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SURFINGfor
SUCCESS
Student entrepreneurs ride the wave of opportunity
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SUMMER 2016
The women’s lacrosse team took to the field in February, beating Garnder-Webb University 21-9 in its first A-10 conference game of the 2016 season. Often touted as the fastest-growing sport in America, lacrosse became VCU’s 17th intercollegiate sports program when the Board of Visitors approved adding a women’s team in 2013. The team is the first new Division I sport at the university since 1995 when women’s soccer joined the VCU Athletics menu. The team, helmed by head coach Jen O’Brien and consisting of 22 freshmen and one senior, played 17 games its inaugural season, giving the VCU community another great sports team to cheer.
Photo Scott K. Brown Photography
BIGPICTURE
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Greetings from RVA and VCU! VCU Alumni and its constituent organizations exist to organize and recognize alumni to serve one another and the university. We encourage alumni to celebrate our heritage, support the present and invest in the future. At our recent Annual Meeting and Alumni Leaders Colloquium, we celebrated success and achievements while exploring VCU Alumni constituent organizations’ expectations for an online community and online services as well as exploring opportunities to enhance the membership marketing partnership among VCU Alumni and its constituent organizations. We invite you to join us and actively engage in these efforts. In this issue of Shafer Court Connections, we look at the impact of the national student debt crisis here at VCU, entrepreneurial opportunities for students, and new facilities and program initiatives that are encouraging our learning communities to “Make it real.” I hope you enjoy reading this issue and that you are encouraged and inspired to engage with your alma mater. VCU Alumni, in partnership with its alumni constituent organizations — academic, geographic and shared interest — strives to provide alumni with a menu of value-added engagement opportunities in support of the university’s strategic plan, Quest for Distinction. VCU Alumni is a dues-driven organization that offers a full spectrum of benefits and services, and I invite you to learn more at vcualumni.org. It has been my pleasure and honor to serve as the president of VCU Alumni for the past year, and I thank you and the thousands of your fellow alumni for being actively engaged with your alma mater. Yours for VCU,
James E. Williams (B.S.’84/GPA; M.S.’96/GPA) President, VCU Alumni
Summer 2016 Volume 22, Number 2 vcualumni.org Associate vice president, University Alumni Relations Gordon A. McDougall Senior director, finance and services Judy Frederick Interim senior director, outreach and engagement Amy Gray Senior director, development and alumni communications Melanie Irvin Seiler (B.S.’96/MC) Senior director, VCU Alumni Diane Stout-Brown (B.S.W.’80/SW) Associate director, development and alumni marketing and communications Kristen Caldwell (B.S.’94/MC) Associate director, creative content Mitchell Moore (B.S.’07/MC; M.S.’08/E)
Editorial, design and photography VCU Development and Alumni Communications The alumni magazine is published semiannually by the Virginia Commonwealth University Office of Alumni Relations. The views and opinions expressed in the alumni magazine do not necessarily represent those of the alumni office or university.
Send address changes or comments to: Office of Alumni Relations Virginia Commonwealth University 111 North Fourth Street P.O. Box 842039 Richmond, Virginia 23284-2039 Phone: (804) 828-2586 Email: alumni@vcu.edu vcualumni.org © 2016, Virginia Commonwealth University an equal opportunity, affirmative action university
On the cover Business major Tony Cannella is riding a wave of success with his online startup, Boardgrab.com. Turn to Page 16 to learn how VCU is creating a culture of entrepreneurship and launching programs to support budding business owners. Photo Scott K. Brown Photography
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CONTENTS
Photo Jay Paul
23 Features 10 Student debt crisis New initiatives take direct aim at lessening student-loan debt by increasing students’ financial literacy.
16 Waves of success Programs accelerate students’ entrepreneurial career paths by giving them support to launch their startups.
20 Pardon our progress Three new facilities, and four more on the horizon, provide spaces for learning, innovation and discovery.
26 Gold stars Student fundraisers call on alumni to encourage them to engage with the university and to support their alma mater.
Departments 28 Motor skilled An innovative invention holds great promise in helping babies with neuromuscular disorders learn to crawl.
30 The right fit VCU provides a real-world education that keeps the McCoig family coming back to campus for more.
32 Shooting for a cure VCU Massey Cancer Center launches clinical trials to expand a promising new form of cancer treatment.
4 University news 9 Presidential perspective 34 Alumni connections 39 Alumni support: Helen Birch
40 Class notes 43 Alumni profile: Henrisa Tosoc-Haskell
46 Alumni profile: Gai Nyok
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UNIVERSITYNEWS
Virginia Commonwealth University news and research. For the latest updates, visit VCU News at news.vcu.edu.
GIVING
$16 million gift for the CCTR
“The center is improving the lives of patients at VCU Health,” Wright says. “I am excited about helping to put the very best faculty and students in the laboratories and clinics so new discoveries can be made and new treatments can be developed. I am very grateful for the excellent care Dianne received at VCU Health, and I know that she would be very pleased about this gift and the impact it will have across VCU.” The VCU Center for Clinical and Translational Research encourages and supports collaboration between the university and its regional community partners, volunteers and government organizations to improve translational research for the betterment of human health. The endowed chairs, established with $12 million of the gift, will enable the university to recruit distinguished clinical and translational researchers from around the country. The additional $4 million will launch the physician-scientist scholars program, which will help VCU prepare the best and brightest students for careers in clinical and translational research, providing tuition and stipends for M.D.-Ph.D. candidates in the VCU School of Medicine. “The generosity of the Wrights signals to the world how lives are better as a result of research and the next generation of physician-scientists,” says Marsha Rappley, M.D., vice president, VCU Health Sciences, and CEO, VCU Health System. The Wrights have a philanthropic relationship with the university that reaches back to 1999. The couple has created scholarships and professorships, donated property that became the home of the VCU Brandcenter, helped fund an expansion of the School of Engineering and VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. (left), donor Ken Wright and VCU Vice President for Health Sciences and CEO of VCU bolstered cancer research and pulmonary care. Health System Marsha D. Rappley, M.D., announce the gift to the CCTR. Photo Allen Jones (B.F.A.’82/A; M.F.A.’92/A), VCU University Marketing
VCU received $16 million from longtime benefactor C. Kenneth Wright (H.L.D.’11) to name the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research at VCU. The gift, the fifth-largest single gift in the history of the university, comes from Wright and the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Foundation and will establish six C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Distinguished Chairs in Clinical and Translational Research and the C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Physician-Scientist Scholars program, named for Wright and his late wife, Dianne.
GRANT
Early detection for pre-eclampsia
VCU received a $4.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study placental function in pregnant women and to develop a noninvasive device for the early detection of placental disorders such as pre-eclampsia. The grant is part of the NIH’s Human Placenta Project, a collaborative research effort that would revolutionize the understanding of the placenta’s role in health and disease. Previous studies of the placenta have looked at the organ after delivery. This study will examine the placenta in real time, while it is doing its job. “What we’re hoping to do is to track and determine, very early on, even before the clinician diagnoses the condition, which patients are going to have
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a placental disorder and which ones are not,” says Charles Chalfant, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the School of Medicine and recipient of the four-year grant. By the end of the study, the team hopes to have developed a noninvasive device that detects pre-eclampsia and possibly other placental disorders before the onset of symptoms, an innovation that could change the standard of care for obstetrics. NIH awarded grants to 18 other research institutions across the U.S. and Canada to participate in the $46 million initiative that will ultimately improve pregnancy outcomes.
ACCOLADES
AAAS FELLOW
Francis L. Macrina, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation at VCU, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.
TOP CENTERS One of the characters appearing in All-Negro Comics No. 1 was Lion Man, a collegeeducated, scientist superhero.
LIBRARIES
Historic comic book addition
Alumnus Dave Anderson, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’82/D), donated “All-Negro Comics No. 1” to VCU Libraries. The extremely rare comic book is the first written and drawn solely by African-American writers and artists. “It’s one of the holy grails of comics,” says Cindy Jackson, library specialist for comic arts, who oversees VCU Libraries’ Comic Arts Collection, which has roughly 175,000 items, including more than 125,000 comic books. “It is so important to the history of comics. I’ve been in this job for 20 years, and I never thought I’d ever hold one of these in my hands. And now we have one in the collection for researchers to use.” The 48-page anthology, published in June 1947 by Philadelphia newspaper reporter Orrin C. Evans along with two partners, portrays African-American characters in a positive light during an era where most black comic book characters were racist caricatures. Inside the comic, a letter to the reader from Evans under the headline “Presenting another FIRST in Negro History” demonstrates that he set out to produce a comic book that reflected his values and showcased African-Americans in heroic roles. Because of its nonmainstream subject matter, cheap paper and 15-cent cover price (higher than the usual 10-cent price in the 1940s), the comic ran only for a single issue. Few copies of the comic remain, and far fewer still are in good condition. RANKINGS
Nation’s best graduate programs
Several VCU graduate programs ranked among the top 50 of the nation’s best in the 2017 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools,” released in March. Among the graduate schools with updated rankings, the School of the Arts tied for the No. 2 overall fine arts ranking, the School of Pharmacy tied for No. 17, the School of Social Work tied for No. 22, the School of Education ranked No. 33 and the School of Medicine tied for No. 40 for best primary care. Within the arts school, the sculpture program ranked No. 1, glass is No. 3, graphic design is No. 3, painting and drawing is No. 7, ceramics tied at No. 9 and printmaking tied at No. 10. Several programs in the School of Allied Health Professions also fared well: Nurse anesthesia ranked No. 1 in the nation, health care management tied for No. 3, rehabilitation counseling tied for No. 4, occupational therapy tied for No. 17 and physical therapy tied for No. 20.
VCU Medical Center and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU received accreditation from the American College of Surgeons Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program, making them Virginia’s only accredited metabolic and bariatric surgery centers for adults and adolescents.
TECH TITAN
RamTech received the Innovative Use of Technology Award for its computer concierge service, which helps students select the best computer for their area of study, at the 2015 National Association of College Auxiliary Services annual conference in San Antonio. This is the second national award the store has received in fewer than two years of operation.
GLOBAL RANKING
The School of Business was ranked in Tier One for its M.B.A. and Executive M.B.A. programs in CEO Magazine’s “2016 Global MBA Rankings.” The rankings, which investigate an M.B.A. program’s inner workings, such as the learning environment, faculty, class sizes and diversity, distinguish schools that have “exceptional quality with great ROI.”
GOLD GRADE
VCU Medical Center was awarded the Gold Plus Achievement Award and was designated as a Target: Stroke Honor Roll-Elite Plus hospital for its participation in the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program. The award is given by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
EPONYMOUS HONOR
Joseph Ornato, M.D., professor and chairman of the VCU Department of Emergency Medicine, was honored at the 2015 Pinnacle EMS Leadership Conference with the announcement that a national award recognizing leadership in the emergency medical services field would carry his name.
GRAND SLAM
VCU’s Mary and Frances Youth Center received the 2015 USTA Mid-Atlantic Section Innovation Award for finding creative ways to grow the sport of tennis. The center provides programming and training through initiatives such as Lobs and Lessons, a cornerstone of the center’s work, which serves up tennis and life skills for Richmond’s young residents.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
This year marks several anniversaries for VCU academic units. The School of Engineering and the Brandcenter in the School of Business are both celebrating 20 years, the Department of Dance and Choreography in the School of the Arts is turning 35, the departments of Gerontology and Rehabilitation Counseling in the School of Allied Health Professions are turning 40 and 60, respectively, and the Department of Information Systems in the School of Business observes its golden anniversary.
STATE SCIENTIST
Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D., professor in the School of Engineering, was named one of Virginia’s Outstanding Scientists of 2016. He is the international leader in spintronics, the science of using the quantum mechanical spin properties of electrons to store, process and communicate information.
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UNIVERSITYNEWS GRANT
Depression prevention for pregnant women
The National Institutes of Health awarded a grant to the School of Nursing for a pilot study that will examine how motivational interviewing and prenatal yoga might reduce or prevent depression during and after pregnancy. Patricia Kinser, Ph.D. (B.S.’03/N; Cert.’04/N; M.S.’04/N), assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Health Nursing, received the two-year, $456,579 grant and will work with an interprofessional team to study whether the self-management intervention will help women proactively address current and prevent future depression occurrences. Kinser is joined on the study by co-investigators from the nursing school, the School of Medicine and the College of Humanities and Sciences. The study is also designed to strengthen student engagement in research, with undergraduate and graduate students from the School of Nursing and other departments across the university already contributing to the study. LEADERSHIP
« Andrew P. Daire, Ph.D, joined VCU June 1 as dean of The School of Dentistry’s new doctoral program prepares students for research in oral health or the biomedical sciences.
EDUCATION
New Ph.D. programs
VCU has added two doctoral degrees to its menu of graduate programs. Working with international partner the University of Cordoba, VCU introduced this spring a dual-Ph.D. program that awards degrees from the VCU School of Engineering’s Department of Computer Science and the UCO Department of Computer Science and Numerical Analysis. “Global companies such as Microsoft, Google and IBM want workforces with cross-cultural experiences and bilingual skillsets,” says Krzysztof J. Cios, Ph.D., chair of VCU’s Department of Computer Science. “This new program will give students an unparalleled foundation to function well in diverse environments. There will be great employment opportunities for students graduating from this program, both in the U.S. and in Europe.” In the School of Dentistry, the Ph.D. in Oral Health Research will provide training for students who wish to pursue research in oral health or the biomedical sciences. The program, which is focused on cancer, infection and stem cell engineering, will welcome its inaugural class in the fall semester. “The importance of good oral health, and its relationship to overall human health, is well documented,” says David Sarrett, D.M.D., dean of dental school. “The Ph.D. program in oral health research will emphasize these relationships in training future researchers, who will make discoveries and translate them to improved patient care by dentists and oral health care providers.” VCU is the first university in the state to offer a Ph.D. program focused on oral health research.
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the School of Education. He previously served as associate dean for research in the College of Education at the University of Houston and served more than 14 years in teaching, research and administrative leadership roles in the College of Education and Human Performance at the University of Central Florida.
« Montserrat Fuentes, Ph.D., joined the College of
Humanities and Sciences July 1 as dean. She previously served as the head of the Department of Statistics and James M. Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Statistics at North Carolina State University. Fuentes is a visiting scientist for the Environmental Protection Agency and sits on three committees for the National Academy of Sciences.
« Karol Kain Gray joined VCU May 2 as vice president for
finance and budget. As VCU’s chief financial officer, Gray oversees operating and capital budgets, treasury services, cash and debt management, financial records, financial controls, financial reporting, procurement and payroll services, and grants and contracts accounting. She has more than 30 years’ experience in higher education finance, operations and management and most recently was CFO at Applied DNA Sciences Inc., a New York-based biotech company.
« Meredith Weiss, Ph.D., will join VCU Aug. 1 as vice
president for administration. She comes to VCU from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is senior associate vice chancellor for finance and administration. At VCU, Weiss will oversee HR, facilities management, police, technology services, safety and risk management planning, and assessment and quality improvement.
UNIVERSITYNEWS GRANT
An insider's look at the teenage brain
VCU received a five-year, $5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to take part in a landmark study on substance use and adolescent brain development. The grant will fund research to map the neuropsychological trajectories of the developing brain. The study holds the potential to expand on current understandings of both normal and atypical brain development across human adolescence. VCU was selected as one of 20 research institutions around the country slated to follow a total of about 10,000 children beginning at ages 9 and 10 through puberty and adolescence. VCU is also one of four consortium sites that will recruit pairs of twins to yield additional clarification of hereditary and environmental influences on brain development. “The purpose of the study is to relate brain development and neurobehavioral outcomes to various environmental variables, which could include drug abuse,” says co-principal investigator James M. Bjork, Ph.D., associate professor, Institute for Drug and Alcohol Studies and Department of Psychiatry, VCU School of Medicine. “It will offer an unprecedented, granular look at how the human brain develops and what the exposure of drugs and alcohol to the teen brain does.” FACULTY
Fond farewell to legendary educator
Grace E. Harris, Ph.D. (M.S.W.’60/SW), retired in December 2015 as distinguished professor of public policy at the leadership institute that bears her name. Harris’ retirement brings to an end a noteworthy career at VCU that spanned 48 years and included service as dean of the School of Social Work, as provost and as acting president. Her tenure was punctuated by a series of historic firsts — most notably a 1993 promotion to the position of provost and vice president of academic affairs, an appointment that made Harris the first African-American woman to serve as the chief academic officer of a four-year public university in Virginia. In 1999, the VCU Board of Visitors established the Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute, which nurtures the next generation of leaders through research and training, as recognition for Harris’ exemplary dedication to affecting positive change throughout the university and into the community. GEHLI has since served more than 750 alumni through its programs and at least 300 individuals at its annual professional development events Grace E. Harris, Ph.D. and workshops. “By listening and engaging others as decisively as she led, Dr. Harris transformed the culture and values of this institution,” says Susan Gooden, Ph.D., a professor in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs who served as GEHLI’s chief from 2004 until 2015. “Her legacy is truly astonishing and universally respected.”
A new book commemorates the Anderson Gallery’s history of providing a place for graduate students to show their first major works to the public.
BOOK
A recollection of the Anderson Gallery
To celebrate the Anderson Gallery’s 45-year run of introducing innovative contemporary art to Richmond audiences and its vital role in the evolution of VCU, the School of the Arts has published a commemorative 232-page book, “Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge.” Overseen by project director and editor Ashley Kistler (M.A.’85/A), with input from former gallery staff Traci Garland (B.A.’01/A; M.A.’03/A) and Michael Lease (M.F.A.’05/A), “45 Years” also illuminates significant developments in the larger cultural community of Richmond. The richly illustrated book is organized into sections devoted to each decade of the gallery’s history and includes essays by former directors Steven High (M.B.A.’95/B), Marilyn Zeitlin and Kistler; a historical overview by Garland; a remembrance of former Director Ted Potter by Bernard Martin (B.F.A.’59/A); and interviews, commentary and personal reflections by other individuals who have had a close connection with the gallery. “This publication documents the evolution of not only the Anderson Gallery but also the School of the Arts and our cultural community,” says Kistler, who served as the gallery’s most recent director for nine years. “The momentum created by the gallery will continue to evolve the arts landscape in Richmond.” A leading venue for contemporary art in the Southeast for decades, the Anderson Gallery was well-known for presenting the work of regional, national and international artists, as well as the annual graduate and undergraduate student exhibitions. While it closed in May, its rich, permanent collection of artwork lives on at VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives at the James Branch Cabell Library. “Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge” is $35 at Barnes & Noble @ VCU.
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UNIVERSITYNEWS ACCREDITATION
Mark of business education excellence
The School of Business has extended its accreditations for both its business and accounting programs by AACSB International – the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB accreditation is the hallmark of excellence in business education and has been earned by less than 5 percent of the world’s business programs. Confirmation of VCU’s extended accreditation comes shortly after the launch of EPIC, the school’s new strategic plan. “The School of Business is focused on ensuring our graduates contribute fresh thinking and creative solutions to drive future success,” says Ed Grier, dean of the School of Business. “This reaccreditation affirms our success and demonstrates the strengths, innovation and collaborative energy among students, faculty, staff and the community.” RESEARCH
Anxiety-ridden genes VCU’s fall 2015 graduation rate for African-American students increased to 64 percent, which exceeds the national average.
EDUCATION
Top school for closing minority graduation gap
According to a report released by The Education Trust, VCU was listed among the nation’s top public, higher education institutions for boosting graduation rates for minority students and closing the graduation rate gap between minorities and white students. “Rising Tide: Do College Grad Rate Gains Benefit All Students?” found that VCU increased the six-year graduation rate for black, Latino and Native-American students by 15.5 percent between 2003 and 2013, narrowing the graduation gap by 3.3 percent over the same period. VCU was among the 26 “top-gaining institutions” and was highlighted for vast improvements in completion rates for all students, increasing graduation rates for underrepresented students and shrinking gaps in graduation rates between minorities and white students.
