Shafer Court Connections Summer 2017

The magazine of the MCV Alumni Association of Virginia Commonwealth University Fall 2016

Vol. 64, No. 2

T H E M A G A Z I N E F O R A L U M N I A N D F R I E N D S O F V I R G I N I A C O M M O N W E A LT H U N I V E R S I T Y

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SUMMER 2017

Creating community mOb + Storefront taps into the creativity of students to produce innovative design projects for a healthier city

Tailor-made training tktk

Virginia Commonwealth University’s campus learning gardens produce up to 800 pounds of food each season to fill on-campus and community needs. Created in 2012 by student organization Green Unity, the 1,300-square-foot MCV Campus Community Garden on 10th Street offers a shared space for students, faculty, staff and community members to grow their own food and flowers. With funding from the VCU Office of Sustainability and a VCU Council for Community Engagement grant, a second garden, on the Monroe Park Campus, took root in 2016. All of the food grown in this 1,500-square-foot garden, located on Parkwood Avenue behind the West Cary Street Parking Deck, is donated to students and community members in need. With a successful first growing season, the sustainability office hopes to double production at the new learning garden and to create additional growing and gathering spaces for more student learning opportunities. Learn more about the gardens at sustainability.vcu.edu/gardens.html.

Photo Julia Rendleman, VCU University Marketing

BIGPICTURE

Summer 2017

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A community of engaged alumni What is community engagement? At Virginia Commonwealth University, it’s a commitment and a steadfast dedication to work in meaningful ways with our communities in Richmond and beyond.

In this issue of Shafer Court Connections, we share the many ways that students, faculty, staff and alumni take an active role to make a difference in their communities, whether by partnering with a local residential facility to provide on-site care, traveling to Panama to study the habitat of the prothonotary warbler or organizing a multi-university food drive competition. Their efforts and ability to make an impact are inspiring.

As a VCU Alumni member, you, too, can make an impact, and you don’t have to be on campus to leave a footprint on VCU. Wherever you are, you have a number of ways to share your pride and get involved.

One way is to affiliate with a constituent organization. We join VCU Alumni because we share a love for our alma mater, but as with any community, we have varied interests. VCU Alumni offers more than 40 constituent organizations spanning academic, geographic and shared interests that can benefit from your talents and expertise and that offer opportunities to engage with fellow Rams.

Another way is to support the Make It Real Campaign for VCU. The campaign, the most ambitious in the university’s history, aims to raise $750 million to support people, innovations and environments, and we’re more than halfway there. In June, the campaign hit the $500 million mark! With your support, we can truly transform people’s lives, our campus, our community, our nation and our world.

I thank you and thousands of your fellow alumni for being actively engaged with your alma mater.

Yours for VCU,

Summer 2017 Volume 23, Number 2 vcualumni.org Interim vice president, development and alumni relations Ed Grier Executive director, alumni outreach and engagement Amy Gray Beck 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 Development and 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:

James E. Williams (B.S.’84/GPA; M.S.’96/GPA) President, VCU Alumni

Development and Alumni Relations Virginia Commonwealth University 111 North Fourth Street Box 842039 Richmond, Virginia 23284-2039 Phone: (804) 828-2586 Email: alumni@vcu.edu vcualumni.org © 2017, Virginia Commonwealth University an equal opportunity, affirmative action university

On the cover School of the Arts students work in the mOb + Storefront studio, located at 205207 E. Broad St., to strategize and build design concepts for community partners.

Photo by Terry Brown Photography

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VCU Alumni

Photo Allen Jones (B.F.A.‘82/A; M.F.A.‘92/A), University Marketing

CONTENTS

28 Features 10 Taking action Community engagement grants jump-start longsimmering ideas by giving them enough muscle and backbone to grow and stand on their own.

16 Model citizens Alumni of the ASPiRE program reflect on their experience and share how the community-focused program prepared them to address societal needs.

20 A deeper understanding More than 3,000 students take a service-learning course each year, giving them the opportunity to apply new knowledge in a real-world setting.

24 Time and talent Members of VCU Alumni’s RVA GOLD Chapter invest in their namesake city through activities that benefit youth, veterans and the food bank.

Departments 26 Decade of difference Virginia Commonwealth University’s Division of Community Engagement marked its 10-year anniversary in 2016 not by years but by impact.

28 Good neighbors A three-member team stands at the forefront of VCU’s commitment to maintain positive external relations in the neighborhoods near campus.

34 Roads well-traveled The McCauley family highlights VCU’s ability to allow students to dovetail their college experience with their everyday lives.

4 University news 9 Presidential perspective 33 Alumni support: Stephanie Lawson Holt (B.S.’74/E)

36 Alumni connections 41 Class notes 4 4 Alumni profile: Brittany Blake, D.N.A.P., CRNA (D.N.A.P.’15/AHP)

48 Alumni profile: Luke Buckovich (B.S.’08/B)

53 Datebook

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UNIVERSITYNEWS

Virginia Commonwealth University news and research.

