
relationships, on the job, in families, in the local church, and while at rest and recreation.
June O. Nicholson, professor in the School of Mass Communications, Pamela J. Creedon, Wanda S. Lloyd
and Pamela J. Johnson co-edited of “The Edge of Change: Women in the 21st Century Press,” published
by University of Illinois Press. The compilation addresses the subject of women in the news media.
Rebekah L. Pierce (M.A. ’02/H&S) published “Murder on Second Street: The Jackson Ward Murders,” a historical
fiction novel centered around Richmond’s Jackson Ward neighborhood in 1929.
Chieu Anh Urban (B.F.A. ’92/A) released her debut children’s book, “Raindrops: A Shower of Colors,” in April
2010 with Sterling Publishing. The book is a concept/novelty board book for preschoolers.
Michele Young-Stone (B.S. ’91/B) released her debut novel, “The Handbook for Lightening Strike Survivors.”
The book focuses on two young people through their childhoods and young adult lives, punctuated by disasters.
Diane Woodcock (B.S. ’74/H&S; M.F.A. ’04/H&S), assistant professor at the VCU School of the Arts in Qatar, published “In the Shade of the Sidra Tree,” a small collection of poetry inspired by the six years she has lived in the
Arabian Gulf country. The cover art for Woodcock’s new book features a painting by artist and VCU Professor
Emeritus Charles Bleick, former associate dean of academic affairs at VCU Qatar.
[CLASS
NOTES
]
Alumni association
Officers
President: Donna M. Dalton (M.Ed. ’00/E)
President-elect: Kenneth “Ken” A. Thomas (B.S. ’91/B)
Treasurer: Mary E. Perkinson (B.F.A. ’91/A; B.S. ’03/En)
Secretary: Thomas H. Beatty (B.A. ’93/H&S)
Officer-at-large: Paul D. McWhinney
(B.S. ’74/SW; M.S. ’79/SW)
Immediate past president: C. Dandridge
“Dan” Massey (B.S. ’92/B)
Directors
Mary H. Allen (B.S. ’80/E)
Robert A. Almond (B.S. ’74/E; M.S. ’85/E)
(presidential appointment)
Carolyn L. Bishop (B.A. ’86/H&S; M.P.A. ’88/H&S)
Peter A. Blake (B.A. ’80/H&S; M.S. ’88/MC)
Steven B. Brincefield (M.S. ’74/B)
Elizabeth W. Bryant (B.S. ’83/MC; M.S. ’04/MC)
Leah L.E. Bush, M.D. (M.S. ’80/H&S; M.D. ’84/M)
Julia M. Cain (B.S. ’01/En) (presidential appointment)
Rejena G. Carreras (B.F.A. ’70/A; M.A.E. ’80/A)
William L. Davis (B.S. ’74/H&S; M.S. ’79/H&S)
David R. Dennier (B.S. ’75/B)
Gregory B. Fairchild, Ph.D., (B.S. ’88/MC)
Aaron R. Gilchrist Jr. (B.S. ’03/MC)
Stephanie L. Holt (B.S. ’74/E)
Raymond E. Honeycutt (M.Ed. ’76/E)
(presidential appointment)
Christopher R. Jones (B.S. ’01/En)
Elizabeth J. Moran (M.P.A. ’92/H&S)
John S. Philips (M.S. ’78/B)
Edward Robinson Jr. (B.G.S. ’00/H&S; M.S.W. ’03/
SW) (presidential appointment)
John Jay Schwartz (B.S. ’69/B)
Jacqueline Tunstall-Bynum (B.S. ’82/H&S)
Franklin R. Wallace (B.S. ’87/A; M.P.A. ’08/H&S)
Natalee A. “Lee” Wasiluk (B.F.A. ’86/A)
Col. James E. Williams (B.S. ’84/H&S; M.S. ’96/H&S)
School and affiliated organization
representatives
Joseph E. Becht Jr. (B.S. ’80/B), VCU Business
Alumni Society
Tobias Guennel, Graduate Student Association
Eugene H. Hunt, Ph.D., (B.S. ’59/B; M.S. ’61/B),
RPI Alumni Council
Dale C. Kalkofen, Ph.D., (M.A.E. ’76/A), School
of Education Alumni Council
Lillian Lambert, VCU Board of Visitors
Elizabeth M. McAdam (B.S. ’05/H&S; M.S.W. ’07/SW),
School of Social Work Alumni Network
Adele McClure, Student Government Association,
Monroe Park Campus
Norma Ortiz-Robinson, VCU Faculty Senate
Gaurav “G” Shrestha (B.S. ’03/B), Young Alumni
Council
Elizabeth M. Thompson (B.M. ’04/A), VCU Music
Alumni
Faith Wilkerson (B.S. ’03/MC; M.Ed. ’05/E),
African-American Alumni Council
Daphne Maxwell Reid, who received an Honorary Doctor
of Humane Letters from VCU in 1999, was elected
secretary/treasurer of the Virginians for the Arts board
and treasurer of the VFTA Foundation board.