In the largest study of its kind, researchers have identified two genetic variants that could increase risk for anxiety disorders. The findings are the result of an international collaboration among 34 researchers from VCU and throughout academic institutions in the U.S., Europe and Australia. The study, “Meta-Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies of Anxiety Disorders,” looks at genetic risk factors common across five primary anxiety disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia and specific phobias. “These findings are important because the two genetic regions were not previously known to be associated with anxiety disorder risk,” says senior author Jack Hettema, M.D., Ph.D. (M.D.’96/M; H.S.’01/M), associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the VCU School of Medicine and faculty at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at VCU. “Our gene-finding studies provide a new perspective on the neurobiological mechanisms by which anxiety disorders arise and point the way toward new ways to treat and possibly prevent them.”
RESEARCH
Lyme disease vaccine for dogs
Richard T. Marconi, professor of microbiology and immunology in the VCU School of Medicine, has helped develop an innovative vaccine for dogs that helps protect against the diverse bacterial strains that cause canine Lyme disease. The vaccine stimulates immune responses that help inhibit transmission of the Lyme disease bacteria from ticks to dogs and kill the bacteria that cause the disease. The unique design of the vaccine suggests it might be the most effective product of its kind on the market. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne illness in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the vast majority of cases occurring in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Fourteen states, including Virginia, account for more than 96 percent of reported cases. Marconi has been developing the vaccine since 2005, and it was exclusively licensed in 2011 by VCU Innovation Gateway to Zoetis, the world’s largest producer of medicine and vaccines for companion animals. The vaccine will be available to veterinarians soon as VANGUARD crLyme.
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Photos Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing
PRESIDENTIALPERSPECTIVE
Presidential Forum on Diversity and Inclusion, November 2015
Bold conversations. New directions. The value of including students in important conversations about diversity and inclusion By Michael Rao, Ph.D., President, VCU and VCU Health System
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oday’s generation of students is one of the most socially conscious of all time. They are well-intentioned, well-educated and well-prepared. In fact, they are more likely to get involved in student-led protests than each of the nearly five decades of classes that preceded them, according to a recent study published by the University of California at Los Angeles. This is true among the student body at Virginia Commonwealth University. For three years in a row, the freshman class has been both the most diverse and the most academically accomplished in our university’s long history, proving that the highest standards really arise only from the highest principles. They see diversity as the most compelling thing about VCU. A valuable and very real experience We have seen in national headlines, and on our own campus, the critical importance of diversity and inclusion. For far too long, “diversity” has been a buzzword in higher education, often more important to marketing than to mission. Our community came together — thanks in large part to our students — in the weeks before winter break, in what I consider to be remarkable unity, to discuss the state of diversity and inclusion at VCU. Truthfully, it's a tragedy for our industry that what has happened here is remarkable. The conversations that took place — then, now and in the future — are propelling initiatives and leading us to truly reflect on what an inclusive culture is and should be at VCU. It took courage for these students to ignite these conversations about extremely difficult and complicated topics. This valuable experience has become part of their education. They will take
it with them to help shape society, to stand up for their beliefs without fear and to work constructively to develop solutions in their communities and places of work. A more-relevant university It is our highest and best calling as a public research university to drive innovation, progress and compassion for those who learn here, who teach here, who create here, who heal here — and for the countless lives they will someday touch. At VCU, students enroll thinking about what problems they want to solve. And while here, they are relentless in their quest to solve the problems of our time. At VCU, we are unapologetically gritty and passionate, and we favor practice over pretense. And so, as a more-relevant university for our students, VCU will help them do just that. We will be at the intersection of education and opportunity, a home for scholars and practitioners. It will be here where they find their place and their potential. In everything we do at VCU — from cutting-edge research to classroom debate to clinical care, to purchasing and partnering — we include different voices, ideas and disciplines. But this is not simply about being accountable. It’s about doing what we know is right. It’s also about doing what’s best for our educational experience and for the world that looks to universities for leadership.
Follow President Rao on Twitter, @VCUpresident, or online at blog.president.vcu.edu.
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STUDENT DEBT CRISIS Why it’'s everyone'’s problem and what VCU is doing to help
It’s a sobering statistic. In 2015, the average U.S. college student graduated with a student-loan debt of just over $35,000, according to an analysis of government data by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher at Edvisors. That’s the most indebted class ever. At Virginia Commonwealth University, efforts are underway to reverse this trend. From peer-to-peer counseling to programming that underscores the savings associated with graduating on time to scholarships made possible through donor support, the university is working to stop this crisis in its tracks.
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Photo Burlingham/iStock/Thinkstock
By Drew Vass
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AS A RISING VCU SOPHOMORE, ASHLEA BRUNSON RECEIVED A STARK REALITY CHECK WHEN SHE DISCOVERED THAT HER PARENTS TOOK OUT A $10,000 LOAN TO COVER THE COSTS FOR HER FIRSTYEAR TUITION. TO A FAMILY WITH A COMBINED INCOME OF ABOUT $50,000, FINANCING BRUNSON’S EDUCATION WAS INEVITABLE. TO THE JOURNALISM MAJOR, REALIZING THAT SHE MIGHT FACE MORE THAN $40,000 IN DEBT UPON GRADUATION WAS DEVASTATING. “I don’t want to take out more loans,” Brunson says. “But my parents don’t have the money to help me, and I literally have no other means for completing college.” So she works two jobs to cover room and board, food and other living expenses, while she draws on student loans to cover tuition and to tide her over when she comes up short on finances. She doesn’t have a car so she uses public transportation and works on campus. Her tax refunds go to books, and she admits that, even with loans, she’s barely making it. Any little mishap could spell disaster. “There have been times when I’ve taken more than I needed [through loans],” she admits. “Because I knew that I couldn’t just call my parents and ask them for $100 when I needed it. Those moments could sink me.” Last semester, Brunson, now a junior, admits that necessity got the best of her. Stuck between making grades or making rent, she slipped. After posting numerous failing grades, she essentially lost a semester. Once slated to graduate in May 2016, she is now aiming for 2017, if she can gather enough financial momentum. With at least two semesters to go, her debt now tops $40,000, not including interest. Twenty years ago, Brunson’s experience would have been an outlier, but these days mounting debt is a norm among college students, partly because of state cutbacks in per-student funding for higher education. Not only are colleges and universities receiving less funding, but also less
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financial support is available to students like Brunson. According to “Student Debt and the Class of 2014,” a report produced by The Institute for College Access and Success, in Virginia between the years of 2001 and 2014, state funding per in-state student declined by 46 percent at four-year colleges. Meanwhile, there’s little doubt how those cutbacks impacted students, as student debt rose by 56 percent in the same period. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia reports that in 2014-15, the average debt for in-state VCU undergraduate students was $28,425, just slightly above the statewide average of $28,250. But, squeezed between decreased state funding and increasing tuitions, the university isn’t content with handing the issue of rising debt over to its students. Instead, starting in 2015, the university is attempting to reverse those trends through numerous initiatives aimed at increasing the financial literacy of its students — a move that Brunson suggests could have helped her at the onset. “We can say to students, things like, ‘Please, don’t pay for that hamburger for 10 years,’” says VCU School of Business instructor John McFarland. “And, of course, they look at you funny. But the point is, if you’re living off of student loan money, and you’re buying that hamburger, you’ll be paying for that hamburger for 10 years because that’s how long you’ll be repaying your student loans.”
debt crisis, McFarland and other experts who’ve studied the issue all say that relating those expenses to debt forces students to consider how their choices affect their financial futures. They also say that the need for financial literacy among college students cannot be overstated as a component of the student debt crisis. Case in point: A nationwide study including seniors from 100 colleges found that 50 percent weren’t even aware that they’re required to begin repaying their student loans within six to nine months of graduation. And at least one of The Money Spot’s student coaches, Prashant Bishwakarma, a junior finance major, says he’s spoken to students who were completely unaware that they have to repay their student loans at all. “They’re seniors. They’re about to go out into the world and be financially responsible for themselves, and they just weren’t even thinking about it,” McFarland says. Students access help by visiting The Money Spot’s location in Hibbs Hall, or via its Facebook page, email or hotline, but McFarland says that the program isn’t waiting for students to reach out. Instead, counselors regularly provide 10- to 20-minute presentations in VCU’s student housing locations, followed by immediate opportunities for one-on-one counseling. “By creating a program like this, if we can reduce the amount of money that’s being borrowed, we’ll put people in a better position,” McFarland says. Photo Lindy Rodman, University Marketing
GETTING THROUGH TO STUDENTS Financial literacy efforts are nothing new for the university. Upon enrollment, VCU students are met with numerous opportunities for raising their financial IQs. On the Division of Strategic Enrollment Management’s financial aid website, for instance, students can find information on resources such as federal work-study programs, which allow them to earn wages as they study through specially arranged positions both on and off campus. Financial Aid TV, a series of short web-based videos, provides information ranging from how to apply for financial aid, to topics like using credit cards, money basics and identity theft. “How can I save money on coffee?” is a 22-second video encouraging students to total how much they spend on coffee per week, then compare that with the cost of purchasing and using a coffee maker. Another explains how purchasing one bottle of water per day can equate to $300 to $400 per year in total costs. Those are just some of the messages that McFarland and nine students who are freshly trained as money coaches aim to convey to students through The Money Spot at VCU, a new peer-to-peer counseling center. “They can come and talk to us about literally anything,” McFarland says. “And that’s what we want.” And while the impacts of the costs for bottled water and takeout coffee might seem basic in the face of an issue as large as a student
OPPORTUNITIES FOR BIGGER SAVINGS With VCU’s graduates entering the workforce with student debt in tow, borrowing is a seemingly necessary part of higher education. But in some cases, McFarland says, students are lining up to borrow the full amount of what’s available to them, with no regard for their actual financial needs. “Most students aren’t thinking about 10 or even five years down the road, so helping them to do that is key,” Bishwakarma says. “For instance, we can explain how paying the monthly interest payments on your [student] loans while you’re in school can save you thousands and thousands of dollars once you’re out.” In addition to the potential for overborrowing (which inevitably leads to overspending), many students don’t take into consideration the full cost of attendance — beyond just credit hours — when registering for classes, thinking that they’ll pay the same amount in tuition, whether they spread the typical 120-credit curriculum over four years or six years. Do the Math, a universitywide campaign launched in fall 2013, outlines that by adding just one extra three-credit course (enrolling in 15 instead of 12 credit hours) a semester, students can subtract as much as $50,000 from their debt load. The math behind the campaign is simple: Twelve credit hours is considered full time, but over the course of four years that number compounds to just 96 credits, 24 short of what’s required by most undergraduate programs. A student needs to enroll in 15 credits each semester to graduate in four years. Do the Math’s $50,000 estimate is based on the cost of attendance for additional semesters, which includes standard tuition and fees, books and supplies, room, board, transportation and miscellaneous expenses. Luke Schultheis, Ph.D., vice provost for the Division of Strategic Enrollment Management, suggests that those figures could be conservative, when taking into account the wages that students forego by sitting
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Photo Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing
Support from our donors and friends isn’t measured only in the amount of contributions given to the university. Support also is measured in the lives of students that are changed through donations. Our students are changing the future, and private giving steers their path to success. To learn more about how your gift can help today’s and tomorrow’s students, visit support.vcu.edu.
out of the workforce for additional semesters. For this reason, he says that number could easily exceed $100,000. At its core, Do the Math is little more than a basic marketing campaign. But metrics show that student awareness has already increased, and the effort has made a significant difference. The year before the campaign began, Schultheis says 62 percent of freshmen enrolled in 15 or more credit hours. Now 83 percent of freshmen do so. If these trends continue, more students will graduate in four years, continuing to drive up VCU’s already increasing graduation rate, and the overall student debt load will actually decrease. “We have already seen the debt load level off at VCU while it has increased significantly at peer institutions,” Schultheis says. “It’s nice how this has become such a part of the fabric of the institution. You hear faculty and deans talking about it all of the time, so it’s really become something that rolls off of everybody’s lips on a regular basis.” The success of the campaign also has captured the attention of other colleges and universities. (The day Schultheis was interviewed for this article, he was returning from a trip to Washington, D.C., where he spoke to the financial aid directors for eight universities.) MORE THAN FINANCIAL Ultimately, the ways in which debt impacts the lives of students and graduates goes well beyond finances. “There are all sorts of cultural effects that you may not realize,” McFarland says. “When you create your first real relationship and marriage, when you have your first child, those ages are going up. These ripple effects should have nothing to do with the costs for education.” But, McFarland says, studies show that they do. And watching their debts increase also is impacting students’ decisions before graduation. “The questions are: When is the burden [of debt] too much, at which point do students feel that they’re getting into trouble and how do they respond to that?” says Richard Spies, a lead author for “The Effects of Rising Student Costs in Higher Education,” a report produced by Ithaka S+R, a strategic consulting and research service that’s based in New York City. Marsha Rappley, M.D., vice president for VCU Health Sciences and CEO of VCU Health System, says that some medical students are
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responding by pulling away from the disciplines they love and toward more lucrative fields. “The cost for education is beginning to shift people away from the specialties they’re most passionate about and feel a part of,” Rappley says. “We want students to go into pediatrics, primary care, cardiology or thoracic surgery because they love doing those things. We don’t want them making their decisions based on economic factors.” And those decisions could be prompted at the time of enrollment, or they could occur at the grocery store. Meanwhile, data show that lowering students’ expenses by even $1,000 per year can significantly undo those change-of-mind moments. “You cannot underestimate the impacts of every little bit of help you can get,” says Abraham Butler, a fourth-year VCU medical student. “Today, a little bit of that money is going to allow me to buy groceries,” he says of the money he receives as the recipient of the A. Jarrell Raper Memorial Scholarship. “Then there’s gas and all of the other day-to-day things. It’s a tremendous help.” Before he received a scholarship, Butler had nearly reached his tipping point. Just as his sister was wrapping up her medical training, Butler’s father lost his job, and the family found itself supported by his mother’s salary as a schoolteacher. “There came a point when I wondered if it would be best for me to select a different direction,” says Butler, who at the time was completing his undergraduate studies at Tuskegee University. Lucky for him, he didn’t have to make such a hard decision. He was selected for a scholarship, while his father also found new employment. Gwynn Raper Litchfield, widow to the namesake of Butler’s scholarship, says her family is so pleased that the scholarship, established by Dr. Raper’s former classmates and supported by family and friends, made a difference. “We’re pleased and proud that the scholarship enables these young people to reach their goals and helps them to get into the practice of medicine, which is a benefit to society,” Litchfield says. IT’S OUR PROBLEM Make no mistake about it: The trending direction among student debt figures not only points to significant trouble for college grads but also to a potential financial calamity for all Americans. Data published by the Federal Reserve Bank reports that, over the past 10 years, the share of student loan balances 90 or more days delinquent increased from 6.7 percent to 11.7 percent. Meanwhile, FRB also reports that, over a 10-year period ending in 2016, the amount of student debt owed by American households had increased from about $450 billion to more than $1.1 trillion, surpassing credit cards as the largest class of nonhousing consumer debt. Meanwhile, experts suggest that state cutbacks, which continue to contribute to the issue, might never be reversed. “As a nation, we’re disinvesting in education, and unfortunately, that’s a pretty powerful message to our young people,” Rappley says. “When an alumnus or someone from the community donates to a student scholarship, it not only helps to decrease their debt, but there’s also a very powerful message that says, ‘I believe in you and the choice you’ve made for your life, so I’m going to help you to accomplish that.’” And that, she says, is a beautiful counterpunch. – Drew Vass
Brittany Heit (B.S.’13/MC; M.S.’15/B) hopes to catch the eye of potential employers with creative table (B.S.’02/H&S) is aacontributing display at the Brandcenter’s annual writer for the alumni magazine. “reverse career fair.”
A higher calling. Working in marketing and PR, Elizabeth Parker (M.Ed.’08/E) knew what it took to make things look good. But what she really wanted was to do good. So she went back to school to become a school counselor. At Virginia Commonwealth University, she says, “I learned about the promotion of equity and access for all students.” Now at Dumbarton Elementary School in Henrico, Virginia, her initiatives and programs have dramatically decreased out-of-school suspensions and increased the potential of every child in her care. That’s what a gift to the Fund for VCU does — opens doors for students to focus on their goals, to achieve their potential and to become the version of themselves that they were meant to be. Visit support.vcu.edu/throughthesedoors to open a door for the students and faculty of VCU today.
support.vcu.edu/throughthesedoors
WAVESof SUCCESS New and expanded programs open doors for budding entrepreneurs BY JANET SHOWALTER
Tony Cannella partners with surf shops across the country to sell their boards online at Boardgrab.com.
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Photo Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing
M
Photo Scott K. Brown Photography
ichell Pope, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’15/H&S), and Jasmine Abrams, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’15/H&S), thought they had the perfect idea for a successful business. But when they pitched their plan to fellow Virginia Commonwealth University students, they were met with blank stares. Not the reaction they were hoping for. “I cringed a little bit,” Abrams says. “It was tough to hear their feedback, but in the long run, it helped us.” Abrams and Pope participated in the Go For It! student entrepreneurship program in summer 2015. Thanks to that experience, their business is now gaining momentum. Research Unlimited, which specializes in helping researchers recruit and collect data from community samples and hard-to-reach populations, has grown from one client to about 10. “The program helped us narrow our focus and market more precisely what it is we do,” says Pope, who, like Abrams, was part of the first cohort of Ph.D. students in the Health Psychology Program of the Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences. “It opened so many doors and helped us avoid so many mistakes we probably would have made had we gone at this alone.” Piloted in summer 2015, Go For It! is a three-month pre-accelerator led by VCU Innovation Gateway in the Office of Research and Innovation. It is one of several programs that has sprung up at VCU in recent years in support of budding entrepreneurs. All are part of Venture Creation University, a universitywide initiative to enhance the culture of entrepreneurship at the university by providing pathways to students interested in launching businesses. The emphasis comes after a campuswide study in 2014 revealed that 51 percent of students has a high or moderate interest in developing their own company. “It’s one of those trends that has grown exponentially over the years,” says Carrie Hawes, assistant director of Employer and Experiential Development in the University Career Center, which offers guidance and support to student startups. “We realize not every student is going to work for another organization. They are going to work for themselves. We want to help them develop the skills necessary to succeed.”
Michell Pope (left) and Jasmine Abrams now manage a growing business, Research Unlimited, thanks to the lessons they learned in the Go For It! program.