For the latest updates, visit VCU News at news.vcu.edu.

FACILITIES

New home for world-class laboratory

Wanchun Tang, M.D.

The Weil Institute of Emergency and Critical Care Research opened at VCU in October. The institute, founded by Max Harry Weil, M.D., Ph.D., who created the specialty of critical care medicine, is widely regarded as the premier basic science cardiopulmonary resuscitation research laboratory in the world. Staff perform research on a variety of emergency medicine and critical care topics, with current research focusing on how to improve outcomes of CPR, circulatory shock, lifethreatening heart failure, acute lung failure and infections that can produce septic shock.

“After a yearlong search for an academic medical partner at which to relocate, the institute’s board of advisers unanimously chose VCU as their new home, based on the academic medical center’s excellent clinical and resuscitation program,” says institute Director Wanchun Tang, M.D. Tang, who also serves as a professor of emergency medicine at the VCU School of Medicine, moved with the institute from its international headquarters in Southern California to VCU. Relocating the institute to VCU pairs one of the world’s best basic science resuscitation laboratories with an equally world-class clinical and translational resuscitation program.

“What we did not yet have at VCU was a basic science laboratory that focused on CPR,” says Joseph Ornato, M.D., who serves as co-deputy director of the institute in addition to his role as chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at VCU's School of Medicine.

“What we now have is one of the strongest comprehensive basic science, clinical and translational resuscitation programs in the world.”

GRANTS

NATIONAL NETWORK

VCU's Rehabilitation Research and Training Center received two grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institute on Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research to study hiring practices and employment programs of workers with disabilities.

The first, a $4.375 million grant, will study the most successful business practices companies use to hire and retain workers with disabilities.

“This new research center will allow us … to provide an intensive study of why businesses hire or do not hire persons with disabilities,” says principal investigator Paul Wehman, Ph.D., professor in the schools of Medicine and Education. “This is important as close to 60 percent of persons with disabilities remain unemployed in this country today.”

The second, a $2.5 million grant, will test the effectiveness of customized employment programs on young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with the goal of creating a strategy to facilitate integrated employment in community jobs.

The Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture in the College of Humanities and Sciences joined the Google News Lab University Network, a new initiative by Google that provides training materials and support to journalism professors and students.

“It’s exciting for the Robertson School to join this global network with more than 40 journalism schools around the world,” says Vivian Medina-Messner, a journalism instructor in the Robertson School who spearheaded the effort for the school to join the network. “This will help faculty and students to experiment with new ways of journalistic storytelling. We will be part of a network of top-notch journalism schools that will foster dialogue about the future of journalism.”

The Robertson School is one of 49 journalism schools around the world to be included in the initial cohort of the program and will gain access to tools Google has provided to professional newsrooms for several years.

Building better hiring practices

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VCU Alumni

Google News Lab training

Photo courtesy of VCUarts

ACCOLADES

Plant containers constructed from repurposed materials

SUSTAINABILITY

Living wall installation

Students from the School of the Arts, the School of Engineering and the College of Humanities and Sciences’ Department of Biology have transformed a blank brick wall at the intersection of Broad and Belvidere streets into a beautiful green garden. The interdisciplinary Green Walls class challenged students to work in teams to research, plan and then build vertical planters for the building at 201 N. Belvidere St. shared by VCU RamBikes and the Office of Sustainability.

“We had these ideas and everything’s gone in a completely different direction than we expected,” says Erin Mahone (B.A.’16/A), one of 45 students who enrolled in the class. “It’s been cool to see everyone’s expertise and knowledge. Even though someone’s in engineering or biology, they have other special interests.”

Erin Stanforth, director of sustainability, says each component of the green wall is a learning opportunity for the broader VCU community.

“The installation is experimental to determine the best method of installation for future green walls at VCU,” she says. “We’re glad our building could serve as the first test canvas for this project.”

WEB EXTRA See photos and learn more at vcu.exposure.co/a-shot-of-color.

GIVING

Flagship scholarship program

VCU’s School of Engineering received a $5 million gift from longtime benefactor C. Kenneth Wright (H.L.D.’11) to create the Wright Engineering Access Scholarship Program. The scholarship fund will provide need- and merit-based awards to undergraduate students.

VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., says the gift, which is expected to create opportunities for many first-generation college students and those coming to VCU from community colleges, typifies Wright’s special brand of giving.

“Ken Wright is a philanthropist of a lifetime,” Rao says. “He gives with the intention to create wonderful new opportunities for our students.

The VCU School of Engineering provides a great platform to leverage his generosity.”