Births
2000s
Gaurav “G” Shrestha (B.S. ’03/B) and his wife, Megan,
welcomed twins, Mia and Grant, on June 29, 2010.
In memoriam
1940s
J. Cleiland Donnan (’42/A), of Richmond, Va., March
19, 2010.
Nathan Benjamin Evens* (’48/H&S), of Richmond, Va.,
Feb. 14, 2010.
Catherine I. Hastings* (B.S. ’41/H&S), of Meridian,
Miss., June 16, 2010.
Patricia R. Perkinson* (B.S. ’46/H&S; M.S. ’56;H&S),
of Topping, Va., Feb. 14, 2010. She was the former
secretary of the commonwealth and community services
director at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.
Barclay Sheaks (B.F.A. ’49/A), of Newport News, Va.,
April 13, 2010.
1950s
Dianne W. Bynum* (M.S. ’58/E), of Houston, March 6, 2010.
Bessie S. Cartwright (B.S. ’55/H&S), of Mechanicsville,
Va., June 19, 2010.
Paul M. Kline (M.F.A. ’59/A), of Bridgewater, Va., Oct.
19, 2009.
E. Cofer Loomer* (M.S. ’50/E), of Medford, Ore., Nov.
7, 2009.
Floyd L. Mitchell (B.S. ’52/B), of Richmond, Va., Feb.
17, 2010.
Nancy W. Peachee* (M.S. ’54/H&S), of Richmond, Va.,
Jan. 23, 2010.
August A. Thieme Jr. (B.S. ’53/H&S), of Richmond, Va.,
May 22, 2010.
1960s
Henry C. Ahalt Jr. (M.S. ’69/E), of Manassas, Va., Feb.
9, 2010.
Angelo W. Alexandri (B.S. ’63/B), of Richmond, Va.,
Dec. 29, 2009.
Dorothy M. Brewer (B.S. ’66/B), of Winchester, Va.,
March 30, 2010.
Sandra L. Dean (B.F.A. ’64/A), of Richmond, Va., June
21, 2010.
Hilda Gibbs (M.S.W. ’64/SW), of Seven Springs, N.C.,
Feb. 25, 2010.
Charles A. Hudson (Cert. ’60/SW), of Bluefield, W.Va.,
April 24, 2010.
J. Joseph May Jr. (B.S. ’68/H&S), of Walkerton, Va., Feb.
1, 2010.
Robert M. Moad (B.S. ’68/E), of Harrisonburg, Va., Feb.
16, 2010.
Fred E. O’Connell (B.S. ’68/B), of Daytona Beach, Fla.,
Dec. 28, 2009.
Paul S. Oliver (A.S. ’68/B), of Henrico, Va., June 8, 2010.
Frederick A. Young (M.S. ’68/SW), of Providence, R.I.,
Feb. 22, 2010.
1970s
A.E. Berlinghoff Jr.* (B.S. ’71/B), of Hardyville, Va.,
March 7, 2010.
Raymond W. Cahen (B.S. ’79/MC), of Montpelier, Va.,
April 1, 2010.
Susan B. Cook (B.S. ’79/E), of Midlothian, Va., June
10, 2010.
Ann B. Davis (B.S. ’71/E), of Richmond, Va., June 4, 2010.
Aliceann N. Fleming (M.S. ’71/B), of Richmond, Va.,
June 2, 2010.
Betty Ann Lee Gillelan* (M.S.W. ’72/SW), of Richmond,
Va., May 6, 2010.
Belinda C. Glidewell (B.S. ’71/E), of Doswell, Va., Jan.
7, 2010.