Go For It! was initially offered to any student in the College of Humanities and Sciences and was funded by philanthropic gifts from VCU alumni, friends and members of the college’s advisory board. Seven teams, from 42 applications, were selected for the pilot program and were awarded a stipend of $5,000 each to help start or grow their business. Two of the teams were accepted to the regional accelerator program, Lighthouse Labs, which was housed at VCU for the fall 2015 cohort, and were awarded an additional $20,000 each. The pilot was so successful that Go For It! expanded this year and is now open to all VCU students as the VCU Pre-Accelerator. And this time around, it is being funded by the Quest Innovation Fund. Established in 2012, the fund was recently expanded to support projects by VCU students that reflect the university’s role in the Richmond economy as well as key components of the university’s strategic plan, Quest for Distinction. “There’s a movement at VCU to expand our fellowship to include all the students, whether you are a biology major, an art major or in the entrepreneurial track,” says Lacy Spott,
project manager at VCU Innovation Gateway. “It’s really important to make the opportunities available to everyone.” Nine teams were selected for the second round of the pre-accelerator program, which began in January and concluded in April. Students concentrated on developing a minimum viable product (the most pared down version of a product that can be released for consumer feedback), prototype development and customer validation, and how to pitch to potential investors and customers. To help them on their quest to build a successful business, the student teams met biweekly with a group of mentors from the Richmond area, including seasoned entrepreneurs and influential field experts. “Our goal is to really get them thinking,” says Carrie Roth (B.A.’95/H&S), president and CEO of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park who served as a mentor and judge. “We want to help them minimize the risk and get them on the right path forward so they can flourish on their own.” Go For It! students and mentors achieved just that in their own dedicated space on campus, Founder’s Corner, which opened in January to
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provide student entrepreneurs with an inviting place to work together. “We wanted to create an open, diverse space on campus where students could come together to create, innovate and generate ideas,” Hawes says. “It’s infectious what’s going on in there. It’s exciting to see that level of energy.” While Founder’s Corner was initially used by VCU Pre-Accelerator participants, the 656-square-foot space in the University Student Commons opened late this spring to undergraduate and graduate student entrepreneurs at VCU, regardless of major. Students interested in using the space, however, must apply for access. “It’s a great place to go and work in a quiet setting,” says Tony Cannella, a business major concentrating in management/entrepreneurship who participated in round two of the pre-accelerator last semester. “We all have different ideas
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for our businesses, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from each other. This has been a great place to come and bounce ideas off each other.” Cannella, now a senior, launched Boardgrab .com in May 2015 with partners Liam Becker and Jon Angot (B.S.’12/H&S). Boardgrab.com is a platform that creates an online marketplace for buyers and sellers of used surfboards. “I’ve been surfing since high school, but living in Richmond it was pretty tough finding used boards,” Cannella says. “I knew there had to be a better way than just looking on Craigslist. I knew CarMax did it with cars, so why couldn’t I do it with surfboards?” To date, he’s sold more than 100 boards and is partnering with surf shops across the country to help sell their boards. “VCU is giving me all the resources I need to help my business,” he says. “They are teaching
Photo courtesy Upchurch Chocolate
Alex Burlingame, co-founder of Upchurch Chocolate, calls the Go For It! program “pivotal” in helping him perfect his company’s recipe for success.
each of us what we need to know to help our business. You really get the one-on-one help so that what you are learning is tailored for your business. It’s been great.” Students and mentors meet at least once a week at Founder’s Corner to discuss topics such as the regulatory process of starting and running a business, steps to achieve a minimum viable product, setting the business apart from others, marketing, financial backing and more. “Many startups fail, so we are asking some tough questions,” Roth says. “Are these businesses solving a real need, or is it something they think is just cool? We talk about time commitment and what it really takes.” According to the Small Business Administration, only about half of all new businesses survive five years or more and about one-third survive 10 years or more. “The skill set these students develop is transferable whether they have their own company or they work for someone else,” Roth says. “They are learning about problem-solving as well as communication, delegation and interpersonal skills. That will serve them a lifetime.” Founder’s Corner is laid out to maximize learning potential. Three walls are dominated by dry-erase boards so students can easily pen ideas, while whiteboards on wheels fill the open space. Couches offer comfortable places for conversation, with high tables providing ample space for drawing out business plans. “Students can move around and set up individual tables or set up space for conferences,” Hawes says. “Our hope is students keep moving to keep the creativity flowing.” That’s the environment recent graduate Trevor Thacker (B.S.’16/B) was looking for when he applied to the program. “I’ve always been one who likes to create things,” says Thacker, who majored in business management. “This offers the perfect setting for that. This environment really pushes you because you are with others who have that same energy. We feed off each other.” Along with business partners Sarah Butler, a VCU arts major, and Brian O’Loughlin, a marketing major, Thacker runs No Stone Collective, which sells apparel and gear for the outdoor adventurer. He already has a great deal of experience in business, serving as the head of operations for his mother’s mattress business.
Photo Chase Davis, River City Fashion Uprising
The No Stone Collective team of Sarah Butler (left), Brian O’Loughlin and Trevor Thacker provides apparel and gear that’s functional on the trail and stylish on the street.
And there’s more! “My mom influenced me in many ways,” he says. “She’s been running a business for 20 years, and through the good times and bad, she always seemed to be enjoying herself. I wanted something that I could be as passionate about.” Thanks to the VCU Pre-Accelerator, Thacker is getting his chance to make it big. “The people here really want to see you succeed,” he says. “There is always someone here to help you and encourage you. They push you, which is great. I want to see if I have what it takes to make my dream a reality.” Alex Burlingame (B.S.’16/H&S) is already getting a taste of success. The entrepreneur, who graduated in May with a degree in philosophy, started Upchurch Chocolate in March 2015. Burlingame, who runs Upchurch with business partner, Alex Brito, was part of the first Go For It! class. His business, along with Research Unlimited, was later accepted into the regional accelerator program, Lighthouse Labs. “The programs were pivotal for our business,” Burlingame says. “A lot of people helped us rethink the scope and size of our business.” The initial plan was to perfect the chocolate before getting it into the stores, but after completing Go For It! the business model changed. Burlingame focused on generating customers right away and refining the chocolate later. “I was working in a higher-end coffee shop when I was a sophomore and realized no one was doing the same thing for chocolate in the Richmond area,” he says. “We only use the most
expensive cocoa beans directly from the growers. That really sets us apart.” The strategy paid off. Upchurch serves more than a dozen stores in the Richmond area, with expansion happening in New York, Washington, D.C., and the Midwest. “Go For It! really introduced us to the whole entrepreneurship process,” Burlingame says. “It moved us from having an idea to validating that idea with customers to getting the product to customers. It really built our confidence.” With more students expressing an interest in starting their own businesses, VCU remains committed to providing as many avenues to success as possible. “I think young people today want to make their own jobs and be their own boss,” says Pope, who hopes to triple her company’s clients by the end of the year. “I think the economy has a lot to do with that. With the downturn, people realize they don’t have the stability they used to. They want to create something they can believe in.” They want to live the dream. “Having your own business is the most exciting thing,” Burlingame says. “If we have success, it’s on me. If we have failures, it’s on me. To have that responsibility is incredible, and there’s a tremendous amount of pride in that. I wouldn’t change it for the world.” – Janet Showalter is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.
VCU offers other programs and resources to encourage budding entrepreneurs. Here’s a snapshot of just a few: • Undergraduate degree: The School of Business Department of Management offers a bachelor's in business with a concentration in management/entrepreneurship, which empowers students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and complementary skill set needed to provide creative solutions for new ventures and existing organizations. • Venture Creation Competition: Hosted by the VCU da Vinci Center, a collaboration of VCU’s schools of the Arts, Business and Engineering and the College of Humanities and Sciences, this annual judged competition provides opportunities for the VCU community to learn about student entrepreneurship through the development of a venture description, business model canvass and venture presentation. • VCU Innovate: The da Vinci Center’s brand-new living-learning program at 1010 W. Grace St. emphasizes a multidisciplinary perspective and seeks to create a mindset and culture of innovation and entrepreneurship through academic coursework and co-curricular activities.
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BASKETBALL DEVELOPMENT CENTER A game-changing space for practice and recruitment Opened in October 2015, this 60,000-square-foot state-of-the-art practice facility, adjacent to the Stuart C. Siegel Center, houses the VCU men’s and women’s basketball programs and centralizes all basketball activities. Though the practice courts for both teams sit at the heart of the venue, the center also features strength and conditioning areas, a sports medicine center with a hydrotherapy room, coaches’ offices, player lounges and a players’ dining area. New technologies include microchi pped vests that players wear during practice to monitor heart and perspiration rates as well as their movements, giving the medical team baseline statistics on each player’s health. VCU’s recruiting opportunities are expected to benefit from the facility, attracting the best players from across the nation and helping the Rams maintain a national presence. View photos and video of the center at vcuathletics.exposure.co/grand-opening.
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VCU breaks new ground with seven innovative facilities BY ANTHONY LANGLEY
A university campus is more than the buildings that make up its landscape. In the words of Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao, Ph.D., it’s what “we study, teach, research and create” inside those buildings that distinguishes VCU as a premier urban, public research university in Virginia. And it’s thanks to donor support that VCU continues to provide the very best facilities that match the caliber of student and faculty talent working inside them. Since the fall, VCU has celebrated the opening of three new, innovative facilities, with four more groundbreaking spaces on the horizon. Photo Scott K. Brown Photography
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Rendering EYP Architecture & Engineering
SCHOOL OF ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONS BUILDING
A combined space for integrated health sciences education When the new School of Allied Health Professions building opens, students will learn and work together in one space, allowing them to live the school’s motto: “Strength through diversity.” Currently, the school’s nine academic units, the dean’s office and the Virginia Center on Aging are scattered among five buildings on two ends of campus. Construction of the new 154,100-square-foot, eight-story building is planned for 10th and Leigh streets. In addition to providing space for increased collaboration, the building will allow the school to bolster enrollment and faculty recruitment, provide dedicated lab and research space and add high-demand programs that it currently doesn’t have the room to accommodate. Follow the latest developments about the school at sahp.vcu.edu.
A cultural cornerstone for the city of Richmond When opened in 2017, the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU will serve as an iconic landmark and a symbolic gateway for Richmond, with entrances to the campus on one side and the city’s arts district on the other. The 41,000-square-foot, noncollecting contemporary art museum, featuring the innovative architecture of Steven Holl, will host rotating exhibits, will commission works of art and will bring internationally respected artists and scholars to Richmond. The ICA will foster interdisciplinary learning through collaborations with the School of the Arts and with the greater VCU campus and community to serve the scholarly needs and creative interests of audiences of all ages. Watch the ICA take shape at ica.vcu.edu.
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Rendering ©Steven Holl Architects and the Institute for Contemporary Art, VCU
INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART
Photo Jay Paul
JAMES BRANCH CABELL LIBRARY EXPANSION
Bottom photos Jay Paul
Photo Porcelyn Headen
A transformational environment for students VCU’s Cabell Library is one of the busiest academic libraries in Virginia, welcoming more than 2 million visitors each year. The project added 93,000 square feet of new construction and 63,000 square feet of improvements to the existing Monroe Park Campus library, with 90 percent of the space designed specifically to meet students’ research and study needs. The library now has an additional 1,500 seats, doubling the number to about 3,000, as well as new study rooms and consultation pods where students can have one-on-one conversations with staff. Cabell also features a reading porch, tons of natural light and a media studio, called The Workshop, with a makerspace, featuring 3-D printers, a laser cutter, sewing machines, a computerized tabletop router and more. The expansion gives students a facility where they can not only study but also come together to discover and collaborate. View the library’s transformation at vcu.exposure.co/a-library-transformed.
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Photo Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL OF RICHMOND AT VCU’S NEW CHILDREN’S PAVILION A new standard of care for kids
VCU Alumni
Bottom photos Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing
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Photo Stephen Casanova, University Marketing
The outpatient Children’s Pavilion, located on Broad Street between 10th and 11th streets, is the largest, most advanced outpatient facility dedicated to children in the region. The 640,000-square-foot facility opened to children and families in March, bringing together nearly all pediatric outpatient services under one roof. Designed to provide families with the most advanced and coordinated care possible, the pavilion houses radiology, same-day surgery, lab testing, dialysis, infusions and more in an environment custom-made for kids. Clinical levels are divided into pods to increase collaboration and efficiency of care while making navigation through the building as easy as possible. To further enhance the experience for families, the pavilion also includes new amenities such as a 600-space parking garage, Ronald McDonald House Sibling Center, Sky Terrace, interactive displays and lactation rooms.. Take an interactive tour of the pavilion at chortour.org.
Rendering Richard Chenoweth
RICE RIVERS CENTER EXPANSION A nexus for leading environmental research Since its inception in 2000, the VCU Rice Rivers Center has excelled as a leader in environmental sustainability, serving as one of the most important wetland restoration and conservation sites on the East Coast. The addition of an overnight lodge and research laboratory building to the 500-acre site in 2017 will change the way that students and scientists work while at the center, by bringing all their research and analysis needs on-site and allowing them to stay overnight to monitor the status of their projects. The research building also will mean increased productivity and staff and more capability for additional high-profile research programs. It would help VCU attract scientists devoted to preserving rivers at home and abroad. Read more about the Rice Rivers Center’s future at ricerivers.vcu.edu/about-us/future-developments.
Rendering CANNON DESIGN
NEW VIRGINIA TREATMENT CENTER FOR CHILDREN Expanded access to children’s mental health services Virginia Treatment Center for Children provides services for children and adolescents with mental health issues ranging from depression and ADD/ADHD to anxiety, autism spectrum disorder and behavioral problems at home and at school. In 2017, a new state-of-the-art VTCC will open on Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU’s Brook Road Campus, replacing the current 50-year-old facility located on VCU Health’s downtown campus. The new facility will allow VTCC to develop new programs and services to better meet the needs of Virginia’s families. Spanning nearly 120,000 square feet, the facility will feature technology and architectural designs tailored to creating a therapeutic environment and will house inpatient units, an outpatient behavioral health office, a Children’s Mental Health Resource Center and the Commonwealth Institute for Child and Family Studies, the research arm of VTCC. Learn more about the new VTCC facility at chrichmond.org/Services/New-VTCC-Facility.htm.
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GOLD STARS Student fundraisers find their calling by reconnecting alumni with their alma mater
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“[Alumni] make a difference just by talking with us and sharing their experiences. That’s my favorite part of working at Gold Line. I get to connect them back to VCU.”
“Gold Line gives me the opportunity to talk with alumni already in the workforce who give me advice on how to reach my goals and insights into different careers after graduation.”
“I know that I’m making a difference and that feels great. If it weren't for alumni giving back to the university, there wouldn’t be the scholarships that allow students to come to VCU.”
– Carly Manning, senior, business major
– Justin Campbell, senior, biology major
– Courtney Evans (B.S.'16/H&S)
VCU Alumni
When you get a call from Virginia Commonwealth University, have you ever wondered who’s on the other end of the line? It might surprise you to know it’s a VCU student in the Gold Line Call Center. Six days a week during the fall and spring semesters, students man the phone lines, reaching out to alumni to build relationships, to keep them informed about VCU and to make the case for annual financial support. “The Gold Line is VCU’s most important tool in engaging and connecting with our alumni,” says Michael P. Andrews (M.S.’05/E), director of annual giving. “I take comfort knowing that VCU students are making that connection.” While their goal is the same, each Gold Line student has a unique style of connecting with alumni, and with every call, they learn something new.
57,619 Behind the line
29 3 1 The work Gold Line students do is essential to VCU’s mission of maintaining and building new relationships with alumni. Here’s a look at Gold Line by the numbers in fiscal year 2016.
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% 945 STUDENTS EMPLOYED, WITH AS MANY AS 19 CALLERS PER SHIFT
123,083
AVAILABLE NUMBERS TO CALL
29
WEEKS OF CALLING*
8,197
477,777 NUMBERS DIALED
2.62
CALLS RESULTING IN INTERPERSONAL CONTACT, PER STUDENT PER HOUR
4,850
CALLS RESULTING IN A PLEDGE OR CREDIT CARD GIFT
152 $86.34 AVERAGE PLEDGE
30%
“Since I’m undeclared, I bring that up to people I talk to. Several alumni have given me advice, and I feel like I’m connecting to them. That’s kinda nice.”
“My favorite calls are the ones with stories. Hearing the story of an alumnus finding the love of their life on campus chokes me up every time.”
– Madison Manske, sophomore, undeclared
– Summer Griffin, senior, homeland security and emergency preparedness major
OF ALL ANNUAL GIFTS TO VCU SECURED THROUGH THE GOLD LINE**
* with closures for holidays, winter and spring breaks, and summer ** +/- 2 percentage points
Summer 2016
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Motor skilled
Students collaborate in the Engineering and Biomechanics Research Laboratory to create devices today that will aid patients tomorrow By Anne Dreyfuss
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VCU Alumni
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eter Pidcoe, PT, D.P.T., Ph.D. (D.P.T.’06/AHP), picks up a tattered stuffed monkey and tosses it over a small, wheeled platform in the Engineering and Biomechanics Research Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University. “This is our mock baby,” he says, and then turns to the wheeled platform. “This is the baby robot.” The device, formally called a Self-Initiated Prone Progressive Crawler, was developed by Pidcoe in collaboration with Thubi Kolobe, PT, Ph.D., FAPTA, at Oklahoma University, to facilitate crawling in infants with disabilities. Babies lie on their stomach on the scooter, and if they make an effort to move, the motor turns on to facilitate the movement. It was designed to encourage crawling in babies with disabilities including cerebral palsy, spina bifida and Down syndrome. “Babies who have cerebral palsy typically don’t crawl,” says Pidcoe, founder and director of the lab. “You put them down, and they just roll over on their backs and look at the ceiling because they can’t coordinate their movements. As a result, they’re not exploring like normal kids. They don’t taste, play, lift and touch.” The SIPPC was created to address that cognitive development delay that often dovetails with physical disabilities. As with many of the projects from the engineering and biomechanics lab, the SIPPC stemmed from a problem that a physical therapist wanted to have fixed. Over the past 16 years, physical therapy students at VCU have worked with students from biomedical engineering and other departments across both campuses to create, test and analyze the device that Pidcoe hopes to soon sell commercially. The engineering and biomechanics lab facilitates collaborative research among physical therapy, kinesiology and biomedical engineering students in the fields of motor control, biomechanics and human performance. Within the shared space of the lab, students work together to create, test and analyze projects that link engineering principles with physical therapy treatment and human performance measures. “This engineering pocket within the School of Allied Health Professions is unique,” Pidcoe says. “There are few places in the country that provide this opportunity to D.P.T. students.”
Collaborative problem-solving
Photo Karl e Steinbrenner Photography
Pidcoe came to VCU in 1998 after graduating from the University of Illinois at Chicago with degrees in biomedical engineering and physical therapy. In addition to teaching in the VCU Department of Physical Therapy, he has joint appointments in the School of Engineering’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and the School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Science. He also sees physical therapy patients at VCU Medical Center eight hours a week, which is where the ideas for many of the projects originate. Seven graduate students currently work in the lab along with a few biomedical engineering undergraduates who help with research. The physical therapy students manage data while learning about the technology behind medical devices from the engineers. The
engineering students learn about anatomy, physiology and clinical concepts from the physical therapists. “The fact that we have that crossover in this space makes their education more meaningful,” Pidcoe says. “VCU is way ahead of physical therapy programs in the country by doing this. Others have followed, but VCU has been the leader.”
Applied knowledge
Tucked in the basement of West Hospital, the 1,200-square-foot research laboratory looks like a working garage with engineering machinery scattered around deconstructed elliptical trainers and remote control cars. On a weekday afternoon in the spring, students worked together tinkering with equipment, calculating equations on the blackboard and recording data on laptops. In the back of the lab, rehabilitation and movement science Ph.D. candidate Matt Holman (M.S.’13/E) was learning how to solder from sophomore biomedical engineering major Manik Dayal. “Coming to this lab was a natural progression for me,” Holman says, adding that he is working on a feedback system that will allow lower-extremity amputees to monitor their movements during rehabilitation. “I was interested in trying to understand human movement a little more,” he says.
“This engineering pocket within the School of Allied Health Professions is unique. There are a few places in the country that provide this opportunity to D.P.T. students.” – PETER PIDCOE, PT, D.P.T., PH.D., FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF THE VCU ENGINEERING AND BIOMECHANICS RESEARCH LABORATORY
As Holman, who has a master's in exercise science, was building the device, he was applying what he had learned in his movement science classes and was learning about the inner workings of the machines that he will one day use in a clinical setting. “Matt is not an engineer, but he is in this space surrounded by engineers,” Pidcoe says. “He is watching them design hardware and getting immersed in something that he wouldn’t have if this lab didn’t exist.” For Pidcoe, that hands-on learning experience is what makes the engineering and biomechanics lab so valuable to the School of Allied Health Professions and to the entire university. “I could talk all day about gait and low-back pain in the classroom, but the physical therapy students can come in here and actually experience what they’re learning,” Pidcoe says. “We’re not changing the world, but one step at a time we’re crossing that interdisciplinary line. That’s what I find very powerful about having the lab here.” – This article was originally published in the summer 2015 issue of VCU Allied Health, the alumni magazine for the VCU School of Allied Health Professions.