When fully implemented, the scholarship program will reach hundreds of students every year and will provide high-value opportunities and expanded resources to attract and retain the best-qualified students regardless of financial need.

INVENTIVE FELLOW

MOOD MONITOR

Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering has been elected as a National Academy of Inventors fellow. Boyan is an inventor on 22 U.S. patents and multiple international patents. Her inventions focus on innovative ways to treat musculoskeletal defects by harnessing the body’s regenerative potential.

Susan Kornstein, M.D., professor in the departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, was named a Top 40 Healthcare Transformer

by Medical Marketing & Media for her role in helping biopharmaceutical company Pfizer develop Moodivator, an app designed to help people monitor and cope with depression.

SUPER SCHOOLS

FAVORABLE CONDITIONS

Two VCU graduate schools joined the ranks of the nation’s top 50 in the 2018 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Graduate Schools” released in March: The School of Education is tied at No. 41 and the School of Nursing is tied at No. 48.

Two other graduate programs ranked among the nation’s top 100: the psychology program in the College of Humanities and Sciences is tied at No. 60, and the part-time M.B.A. program in the School of Business is No. 80.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the Arnold P. Gold Foundation awarded VCU Medical Center with the second annual DeWitt C. Baldwin Jr. Award. The award recognizes institutions with accredited residency programs that are exemplary in fostering a respectful, supportive environment for medical education and the delivery of patient care.

PEDAL PUSHER

The School of Medicine is part of a nationwide patient safety research team that received the 2016 John M. Eisenberg Award for Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality. For three years, the school’s Department of Internal Medicine has participated in the I-PASS Study Group, which includes more than 50 hospitals across the country dedicated to improving patient safety.

The League of American Bicyclists has awarded VCU silver-level recertification as a Bicycle Friendly University.

VCU, which was first certified in 2012, is the highest-ranked Virginia college or university under this program. The city of Richmond, which encompasses both of VCU’s campuses, is rated as a bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community.

SCIENCE SCHOLARS

WINNING DESIGN

SAFETY STAR

Ebony Lambert and Randl Dent, doctoral students in the Health Psychology Program in the College of Humanities and Sciences, have received three-year fellowships through the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The pair were among 2,000 scholars chosen by the NSF from more than 13,000 applicants.

James Branch Cabell Library was named a 2016 New Landmark Library by Library Journal, widely viewed as the most trusted and respected publication for the library community. The award honors the best new academic library buildings that offer inspiration and design guidance for the library of today and tomorrow. The redesigned Cabell Library opened in December 2015.

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MONROE PARK RENOVATION & RESTORATION

RESEARCH

MONROE PARK CONSERVANCY / CHECKERS HOUSE / 2014

UNIVERSITYNEWS

Cloud storage solutions

Rendering Monroe Park Conservancy

Rendering of the planned plaza surrounding the park’s primary building

COMMUNITY

Historic park renovation

The Monroe Park Conservancy, VCU and major donors broke ground in November on a $6 million renovation of Monroe Park, the Richmond’s oldest city park. The project is expected to take 12-18 months.

“Monroe Park will continue to be a place that is welcoming to everyone — a green, urban living room,” says Alice Massie, president of the Monroe Park Conservancy, which has led the renovation effort.

Once a state fairground and later a military encampment, the registered historic park provides passage and respite to VCU students as well as residents of Carver, Oregon Hill and the Fan. When the 8-acre park reopens, it will be fully sustainable, will include LED lighting and native plants and will mitigate water runoff. The university has committed to providing maintenance for the park, with the conservancy operating the park after the city’s completion of the renovations.

PODCAST

Alternate timeline

A podcast co-created by Chioke I’Anson, Ph.D., instructor in the Department of African American Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences, was one of only three in the country to win funding from the NPR Story Lab. The podcast, “Do Over,” tells stories of pivotal moments in people’s lives, exploring what might have happened to them if they made different choices when facing hard decisions. It aims to be cathartic for the people it profiles and for listeners.

The idea, I’Anson says, is for “Do Over” to examine the “real fake story of what your life would be like if you had made a different choice that one time.”

WEB EXTRA Listen to the pilot episode at dooverpodcast.com.

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VCU Alumni

A group of researchers at the VCU School of Engineering has developed a process to significantly reduce the energy required for big data and cloud memory storage. Magnetic material is commonly used for data storage — think of magnetic strips on the back of a credit card — and the ability to flip the polarity of magnetic particles that are retained for long periods of time without needing power is essential to nonvolatile magnetic memory. The system the team developed essentially flips the polarity of the magnetic particles, offering a reduction in energy needed to store data.

“The exciting thing about this kind of magnetic encoding is that it only takes a small amount of energy to flip and once you have the direction you want, it can stay there for a long time. No additional energy is needed,” says team member Dhritiman Bhattacharya, a doctoral candidate in the engineering school.