C. Warren Green Jr. (M.P.A. ’78/H&S), of Farmville,
Va., May 3, 2010.
Bobby E. Hodges (B.S. ’70/H&S), of Midlothian, Va.,
May 18, 2010.
Ronald H. Johnson (M.S. ’79/H&S), of Omaha, Neb.,
May 26, 2010.
Kathryn A. Keany (B.S. ’76/E), of Alexandria, Va., Jan.
29, 2010.
Maude L. Kirby (M.Ed. ’71/E), of Midlothian, Va., March
18, 2010.
Carl J. Koenig (M.Ed. ’74/E), of Bedford, Va., Jan. 13,
2010.
Katherine H. Ludlow-MacCormack (M.S.W. ’75/SW),
of La Plata, Md., March 6, 2010.
Megan E. Lyons (B.S. ’73/H&S), of Fairfax, Va., April
14, 2010.
Perry K. Mandaleris (M.S. ’78/B), of Virginia Beach,
Va., Jan. 14, 2010.
Nancy J. McCreedy (M.A.E. ’78/A), of Boones Mill, Va.,
Jan. 22, 2010.
Gerald M. Morgan (B.S. ’72/B), of Harrisburg, Pa.,
March 22, 2010.
R. Dennis Morris (M.S. ’73/B), of Chesapeake, Va., May
13, 2010.
Joyce Y. Parker (B.S. ’75/E), of Clinton, Md., Sept. 10,
2009.
Anne L. Powell (B.F.A. ’71/A), of Centreville, Md., April
28, 2010.
Barbara K. Priebe (M.Ed. ’78/E), of Richmond, Va.,
March 16, 2010.
Paula R. Randall (B.S. ’79/MC), of Houston, Feb. 22, 2010.
Richard F. Roberts (B.S. ’73/B), of Charlotte, N.C.,
Feb. 12, 2010.
Edward S. Robson (B.S. ’78/B; M.B.A. ’84/B; Cert. ’00/B),
of Richmond, Va., May 21, 2010.
William I. Scherling (M.S.W. ’75/SW), of Richmond, Va.,
May 6, 2010.
Charles L. Tate (B.A. ’73/H&S), of Midlothian, Va., Jan.
24, 2010.
Lisa M. Thalhimer (B.S. ’77/E), of Richmond, Va., April
27, 2010.
A. Daniel Thomas Jr. (B.F.A. ’70/A), of Rockville, Va.,
April 1, 2010.
William H. Zeiner (B.S. ’71/H&S), of Prince George, Va.,
Dec. 28, 2009.
Richard J. Zink* (M.S.W. ’73/SW), of Hartford, Conn.,
Dec. 29, 2009.
1980s
Elizabeth W. Anderson (B.G.S. ’85/H&S), of Richmond,
Va., March 3, 2010.
Kimberly Archer (B.S. ’88/MC), of Petersburg, Va., Aug.
10, 2009.
Crystal S. Charity (M.S.W. ’84/SW), of Charles City, Va.,
April 2, 2010.
David D. Cobb (B.A. ’81/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Jan.
19, 2010.
Ann T. Cocke (M.Ed. ’87/E), of King George, Va., March
27, 2010.
Carlton T. Davis Jr. (B.S. ’85/B), of Richmond, Va., Feb.
19, 2010.
Hazel B. Forbes (M.S.W. ’80/SW), of Garner, N.C.,
April 11, 2010.
[CLASS
Margaret Furgerson-Gregory (B.M.E. ’86/A),
of Chesterfield, Va., March 1, 2010.
Dorothy C. McLeod (’83/B), of Richmond, Va., March
6, 2010.
James M. Powell Jr. (B.S. ’84/H&S), of Glen Allen, Va.,
Jan. 3, 2010.
Mary Kathryn Feeney Solner (B.S. ’86/MC), of Cornwall
On Hudson, N.Y., Feb. 16, 2010.
Lynda L. Waddill (M.P.A. ’85/H&S), of Richmond, Va.,
April 24, 2010.
William D. Sheffey (B.S. ’90/B), of Overland Park,
Kan., May 2, 2010.
Patricia A. Slavin (M.S.W. ’99/SW), of Charlottesville,
Va., Dec. 27, 2009.
1990s
Faculty and staff
Keeva M. Beach (B.S. ’98/H&S), of Glen Allen, Va., May
1, 2010.