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The McCoig family — Molly (left), Austin, Laura, Jim, Heather and Sam — feels right at home in Shafer Court.
The
right
fit
Meet the family whose Plan B turned into an A-game By Lisa Crutchfield
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VCU Alumni
D
ecades before “Make it real” emerged as Virginia Commonwealth University’s brand promise, Jim McCoig (B.S.’85/B) was doing just that: putting his education and the real-world lessons he learned as a student into practice. Now he’s thrilled that his four children have followed in his footsteps and are getting the same opportunities he had. Jim, a Chicago native, was attending college in Tennessee. But in 1984 when his new wife, Laura, landed a job at Reynolds Metals in Richmond, Virginia, he found himself searching for a local university that offered an information systems program where he could finish his undergraduate degree. Fortunately, one of his professors in Tennessee knew about VCU. Jim found it was a much better fit than the program he had cobbled together in Tennessee. “What I found is that VCU is real life,” says Jim, who now works as an IT manager at Capital One in Richmond. When one of his professors at VCU noticed he wasn’t interacting with other students, she called him out on it. “I explained that I thought we weren’t supposed to share information. At my other school, you automatically failed if you talked to someone in computer labs,” he says. “And then she said, ‘Why not? The real world is about working as a team.’ Working with others taught me a lot about collaboration.” Fast forward a generation, and the eldest of Jim’s children was starting to look at colleges. Like his father, Austin McCoig (B.S.’14/En) wasn’t familiar with VCU despite growing up just a few miles down the road in western Henrico County. He came to campus as a high school student for a robotics competition, where he was introduced to VCU’s engineering school.
Photo Tom Kojcsich, VCU Marketing
“That was it,” he says. “I was hooked, and I didn’t even bother to apply anywhere else.” He graduated in 2014 and now works as a project manager at a local engineering firm. His sister, Heather McCoig (B.S.’16/H&S), knew what she wanted — and it was to be out of Richmond. “To be honest, [VCU] was too close to home,” she says. “I thought I wanted a typical college campus.” She enrolled at another university in Virginia but found it too small and predictable so she transferred to VCU, where she graduated in May with a degree in psychology. “When I transferred, VCU just felt like home. When I got into classes, and on campus, I thought, ‘Why didn’t I listen to my dad and give this a try?’ It is a great school.” Heather had two familiar faces ready to welcome her to campus: Austin and her younger sister, Molly McCoig, who is studying elementary education. VCU was Plan B for Molly, too. “I thought, ‘I’ll go for a year and transfer,’ but after a year, I was used to it and the thought of leaving made me sad,” she says. “Now I love it so much I don’t want to leave Richmond ever.” The youngest McCoig, Sam, a sophomore in the School of Business, says he didn’t feel pressured to join his siblings at VCU and had applied to other colleges. But after taking a tour of campus, he knew VCU was the right fit for him. “There was no pressure on them whatsoever” to attend VCU, notes dad Jim, who nevertheless says he’s delighted they’re all so close to home.
And, he adds, he likes that his children are getting a real-world education, just as he did. Each of the McCoigs has found a calling at VCU, though their studies rarely intersect. The siblings try to meet up if they have classes near one another, but they don’t hang out exclusively. They appreciate that VCU has offered them different experiences. Austin loved climbing the rock wall at Cary Street Gym and built his friend set around that activity. Sam joined a fraternity. Molly is a Rowdy Ram and likes to attend basketball games. (Jim and his wife, Laura, are longtime basketball fans, though nowadays they prefer watching games on TV.) The diversity on the VCU campus is a big draw, each says. “Every day I see new people,” Heather says. “It’s not a cookie-cutter kind of place where everyone is the same. Here, there’s just a great mix of people.” Austin’s come to believe that the saying really is true: “The city is the school, and the school is the city.” Molly agrees. “VCU does not feel like a bubble. I feel totally immersed in the city and its offerings.” She recently bought a new car and says, “The first thing I did was put a VCU bumper sticker on it.” Because, after all, the real world needs to know about her, too. – Lisa Crutchfield (B.A.’84/H&S) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.
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Shooting for a
cure
As the nation aims for an answer to cancer, Massey’s donors fuel its efforts By Drew Vass
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VCU Alumni
I
n his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called for the country to achieve its next great moonshot: finding a cure for cancer. To achieve that goal, the nation will launch many of its efforts from National Cancer Institutedesignated centers, including Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center. Meanwhile, at Massey, where physician-scientists continue to advance new discoveries, the mission hasn’t changed. In 2016, Massey researchers are launching clinical trials aimed at expanding immune therapy, one of the most promising new forms of treatment, to additional types of cancer. And while it’s nice that those efforts answer such high-ranking calls, the fact is that the bulk of Massey’s support doesn’t stem from federal or even state funding but from individual donors. That, physicians and researchers say, is what sets Massey apart from many other cancer research centers. “At some other institutions, they may get $2 million [in funding] from drug companies for a particular study,” says Andrew Poklepovic, M.D. (H.S.’07/M), a member of Massey’s Developmental Therapeutics research program and assistant professor in the Division of Hematology, Oncology and Palliative Care at the VCU School of Medicine. “When that $2 million is gone, that’s where their studies end. But that’s not the case at VCU. And it’s not the case because of our philanthropic supporters.”
Photo Allen Jones (B.F.A.'82/A; M.F.A.'92/A), University Marketing
Critical junctures In 2015, the use of immune therapies gained significant public notoriety when former President Jimmy Carter announced that he was cancer-free, thanks to this new form of therapy. But long before Carter received his treatment, the laboratory efforts of Harry D. Bear, M.D., Ph.D. (M.D.’75/M; Ph.D.’78/M; H.S.’84/M), the Dr. Walter Lawrence, Jr. Chair in Surgical Oncology and associate director for clinical research at Massey as well as the chair of the Division of Surgical Oncology at the VCU School of Medicine, helped to advance immune-based sciences by showing that certain immune-stimulating drugs cure the body’s natural defense systems, improving the outcomes of chemotherapies. “It looks like, for reasons that we don’t completely understand, that many of these chemotherapies need some degree of immune system recognition for the cancer in order to be most effective,” Bear says. Currently, Massey is the only provider in Richmond offering Interleukin-2 (IL-2) therapy, an immune stimulant to treat advanced melanoma and kidney cancer. This year, Poklepovic, who is also a medical oncologist and translational researcher, is advancing Bear’s findings into clinical trials designed to expand immune therapies to breast and, eventually, other forms of cancer. Those translations, he and Bear both say, represent one of the most expensive points in cancer research. “It’s a matter of materials and staffing,” Bear says. “You need things like clinical research nurses, data managers and physician time, which is almost never compensated by a clinical trial’s budget.” At 34 percent, philanthropic donations are what bridge those
gaps in funding and are the largest portion of Massey’s financial support system. Jason Beckta, M.D., Ph.D. (M.D.’16/M; Ph.D.’16/M), says he’s fully aware of how philanthropy impacts Massey’s research. In the lab, Beckta works on developing novel cures for cancer and says he always has a keen sense of the fact that the materials he uses came from donations. “This isn’t one of those situations where your money just kind of disappears into a black hole,” he says. “When you donate to Massey, I can show you tangible things that come out of those donations. Including me.” For this reason, Beckta says he became involved with Massey’s philanthropic engagements, speaking and sharing stories about how donations make a difference. “When I go and do these things, it brings me out of the lab and back in touch with why I’ve decided to spend my life doing this,” he says. Philanthropic support also increases VCU’s ability to engage and educate future physicians and researchers, like Beckta, a big part of its responsibilities as an NCI-designated cancer center. When NCI recently upped its requirements, it was only through donations that Massey could respond with a new training and education program launched in 2015, including one postdoctoral and To learn more about the VCU two predoctoral positions. Massey Cancer Center, contact “This program allows students Cindy Zilch, chief development not only to learn the basic biolofficer, at (804) 828-1452 or visit ogy of cancer but also how to use support.vcu.edu/Massey. that knowledge to develop cliniYou can also join the Massey cal and translational programs,” Movement to help create says Devanand Sarkar, M.B.B.S., a world without cancer at Ph.D., the Harrison Foundation masseymovement.org. Professor in Cancer Research and co-leader of Massey’s cancer education steering committee.
Focusing on the landing Ultimately, the goal in immune therapy is to achieve a state referred to as “durable remission,” in which the body’s immune system continues to fight and suppress cancer, even beyond drug-based therapies. In many cases, it’s working. Ten years after the first clinical trials for melanoma, for instance, Poklepovic says that patients are alive and well, in spite of the eight-month life expectancy for that disease. “That’s it. That’s the thing,” he says. “There’s a fraction of people who are no longer dying from stage four cancer. The question is: How do we do that for a wider range of people?” That’s just one of the questions that Massey researchers aim to answer, as they join in the nation’s next moonshot, thanks to philanthropy. – Drew Vass (B.S.’02/H&S) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.
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ALUMNICONNECTIONS
News, highlights and event photos from VCU Alumni. Stay connected at vcualumni.org.
Best and brightest VCU recognizes 16 alumni for their career and humanitarian achievements From revamping the nation’s ninth-largest transportation agency to researching ways to eliminate diabetes patients’ need for insulin injections and defending inmates on death row, VCU alumni are making their marks on the world around them. VCU honored 16 of its most accomplished alumni this past November at the 2015 Alumni Stars ceremony. The biennial event, hosted by VCU Alumni, honors alumni from across the university’s academic units for their remarkable personal and professional achievements.
College of Humanities and Sciences: Barbara L. Hartung (B.A.’72/H&S) took philosophy into the real and mercurial world of law. After earning a degree in philosophy from VCU, she obtained a law degree and spent her career defending the accused, with a focus on those sentenced to death. In several cases, her clients’ sentences were changed to life in prison.
Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture: Katherine Wintsch (M.S.’01/MC) founded The Mom Complex, an internationally acclaimed consulting company that has spawned ideas and products in a number of family- and children-connected industries. She was named one of Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 and one of Business Insider’s 30 Most Powerful Women in Advertising in 2015.
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs: Keith T. Parker, AICP (B.A.’90/H&S; M.U.R.P.’93/GPA), is general manager and CEO of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, the nation’s ninth-largest transit system, where he has directed a complete financial and operational turnaround. Echoing that accomplishment, in 2015, his transit peers named him the Most Outstanding Public Transit Manager in the nation.
School of Allied Health Professions: Over 30 years, Christine S. Zambricki, D.N.A.P., CRNA, FAAN (D.N.A.P.’12/ AHP), built a nationally respected career in health care advocacy and hospital leadership, writing more than 40 papers focused on education, advocacy and safety. Since 2013, she has served as CEO of America’s Blood Centers, the continent’s largest network of community-based blood centers, providing half the U.S. blood supply to 3,500 hospitals.
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VCU Alumni
Photo Skip Rowland Photography
2015 Alumni Stars Norma Sue Kenyon (left), Wilsie Bishop, Todd E. Pillion, Minh Q. Tran, Brad Trevillian, Thomas J. Dorsey, Keith T. Parker, Michael Gamel-McCormick, Grace E. Harris, Jonathan W.B. Waybright, Katherine Wintsch, Christine S. Zambricki, Barbara L. Hartung, Sterling Thomas and Jean-Venable “Kelly” Goode (not pictured: Morgan Yacoe)
ALUMNICONNECTIONS Read more about the 2015 Alumni Stars at vcualumni.org/ news/awards/ alumnistars.
School of the Arts: As an arts student, Morgan Yacoe (B.F.A.’11/A) played a key role in the surgery to separate conjoined twins at VCU Medical Center. She built a sculpture of the twins’ bodies that allowed surgeons to determine the best way to cosmetically care for the twins post-separation. Today, Yacoe teaches sculpture to VCU medical residents and produces models for use in medical education.
School of Nursing: Wilsie Bishop, D.B.A. (B.S.’70/N; M.S.’78/N), one of only two nurses in the nation to head an academic medical center, oversees the five health science colleges of the East Tennessee State University Academic Health Sciences Center. Her commitment to nursing has earned her numerous honors, including a 2013 induction into the Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame.
School of Business: Thomas J. Dorsey (B.S.’75/B) prospered during his time at VCU, overcoming the dyslexia that caused him to struggle through high school. He co-founded Dorsey, Wright & Associates, a leading provider of technical research to the financial industry, has written nine books on investing strategies and appears regularly on financial news programs.
School of Pharmacy: When Jean-Venable “Kelly” Goode, Pharm.D., BCPS, FAPhA, FCCP (B.S.’89/P; Pharm.D.’94/P) joined the VCU faculty in 1996, she was tasked with enhancing the role of the pharmacist in a community-practice setting. She has earned a national reputation in the two decades since as a pioneer in developing successful patient services in community pharmacies.
School of Dentistry: During his senior year at VCU, Republican Del. Todd E. Pillion, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’01/D), participated in the Missions of Mercy dental clinic near his hometown of Wise, Virginia. The needs he saw there reinforced his determination to return home, where, as a dentist and a delegate, he works to improve the lives of Southwest Virginians.
School of Social Work: Grace E. Harris, Ph.D. (M.S.W.’60/ SW) devoted her 30-year career to VCU, serving in multiple roles, including as dean of the School of Social Work, as provost and vice president for academic affairs and as acting president of the university. During her tenure, she established the Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute at VCU, which nurtures the next generation of leaders through research and training.
School of Education: Michael Gamel-McCormick, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’95/E), has built a career on improving the lives of children and others with disabilities. He helped establish an inclusive child care center at the University of Delaware, consulted with the government of Dubai to create a newborn screening program and collaborated on a law to advance disabilities rights, signed by President Obama. School of Engineering: As general manager at Trane, Brad Trevillian (B.S.’06/En) oversees 110 employees and a $100 million revenue stream. His management approach focuses on employees first, so they will better serve customers and drive overall business performance, an approach that earned him the top 2015 Sterling Workplace Award from the Richmond Society for Human Resource Management. School of Medicine: Norma Sue Kenyon, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’87/M), the Martin Kleiman Chair in Diabetes Research at the University of Miami’s Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, is a major force in the field of immunology of diabetes, with research that focuses on reducing or eliminating the need for insulin injections. She was the first to demonstrate that transplanted pancreatic islets could survive long term and reverse diabetes.
School of World Studies: Jonathan W.B. Waybright (B.A.’90/WS) realized his life’s interest in the middle of a class, The Bible as Literature, at VCU and is now an instructor of religious studies and internship coordinator for the VCU School of World Studies. He’s also an expert archeologist, leading an archeological research project in Israel for more than 20 years. VCU Honors College: After years of struggling with his Vietnamese family through war, asylum camps and relocations, Minh Q. Tran, M.D., FACP (B.S.’92/H&S; M.D.’96/M; H.S.’99/M) started to live a dream with his 1988 admission to VCU’s Honors College. That dream brought him through a medical degree and to prominence in the fields of geriatric medicine and hospice care. VCU Life Sciences: Sterling Thomas, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’10/LS), develops analytical tools to combat threats in national security, biological and financial arenas. He helped establish the Center for Applied High Performance Computing, Big Data Lab, and the Advanced Analytics and the Agile IT Division at Noblis, a nonprofit research corporation in Northern Virginia.
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ALUMNICONNECTIONS Photo courtesy VCU Career Services
Four new groups offer more connections
Christoper Waggener, Ph.D. (right), lead scientist at DCLS, talks with a Career Treks student about Virginia’s central lab for testing rabies in animal samples.
Students explore career opportunities by visiting alumni where they work
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VCU Alumni
Photo Will Gilbert (B.S.'15/MC)
Career Treks, a career exploration program organized by VCU Career Services, gives students the opportunity to survey careers in various industries through tours and meetings with professionals who work in the organizations they visit. Often, those people are VCU alumni. The pilot program, launched in January, visited UnboundRVA, World Pediatric Project, Elephant Insurance, the Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services and Virginia21. “Oftentimes, students have no idea what they want to do,” says Mark McKenzie, assistant director of career and industry advising at VCU and director of Career Treks. “It’s important because it lets them experience different careers in a no-pressure environment.” Chris Waggener, Ph.D. (M.S.’05/H&S; Ph.D.’13/LS), lead scientist and food-safety inspection services training coordinator for DCLS’ Food Emergency Response Network, echoes McKenzie’s feelings about the importance of this type of program. “I found out about a lot of different career paths way too late,” Waggener says. “It would’ve definitely been cool to have a program like this when I was going through school.” Waggener met with Career Treks students at DCLS in March and took them through the different facets of what the laboratory does, from food safety to handling biological threats such as Ebola, making sure that before the students left they had his contact information. “I know that networking is huge early in their careers,” he says. “Because of Career Treks, they now have someone to talk to when they’re nearing graduation.” McKenzie says he’s looking toward the future, hoping to expand the program to accommodate more students and trips as well as add more variety to the types of businesses students visit. “We want to make it real for these students,” he says. “When they’re excited about their careers, they do better in classes and are happier. I’m glad we can help with that.” Would you like to share your experiences with students? Learn how you can participate in Career Treks or volunteer with other Career Services opportunities at careers.vcu.edu/alumni/get-involved.
VCU Alumni has chartered four new groups, offering even more opportunities for members to affiliate around their academic degree or personal interests. The Accounting Alumni Association provides a conduit for building a strong accounting alumni base and to connect alumni with one another, faculty, business partners and current students interested in pursuing a career in accounting. A new group for LGBTQIA and ally alumni, Rainbow Rams, provides an avenue for alumni to connect with fellow Rams, raise funds for scholarships, network and have fun. Through the Military Veterans Alumni Council, alumni can help enrich the university experience through veteran-centric programming, the promotion of professional development through veteran-to-veteran mentorship and internships for veteran students with veteran-owned businesses. Riding Rams connects cycling enthusiasts and promotes and encourages bike riding among VCU alumni. For information on these and other VCU Alumni organizations, visit vcualumni.org/organizations.
View Reunion Weekend photos online More than 1,000 alumni and guests returned to campus April 15-17 for the African-American Alumni Council, MCV Campus and Richmond Professional Institute reunions. View photos from the weekend’s events online to see all the fun captured on camera.
MCV Campus Reunion Schools of Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy and MCVAA events mcvaareunion2016.shutterfly.com School of Medicine www.skippix.net/g/som16
AAAC Reunion facebook.com/VCUAlumniAAAC/photos
RPI Reunion rpialumnireunion2016.shutterfly.com
Save the date!
Reunion 2017 April 7-9
brought to you by VCU Alumni
Take an adventure with your fellow Rams!
As a VCU Alumni traveler, you can discover fascinating places around the world while enjoying exclusive perks, such as preferred access to popular attractions, specially arranged cultural experiences and perspectives from faculty experts and knowledgeable local guides. Let VCU Alumni make your next journey one to remember. Learn more at (804) 828-2586 or vcualumni.org/travel.
2016 TRIPS AUG. 22-31 ��������������������������Magnificent Great Lakes (10-day voyage from Montreal to Chicago) AUG. 27-SEPT. 11 �����������������Cruise the Face of Europe (Cruise to the Netherlands, Germany,
Austria and Hungary) SEPT. 6-14 ���������������������������France Provence (Seven-night Alumni Campus Abroad program) SEPT. 19-27 �������������������������Ancient Civilizations along the Adriatic and Aegean Seas
(Cruise featuring stops in five countries) OCT. 2-11 �����������������������������Symphony on the Blue Danube (Custom-designed, music-themed journey) OCT. 8-29 ����������������������������The Art of Living – Tuscany (Three-week introduction to living abroad) OCT. 11-20 ���������������������������Coast to Coast Italy, Apulia and Amalfi (Alumni Campus Abroad) OCT. 14-22 ��������������������������Mediterranean Pathways and Piazzas (Luxury cruise from Rome)
THEWORLD
Membership has its benefits. +
+
+
As a member of VCU Alumni, you gain access to members-only benefits, including: Publications • You’ll stay up-to-date on campus and alumni happenings through your free subscription to the alumni magazine. Plus, regular e-newsletters deliver university and VCU Alumni news and important event information directly to your inbox. Online resources • Members can reconnect with old friends, find former classmates and network with more than 170,000 alumni through our online alumni directory. You also receive exclusive access to online academic and business publications through online journals. Events • VCU Alumni sponsors several signature, not-to-miss events, including Reunion Weekend, Alumni Month and Homecoming, where you can renew friendships with former classmates and create new connections. Discounts • Members receive discounts on alumni gifts and apparel, insurance, on-campus gym membership, select VCU Athletics events, hotels, rental cars and more.