The next phase of the team’s research will investigate how the new process works in the presence of thermal noise at room temperature and whether polarities can be consistently reversed in the presence of such disturbances.

LEADERSHIP

« John Accordino, Ph.D., who had been serving as interim

dean of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, was named dean effective March 1. Accordino began his VCU career in 1986 as an assistant professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning. He later served as chair of the department. More recently, he was director of the VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis and professor in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Accordino directs VCU’s partnerships with the University of Messina, Italy; the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany; and Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany.

« Shawn Brixey joined the School of Arts as dean July 1.

Brixey comes to VCU from the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design at York University in Toronto, where he was dean. Under Brixey’s leadership, the AMPD at York repositioned its mission and focus toward interdisciplinary, team-driven, technology-centered, creative research and discovery. A graduate of The Media Lab at MIT in design, media science and engineering, his research focuses on pioneering complex interactive media environments developed with a range of custom technologies and intelligent applications. He has received a range of digital arts and sciences grants and awards to support his research and educational initiatives, including funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Science Foundation.

UNIVERSITYNEWS FACILITIES

Allies in health

VCU broke ground April 28 at 600 N. 10th St., the future site of the School of Allied Health Professions’ new 154,000-square-foot building.

“What is great about this building is that it will bring all of these health care professionals together,” Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said at the event. The eight-level facility, for the first time in the school’s nearly 50-year history, will centralize all 11 of the School of Allied Health Professions’ units.

Cecil B. Drain, Ph.D., in his 20 years as dean of the school, has made it a personal mission to unite the school’s programs, which have occupied as many as 13 buildings in the past 45 years and are currently scattered among five buildings on two campuses.

Programs housed at the school consistently rank among the top in the country. In March, U.S. News & World Report named the Department of Nurse Anesthesia’s graduate program as No. 1 in the country. The publication also ranked the school’s Department of Health Administration in the top three among its peers and five of the programs in the school are ranked by the publication in the top 20.

JD Drasbek (left), president of the M.H.A. Class of 2019; Marsha Rappley, M.D., CEO of VCU Heath System and VCU vice president of health sciences; Michael Rao, Ph.D., president of VCU and VCU Health System; Cecil B. Drain, Ph.D., dean of the VCU School of Allied Health Professions; Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe; Del. S. Chris Jones (B.S.'82/P); and Harry Thalhimer, board chair of the MCV Foundation

FACILITIES

RESEARCH

The VCU Rice Rivers Center opened in June an overnight lodge for visiting researchers. Philanthropist Inger Rice donated $1.8 million toward the $2.3 million lodge, which is named in her honor. The lodge allows the center to host top international ecologists conducting on-site research or multiday fieldwork excursions and can accommodate up to 22 visiting researchers, students and other groups for days or weeks.

The center also received a $1 million challenge grant from the Mary Morton Parsons Foundation to help fund the construction of an on-site research laboratory. The foundation will award the grant if VCU can raise $1 million from other sources in a year. With the addition of the facility, scientists and students from VCU and collaborating institutions will have access to an analytical lab and research space along the tidal James River.

Biotech Eight, headquarters for the VCU Institute for Engineering Medicine, opened in January at the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park in downtown Richmond, Virginia. IEM fosters collaborative programs among the schools of Engineering and Medicine, the College of Humanities and Sciences and the Office of the Provost to advance collaborations for discovery and development for unmet needs in health care.

The IEM is a “bridge between the Monroe Park Campus and the medical campus filled with scientists and engineers who are creating and developing technologies that will make our lives better,” says Barbara D. Boyan, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering.

Biotech Eight also houses chemical and life Electrical and computer engineering lab science engineering labs, electrical and computer engineering labs and biomedical engineering labs and will serve as headquarters for the joint schools of Engineering and Pharmacy Ph.D. program in pharmaceutical engineering, now in development. The new program will prepare students for careers in the pharmaceutical, biotech and health care industries with a focus on improving discovery technologies, expanding development methods and creating jobs in the commonwealth.

Research at the river’s edge

SCHOOL SPIRIT

Texting with Ram pride

Partnering with MyWeb GP, creators of Ree Stickers, the university introduced 26 VCU-themed emojis featuring Rodney the Ram slamdunking a basketball, cheering on the team and putting a spin on the classic emoji smiley faces.

Downloading the free app gives users access to six Rodney emojis for free, with the complete set costing a one-time fee of $1.99.

The emojis are currently available only through the Apple App Store; an Android version is in development. Fans can download the Ree Stickers app and then search for “Rodney the Ram” once they open the app.