H. Thomas Bloom II (B.G.S. ’91/H&S), of Richmond, Va.,
May 21, 2010.
Paul A. Calvan (B.A. ’93/H&S), of Arlington, Va., Dec.
14, 2009.
William B. Charlton (M.T. ’93/E), of Richmond, Va.,
Jan. 6, 2010.
Ezra Z. Cohen (B.S. ’96/H&S), of Hobe Sound, Fla., Jan.
10, 2010.
Welborn G. Dolvin Jr. (M.S.W. ’98/SW), of Stevensville,
Va., Dec. 30, 2009.
Cheryl Ellis Hager (B.S. ’92/B), of Rockville, Va., March
10, 2010.
Danette Holloway (B.G.S. ’99/H&S), of Amelia Court
House, Va., Jan. 13, 2010.
Essie V. McDonald (M.Ed. ’90/E), of Richmond, Va.,
March 17, 2010.
William K. McDonald (M.U.R.P. ’90/H&S), of Lynchburg,
Va., Jan. 30, 2010.
Eleanor O. McGehee (M.S.W. ’91/SW), of Richmond,
Va., April 14, 2010.
2000s
Lindsey Crider (B.S. ’03/H&S), of Chesterfield, Va.,
April 7, 2010.
Thomas J. Krejci (B.S. ’02/En), of Richmond, Va., Feb.
8, 2010.
Gerald Donato, former professor of painting and
printmaking, Feb. 14, 2010. Donato retired from
VCU in 2005 after 38 years.
Stephen W. Harkins (M.P.H. ’09/M), professor emeritus
of gerontology, May 20, 2010. Harkins also retired as
a research coordinator with the VCU Dementia Clinic
in 2004 and conducted some of the nation’s first
neuropsychological functioning assessments with the
elderly to identify personality or cognitive differences
and brain dysfunction.
Melanie Njeri Jackson, Ph.D., special assistant to the
provost for diversity, July 23, 2010. Jackson joined
VCU in 1990, became chair of the Department of
African American Studies in 1998 and was appointed
as special assistant to the provost for diversity in July
2007. In that position, Jackson served as the university’s chief diversity officer and was responsible for
the creation, design, implementation and assessment
of diversity initiatives as called for in VCU’s Five Year
Diversity Plan. She also served as a consultant, adviser,
board member and educator for public, educational
and private agencies and received numerous awards
for her teaching and service, including the VCU
Presidential Award for Multicultural Enrichment,
NOTES
]
the Riese Melton Award and the Women of Color
Professional Achievement Recognition Award.
Ignatius “Pete” Liberto, of Henrico County, Va., March
17, 2010. Liberto taught Italian at VCU for 15 years and
assisted with foreign exchange students at the university.
Paul Mitchell Umberger, of Henrico County, Va., July
28, 2010. Umberger taught entry-level college business mathematics along with calculus and economics
for 33 years at VCU and its predecessor, Richmond
Professional Institute. He came to Richmond in 1959
and earned an M.B.A. at RPI. He retired from the
management department of the VCU School of
Business in 1992.
Friends of VCU
Joseph L. Antrim III, of Richmond, Va., June 3, 2010.
William Hamilton Flannagan, of Roanoke, Va., May
4, 2010.
Paul H. Fox, of Richmond, Va., Feb. 14, 2010.
Andrew Jaffe, Feb. 26, 2010. Jaffe was a board
member of the VCU Brandcenter, as well as former
editor of Adweek, head of the CLIO Awards and a
distinguished journalist.
Hugh W. Owens, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., June
23, 2010, at age 76.
Joseph M. Porter, of Richmond, Va., Feb. 7, 2010.
Terry Sisisky, a broadcaster for VCU basketball and
baseball, July 22, 2010. In his 28 years with the
Rams, Sisisky was an unforgettable presence at all
but three games. For his dedication to the university,
Sisisky was inducted into the VCU Athletic Hall of
Fame in 2009. He received the Frank Soden Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, and was inducted
into the Richmond Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
Raymond Straus, of Richmond, Va., March 6, 2010.