Are you taking advantage of your membership benefits? Find information about these great benefits and more at vcualumni.org/Benefits.
Not yet a member? Join now and receive immediate access to all member benefits (you don’t need to be a graduate to join). Members drive the growth and development of VCU Alumni and support programs and services for alumni, students and the university. Learn more at vcualumni.org. 38
VCU Alumni
ALUMNISUPPORT
William and Helen Birch
Lasting legacy Planned gift ensures that happy memories will continue By Lisa Crutchfield
H
elen Birch (Cert.’47/N) was 17 when she entered the Medical College of Virginia School of Nursing, three weeks out of high school and far from her Lakeland, Florida, home. She boldly decided to attend school out of state on the recommendation of her family physician, John Andrew Mease Jr., M.D. (M.D.’24/M), who was a graduate of the MCV School of Medicine. “The first three months we attended classes six days a week, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,” she wrote in a 2007 remembrance for the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing’s alumni magazine. “At the beginning, we had a class of 32 students and after the first three months, only 16 of us remained. To say the least, it was hard!” Hard, yes, but also transformative, and gave her memories that lasted a lifetime. In her article, Birch fondly recalled intense work but also jolly times such as classmates sneaking rides in a dumbwaiter or joy-riding in an ambulance. Though she returned to Florida after graduation, she continued to advocate for the school. In 2007, she established the Helen S. and William J. Birch Scholarship for VCU nursing students, and when she passed away in 2015, at age 88, $1 million from her estate went into that fund. The need-based scholarships are for students pursuing bachelor's degrees in the School of Nursing, with preference given to students from Florida. Jean Giddens, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, dean and the Doris B. Yingling Chair in the School of Nursing, had a chance to meet Birch a few months before her death. She was delighted to hear of Birch’s fondness for the school and to assure her that her gift would empower students. “I can think of no greater gift than to leave a lasting impression on a school and the future of our profession,” Giddens says. “This is a transformational gift because it has a forever impact on a group of students. It’s a way to ensure her legacy lives on.
“Most of us received scholarships when we were in school, and it makes sense that we pay it forward.” Ensuring the future of quality nursing was important to Birch, who enjoyed a long career as a nurse. She worked in private practice first and then as a surgical assistant and a glaucoma screening nurse in Florida. Her husband of 55 years, William J. Birch, passed away in 2006. With Birch’s estate gift, several students each year will benefit from the scholarship, and the first recipients will be announced later this year. “This means that a number of students will have the funding to continue their education,” Giddens says. “A very large percentage of our students have scholarship needs, and this will guarantee that many can stay in school.” Giddens is sure Birch would be pleased to know that future health care providers have the resources Planned giving can help you merge your they need. charitable, personal and financial goals. To “My three years at MCV gave me learn more about planned giving to support lasting friendships,” Birch wrote. “I VCU, contact Douglas W. McCartney, received an excellent education and executive director of gift planning, at have always been a proud graduate (804) 828-5563 or dwmccartney@vcu.edu. of the MCV School of Nursing. The alumni decal on my car stands out like a shining star — I love it!”
What is planned giving?
– Lisa Crutchfield (B.A.’84/H&S) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.
Summer 2016
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CLASSNOTES UPDATES
1950s George Woltz (B.F.A.’59/A) was inducted into the 2016 Virginia Communications Hall of Fame in April. He co-founded the Martin & Woltz advertising agency and served as creative director of “Virginia is for lovers,” the official tourism slogan of the commonwealth of Virginia and the longest-running state travel campaign in the U.S. Throughout his career, Woltz also worked on major accounts such as Rubbermaid, Caterpillar and Vepco.
1960s John F. Fisher, M.D. (M.D.’69/M; H.S.’77/M), was honored in April 2015 with the Jane F. Desforges Distinguished Teacher Award from the American College of Physicians. A professor emeritus of Georgia Regents University, Fisher’s academic career spans 38 years, and he has served on the education committees for both the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. The ACP honor is the latest of nearly five dozen teaching awards Fisher has received. Llewellyn Stringer, M.D. (M.D.’66/M), joined National Mobile Disaster Hospital as a project manager. The hospital is designed to deploy anywhere in the country when disaster strikes. It contains all of the familiar elements of a normal hospital, such as an X-ray unit, blood banks and a pharmacy, and can be loaded onto tractor-trailers, sent to a disaster area and set up to begin receiving patients within days.
1970s Rebecca Bigoney, M.D. (M.D.’79/M), was a guest speaker for the VCU School of Medicine’s August 2015 “Patient, Physician, and Society,” where she spoke to first-year students about the complex intersection among “ethics, liability, policy and reality” facing doctors. She brought with her stories of ethical situations she’s faced throughout her career in the medical field, often with imperfect conclusions. Bigoney also walked students through an ethically challenging, hypothetical situation, asking students what they would do in the face of such a decision. Her career includes 18 years of private practice and a term as vice president of medical affairs at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va., where she works as chief medical officer. Nancy Everett (B.S.’78/B) was named CEO and chief investment officer of the VCU Investment Management Co. in November 2015. VCIMCO is an independent foundation that advises the university and its affiliated foundations on the management of its assets. Everett previously served as senior adviser at Lombard Odier Investment Management and as head of U.S. fiduciary management at BlackRock.
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Can’t wait to see what’s happening with your fellow alumni? View archived and expanded class notes online at vcualumni.org/classnotes.
Margaret Jackson Martin (B.S.’71/D), the first dental hygienist in Carroll County, Va., retired July 1, 2015, after 44 years of practice. She has been a longtime member of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association, and she served for more than 10 years on the Virginia Dental Hygienists’ Association executive board and was a charter member of the Southwest VDHA, serving multiple terms in different positions with the organization. She joins her husband, Ralph “Bob” Martin, in retirement. M Edith Mitchell, M.D. (M.D.’74/M), was named president of the National Medical Association, the nation’s oldest African-American organization of medical scientists and practitioners. Mitchell serves as clinical professor of medicine and medical oncology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. L Tom Scalea, M.D. (M.D.’78/M), is starring in the unscripted docudrama series “Shock Trauma: Edge of Life.” The series, produced by and airing on the Discovery Life channel, was shot at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland, the highest-volume trauma center of its kind in the U.S. Geraldine Scalia (B.A.’73/A) exhibited 16 pieces of her artwork in fall 2015 at Tavern on Jane in Greenwich Village, N.Y. Janis P. Terpenny (B.S.’79/H&S) joined Penn State in September 2015 as the Peter and Angela Dal Pezzo Department Head of the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. She previously was the Joseph Walkup Professor and chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University, where she also served as director of Iowa State’s Center of e-Design and as the technical lead of the Digital Manufacturing and Design Innovation Institute’s Advanced Manufacturing Enterprise Area. M
1980s Katherine Bassard, Ph.D. (B.S.’86/H&S), began her new role at VCU Dec. 1, 2015, as senior vice provost for faculty affairs. She has been at VCU since 1999 and previously served as chair of the Department of English and associate dean in the College of Humanities and Sciences. She also edited the first anthology of the autobiographical writings of Peter Randolph, a 19th-century former slave from Prince George County, Va., who became a prominent abolitionist, pastor and community leader. M Jeffrey Blount (B.S.’81/MC) was inducted into the 2016 Virginia Communications Hall of Fame in April for his work as an Emmy award-winning TV director of 32 years, public speaker and award-winning author and scriptwriter. As director at NBC News, Blount oversees the Washington control room coverage for the “Nightly News,” election nights, special reports and major events. Blount also directed a decade of “Meet the Press” and has directed “The Today Show,” “The Sunday Today Show” and “The Chris Matthews Show.”
Apostolos “Paul” Dallas, M.D. (M.D.’87/M), was awarded the Oscar E. Edwards Memorial Award for Volunteerism and Community Service from the American College of Physicians. The award is given to those individuals who have been involved with volunteer programs or who have provided outstanding volunteer service, post-training. Dallas is an associate program director of the internal medicine residency at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, assistant professor and director of continuing medical education. L Stephanie Ferguson, Ph.D., RN, FAAN (M.S.’87/N; Ph.D.’92/N), was inducted as a member of the National Academy of Medicine, formerly the Institute of Medicine, in October 2014. Considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine, the academy recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding professional achievement and commitment to service. Ferguson is director and facilitator of the International Council of Nurses Leadership for Change program and the ICN-Burdett Global Nursing Leadership Institute. Robin Foster, M.D. (M.D.’89/M; H.S.’92/M), chair of the Division of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, received the Virginia Governor’s EMS Award for Outstanding Contribution for Children. Foster has served as chair of the Virginia Emergency Medical Services for Children Committee, has worked to shape current child abuse and neglect laws in Virginia and has helped create the Child Protective Team at CHoR, which evaluates, diagnoses and treats children who have been sexually or physically abused or neglected. Lauren Goodloe, RN, Ph.D. (B.S.’83/N; M.S.’88/N; Ph.D.’00/N), was elected secretary of the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education Board of Commissioners. Goodloe is the director of medical and geriatric nursing, administrative director of nursing research and assistant dean for clinical operations in the VCU School of Nursing. CCNE is an autonomous accrediting agency dedicated to the improvement of the public’s health, which ensures the quality and integrity of baccalaureate and graduate nursing education programs and entry to practice nurse residency programs. Daniel Riddle, Ph.D. (M.S.’86/AHP; Ph.D.’87/E), the Otto D. Payton Professor and assistant chair of the Department of Physical Therapy in the VCU School of Allied Health Professions, was selected to serve as a member of the Neurological, Aging and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review from July 2015 to June 2019. Members are selected based on their achievements in their scientific disciplines through research accomplishments, publications, honors and other scientific activities. The Center for Scientific Review is the hub for all research and training grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health, ensuring that applications receive fair, independent and timely reviews to fund the most promising research.
M Member of the alumni association
L Life member of the alumni association
CLASSNOTES
Elizabeth “Betsy” Ripley, M.D. (M.D.’86/M; H.S.’92/M; M.S.’04/M), associate chair for faculty development in the Department of Internal Medicine in the VCU School of Medicine, received a 2015 Women in Science, Dentistry and Medicine Professional Award for her work as a mentor and role model for other female faculty at VCU.
What’s new? Send us your news — promotion, relocation, wedding, baby or other good tidings — and we’ll share it in the alumni magazine and online. Drop us a line at classnotes@vcu.edu. Or, update your information and view archived and expanded class notes from your fellow alumni at vcualumni.org/classnotes.
Joel Schuman, M.D. (H.S.’88/M), was named chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the NYU Langone Medical Center. His discovery of a molecular marker for glaucoma paved the way for advances in the detection and treatment of the disease. L Elliot Sternberg, M.D. (M.D.’80/M), a physician executive who has succeeded in a variety of roles, was inducted into the Brown Sequard chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha in April 2015 in honor of his accomplishments and dedication to delivering high-quality care to patients. L Marilyn Tavenner (B.S.’83/N; M.H.A.’89/AHP) was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare in 2015 by Modern Healthcare magazine for the fourth year in a row. The program honors individuals in health care who are deemed by their peers and senior editors of the magazine to be the most influential individuals in the industry, in terms of leadership and impact. Tavenner is CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a national trade association representing the health insurance industry. L Barbara Todd (M.S.’84/N), director of the CMS Graduate Nurse Education Consortia at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in October 2015. She is also a fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and recipient of the Pennsylvania State NP Advocate Award. Henrisa Tosoc-Haskell (M.S.’88/N; M.S.H.A.’02/ AHP) was named director of member quality at the United Network for Organ Sharing. In her new position, she monitors the performance of member institutions (transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations and histocompatibility laboratories) and their compliance with Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network policy and bylaws. Turn to Page 43 to read more about her career. L
1990s Roger Brown (B.S.’93/H&S) was promoted to director of the Organ Center at the United Network for Organ Sharing. He has been one of two assistant directors of the center since 2009. As director, Brown is responsible for the leadership and direction of all areas of the center, from overseeing daily operations to maintaining performance metrics and quality improvement initiatives. He has worked in the center in positions of increased responsibility for 20 years, and his efforts have played a key role in UNOS’ recent milestone of coordinating 500,000 deceased donor transplants nationwide.
M Member of the alumni association
Kristen Caldwell (B.S.’94/MC) joined VCU’s Development and Alumni Communications office in 2015 as associate director of development and alumni marketing and communications. She previously worked as an assistant creative director and managing editor in VCU’s University Marketing office. L Cornelius McKown “Mac” Dyke, M.D. (H.S.’93/M; H.S.’95/M), has been named associate dean for the Southeast (Fargo) Campus at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dyke is an assistant professor of surgery at UND and an attending cardiothoracic surgeon for Sanford Health in Fargo. Dyke has co-authored more than 60 articles and 15 book chapters on cardiovascular surgery. He is co-editor of three books and has served as an abstract and manuscript reviewer for the professional journals The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Circulation and The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Karen Faison, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’99/E), received the Nancy Vance Award from the Virginia Nurses Foundation for establishing a mentorship program for nursing students with the Central Virginia Chapter of the Black Nurses Association. It honors a member who has made significant contributions to the community through exceptional leadership, sustained dedication and inspiring achievement. Alvester Garnett (B.M.’93/A), a jazz drummer, can be heard on vocalist Charenee Wade’s CD “Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson,” released in June 2015. Mary Helen Hackney, M.D. (H.S.’94/M), associate professor of internal medicine at the VCU Massey Cancer Center, received the Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award in November 2015. The award, sponsored by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, honors those who best demonstrate outstanding compassion in the delivery of care; respect for patients, their families and health care colleagues; and clinical excellence. L
L Life member of the alumni association
Cade Martin (B.G.S.’90/H&S) completed a photography project for the New York Philharmonic’s 2016 Biennial Season “Let’s Play.” The image features French-hornist Leelane Sterrett as a pied-piper set in the forest charming a group of carousel horses toward her. Martin also was named in January 2016 as one of the Lürzer’s Archive’s 200 best advertising photographers in the world. Neda McGuire (M.H.A.’93/AHP; M.S.’10/AHP), owner of Aging Matters in Washington, D.C., volunteered to help Syrian refugees fleeing to Greece and Turkey. McGuire, who speaks Farsi, traveled to the Greek island of Lesbos in December 2015 where translated to medics the needs of the immigrants. Keith Parker (B.A.’90/A; M.U.R.P.’93/H&S) was appointed by President Obama to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council. Parker is general manager and CEO of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, the nation’s ninth-largest transit system, which includes heavy rail, bus and paratransit services. He was honored by VCU Alumni in November 2015 as one of its Alumni Stars. Jonathan B. Perlin, Ph.D., M.D., FACP, FACMI (Ph.D.’91/M; M.D.’92/M; H.S.’96/M; M.S.H.A.’97/ AHP), president of clinical services and chief medical officer at Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA, was elected into the National Academy of Medicine, formerly the Institute of Medicine, in October 2015. Members are elected as recognition for making major contributions to the advancement of the medical sciences, health care and public health. Under Perlin’s leadership, research was conducted that identified clinical practices that reduced bloodstream infections by 44 percent. Perlin also was named one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare for the second year in a row. The program honors individuals in health care who are deemed by their peers and senior editors of the magazine to be the most influential individuals in the industry, in terms of leadership and impact. L
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tour of Turkey sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Ankara. He joined both American and Turkish musicians in the performance of traditional Turkish folk melodies mixed with American jazz improvisation.
Patrick Stover, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’90/M), was elected president of the American Society for Nutrition, a national organization that brings together top researchers, clinicians and industry leaders to advance the understanding and application of nutrition. He plans to use his term as president to increase engagement among the diverse institutions that study nutrition by promoting collaboration among chemists, physicians, economists, politicians and others in the field.
Antoine D. Clark, D.M.A. (B.M.’00/A), earned a doctoral degree in clarinet performance from The Ohio State University and is currently enrolled at the university in the Master of Music program for Orchestral Conducting. He earned a previous master’s degree in clarinet performance from the Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music. In 2013, he founded the McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra in Worthington, Ohio, for which he serves as music and artistic director. He also is a woodwinds instructor at The Jefferson Academy of Music at OSU and adjunct instructor of woodwinds at Kenyon College. In summer 2015, he participated in the International Conducting Workshop and Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria; attended the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestral Musicians in Hancock, Mass.; and performed on clarinet at the Gateways Music Festival at the Eastman School of Music.
Alex Valadka, M.D. (H.S.’93/M), was appointed chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in the VCU School of Medicine in November 2015. He is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of neurosurgery and traumatic brain injury and returned to VCU to conduct research. E. Ayn Welleford, Ph.D. (M.S.’94/AHP; Ph.D.’98/H&S), associate professor and chair of the Department of Gerontology in the VCU School of Allied Health Professions, was honored in October 2015 as a Valentine Richmond History Maker for her work with the Greater Richmond Age Wave, a collaboration of public and private organizations, businesses and individuals, including older adults, working to prepare for the opportunities and challenges of the region’s growing aging population. The annual Richmond History Makers Program, sponsored by The Valentine, pays tribute to everyday citizens and outstanding organizations that make significant contributions to the greater Richmond region. L Lynn Woodcock (B.S.’95/N) received the OurHealth Annual Best Bedside Manner Award for her work at Family Practice Specialists of Richmond, Va. Neva White (M.S.‘91/N), senior health educator at the Jefferson Center for Urban Health, was recognized as the 2015 Distinguished Diabetes Educator at the 75th anniversary and awards celebration of the American Diabetes Association.
2000s Taylor Barnett (B.M.’02/A; M.M.’04/A), professor of jazz improvisation and coordinator of musicianship in the Department of Music in the VCU School of the Arts, spent summer 2015 on a 10-day performance
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Nancy W. Beasley (M.S.’00/MC) had her book “The Little Lion” adapted for the stage by Swift Creek Mill Playhouse in Chesterfield, Va. “The Little Lion,” set in Lithuania during World War II, chronicles the struggle of a Jewish family to survive the Holocaust and the story of Laibale Gillman, a teenage boy known as the little lion, who never stopped fighting for freedom. Robert L. Caldwell (B.F.A.’00/A) exhibited 14 original paintings and drawings at the Feb. 5, 2016, First Fridays gallery show at the Richmond-Times Dispatch in Richmond, Va. His painting, “Before and After,” also appears on the June 2016 cover of The Artist’s Magazine.
Scott Clark (B.M.’04/A) released “Bury My Heart,” featuring other VCU Jazz alumni, on Clean Feed Records. He performed a CD-release show in November 2015 at Balliceaux Restaurant in Richmond, Va. Ryan Corbitt (B.M.’04/A) won a Richmond (Va.) Theatre Critics Circle “Artsie” Award in October 2015 for Best Music Direction for the musical “Caroline, or Change.” Alan Dow, M.D. (M.S.H.A.’05/AHP; H.S.’04/M), assistant vice president of VCU Health Sciences and professor in the Department of Internal Medicine in the VCU School of Medicine, was awarded the Seymour and Ruth Perlin Professorship in Healthcare Quality. The professorship was established in 2008 to recruit and retain a distinguished faculty member with joint appointments in VCU’s departments of Health Administration and Internal Medicine. Emily Drake, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’05/N), associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing, was elected president of the American Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses in October 2015. The professional organization is the voice for more than 350,000 nurses and promotes health for women and newborns. She will serve a three-year term.