A bridge between science and engineering

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UNIVERSITYNEWS

CAMPAIGN

Campaign hits $500M milestone

A helping hand for nurse anesthetists

As a nurse anesthesia student at VCU, Elizabeth Glenn Howell (M.S.N.A.’04/NA) recognized the value of lab experiences in teaching students to administer anesthesia.

When she returned to the university as a faculty member, Howell decided to endow a scholarship for that facet of training. This endowment helps fund activities such as Anatomy Camp, a favorite student program. Students attend Anatomy Camp at the end of their first year in the program.

The camp is held at the Quillen College of Medicine at Eastern Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Students from all of the VCU’s nurse anesthesia sites (Richmond, Northern Virginia, Abingdon and Roanoke) travel to ETSU for a weeklong intensive hands-on workshop where they learn about human anatomy relevant to the performance of regional anesthesia techniques.

Innovative research in toxicology

Deborah Clay (M.S.’14/H&S) immersed herself in the field of forensic toxicology at VCU. Her research into a new class of hallucinogenic designer drugs was made possible by the Paul B. Ferrara Scholarship in Forensic Science, which she received as a second-year graduate student in 2013-14. Developing techniques to detect these drugs, responsible for an influx of overdoses in Richmond, Virginia, and nationwide, is crucial to keeping pace with the evolving designer drug market.

Life skills, leadership and lobs

The Mary and Frances Youth Center was established in 2007 to provide Richmond youth with life skills, academic assistance and athletic programs. On its 10th anniversary, statistics confirm that the Linden Street facility has been a resounding success: The number of youth served has soared from 36 in its first year to 671 in 2015-16. Volunteer service has increased from 41 volunteers and 100-plus hours to 181 volunteers and more than 2,500 hours. The center was created by a $1.5 million donation from Elizabeth and Michael Fraizer, whose philanthropy continues to support the center and its programs.

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VCU Alumni

Photo Pat Kane, University Public Affairs

The Make It Real Campaign for VCU reached a milestone in June when it reached the $500 million mark. The $750 million philanthropic campaign launched publicly in September 2016 but has been counting gifts since a “soft launch” in July 2012. The most ambitious campaign in the university’s history concludes June 30, 2020.

The campaign focuses on three pillars — people, innovations and environments — areas where impacts are already being seen by students, faculty members, caregivers and researchers.

Make your impact today at campaign.vcu.edu.

Charlie Perris (clockwise from left), Levester Williams, Dylan Halpern, Lynn Secondo, Vanessa Diaz, Maya Chesley, Ellen Korcovelos and Erin Coggins

FULBRIGHT

Top-producing institution

VCU is a top producer of Fulbright student scholars for 2016-17, according to the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. During the 2016-17 academic year, 11 VCU alumni and students received Fulbright awards, the most of any Virginia college or university.

Recipients are Fajir Amin (B.I.S.’12/H&S; M.T.’12/E); Maya Chesley (B.S.’15/H&S; B.A.’15/H&S); Erin Coggins (B.S.’14/H&S); Vanessa Diaz (B.F.A.’15/A); Dylan Halpern (B.F.A.’15/A); Kaelne Koorn (B.F.A.’15/A; B.F.A.’15/A); Ellen Korcovelos (B.S.’16/LS); Shannon Laribo (B.S.’14/H&S; B.A.’14/A); Lynn Secondo, chemical engineering doctoral student; Charles Perris (B.A.’16/A); and Levester Williams (M.F.A.’16/A).

The Fulbright program is the U.S. government’s flagship international educational exchange program. VCU’s National Scholarship Office provides support for alumni and graduate and undergraduate students who wish to compete for prestigious national and international scholarships.

Since the office’s creation in 2005, 45 VCU students and alumni have been offered Fulbright awards.

MILESTONE

Half-a-million rides and counting

VCU’s RamSafe received its 500,000th ride request in January. The popular campus shuttle service has become one of the nation’s largest providers of point-to-point transportation in a university setting since its inception in 2012. The service provides free and safe transportation to on-campus locations and nearby residences.

“We are thankful for the hard work of our RamSafe team in reaching 500,000 requests,” says Clayton Harrington, director of VCU Parking and Transportation. “They truly believe in the program’s mission and have shown an unwavering dedication from day one.”

The university is looking at opportunities to provide additional resources and equipment to satisfy demand and to improve the overall customer experience.

PRESIDENTIALPERSPECTIVE

Ahead of the class Double distinctions from Carnegie validate VCU’s community engagement and research focus

By Michael Rao, Ph.D., President, VCU and VCU Health System

the National Academy of Inventors. Boyan has devoted her career to developing treatments for musculoskeletal defects.

With 22 U.S. patents and many international patents, Boyan is a leader in her field. Her inventions directly benefit those who Michael Rao, Ph.D. visit the VCU Medical Center, a top safety-net hospital in the state, and VCU clinics that address musculoskeletal issues.