S. Joseph Ward, of Midlothian, Va., March 8, 2010.
Did you recently win an award? Move? Change jobs or titles? Celebrate an addition to your family? Whatever your recent successes
or life changes, reconnect with your former classmates and let fellow alumni know where you are and what you’re doing. Use the
space below to send us your information or attach a note with your news and mail it to: Virginia Commonwealth University,
Office of Alumni Relations, 924 W. Franklin St., P.O. Box 843044, Richmond, VA 23284-3044. You can also e-mail news to
[email protected] or use the online form at www.vcu-mcvalumni.org/classnotes.
Name
Class year(s),
Degree(s)
Class year(s), degree(s)
City
State
Phone number
E-mail address
Spouse’s name
Is your spouse an alumnus?
Children (indicate if currently attending VCU)
Address
ZIP
My news:
o Please do not publish this information. I am submitting for record purposes only.
Fall 2010 | 35
[CLASS
NOTES
]
New lifetime members
Abbreviation key
Robert E. Antonelli
Kristine K. Bakos
Stephen Bakos
Frederick W. Baynes
Kyla R. Bennett
Carolyn Lowenthal Bishop
Cynthia T. Booker
Anne M. Broadhead
Martin Brooks
Rita N. Brooks
Erika L. Brown
Gary R. Brown
Linda H Brown
Thomas C. Burke Jr.
Valerie Ware Campbell
Avery L. Carter
Kay Carter
Jacqueline R. Cherry
Jonathan B. Cherry
E. Barry Chewning
Andrew V. Clark
Shawn S. Clarke
Mary E. Creegan
Matthew X. Creegan
Paige Dickinson
Katherine R. Flowers
Janice B. Freed
Robert L. Freed
Stephen L. Gillum
Charles B. Goodman Jr.
Joanne M. Goodman
Karen A. Gregory-Williams
Anna L. Harmon, Ph.D.
Marcia P. Harrigan, Ph.D.
Joseph M. Iaquinto, Ph.D.
Kathryn L. Jackson
Sebastian L. Jackson Jr.
Jason M. Jacobs
Alumni are identified by degree, year and
college or school. An asterisk (*) identifies
members of the VCU Alumni Association.
Magnus H. Johnsson
Francesca D. Jones
Freda J. Layne
Jack D. Layne Jr.
Bobbe Lehew
Gregory W. Lehew
Pamela D. Lepley
Albert M. Marcus Sr.
Joseph P. Mason
Jacqueline E. McCreary
Micah L. McCreary, Ph.D.
Gordon A. McDougall
Katie McDougall
Bruce E. Mercier
J. Steven Millington
Roland B. Minton, Ph.D.
James W. Mitchell
Stan J. Orchowsky, Ph.D.
Hong-Yen Pham
Adam A. Pillsbury
Teresa F. Plageman
Bathsheba L. Przygocki
Tammie Pulliam
Marjorie M. Rhodes
W.C. Riddick Jr.
Constance B. Sharp, Ph.D.
Larry L. Sinsabaugh, Ph.D.
Ray Smith
Kim Snead
Charles N. Tanner
Gail B. Tanner
Matthew J. Tessier
Robert C. Thompson
Jeanette Winder Tipling
Ellen M. Walk, Ph.D.
Lyn R. Westermann
Robert L. Westermann Jr.
Sarah W. Woodhouse, M.D.
List includes individuals who joined the new VCU Alumni Association as lifetime members
between Jan. 1, 2010, and June 30, 2010.
Did you know?
VCU Libraries advances the research success of the university through one of Virginia’s
most comprehensive academic library systems.
Together, the James Branch Cabell Library on
the Monroe Park Campus and the TompkinsMcCaw Library for the Health Sciences on the
MCV Campus provide students and faculty with
access to a variety of resources, allowing them
to further explore academic interests, conduct
research and satisfy intellectual curiosity.
Libraries collections
Volumes: 2,011,010
Journal subscriptions: 50,646
Microforms: 3,250,360
Films and videos: 19,519
Audio recordings: 29,707
Graphic images: 156,001
Manuscripts and archives: 5,279 (linear feet)
College and schools
H&S
A
AHP
B
D
E
En
GPA
GS
LS
M
MC
N
P
SW
WS
College of Humanities and Sciences
School of the Arts
School of Allied Health Professions
School of Business
School of Dentistry
School of Education
School of Engineering
L. Douglas Wilder School
of Government and Public Affairs
Graduate School
VCU Life Sciences
School of Medicine
School of Mass Communications
School of Nursing
School of Pharmacy
School of Social Work
School of World Studies
Degrees
A.A., A.S.