Emily Edelman (M.S.’06/M) was honored with the Outstanding Volunteer Award from the National Society for Genetics Counselors during its annual education conference in October 2015. She was nominated for her extensive experience developing educational programs for health care providers both inside and outside the genetic counseling field. Greg Greenberg (M.S.’06/MC), Charles Hodges (M.S.’09/MC) and Mollie B. Partesotti (M.S.’09/MC) with Media Arts Lab in Los Angeles worked on the “Shot on iPhone 6” campaign for Apple, which won the Outdoor Lions Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The award is one of the most prestigious honors in the advertising industry. Gordon Haab III (B.M.’00/A) composed and orchestrated an original score for the video game “Star Wars: Battlefront,” which was recorded by the 100-member London Symphony Orchestra. Haab previously scored several other LucasArts video games as well as numerous TV shows and short films. Jason Hackett (M.F.A.’05/A), studio manager for the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the VCU School of the Arts, placed first in the Alexandria (Va.) Museum of Art’s 28th September Competition, held in 2015. His work also was included in the spring 2015 “Interpretations: 15th Biennial Teapot Exhibition,” which explores the ritual of tea. Janna Haley (B.A.‘06/A) is senior recruiter for PBMares LLP, an accounting and business consulting firm serving the mid-Atlantic, where she will post and source internal positions, conduct pre-hire interviews and screenings, and lead campus recruitment strategies. Haley will also head the firm’s summer internship program. She previously worked at Profiles recruiting creative talent and at Dietitians on Demand placing registered dietitians in clinical roles. Brook Hine (M.F.A.’04/A) participated in the Haverford, Pa., Holiday Pop-up Shop at Main Line Art Center. Sarah Holden (B.F.A.’08/A) had artwork shown in two exhibits in fall 2015: “ADORN: Contemporary Wearable Art” in Chicago and “Adornment: Flesh and the Erotic at Plaza Gallery” in Athens, Ga. Katie Hudnall (M.F.A.’05/A) was of the nine artists featured in the blog Colossal in fall 2015 for her work designing a miniature book-sharing library that appeared throughout Indianapolis to engage new audiences and to attract people to libraries. Arcelia “C.C.” Jackson (B.S.’07/GPA; B.A.’07/H&S) was named director of financial aid at South Carolina State University. Jackson has worked in financial aid departments for more than a decade and is a member of the Virginia Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Darius Jones (B.M.’03/A) won funding from the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation to tour with his quartet as part of the MAAF’s 2015-16 French-American Jazz Exchange Tours. The grants are awarded to mid-Atlantic-based groups that support venues in Washington, D.C., New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
M Member of the alumni association
L Life member of the alumni association
Photo Andrew Swartz/UNOS
Cmdr. Darian Rice, M.D., Ph.D. (B.S.’94/H&S), a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va., received the 2015 Hero of Military Medicine Award for the Navy. The Heroes of Military Medicine Awards honor outstanding contributions by individuals who have distinguished themselves through excellence and selfless dedication to advancing military medicine and enhancing the lives and health of wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and their families. During deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, or while assigned as a flight surgeon and working with NASA, Rice has used his knowledge and experience to apply it toward the operational environment, which has improved outcomes, with 99 percent survival rates in Afghanistan. As chief of cardiothoracic anesthesia at NMCP, Rice leads a team of up to five other anesthesiologists who provide care to patients undergoing heart or lung surgery.
Henrisa Tosoc-Haskell at the UNOS National Donor Memorial
ALUMNIPROFILE
A lifetime of healing Alumna leads at the bedside and beyond By Anthony Langley
W
hen the United Network for Organ Sharing merged two units into a newly created Department of Member Quality, the organization set its sights on finding someone with the right set of skills to help the organization, and its employees, navigate the new course. “Embarking on a journey from a compliance-focused organization to an organization focused on performance improvement, we were looking for someone who had experience with quality practices and performance improvement,” says Maureen McBride, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’95/M), UNOS’ chief contract operations officer. They found their match in Henrisa Tosoc-Haskell (M.S.’88/N; M.S.H.A.’02/AHP), who joined the Richmond-based organization in July 2015 as director of member quality. “I wasn’t really looking for a change,” says Tosoc-Haskell, who at the time was working as corporate director of quality and clinical improvement at Bon Secours Health System. “But when I sat down with the team here, I saw how mission-driven they were, and I decided to come aboard.” Quality and performance improvement has always been one of Tosoc-Haskell’s passions. She serves on the National Board of Examiners for the Baldrige Award for Performance Excellence, the only presidential award given to organizations for performance excellence. She has also been an examiner for the board, at both state and national levels, for the past four years. “Her clinical background, having worked in different hospital settings, and her work with the Baldrige Award were a huge advantage,” McBride says of TosocHaskell’s credentials. Tosoc-Haskell earned her bachelor’s degree in nursing from Old Dominion University and then joined the nursing extern program at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, where she continued work as a nurse for several years before changing her focus to gerontology. She enrolled in the master’s program at the VCU School of Nursing and, as part of her studies, worked on a home-care team under Peter Boling, M.D. (H.S.’84/M), professor and chair of the Division of Geriatric Medicine in the VCU School of Medicine.
“I was really fortunate to work under Dr. Boling, but I had a desire to broaden my focus to the other end of the health care continuum,” she says. Tosoc-Haskell took several sports medicine classes toward the end of her studies and, after graduation, moved to Louisiana where she worked as an athletic trainer for the Louisiana State University football team. She returned to Richmond, and VCU, to earn her master’s in health administration and, because of her experience at LSU, landed a position as practice director with VCU Sports Medicine. There, she played a role in the construction of the Sports Medicine Center on West Broad Street near the Siegel Center. “It broadened my skills in leadership and management,” Tosoc-Haskell says of her tenure at Sports Medicine. “It was a great opportunity to showcase everything I had learned up to that point.” In 2003, she moved to Bon Secours Health System in Marriottsville, Maryland, where she spent the next 11 years. Today, as UNOS’ director of member quality, Tosoc-Haskell monitors the performance of transplant hospitals, organ procurement organizations and laboratories that work with UNOS and their compliance with organ procurement and transport policies. “She’s been amazing,” McBride says. “She’s really unified the team. Taking two departments and making them one can be challenging from a management and operational perspective, and she really brought them together. She also spearheaded a number of projects to improve our internal operations and change our vision for how we want to see member quality operate in the future.” For Tosoc-Haskell, the most rewarding part of the job is knowing how her work gives others a chance to live. “We have people who’ve been on organ waitlists for a long time,” she says. “But because of the work we do, our monitoring and expertise, we can provide an organ to recipients in an efficient and safe way. It’s that sense of purpose that drives the work we do at UNOS.”
– Anthony Langley (B.S.’16/MC) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.
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New releases
Faculty and alumni books Emergency planning
Magnificent mountain
ADAM CROWE
RANDY JOHNSON
In “The Futurist’s Guide to Emergency Management,” Crowe, VCU’s director of emergency preparedness, makes projections on theoretical scenarios in emergency management. His research aims to help other emergency managers and public safety and homeland security officials plan for future risks and to address questions that need answering now.
In “Grandfather Mountain: The History and Guide to an Appalachian Icon,” Johnson (B.S.’74/H&S), a travel writer and editor, tells the story of North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain. The book includes more than 200 historical and contemporary photos, maps and a guide to hiking the extensive trails and appreciating key plant and animal species.
Winged women
Jailhouse memoirs
MICHELE YOUNG-STONE
DAVID COOGAN, PH.D.
In her second novel, Young-Stone (B.A.’92/H&S; M.T.’05/E; M.F.A.’05/A) tells the story of a lineage of girls and women who have been born with wings. The book traces the women's stories through history with settings as diverse as the 1863 Lithuanian uprising against Russian rule and a hangdog beach community in Florida in the 1970s.
Coogan, associate professor in the Department of English in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, published “Writing Our Way Out: Memoirs from Jail.” It tells his story of teaching prisoners in Richmond City Jail and features the memoirs of 10 former inmates who describe the conditions, traps and turning points that led to their incarceration.
Power play MARK HOM, M.D.
In “The Science of Fitness: Power, Performance and Endurance,” Hom (H.S.’92/M) focuses on the role that mitochondria play in exercise, disease prevention and nutrition. He teamed with biking legend Greg Lemond to write the book, which is meant to help anyone at any age or fitness level to be as energetic and healthy as possible.
Religious reflection RICHARD SCARNATI, O.D.
Scarnati (H.S.’79/M) reports that when he was born, he was aware of having had an awe-inspiring experience. In his second book, “God’s Light,” the forensic psychiatrist chronicles his search for a way to describe a childhood experience and his path to achieving his goals through faith.
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Life advice RICHARD BARGDILL, PH.D.
Bargdill, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, published “Living the Good Life: A Psychological History.” The book collects writings by psychologists, such as Sigmund Freud and B.F. Skinner, and covers a variety of topics, including living within the framework of an irrational world and the importance of art and art education.
Polished perfection AMI VEGA
Nail artist Vega (B.S.’08/B) has worked with major beauty companies such as Revlon, Essie and Maybelline. In “Designer Nails,” she shows how to turn nails into miniature works of art. She also
offers advice on growing and maintaining healthy nails, polished off with step-by-step instruction on 50 unique nail art designs and professional insider tips for building a nail art tool kit for home use.
Alien invasion JEANNE GUTHRIE
In “Mystical Aria: Seeking the Gallion Queen,” an adult science fiction novel by Guthrie (M.S.’93/ MC), 12-year-old psychic Aria makes contact with technologically advanced aliens. Conflict arises when the alien queen sends a diplomatic mission to Earth, and Aria’s Navy SEAL father is sent to destroy their spaceship, not knowing that his daughter is aboard.
Political portrait L. DOUGLAS WILDER
Wilder, the namesake of VCU’s Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, made history when he became the nation’s first elected AfricanAmerican governor. He describes his remarkable life and rise in politics in “Son of Virginia,” which stands as a road map for continued progress in the nation’s elections and laws.
Resistant resident BILL YANCEY, M.D.
Retired emergency medicine physician Yancey (M.D.’76/M) published the “Reluctant Intern.” The story follows Addison Wolfe through the hectic first year of training at a busy public hospital, a year made more frustrating by his inescapable dashed dreams of one day becoming an astronaut. Yancey is commemorating the 40th anniversary of his graduation by sharing a free digital copy of the book with his classmates and the graduating Class of 2016. To receive the Kindle, Nook, PDF or Word version, email wbyAuthor@bellsouth.net.
M Member of the alumni association
L Life member of the alumni association
CLASSNOTES
Leslie Knachel (M.P.H.’00/M) was elected director of the American Association of Veterinary State Boards. She is also the executive director of the Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine. AAVSB is a nonprofit organization that provides quality resources and information for veterinary regulatory agencies and professionals. Jessica Martinkosky (M.F.A.’03/A) showed several artworks at the University of Mary Washington’s fall 2015 “New Ceramics in the Old Dominion” exhibit. Rebecca Murtaugh (M.F.A.’01/A) was one of three artists selected to exhibit at Occo Socko! a gallery at the Stout Projects in New York. She showed mixed-media pieces made from reclaimed house paint, wood and other materials. David Perks (M.S.’02/MC), creative director and founder of The Perks Agency, has moved his company to Blacksburg, Va. The advertising agency opened its doors in April 2015 with a range of regional clients such as Campus Automotive, IST Research, Valley Landscaping and Glavé Kocen Gallery. Perks has created award-winning work for iconic brands such as the U.S. Marine Corps, Orkin Pest Control and others throughout his career at global and regional advertising agencies. Debbie Quick (M.F.A.’06/A), assistant chair of the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the VCU School of the Arts, was a part of Think Small 8, a major fundraising event for Richmond’s Artspace, which gathers regional, national and international artists. Her art was also featured in the University of Mary Washington’s exhibit “New Ceramics in the Old Dominion.” Rachel Rader (B.F.A.’06/A) played the role of chief investigator in “Ancient Truth Investigators” at the Agnes Varis Art Center in New York. The exhibit invited viewers to learn about an ancient civilization of sea people. Sherrina Sewell (M.S.’02/AHP), a unit supervisor in the Chesterfield office of the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, has been named as one of two winners statewide of the 2015 Employee Leadership Roy J. Ward Recognition Award from the State Rehabilitation Council. Sewell supervises and leads a team of three specialty transition counselors in addition to carrying her own caseload. She also co-teaches two courses in new counselor skills training and provides training, support and guidance to vocational rehabilitation staff who serve consumers on the autism spectrum. As an adjunct faculty member of VCU’s Department of Rehabilitation Counseling in the VCU School of Allied Health Professions, she has also taught graduate-level coursework in multicultural counseling.
2010s Sarah Briland (M.F.A.’13/A) had a solo exhibit, “Problematica,” at UrbanGlass gallery in New York in winter 2016. Her artwork transforms manmade items into natural specimens such as crystals and fossils.
M Member of the alumni association
Ameya Chumble (B.A.’14/H&S; B.S.’14/H&S), a second-year student in the VCU School of Medicine, led a team of classmates in organizing Richmond’s first Camp Cardiac, a weeklong day camp for high school students interested in entering the medical field. From obtaining CPR certification and learning suturing techniques to hearing case studies and observing a live surgery, the high school students spent an action-packed week on VCU’s campus. Camp Cardiac was so successful that VCU is now eligible to host its sister camp, Camp Neuro. Janette Corcelius (B.M.’15/A) teaches music at two Washington, D.C.-area public schools: Aiton Elementary School and the LaSalle-Backus Education Campus. Steven Cunningham (B.M.’11/A) was selected as a member of the 2016 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra. Hillary Fayle (M.F.A.’15/A) had her artwork featured in Hand/Eye Magazine as well as on the blog Colossal. Both articles discussed her artwork, which augments the natural beauty of items such as seeds and leaves with embroidery. Brian Fleetwood (M.F.A.’14/A) showed his artwork at the exhibit “Artifice of Nature” at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. Lucas Fritz (B.M.’11/A) became co-owner of two Richmond, Va., music venues: The Camel and The Broadberry. In November 2015, he presented the Dave Douglas’ Quintet at the Broadberry. Julia Gabriel (B.F.A.’11/A) was chosen as a Martha Stewart American Made 2015 Style Finalist for her architecturally inspired handbags designed using the golden ratio. Rob Gibsun (B.F.A’13/A), a spoken word poet, performed on the season 5 premiere of TVOne’s “Lexus Verses and Flow,” addressing racial and social injustice. This is his second season being featured on the show. William Gilbert (B.A.’15/MC) joined NBC12 in Richmond, Va., as a news content specialist. He also works in VCU’s Development and Alumni Communications office as a videographer. M Brendan Hood (B.S.’15/B) joined VCU’s Development and Alumni Communications office in 2015 as a direct marketing associate. L Joseph “Fitz” Maro (M.S.’13/MC), an innovation strategist with 360i New York, won the inaugural Campaign US Fearless Thinker contest in June 2015, which posed the question: “If you had a floor at Cannes, what industry-changing idea would you share?” Maro’s winning video used Paul McCartney as an example of an industry icon who is always changing, and Maro argued that advertising must constantly embrace new technologies through remixing and collaboration. He won a week in France at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Aaron McIntosh (M.F.A.’10/A) received a $10,000 2015 Windgate Project Grant for "Invasive,” his project that uses the invasive species kudzu as a
L Life member of the alumni association
symbol of visibility, strength and tenacity in the face of presumed “unwantedness.” Traveling across the Southern states, the project facilitates the collection of stories of LGBTQ individuals through workshops at community centers and historical documents from archives. Morgan Meadows (B.F.A.’14/A) and Mahlon Andrew Raoufi (B.F.A.’15/A) both starred in CollegeHumor’s “Go to College” music video featuring first lady Michelle Obama and “Saturday Night Live” star Jay Pharoah, who is also a former VCU student. The video is part of Obama’s “Better Make Room” campaign, which encourages Generation Z to take charge of their future by completing education past high school. Dan Newton, M.D. (M.D.’12/M), a resident at VCU Medical Center, and medical student Grayson Pitcher (Cert.’11/M) took top honors at a skills competition at the June 2015 Vascular Annual Meeting, organized by the Society for Vascular Surgery. The clinical skills competition drew 40 residents and 48 fourth-year medical students. Newton was one of three residents to receive perfect scores on five timed stations that tested different skills like suturing, suture identification and knot tying. Rising fourth-year student Pitcher was also awarded a perfect score. Andrew Randazzo (B.M.’12/A) and Devonne Harris (B.M.’11/A) anchored the rhythm section during the Charles Owens Trio & Friends November 2015 performance at the Capital Ale House Downtown Music Hall in Richmond, Va. Hailey Spencer (M.S.’14/MC), an instructor in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, rappelled down 25 stories from the roof of the SunTrust Center in downtown Richmond, Va., as part of a Special Olympics of Virginia fundraiser. Spencer taught a service-learning course that involved students developing public relations solutions for the Special Olympics of Virginia, creating strategies to encourage millennials to volunteer. Matt Spicer (M.S.’10/MC) and Jessica Sartoretto (M.S.’13/MC) with Media Arts Lab in Los Angeles worked on the “Shot on iPhone 6” campaign for Apple, which won the Outdoor Lions Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The award is one of the most prestigious honors in the advertising industry. Eric Stanley (B.I.S.’14/H&S) released a self-titled EP in July 2015 featuring the single “Voltaire.” Leigh Suggs (M.F.A.’15/A) exhibited her piece, “Double Vision,” in January 2016 at the Reynolds Gallery in Richmond, Va. Christina Wilson (M.S.’13/N), a Ph.D. student in the VCU School of Nursing, was selected for the Jonas Nurse Leader Scholars Program of the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare. The scholarships support nurses pursuing terminal degrees in the field as part of a national effort to stem the faculty shortage and prepare the next generation of nurses.
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ALUMNIPROFILE
A remarkable path 'Lost Boy' finds his calling as U.S. diplomat By Brian McNeill
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VCU Alumni
– Brian McNeill is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.
Photo U.S. Mission Geneva
Gai Nyok speaks at the International Organization for Migration Conference held in October 2015 in Geneva. Read more about Nyok and his incredible journey at go.vcu.edu/gainyok.
t age 5, Gai Nyok (B.A.’10/H&S; B.S.’10/H&S) fled his village in Sudan, one of an estimated 20,000 Lost Boys of Sudan, and trekked more than 300 miles to the relative safety of a refugee camp in Ethiopia. “We were being killed because we were seen as potential [soldiers for] the rebels from the south,” says Nyok, now 29. “So we were targeted and killed, sometimes taken to the north. At the time, there were a lot of child soldiers on both sides. There were a lot of us escaping our villages to go to refugee camps. “I was one of the younger ones,” he says. “Some of the older boys were 10 years old. In my case, I was with my brother, some of my cousins and I think my uncle was there, too.” Nyok, who was resettled in Virginia in 2001 and graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2010 double majoring in economics and international relations, has recently fulfilled his longtime dream of becoming a U.S. diplomat, marking yet another milestone in his incredible journey. He is currently training in Washington, D.C., and learning Spanish in preparation for his upcoming work in Caracas, Venezuela, where he will serve as a U.S. economic officer. “I’ll be working on economic issues, basically conducting economic analyses in the host country and [studying] the economic environment to see whether it is conducive to U.S. business within the country, potential U.S. investment in the country,” he says. Nyok’s past inspired him to work in international diplomacy. “I grew up in a situation where there was war. I was exposed to international issues. I lived in a refugee camp with people of many, many different nationalities,” he says. “And I saw the impact that countries can have in resolving conflicts around the world.” After graduation from VCU, Nyok received a prestigious Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship, which supports and prepares students for careers in the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service. In a 2013 speech on World Refugee Day, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told the crowd about Nyok, calling him “a prime example, like so many millions of others, of exactly why it is worth all of us standing up for the world’s most vulnerable, fighting on behalf of refugees, people who are determined to work hard, to give back, to rebuild their lives and to become part of the fabric of this country or whatever country they can find asylum in, people who have started businesses and gone on to win prizes, recognition for literature, for science, for technology and other great endeavors.”