Likewise, Kia Bentley, Ph.D., professor in the School of Social Work, is a strong believer in community engagement and its transformational power. Known for her scholarship in mental health, Bentley works with incarcerated individuals to ensure quality mental health care that is effective and compassionate.

In our quest to conduct high-quality, useful research while being a good neighbor, VCU is further intensifying its efforts to address issues woven into the quality of the lives of too many members of the Richmond community: disparities in education and health care. With our recently opened Center for Urban Communities, the university will work with partners across Richmond to effectively address and implement positive, long-lasting solutions to improve living and learning conditions for our neighbors.

Our work and the issues we address are done with the knowledge that what we do will take grit, determination and compassion. The classifications bestowed on VCU by the Carnegie Foundation are proof that we can do this and do it well.

Photo Julia Rendleman, VCU University Marketing

Since 1905, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has encouraged colleges and universities to strive for excellence at all levels of their organization. I have always insisted that our university do this, and I am honored that Virginia Commonwealth University has been so well-recognized for its efforts.

Because VCU insists on and makes community engagement a focus of its mission, we have been recognized since 2006 by the Carnegie Foundation with the classification of “Community Engagement” as recognition for our exemplary work with our neighbors and in the Richmond, Virginia, region. Then, in 2011, VCU received the designation of “Doctoral University: Highest Research Activity.”

Today, VCU is among 37 universities with an academic medical center in the nation to receive multiple designations from the Carnegie Foundation. I am proud of the hard work my colleagues and our students do to position VCU in such an elite class of institutions of higher learning.

These designations are the result of tireless research and community involvement conducted by members of the VCU family. We believe in the transformative power of research and innovation to create a better present and future for the community, region and beyond. We do what’s difficult because we can and we must.

Your support of the Make It Real Campaign for VCU will help us continue to be agents of positive change and innovation that reach beyond the borders of our university.

An excellent example of research as a public good is the work of Barbara Boyan, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering and fellow with

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TAKING

ACTION When it comes to supporting community partnerships, VCU puts its money where its mouth is

By Andy Bates

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VCU Alumni

important — but are you also taking the time to understand and combat things like food insecurity? That’s the deeper level of engagement we’re after.”

Of course, it’s one thing to say as a university that you want your faculty and students to engage with the place they call home and quite another to put your money where your mouth is. But that’s exactly what VCU has done with its community engagement grants, and though Howard admits the funds might seem like a drop in the bucket, the purpose is never about making a splash. Rather, the grant program is about signaling, both internally and externally, that VCU takes community engagement just as seriously today as its predecessors did a century ago, and that by adding even a modest incentive, VCU could spark dialog with community partners and jump-start long-simmering ideas by giving them just enough muscle and backbone to grow and stand on their own.

In addition to the three projects highlighted on the following pages, many projects that received initial funding from a community engagement grant have similarly sustained themselves through incorporation into existing VCU programs and departments, or with support from various external funding sources.

Photo Tom Saunders

Left: William Rossano, M.D. (Cert.’10/M; M.D.’16/M), demonstrates suturing techniques for high school students enrolled in the Health Sciences Academy.

Right (top to bottom): A student in the Richmond Health and Wellness Program provides on-site care during a health fair at Dominion Place. The mOb + Storefront studio on Broad Street provides a creative space for students to work on community projects. Lana Sargent (left), assistant professor in the VCU School of Nursing, brings clinical care to seniors as part of RHWP.

Photo courtesy Richmond Health and Wellness Program Photo Terry Brown Photography

And she should know.

Since the community engagement division was founded a decade ago, Howard has had a hand in doling out nearly 70 such grants through the university’s Council for Community Engagement, and each project funded, she says, bears the hallmark of VCU’s approach to working with the community.

“Community engagement is really in our DNA,” she says. VCU’s predecessors, the Medical College of Virginia and Richmond Professional Institute, “were born of the critical issues of the day and were structured to meet them. But they also acknowledged that there’s a tremendous amount of expertise the community possesses that needs to be brought into the discussion around those issues.”

That honest and genuine dialogue between university and community, Howard says, is what helps differentiate engagement from service, spurring efforts that are mutually beneficial.

“That’s really the key to community engagement,” Howard says. “The community must get something out of it, and the university should get something out of it, the generation of new knowledge should be enhanced. You can volunteer at a food drive, for example — and service and outreach like that is definitely

Photo Allen Jones (B.F.A.‘82/A; M.F.A.‘92/A), University Marketing

For a university that received $271 million in sponsored research in 2016, a $20,000 grant might not seem like much. But sometimes, as Catherine Howard, Ph.D., vice provost for the Division of Community Engagement at Virginia Commonwealth University, suggests, $20,000 can provide an all-important first step.