Cert.
B.F.A.
B.G.S.
B.I.S.
B.M.
B.M.E.
B.S.
B.S.W.
D.D.S.
D.N.A.P.
D.P.A.
D.P.T.
M.A.
M.Acc.
M.A.E.
M.B.A.
M.Bin.
M.D.
M.Ed.
M.Envs.
M.F.A.
M.H.A.
M.I.S.
M.M.
M.M.E.
M.P.A.
M.P.H.
M.P.S.
M.S.
M.S.A.T.
M.S.D.
M.S.H.A.
M.S.N.A.
M.S.O.T.
M.S.W.
M.T.
M.Tax.
M.U.R.P.
O.T.D.
Pharm.D.
Ph.D.
Associate degree
Certificate
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of General Studies
Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music Education
Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Social Work
Doctor of Dental Surgery
Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice
Doctor of Public Administration
Doctor of Physical Therapy
Master of Arts
Master of Accountancy
Master of Art Education
Master of Business Administration
Master of Bioinformatics
Doctor of Medicine
Master of Education
Master of Environmental Studies
Master of Fine Arts
Master of Health Administration
Master of Interdisciplinary Studies
Master of Music
Master of Music Education
Master of Public Administration
Master of Public Health
Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Master of Science
Master of Science in Athletic Training
Master of Science in Dentistry
Master of Science in Health
Administration
Master of Science in Nurse Anesthesia
Master of Science in Occupational Therapy
Master of Social Work
Master of Teaching
Master of Taxation
Master of Urban and Regional Planning
Post-professional Occupational
Therapy Doctorate
Doctor of Pharmacy
Doctor of Philosophy
[THEN
and NOW
]
tools of
the times
From computer labs to mobile apps, VCU keeps pace with advancing technology
By Erin Egan
hen Claire Davis entered Virginia Commonwealth University
this fall as a marketing major, her technological experience
proved markedly different — and much more advanced — than that
of her father Scott Davis (B.S. ’79/B; M.B.A. ’80/B).
As a VCU undergraduate more than 30 years ago, the elder
Davis, director of application services for VCU Technology Services,
remembers visiting the computer lab and receiving a deck of cards
onto which he manually entered data using a keypunch device. He
then fed the cards into a mammoth machine, waited 30 minutes and
picked up a printout of his data. In terms of handheld devices (they
did exist, says Davis), he used a calculator and wrote simple equations in it. “That’s what using a computer was,” he says.
Today, with more than 98 percent of freshmen arriving on campus
with a laptop computer and close to 50 percent of students owning
smartphones, Technology Services
strives to keep pace with students’
increased demand for advanced
technology, including faster, more
reliable wireless service.
Keith Deane, director of network services for Technology
Services, says the wireless buildout on VCU’s campuses began
about five years ago. “We started
with the open student spaces, the
libraries, the student commons,
the dining center,” Deane says.
“That has given students freedom. Before, they had to go to the
computer lab in order to do their work. Now, they don’t have to.”
Eric Erdahl, a junior international studies major, finds that
working on his laptop in the University Student Commons or at
the James Branch Cabell Library suits him. “It’s more convenient,” he says. “With the laptop, I can go wherever I need to go.”
Despite the increased number of students with laptops, computer
labs with stationary machines still exist at VCU. Stop by Cabell
Library on any given day and witness the 241 available workstations
continually in use. Computer labs have evolved from the sterile
rooms of the 1970s to the lounge like centers of today and they
remain necessary for universities, says Jim Bostick, director of user
services for Technology Services. A small percentage of students don’t
own a computer and issues with laptops can arise, including limited
battery life, printing availability and storage worries. “What do you do
with it when you go eat lunch or go to the gym?” Bostick says.
The latest tech tool from Technology Services — VCU mobile —
travels with students, giving them instant, on-the-go access to news,
events, images, maps, videos and directories on their smartphones.
The apps also include a courses component, allowing students to
view courses and seat availability. Ultimately, students will be able to
register for class with the press of a button on their smartphone.
“They’ll be able to do it right on the spot without being tied down
or waiting behind somebody,” Davis says of the mobile app’s convenience. “That should help the students out quite a bit.”
1970s
Erin Egan is a contributing writer
for Shafer Court Connections.