CLASSNOTES
Rena Wood (M.F.A.’13/A) was appointed visiting assistant professor and lecturer at Skidmore College in New York. Margaret X. “Mei” Yang (B.S.’11/H&S) has joined the Richmond, Va., law firm Christian & Barton LLP as an attorney focusing on corporate and public finance matters. She is fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese and is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the Bar Association of the City of Richmond and the Virginia Bar Association.
Faculty and staff Douglas Arthur, M.D., professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology in the School of Medicine, was appointed chair of the department Feb. 1, 2016. He previously served as interim chair and also holds the position of associate director of clinical affairs in the Massey Cancer Center. He was appointed the inaugural Natalie N. and John R. Congdon, Sr. Chair in Cancer Research in 2013. Frank Bosco, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in the School of Business, along with 269 co-authors, published the findings of their report, “Reproducibility Project: Psychology,” in Science magazine. The project is the most comprehensive investigation about the rate and predictors of reproducibility in a field of science. By conducting replications of 100 published findings in three prominent psychology journals, the group found that fewer than half their attempts to produce the same results as the original studies were successful, regardless of the methods used. The group concluded that research with new, surprising findings is more likely to be published than research examining when, why or how existing findings can be reproduced. Bosco’s research focuses on human resource management, organizational behavior and organizational research methods and has appeared in the Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Organizational Research Methods and Personnel Psychology. Guilherme M. Campos, M.D., chair of the VCU Health Division of Bariatric and Gastrointestinal Surgery and the Paul J. Nutter Eminent Scholar Professor of Surgery in the School of Medicine, was named vice president of the Virginia Bariatric Society for 2016-17 and will serve as president in 2018-19. Founded in 2005, VBS studies morbid obesity and advances the art and science of bariatric surgery. Andrèa Keys Connell, assistant professor and head of the clay area in the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the School of the Arts, was highlighted in the November 2015 issue of Ceramics Monthly for her sculpture work. Melanie Dempsey, Ph.D., program director and assistant professor in the Department of Radiation Sciences in the School of Allied Health Professions, has been named a fellow of the American Association of Medical Dosimetrists in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the AAMD and the medical dosimetry profession. The medical dosimetrist is a
M Member of the alumni association
member of the radiation oncology team who has knowledge of the overall characteristics and clinical relevance of radiation oncology treatment machines and equipment, is cognizant of procedures commonly used in brachytherapy and has the education and expertise necessary to generate radiation dose distributions and dose calculations in collaboration with the medical physicist and radiation oncologist. The fellow honor was developed to recognize AAMD members who are dedicated to the organization and whose contributions to the profession have been meritorious. Kenneth A. Ellenbogen, M.D., was honored by the Heart Rhythm Society with its 2015 Distinguished Teacher Award, one of five recognition awards it bestows each year. Ellenbogen is professor and chair of the Division of Cardiology and director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology and pacing. He was nominated by his colleague of 15 years, Indiana University professor of medicine John M. Miller, M.D., who serves as director of clinical cardiac electrophysiology at Indiana University Health. Ellenbogen has held the Hermes A. Kontos, M.D. Professorship in Cardiology since 2000. He has served the Heart Rhythm Society on its board and as course director of its Board Review Course as well as director of the Cardiology Advisory Board for the Veterans Affairs medical system. Babette Fuss, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology in the School of Medicine, is president of the American Society for Neurochemistry. She took office during the society’s 46th annual meeting, held in March 2015 in Atlanta. She’s been a member of the organization since 1995 when she was a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA. Susie Ganch, associate professor and head of the Metal Program in the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the School of the Arts, exhibited her work at the Pulse Arts Fair in Miami at the Sienna Gallery in December 2015. Antonio Garcia, professor of music and director of Jazz Studies in the School of the Arts, was honored with the VCUarts Faculty Award of Excellence in August 2015. Darryl Harper, assistant professor and chair of the Department of Music in the School of the Arts, was named “Rising Star Clarinetist” in Down Beat Magazine’s annual critic’s poll. Harper is also a member of the board of trustees of the Richmond Jazz Society and, in July 2015, co-presented the session “Embodied Knowledge” at the International Society for Improvised Music in Chateau-d’Oex, Switzerland. M Saba Masho, M.D., Dr.PH, associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health in the School of Medicine, was honored in October 2015 by Birth Matters Virginia as an Advocate of the Year for her work in improving birth outcomes. Recipients are chosen based on their success in eliminating health disparities for women in the state. Masho was principal investigator for a $1 million Strong Start for Mothers and Infants grant that brought prenatal care to low-income, underprivileged, expectant mothers in Virginia.
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June Nicholson, professor and director of graduate studies in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture in the College of Humanities and Sciences, was inducted into the 2016 Virginia Communications Hall of Fame in April for her work with the Urban Journalism Workshop at VCU. She is also active in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, an academic organization for educators in journalism and mass communications. Michael S. Ryan, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and assistant dean of clinical medical education in the School of Medicine, was awarded the junior faculty teaching award from the Academic Pediatric Association in May. The national award is presented to one physician every year in recognition of their excellence in a commitment to teaching. Kimberly W. Sanford, M.D., director of transfusion medicine and the Stony Point Laboratory at VCU Health, received the 2015 American Society for Clinical Pathology’s H.P. Smith Award for Distinguished Pathology Educator in November 2015. The award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding, lifelong contributions to the society and who have had distinguished careers in pathology and laboratory medicine embracing education, research and administration. Jack Wax, glass professor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the School of the Arts, was interviewed by Business Film’s Stine Bidstrup regarding his site-specific installation, “Cogent Whisper,” which was on display in fall 2015 at Glasmuseet Ebeltoft in Denmark. Richard Wenzel, M.D., professor emeritus and former chair of the Department of Internal Medicine in the School of Medicine, was honored as a 2015 recipient of the Simon Gratz Prize, which is awarded to alumni of Sidney Kimmel Medical College whose work has furthered the advancement of medical or surgical treatment of disease or for research work that has been of practical value.
IN MEMORIAM
1930s Daphne L. Beneke (B.S.’34/N), of Columbus, Miss., Jan. 30, 1998, at age 84. Fay M. Clear (B.S.’37/N), of Wytheville, Va., Jan. 19, 2005, at age 90. Mary Dumas (B.S.’33/N), of Indianapolis, Ind., Dec. 30, 1991. David Newman (B.S.’33/P), of Palm Springs, Calif., Dec. 1, 1998. Martha S. Smith (’38/A), of Richmond, Va., Oct. 20, 2000, at age 81.
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CLASSNOTES
Shirley H. Northrop (B.S.’45/AHP), of Livermore, Calif., Jan. 20, 2014, at age 90.
Laura E. Dunlop (B.S.’55/AHP), of Brooklyn, N.Y., July 18, 2013.
Zelda F. Ralston (B.S.’47/N), of Austin, Texas, May 18, 2008, at age 81.
Mansfield M. Elmore (B.S.’59/H&S; M.S.’68/AHP), of Sanford, N.C., Jan. 28, 2016, at age 90.
Martin Sager (B.S.’41/P), of Tamarac, Fla., Jan. 2, 2015, at age 94.
Millson S. French (B.S.’52/P), of Woodstock, Va., Oct. 2, 2015, at age 91.
Charles H. Brant, M.D. (M.D.’46/M), of Rock Hill, S.C., Aug. 17, 2015, at age 94.
Margaret A. Springer (B.S.’46/N), of Wadesboro, N.C., Jan. 18, 2010, at age 87.
Doris J. Garver (’52/A), of Richmond, Va., July 9, 2015.
Sara B. Barrios (B.S.’41/MET; Cert.’42/MET), of Knoxville, Tenn., Sept. 27, 2015, at age 95.
Bernie M. Sullivan (B.S.’40/N), of Jasper, Ga., Feb. 24, 2015.
Harriett H. Gaudino (B.S.’56/N), of Wytheville, Va., Aug. 7, 2015.
Helen S. Birch (Cert.’47/N), of Lakeland, Fla., May 24, 2015.
Priscilla P. Strudwick (B.S.’47/P), of Salisbury, Md., Aug. 6, 2015, at age 90.
Nancy C. Haas (B.S.’51/E), of Charlotte, N.C., Nov. 10, 2015, at age 84.
Reece R. Boone, M.D. (M.D.’45/M), of Watonga, Okla., Dec. 26, 2015, at age 93.
Clarbell C. Talmadge (B.S.’47/N), of Jacksonville, Fla., Dec. 5, 2015.
Arnold L. Brown, M.D. (M.D.’49/M), of Missoula, Mont., Oct. 20, 2015, at age 89.
Avlon Conwell Anderson Taylor (Cert.’48/N), of Amarillo, Texas, Jan. 13, 2016.
Lucy O. Cameron (B.S.’43/N), of Mobile, Ala., Oct. 16, 1995, at age 74.
Clayton L. Thomas, M.D. (M.D.’46/M), of Brimfield, Mass., Feb. 6, 2016, at age 94.
Nellie R. Craddock (B.F.A.’41/A), of Neptune Beach, Fla., Sept. 27, 2015, at age 96.
Lillian P. Thompson (’44/N), of Durham, N.C., Aug. 7, 2015, at age 94.
Gloria B. Crooks (B.S.’49/N), of Parkersburg, W.Va., Sept. 11, 2015, at age 87.
Molly B. Todd (Cert.’40/A), of Dahlgren, Va., March 29, 2015, at age 94.
Modiste J. Dearing (Dipl.’46/N), of Jonesboro. Ga., Dec. 3, 2014.
John R. Williams, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’47/D), of Winston Salem, N.C., Jan. 5, 2016.
Betsy C. Diggs (Dipl.’44/N), of Trenton, N.J., Oct. 17, 2015, at age 93.
Mary G. Young (B.S.’48/N), of Olney, Md., Aug. 29, 2012.
1940s Wilbur F. Amonette, M.D. (M.D.’48/M), of Radford, Va., May 2, 2014, at age 90. Maybin S. Baker (B.A.’41/A), of West Columbia, S.C., July 6, 2003.
Cornelia G. Fields (B.S.’48/N), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 14, 2015, at age 88. Richard H. Fisher, M.D. (M.D.’47/M), of Salem, Va., Aug. 16, 2015, at age 91. Anna G. Garber (B.S.’45/AHP), of Fayetteville, N.C., Jan. 7, 2016, at age 92. Edmund N. Gouldin, M.D. (M.D.’49/M), of Houston, June 30, 2015, at age 90. William H. Grey, M.D. (M.D.’48/M), of Charlottesville, Va., Nov. 1, 2015, at age 92. Cathryn S. Guyler (M.S.W.’45/SW), of New Orleans, La., March 28, 2005. Arline R. Harris (B.S.’49/N), of Blackstone, Va., July 15, 2015, at age 87. Ruth B. Jacques (B.S.’42/N), of Hendersonville, N.C., Sept. 2, 2015, at age 94. Brooke G. Jamieson, M.D. (M.D.’43/M), of Penn Valley, Pa., June 4, 2011, at age 93. David Josephs, M.D. (M.D.’47/M), of Pikesville, Md., July 18, 2009, at age 85.
Rachel E. Harrell (B.S.’52/N), of Chillicothe, Ohio, Jan. 25, 2016, at age 86. M Jane V. Hastings (B.S.’51/N), of Raleigh, N.C., Dec. 23, 2015, at age 86.
Helen B. Joyner (A.S.’54/AHP), of Suffolk, Va., Aug. 17, 2015, at age 79. James H. Mason (Cert.’52/AHP), of North Manchester, Ind., May 27, 2015, at age 93. Robert A. McDonald, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’54/D), of Alexandria, Va., Oct. 7, 2015, at age 93.
1950s Loretto R. Auvil, M.D. (M.D.’57/M), of Parkersburg, W.Va., June 18, 2015, at age 84. Evelyn S. Barnes (B.S.’58/E), of Washington, D.C., Nov. 19, 2015, at age 79. James H. Braatz (B.F.A.’52/A), of Medina, Ohio, Sept. 1, 2015, at age 85. Gilbert H. Bryson, M.D. (M.D.’59/M), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 23, 2015, at age 81. Baxter H. Byerly, M.D. (M.D.’53), of Pensacola, Fla., June 7, 2015, at age 87. Benjamin William S. Cabell, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’57/D), of Norfolk, Va., Sept. 1, 2015, at age 82. Charles C. Cadwallader (M.S.W.’51/SW), of Tallahassee, Fla., June 12, 2015, at age 97.
George R. McGuire, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’58/D; Cert.’71/D), of Virginia Beach, Va., Sept. 15, 2015, at age 82. Robert R. Meacham (B.F.A.’52/A), of Henrico, Va., Aug. 24, 2015, at age 85. J.D. Millar, M.D. (M.D.’59/M), of Murrayville, Ga., Aug. 30, 2015, at age 81. Shirley Anne S. Miller (B.S.’59/B), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 2016, at age 78. Marilyn Miller-Fox (B.S.’50/N), of Raleigh, N.C., Oct. 21, 2015, at age 86. Garnett B. Moneymaker, M.D. (M.D.’51), of Albuquerque, N.M., April 20, 2015. Susan S. Montgomery (B.F.A.’54/A), of Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 24, 2015, at age 83. Leslie C. Ogilvie, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’54/D), of Purcellville, Va., Nov. 13, 2015, at age 86.
Carlena L. Campbell, M.D. (M.D.’57/M), of Falls Church, Va., Feb. 4, 2007.
Nathaniel W. Perdue (B.S.W.’53/SW), of Chester, Va., July 2, 2013, at age 83.
Charles P. Cardwell, M.D. (M.D.’55/M), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 7, 2015, at age 85.
Anabel S. McConnell, M.D. (M.D.’42/M), of Johnson City, Tenn., July 28, 2015.
Robert B. Chevalier, M.D. (M.D.’55/M), of Nashville, Ind., Jan. 1, 2016, at age 88.
Rosalie M. Nachman (B.F.A.’48/A), of Richmond, Va., Oct. 4, 2015, at age 89.
Frank G. Childress (B.S.’55/P), of Chesterfield, Va., Jan. 2, 2016, at age 83.
VCU Alumni
Alma A. Hough (B.S.’56/AHP), of New Milford, Conn., Dec. 7, 2015, at age 81. Ruth G. Hyde (Cert.’52/AHP), of Autaugaville, Ala., Oct. 2, 2015, at age 89.
B.J. McClanahan, M.D. (M.D.’47/M), of Debary, Fla., July 11, 2015, at age 92.
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Anne D. Hayes (B.F.A.’59/A), of White Stone, Va., Sept. 23, 2015, at age 80.
Thomas W. Peterson, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’51/D; Cert.’65/D), of Norfolk, Va., July 8, 2015. Julia E. Phillips (B.F.A.’54/A), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 28, 2015, at age 91. Dominic Poli (B.S.’51/AHP), of St. Augustine, Fla., June 3, 2015, at age 90.
M Member of the alumni association
L Life member of the alumni association
John M. Prince, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’56/D), of Wise, Va., Nov. 7, 2015, at age 88. Sidney F. Proctor (B.F.A.’51/A), of Harrisonburg, Va., Oct. 8, 2015, at age 87. Mary D. Pryor, M.D. (M.D.’53/M), of Dayton, Ohio, June 20, 2007, at age 83. Robert L. Putze, M.D. (M.D.’59/M), of Franklin, Va., Oct. 31, 2015, at age 82. Robert H. Reedy (B.S.’53/AHP), of Medford, Ore., Nov. 12, 2015, at age 85. Edward T. Remick (B.A.’50/A), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 19, 2013. Elbert E. Scott (B.S.’58/P), of Ormond Beach, Fla., Nov. 25, 2015, at age 82. Kenneth B. Sizer, M.D. (M.D.’56/M), of Danville, Va., Dec. 8, 2003, at age 82. Clifford Sperow, M.D. (M.D.’56/M), of Martinsburg, W.Va., Sept. 17, 2015, at age 90. Robert S. Stiff (B.S.’57/P), of Mechanicsville, Va., Dec. 2, 2015, at age 85. James W. Stone (B.S.’55/B), of Wicomico Church, Va., Oct. 3, 2015, at age 85. Shirley M. Stoneham (B.F.A.’52/A), of Lancaster, Va., Dec. 18, 2015, at age 85. Ora L. Taylor (Dipl.’53/N), of Shawville, Va., Aug. 13, 2015, at age 86. David E. Thomas (B.S.’59/B), of Dunedin, Fla., Aug. 30, 2015, at age 81. Perry N. Trakas, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’54/D), of Spartanburg, S.C., July 11, 2015. Ernestine G. Turner (B.S.’57/N), of Windsor, Va., Jan. 16, 2016. Daniel F. Wade (B.S.’52/B), of Mechanicsville, Va., July 26, 2014. Marie T. Walker (B.S.’58/N), of Galax, Va., July 1, 2015. Carolyn Wilkes (Cert.’52), of Mechanicsville, Va., Sept. 15, 2015, at age 87. John D. Worley (M.H.A.’58/AHP), of Ames, Iowa, Nov. 2, 2015, at age 83.
1960s Robert L. Addington (B.F.A.’66/A), of Kingsport, Tenn., May 4, 2010, at age 67. W. Everett Aldridge, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’61/D), of American Fork, Utah, Aug. 16, 2012, at age 82. Kenneth W. Angel (B.S.’69/H&S; M.H.A.’73/AHP), of Richmond, Va., May 28, 2015. Henry W. Asbill, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’64/D), of Columbia, S.C., Dec. 24, 2015, at age 76.
in Want to jo 000 than 7, re o m e th ho call alumni w ? ms for Life a R s e themselv r membership you Upgrade day at to Life to /join. org i. n m vcualu
Dr. Brian S. Alexander Nicki Alexander Alayna R. Anhalt Dr. Nickolas C. Arvan Karen D. Bachman Richard E. Bachman Coretta Bailey Dr. Cesar E. Gaspar Barba Deborah S. Barnett Jeffrey Beck Marshall Berry William O. Beville Rashid M. Bhavnagri Matthew R. Biddle John W. Boyd Mary B. Brazier Angela H. Brown Dr. Douglas L. Brown Kristy L. Brown Mollie G. Brown Dr. Heather J. Bumgarner John S. Burkarth Sandra H. Cash Daniel M. Cherkis Carmen S. Clipper Robyn B. Cristo Dr. Sheila Crowley Dr. Jerome M. Daniel Dr. John R. Edwards Mary A. Edwards Julia B. Ellis
The following alumni and friends have recently made a lifetime commitment to VCU by becoming new Life members of VCU Alumni. Thank you!