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“As a small specialty high school in Richmond Public Schools with limited resources, the Health Sciences Academy gives us an opportunity to expose our students to health care careers and connect them with mentors to gain firsthand information about college life, all of which grooms them for post-secondary success."

Photo Seth Leibowitz

– JAMES BROWN, PRINCIPAL, RICHMOND COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL

Opening up a health careers pipeline

As executive director of health sciences programs and advising in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences in the College of Humanities and Sciences, Seth Leibowitz, Ed.D., says he has counseled incoming freshmen who were not well prepared to make informed decisions about entering health care careers.

“I found myself spending a lot of time helping first-year college students choose which profession to go into and performing career assessments to determine if health sciences was the right field for them when, really, they needed to be focused on excelling in their prerequisite science courses,” Leibowitz recalls.

In 2004, he created a health careers exploration class for incoming first-year students interested in the health sciences, exposing students to different career options to help them find the right fit. In the back of his mind, though, he thought VCU needed to be reaching these students before they entered college.

Then, with the 2007 opening of the Health Sciences Specialty Center at Cosby High School

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in Chesterfield, Virginia, Leibowitz found the perfect population of students to work with.

Cosby became a community partner to join the application process, a requirement of the community engagement grant program, and that same year, the Health Sciences Academy was launched with a $20,000 community engagement award. The program’s early successes led to funding support from federal grants and foundations such as the Jesse Ball duPont Fund and to its incorporation into the Division of Health Sciences Diversity in VCU's Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences. The office provides fiscal, administrative, personnel and programming support to the HSA and more than 20 similar programs aimed at getting students into the health care professions pipeline.

Modeled on the college class Leibowitz constructed in 2004, HSA, which has since branched out to work with students at John Marshall and Richmond Community high schools in the city of Richmond, asks high school students to think and work like college students, while earning college credit.

Along with lectures and coursework, students in the HSA come to VCU throughout the semester for laboratory work where they might carve teeth from wax in the School of Dentistry one week, perform CPR on simulated patients in the School of Nursing the next and learn how to suture a pig’s foot in the School of Medicine the week after. Dozens of other hands-on and shadowing experiences are offered through the School of Allied Health Professions and VCU Health. The high-schoolers are paired with a VCU student mentor enrolled in upper-level psychology service-learning courses, someone to help guide them through the rigors of a college class, navigate the collegiate admissions process, effectively manage their time and develop effective written and oral communications skills.

“When I was a student in the program, having that mentor was so important to me, because they shared their stories and I was able to see myself in them,” says Andacia Rhyne, a Cosby graduate who is now a sophomore sociology major at VCU and serves as an HSA mentor. “I felt like, if they can do it, why can’t I?”

Photo Allen Jones (B.F.A.‘82/A; M.F.A.‘92/A), University Marketing

As part of the Health Sciences Academy program, Richmond high school students visit the School of Nursing’s Clinical Learning Center. Right: Students from VCU’s health sciences schools consult with a Dominion Place resident as part of the Richmond Health and Wellness Program.

Those kinds of empowering experiences help to not only give students the confidence to make decisions about entering college, but they also help steer many to VCU as the place to pursue their goals. This, in turn, creates a pipeline for students to eventually serve their communities through the health professions.

“If we’re going to be a community-engaged partner, that means we need to work to change the face of health care in our communities, to train providers who reflect the communities and diversity of patients they’re serving,” says Lisa Webb, Ed.D (M.S.’06/AHP; Cert.’06/ AHP; Ed.D.’15/E), executive director for academic health sciences in the Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences.

After 10 years, 450 VCU students have served as mentors and 900 high school students have graduated from the program. Of those 900, 22 percent have chosen to attend VCU for undergraduate or graduate studies, many in the health sciences. Even if HSA students end up not pursuing a health care career, both Leibowitz and Webb say the program’s success is

marked in equipping students with the tools and confidence to formulate and pursue their goals.

What can design do for you?

“Whether you’re talking about landscape, architectural, fashion or graphic, design really helps set the stage for how a community looks and how it feels — to pedestrians, cyclists, residents, business owners, visitors and anyone who interacts with that place,” says Ryan Rinn (Cert.’11/GPA; M.U.R.P.’12/GPA), executive director of the Storefront for Community Design, a local nonprofit organization founded in 2011.

Storefront harnesses the skills of local design professionals to help area residents and organizations design and plan projects to improve Richmond’s communities. The early successes of Storefront’s efforts helped drive home the need for something similar on VCU’s end, says Kristin Caskey, associate professor of fashion design in the School of the Arts.

“We’d been having meetings for like seven years, saying we needed to do something

design-centric in the city,” Caskey says. “We always felt like, we live in this community, but we’re not facing as outward as we could be, and design is such a local thing, so why aren’t we designing more things to help this community communicate its needs, its dreams?”