Computing at VCU evolves with technology and student
needs. [then] In the 1970s, mainframe computers kept
students tethered to a wired connection. [now] Nearly
1,000 wireless access points throughout the university
mean students can connect to the Internet from almost
anywhere on campus.
2010
Fall 2010 | 37
Datebook
October
Mark your calendars for these Virginia Commonwealth University
and VCU Alumni Association events. For more alumni activities,
go to www.vcu-mcvalumni.org or visit http://events.vcu.edu for
campus happenings.
January
Oct. 22
Emeriti Director’s Reception*
VCU Scott House
(804) 828-2586
Jan. 15
VCUAA Night at the Stuart C. Siegel
Center: VCU vs. Northeastern
(804) 828-2586
Oct. 25-29
Friends of the Library Annual Book Sale
James Branch Cabell Library
(804) 828-1105
Jan. 23
VCU Guitar Series: Robinson Guitar Duo
W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts
(804) 828-6776
Oct. 27
Barnstorming with Coach Smart
Glory Days Grill (West End location)
(804) 828-1740
Jan. 29
Homecoming basketball game: VCU vs. UNC-Wilmington
Stuart C. Siegel Center
(804) 828-1740
November
Nov. 3
Alumni Reception: Raleigh-Durham, N.C.*
(804) 828-2586
Nov. 11-21
Theatre VCU – “Les Liaisons Dangereuse”
(804) 828-6026
Nov. 13
SunTrust Richmond Marathon
(804) 828-2586
Nov. 14
VCU Music Alumni Concert
(804) 828-6776
December
Dec. 3
Graduating International Student
Reception
VCU Scott House
(804) 828-2586
Dec. 11
Winter Commencement
(804) 828-1917
February
Homecoming Weekend
Various events/locations
(804) 828-1981
Black History Month at VCU
(804) 828-6672
Feb. 12
Men’s basketball game: VCU vs. ODU
(804) 828-1740
April 10
VCU Day at The Diamond
(804) 828-2586
April 15-17
Reunion Weekend*
(804) 828-2586
MAY
May 18
New Graduate Reception: Your Passport to the World*
Science Museum of Virginia
(804) 828-2586
May 19
Graduating Student Scholars Reception*
VCU Scott House
(804) 828-2586
May 21
Spring Commencement
Richmond Coliseum
(804) 828-1917
* VCUA A event
March
March 27
VCU Guitar Series: Berta Rojas
(804) 828-6776
April
Alumni Month
Details to follow in the spring magazine
and at www.vcu-mcvalumni.org.
(804) 828-2586
Rams Night Out*
(804) 828-2586
April 1
Faculty/staff appreciation*
(804) 828-2586
April 2
Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k
(804) 828-2586
Do you work in the sustainability field?
We’d like to hear from alumni who are
helping make our world a greener place.
Please e-mail [email protected].
CIRCA
Chemistry lab: 1980s
Virginia Commonwealth University students, including Janet E. Crawford,
Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’82/H&S), on the left, work on coal gasification on the
fourth floor of Oliver Hall in the research laboratory of Gordon
A. Melson, Ph.D., professor in the VCU Department of Chemistry.
Fall 2010 | 39
VCU
Office of Alumni Relations
924 West Franklin Street
P.O. Box 843044
Richmond, Virginia 23284-3044
Non-profit Organization
U.S. Postage Paid
Permit No. 869
RICHMOND, VA
New! VCU e-mail addresses for alumni!
In partnership with Google, the Virginia Commonwealth University
Alumni Association now offers alumni a free, lifetime VCU e-mail address.
By signing up for your @alumni.vcu.edu e-mail address, you can permanently display your alumni pride while gaining
access to the powerful tools available through Google Apps:
Sites: Quickly create and publish collaborative sites
Docs: Publish and collaborate in real-time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations
Calendar: Organize schedules and share events and calendars with others
E-mail: Improve your existing mail account with Gmail’s powerful search engine and SPAM filter
Chat: Call or send instant messages to contacts for free — anytime, anywhere in the world by downloading
Google Talk, or by opening the Google Talk Gadget
o n l i n e
t o d a y !
Photos Marsha Polier Grossman
R e g i s t e r
w w w . v c u - m c v a l u m n i . o r g

the magazine for alumni and friends of virginia

Transcription

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