Dr. Steven C. Ender Jennifer R. Ferris Marilyn L. Fishel Gary J. Ford Linda B. Ford Melissa S. Franklin Dr. Vikki N. Gaines Tyrrell W. Gauthier Kelly L. Gill Dr. Jean-Venable R. Goode Myra Goodman-Smith William C. Gorgoroso Amy C. Gray Dr. Zachary P. Hairston Susan C. Harrison Meredith Harrington-Lynch Anthony D. Henderson Sr. Connie L. Hill Jeffrey A. Hill Donna Ittner Carl A. Juran Caroline D. Juran Richard M. Kanney Joan M. Kernan Dr. Ali M. Khan Dr. David M. Klurfeld Ann A. Law Rev. Ronzo B. Lee Joseph T. Loza Dr. Shannon M. Martin Blanche J. Mathers
Dr. Richard A. Mathers Erika A. McClure Dr. Gwyn G. McCutchen Julia F. McGhee Walter L. McGhee Cozette G. McIntyre Kenneth G. Messer Jr. Elizabeth E. Miller Sean P. Montgomery Dr. Rick A. Moore Alexandra F. Moore Mitchell L. Moore Jibran S. Muhammad Dr. Myo Thwin Myint Dr. C. Arthur A. Nalls III William A. Nash II Andrea D. Nevers Cliff C. Northon IV Douglas G. Palmore Dr. Albert L. Payne Gabriela M. Perez Stephanie J. Polickoski Dr. John E. Port Ann L. Ragland Dr. Gaylord W. Ray Charles D. Rodriguez John S. Rotz Dr. Aisha Rousseau Peg Ruggiero Thomas D. Rush Christopher V. Salvatore
Robert Seiler Dr. Anish A. Shah Casper L. Sigmon II Dr. Kendall H. Smith W. Martin Smith Anthony C. Snell Sabrina D. Squire Trevor N. Talley Dr. Dawn Thiselton Patricia D. Tomlinson Jennifer M. Trescot Michelle L. Turner Marcee C. Vest Benjamin N. Vokes Richard C. Wadkins Roberta K. Warren James R. Wasilewski Rachel L. Wasilewski Dr. Lisa B. Webb Kenneth N. West Micah E. West Reneé M. West Verretta J. Whickum Rachel B. Wickman Janet Williams Dr. Patrice C. Wilson Nikeisha N. Wyatt Jennifer M. Zito
Why I became a Ram for Life “My dad was a Ram for Life for as many years as I can remember, so it wasn’t a far stretch for me to become a Ram for Life. When I decided to go to VCU, he brought me down to campus to buy me my first T-shirt at the bookstore (which was in the basement of Hibbs). A lot of my fond memories are of going to VCU basketball games with him. Being a Ram for Life gives me a connection to him and to the VCU Alumni community. It’s a commitment that I’ll never regret.” – Renee Bernstein (B.A.’02/H&S; B.S.’02/H&S; M.S.’07/LS; Cert.’07/GPA)
Summer 2016
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CLASSNOTES
Freeman W. Barner (M.S.W.’67/SW), of West Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 17, 2016, at age 74.
Richard D. Hylton, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’66/D), of Ordinary, Va., Aug. 26, 2015, at age 75.
Florence S. Parker (B.S.’64/E), of Gays Mills, Wis., May 24, 2015, at age 73.
Gerald R. Brink (M.H.A.’66/AHP), of Newport News, Va., Nov. 1, 2015, at age 77.
Robert W. Kaiser, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’64/D), of Roanoke, Va., July 19, 2015, at age 77.
Elsie E. Parsons (B.S.’62/H&S), of Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 26, 2015, at age 80.
W.G. Buchanan (B.S.’63/P), of Kenbridge, Va., Nov. 9, 2015, at age 74.
Linda G. Lakin (A.S.’61/N), of Newton, N.J., Jan. 13, 2005.
Hunter M. Robertson (B.S.’64/B), of Prince George, Va., Jan. 6, 2015.
Harold W. Burnette, M.D. (M.D.’61/M), of Johnson City, Tenn., Dec. 16, 2015, at age 84.
William M. Lee (M.S.’64/H&S), of Bokeelia, Fla., Sept. 15, 2015.
C.T. Robinson, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’62/D; H.S.’65/D), of Mount Dora, Fla., Dec. 22, 2015, at age 82.
Richard B. Coover, M.D. (M.D.’66/M), of Harlingen, Texas, Dec. 11, 2012, at age 71.
Thomas E. Lindfors (B.S.’66/H&S), of Williamsburg, Va., Sept. 26, 2015.
Frederick B. Sperry (M.H.A.’66/AHP), of Doylestown, Pa., May 19, 2015.
David G. Crittenden, M.D. (M.D.’64/M), of Stuart, Fla., Oct. 11, 2015, at age 76.
Beverly C. Lordi (M.S.W.’60/SW), of Mechanicsville, Va., July 6, 2015, at age 79.
Alfred W. Stafford (B.S.’66/P), of Roswell, Ga., Jan. 29. 2009, at age 65.
Mickie S. Ezelle (B.S.’61/AHP), of Kinston, N.C., Nov. 27, 2015, at age 76.
M.L. Martin, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’63/D), of Yorktown, Va., June 6, 2015. L
Charles M. Suttenfield, M.D. (M.D.’62/M), of Goode, Va., Jan. 1, 2003.
Edward W. Featherston, M.D. (M.D.’65/M), of Lutherville Timonium, Md., July 19, 2015, at age 79.
Jacob W. Mast Jr. (M.S.’63/AHP), of Chesterfield, Va., May 12, 2015, at age 75.
Karen S. Thorne (B.S.’67/N), of Winchester, Va., Nov. 28, 2015, at age 70.
James M. Gleason, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’64/D), of Richlands, Va., Dec. 5, 2015, at age 77.
Emma C. Matheny (B.S.’62/H&S), of Fairmont, W.Va., June 5, 1999.
Marvin W. Troutman (M.S.’66/H&S), of Hacienda Heights, Calif., Feb. 5, 2000, at age 76.
Michael L. Greenberg (B.S.’66/H&S), of Henrico, Va., Jan. 9, 2016, at age 76.
Victor E. Mazzocco, M.D. (M.D.’61/M), of Fearrington Village, N.C., Jan. 12, 2016, at age 84.
Martha M. Warner (M.Ed.’70/E; B.S.’68/E), of Colonial Beach, Va., Dec. 13, 2014, at age 82.
William G. Greenlaw (B.S.’61/B), of Fredericksburg, Va., Oct. 24, 2015, at age 78.
Andrew McDaniel, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’62/D; Cert.’66/D), of Fredericksburg, Va., Nov. 28, 2015. M
B.G. Weathers, M.D. (M.D.’60/M), of Stanley, N.C., July 11, 2015, at age 83.
James D. Gregg (B.S.’67/P), of Powhatan, Va., Dec. 2, 2015, at age 72.
F.K. Miller (B.S.’62/B), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 27, 2015, at age 78.
T.G. Whedbee (M.H.A.’60/AHP), of Suwannee, Fla., July 14, 2015, at age 83.
Emily A. Householder (M.S.’64/SW), of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, July 29, 2015, at age 78.
Betty A. Moran (A.S.’60/N; M.Ed.’85/E), of Glen Allen, Va., Sept. 9, 2013, at age 76.
William A. Williamson (B.F.A.’66/A), of WinstonSalem, N.C., June 12, 2015, at age 73.
ABBREVIATION KEY College and schools
Degrees
H&S A AHP B D E En GPA GS LS M MC N P RI St.P SW WS
A.A., A.S. Cert. B.A. B.F.A. B.G.S. B.I.S. B.M. B.M.E. B.S. B.S.W. D.D.S. Dipl. D.N.A.P. D.P.A. D.N.P. D.P.T. H.L.D. H.S. M.A. M.Acc. M.A.E. M.B.A. M.Bin. M.D.
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 Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture School of Nursing School of Pharmacy Office of Research and Innovation St. Philip School of Nursing School of Social Work School of World Studies
Alumni are identified by degree, graduation year and college or school.
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VCU Alumni
Associate degree Certificate Bachelor of Arts 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 Diploma Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice Doctor of Public Administration Doctor of Nursing Practice Doctor of Physical Therapy Doctor of Humane Letters House Staff Master of Arts Master of Accountancy Master of Art Education Master of Business Administration Master of Bioinformatics Doctor of Medicine
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.I. M.P.S. M.S. M.S.A.T. M.S.C.M. 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.
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 Product Innovation Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences Master of Science Master of Science in Athletic Training Master of Supply Chain Management 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
M Member of the alumni association
L Life member of the alumni association
CLASSNOTES VCU ALUMNI BOARD OF GOVERNORS OFFICERS AND UNIVERSITY ALUMNI LEADERSHIP COUNCIL
AT-LARGE GOVERNORS Joseph E. Becht Jr. (M.B.A.’80/B) Steve B. Brincefield (M.S.’74/B) Leah L.E. Bush, M.D. (M.S.’79/H&S; M.D.’84/M; H.S.’88/M; H.S.’89/M) Aaron R. Gilchrist Jr. (B.S.’03/H&S) John Kelly (B.S.’87/H&S) Kenneth W. Kolb, Pharm. D. (Pharm.D.’82/P), Riding Rams Adele McClure (B.S.'11/B) Timmy Nguyen (B.S.’11/B) James H. Revere, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’65/D) Cathy Saunders (B.S.W.’76/SW; M.S.’82/AHP) Paula B. Saxby, Ph.D. (M.S.’85/N; Ph.D.’92/N) Jibran Muhammad Siddiq (B.A.'06/H&S) Vickie M. Snead (B.S.’76/B) June O. Thomas (B.S.’78/B; M.B.A.’82/B) Gabriel A. Walker (B.S.’10/B) Michael D. Whitlow (B.S.’74/MC)
Stephanie Holt (B.S.’74/E), Education Alumni Council James L. Jenkins Jr. (B.S.’07/N), Nursing Alumni Association Saif Khan (B.A.'07/H&S), Military Veterans Alumni Council Joseph Lowenthal (B.F.A.’55/A), RPI Alumni Council Tin Myint (B.S.’06/En), Engineering Alumni Association Pejmon Noor (B.S.'11/B), Philadelphia Chapter Michelle R. Peace, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’05/M), MCV Alumni Association of VCU Carol M. Schall, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’03/E), Rainbow Rams Frank Shortall (M.B.A.’99/B), Business Alumni Society Michael Steele (M.P.A.’05/GPA), Hampton Roads Chapter Laura E. Tanger (B.F.A.’91/A), Los Angeles Chapter Latonya Waller (B.S.’01/H&S; M.T.'01/E), African-American Alumni Council Michelle Turner (B.S.’93/H&S), New York City Chapter Dwaine Ware (B.S.’96/H&S), Lynchburg Chapter Vacant, Atlanta Chapter Vacant, Latino Alumni Council Vacant, Triangle, N.C., Chapter
BOARD OF VISITORS REPRESENTATIVE: Vacant
CONSTITUENT SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES
UNIVERSITY ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVES
VCU PRESIDENT: Michael Rao, Ph.D. (ex-officio)
Michael Adu-Gyamfi (B.S.’07/B; M.B.A.’13/B), DMV GOLD Chapter Karmalita Bawar (B.M.’90/A), Music Alumni Association Jeff Green (B.F.A.'08/A), RVA GOLD Chapter Joseph F. Damico (M.P.A.’97/H&S), M.P.A. Alumni Association Juliet Daniels (M.S.W.'13/SW), Lynchburg Chapter Quynh Do (B.S.’01/H&S; M.P.H.’05/M), Public Health Alumni Association
Shawn Hakim, Graduate Student Association president (ex-officio) Glenn A. Hofmann, VCU Athletics (ex-officio) Holly Alford (M.F.A.’97/A), Faculty Senate (ex-officio) Ava Hassas, STAT president (ex-officio) Katie Clark, Monroe Park Campus SGA president (ex-officio) Connor Jarrendt, MCV Campus SGA president (ex-officio)
PRESIDENT: James E. Williams (B.S.’84/GPA; M.S.’96/GPA) PRESIDENT-ELECT: Dale C. Kalkofen, D.Ed. (M.A.E.’76/A) IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT: W. Baxter Perkinson Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S.’70/D) TREASURER: Jon B. Hill (B.S.’85/B; M.B.A.’99/B; M.S.’12/B) SECRETARY: Gordon McDougall (ex-officio) MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR: Donna M. Dalton (M.Ed.’00/E) STUDENT AND YOUNG ALUMNI ENGAGEMENT CHAIR: Khanh Burks (B.S.'13/B) OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE CHAIR: Mary Ann Steiner (B.S.’98/B) AUDIT COMMITTEE CHAIR: Linda M. Warren (B.S.’75/B) INCENTIVE REVENUE SHARING AD-HOC COMMITTEE CHAIR: Kenneth A. Thomas (B.S.’91/B)
VCU VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS: Marti K.S. Heil (ex-officio)
Peter K. Kennedy (M.H.A.’10/AHP) Gokhan Yucel (M.S.’02/B; M.B.A.’04/B)
Save on your summer getaway! Give yourself extra money to spend during your summer vacation when you book your reservations through the VCU Alumni car rental and hotel discounts program. Members receive exclusive discounts — up to 20 percent on car rentals and up to 50 percent on hotels!
Start saving today! Learn more at vcualumni.org/benefits /members-benefits.
While you’re traveling this summer, don’t forget to share your photos with VCU Alumni. Post them to our Facebook timeline or on Instagram with #RamsOnVacation.
Summer 2016
51
CLASSNOTES
1970s Virginia E. Cless (A.S.’77/B), of Henrico, Va., Sept. 13, 2003, at age 83.
Judy M. Little (M.F.A.’91/A), of Kitty Hawk, N.C., June 13, 2015, at age 72. Andrew L. Zilius (B.A.’93/H&S), of Richmond, Va., June 1, 2015.
Deborah M. Harden (B.S.’74/H&S), of Wilson, N.C., March 30, 2015, at age 62.
2000s
Mark E. Jarrett Sr. (M.Ed.’76/E), of Henrico, Va., June 4, 2015, at age 80.
Jason Cillo, M.D. (M.D.’00/M), of Richmond, Va., June 4, 2015, at age 45.
Douglas D. Schwartz (B.F.A.’79/A), of Naples, Fla., May 5, 2015, at age 59.
Joel B. Gardner, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’03/D), of Roanoke, Va., Feb. 15, 2013, at age 38.
Rebecca H. Thomas (B.S.’73/H&S), of Midlothian, Va., May 26, 2015. M
Denise K. Orey (M.S.W.’02/SW), of Ormond Beach, Fla., June 3, 2015, at age 60.
Lee H. Westermann (B.S.’77/H&S), of West Point, Va., Nov. 1, 2014, at age 65.
2010s
1980s
Mary Williams Dransfield, D.P.T. (D.P.T.’14/AHP), of Swoope, Va., June 10, 2015.
Wayde Glover (M.I.S.’89/H&S), of Sandston, Va., May 18, 2015, at age 63.
Eric D. Claud Jr. (B.A.’10/H&S), of Williamsburg, Va., May 31, 2015.
John A. Hubbard (B.S.’80/B), of Quinton, Va., June 6, 2015.
Eric L. Johnson (B.A.’13/H&S), of Gum Spring, Va., May 23, 2015, at age 27.
Carol B. Mazur (M.B.A.’81/B), of Richmond, Va., June 15, 2015. Paul J. Pishko (B.A.’80/H&S), of Henrico, Va., May 20, 2015, at age 60. Franklin W. Woods (B.S.’80/B), of Barhamsville, Va., April 30, 2015, at age 62.
1990s Shelby Leasburg Earehart (B.A.’90/H&S), of Oilville, Va., Jan.10, 2015. Roy L. Lewis Jr. (M.Acc.’90/B), of Richmond, Va., June 6, 2015. Patricia A. Lillibridge (B.S.’94/N), of Fredericksburg, Va., Jan. 27, 2015.
Did you know? Your alumni benefits include a special discounted rate on auto insurance and home insurance. Protect what matters most with personalized coverage that meets your needs. Learn more at vcualumni.org/benefits /members-benefits.
52
VCU Alumni
Faculty and staff Fairfield Goodale, M.D., of Duxbury, Mass., Dec. 27, 2015, at age 92. He served as chairman of pathology at the Medical College of Virginia and VCU from 19631976. Before coming to MCV, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II where his experience during the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945 greatly influenced him to become a physician. Goodale is remembered for pioneering a patient-oriented, problem-based model for medical education as well as his passion for teaching. He wrote more than 100 research papers, largely focused on the relationship between dietary fat and subsequent development of atherosclerosis. After his tenure at VCU, Goodale served as the dean of the Medical College of Georgia and as the dean of Bowman Gray School of Medicine at Wake Forrest University. John “Jack” Pellock, M.D. (H.S.’73/M), of Midlothian, Va., May 6, 2016, at age 72. An internationally renowned pediatric neurologist, Pellock joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1978 and served as chair of the Division of Child Neurology for almost 20 years until retiring in 2014. During his career at VCU, Pellock participated in many federal and industry-supported research endeavors and published more than 200 journal articles and 70 book chapters. He was principal investigator for more than 100 trials evaluating epilepsy treatments in children and adults and was involved in anti-epileptic drug development and studying epilepsy in children for more than 30 years. He was chief editor of “Pellock’s Pediatric Epilepsy: Diagnosis and Therapy,” which the American Epilepsy Society said is “widely considered the gold standard for diagnosis, treatment, classifi-
cation and management of childhood epilepsies.” In addition to his roles as professor and chair, Pellock served as the senior associate dean for professional education at the School of Medicine and helped to develop and grow the continuing medical education programs throughout the health system. Through the support of friends, colleagues, former students and residents, the John “Jack” Pellock Endowed Professorship in Pediatric Neurology has been developed to help continue the legacy of clinical care, teaching and scholarly work that he exemplified. L Gene N. Peterson, M.D., Ph.D., Nov. 20, 2015, at age 61. As associate dean for patient safety and quality care in the School of Medicine and chief safety and quality officer for VCU Health, Peterson helped design and implement VCU’s vision to become a major research university wholly committed to quality service and care. His work at VCU began in 2013, and he is celebrated for integrating resident physician training with quality and safety initiatives like those of the hospital and clinics. Peterson was also an integral part of the Unique Pathogens Unit at VCU Medical Center during the Ebola crisis. Richard T. Redmond, D.B.A., April 15, 2016. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Shippensburg University and his doctor of business administration in decision science degree from Kent State University, Redmond joined the School of Business in 1983 as a faculty member in the Department of Information Systems and served as chair of the department from 2001-2012. Under his leadership, the School of Business became the first business school in the country to achieve accreditation by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET for the undergraduate program in information systems. In 2005, Redmond led the department to launch the successful Executive M.S. in Information Systems program. Before his recent retirement, Redmond served as interim senior associate dean of the School of Business. Working closely with Dean Ed Grier, Redmond effectively engaged faculty, staff, administration, alumni, students and community in developing an exciting new vision and strategic plan, EPIC, which will guide and inspire the school’s progress for years to come. Memorial donations can be made to the Rich Redmond Fund at support.vcu.edu/give /business (select “other” and designate Rich Redmond Fund), or checks made payable to the VCU School of Business Foundation can be mailed to P.O. Box 842039, Richmond, VA 23219-2201.
Friends of VCU Daniel W. Fort, M.D., of Charlottesville, Va., Dec. 21, 2015, at age 57. An accomplished medical doctor and avid outdoorsman, Fort was prolific in his charity and impassioned work in the fields of medicine and the environment. He was a founding member and past chairman of the board of trustees of the VCU Rice Rivers Center and played an instrumental role in building the center into an acclaimed research site.
M Member of the alumni association
L Life member of the alumni association
Check out more university and alumni events at vcualumni.org and events.vcu.edu.
DATEBOOK
Make it ambitious.
The largest fundraising campaign in Virginia Commonwealth University’s history …
Make it timely.
… is launching this September.
Make it matter.
Join us as we kick off this momentous occasion with a celebration of how VCU makes it real.
Make it real.
A showcase of VCU’s finest talent, past and present.
Mark your calendar. Sept. 22-24, 2016 Generously sponsored by the MCV Foundation and the VCU Foundation.
an equal opportunity/affirmative action university
Summer 2016
53
Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Alumni
Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid RICHMOND, VA Permit No. 869
111 North Fourth Street P.O. Box 842039 Richmond, Virginia 23284-2039
Alumni ID number:
To our VCU Alumni members
Thank you
for allowing VCU Alumni to serve as your link to Virginia Commonwealth University through your membership! VCU Alumni provides resources to allow alumni, students and friends to grow, connect and reconnect with the university and with one another. We’re proud to serve as the common bond for all Rams from the moment they set foot on campus and throughout their lives.
As a member, you:
• Make a visible statement that you support VCU • Support student leadership and scholarship programs • Receive relevant and tangible benefits to help keep you connected
Learn how VCU Alumni serves as your lifelong link to VCU at vcualumni.org.