Caskey, along with colleagues Camden Whitehead, associate professor of interior design, and John Malinoski, associate professor of graphic design, established a multidisciplinary design studio service-learning course called Middle of Broad, or mOb, and wanted to get real community-inspired projects in front of those students.

“Our mission just really aligned [with Storefront’s], because here was a place where skilled designers were donating their time to members of the community, where they’d built up a lot of trust, but they could only give so much,” Caskey says of the decision to partner with Storefront. “This was a way we could give a semester’s worth of time to projects and bring students into relationships with community members and working professionals.”

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Photo Terry Brown Photography

Miranda Leung (left) works on design concepts for a mOb + Storefront client project.

In 2012, with $14,000 in community engagement grant funding, Caskey, Malinoski and Whitehead rented studio space downtown with Storefront as a co-tenant at 205-207 E. Broad St. between VCU’s two campuses and launched the mOb + Storefront studio.

Having that space is vital, Caskey says, as it helps get students out of the campus bubble and gets them thinking and acting as their own nonprofit-like entity. Similarly, because of their location on a well-traveled corridor of Broad Street that is being revitalized, that visibility helps lead to more community members walking through the doors to share their ideas about projects for which they’d like assistance.

Once these community members — individuals, other nonprofit organizations or businesses — bring their ideas to the table, mOb + Storefront then picks 10-12 projects a semester, assigning each a team of two to three students from different design disciplines. From there, the teams work under the guidance of a professional mentor to develop a brief and a set of design concepts, just as they would in a professional setting.

Projects can range from helping the owner of a local building revitalize a facade through architectural design, to working with organizations like the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority on billboard signage and communications materials, to helping partners like VCU Massey Cancer Center and the VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry develop innovative interior designs to improve the clinical experience of patients seeking treatment.

“mOb was my first exposure to working with real clients — people not from academia but from within the community — and collaborating with other designers extensively. The amount of creative freedom and involvement in all aspects of the process that we were afforded was downright incredible, and it really taught me how to navigate professional relationships, how to collaborate with designers from other disciplines, what boundaries to expect and when to push those boundaries.”

– MIRANDA LEUNG (B.F.A.’16/A)

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“The great thing about mOb + Storefront is that it’s an experimental design studio, so we’re asking students to bring their own flavor, to think outside the box, and the clients are aware when they’re selected that they’re going to get out-ofthe-box thinking,” Rinn says. “These are real projects, real clients and real challenges they’re facing, so it’s a pretty literal real-world preparation for them.”

In the five years since the partnership began, mOb + Storefront has tapped into internal funding sources from the School of the Arts, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. That increased funding has allowed students to tackle 96 projects, and while not everything presented to a client ends up being produced or developed beyond the initial planning stage, that comes with the territory of being a professional designer. What’s important, Caskey notes, is that students gain the real-life experience of working in a design office and come to view themselves and their work through the lens of place.

“As designers, I think they come to see that they can enliven the city they live in, not just through great ideas,” Caskey says, “but by being generous in spirit.”

A model of community-based care

As a nurse practitioner working mainly with the aging population, Pam Parsons, Ph.D., RN (M.S.’84/N; Ph.D.’04/N), clinical associate professor and director for practice and community engagement in the School of Nursing’s Department of Family and Community Health Nursing, realized that meeting the needs she was witnessing in her patients, especially in those living in senior housing in the Richmond area, would require not only greater collaboration among practitioners but also the ability to bring care to people where they live.

Parsons, along with a colleague from the School of Pharmacy, reached out to the management of Dominion Place, an independently owned apartment complex housing about 250 lower-income residents older than 62 on West Grace Street, on the doorstep of VCU’s Monroe Park Campus.

“We held a town hall meeting with the residents, with management, and asked them to identify their needs and the kinds of services they’d like to have,” Parsons recalls.

“The needs they identified were very much aligned with what I’d observed: management

of chronic diseases like high blood pressure and diabetes, mental health services, assistance with medication and better access to care and care coordination between primary and specialty providers — none of which are single-discipline problems.”

With her community partner on board willing to set aside space on the Dominion Place grounds for a startup clinic, Parsons used the $20,000 in community engagement grant money to purchase necessary supplies like blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes and glucometers to get the Richmond Health and Wellness Program up and running in 2012. In addition to supplies, the grant also helped cover the cost of a coordinator who could help engage with residents at Dominion Place and manage appointments at the free clinic, which weren’t meant to replace residents’ primary care services but to augment those services and help residents better navigate the health care field.

During visits, a resident who chooses to come to the clinic meets with a team of two to three students, overseen by faculty members from the schools of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Social Work, as well as the Department of Occupational Therapy in the School of Allied Health Professions and the departments of Psychology and Kinesiology and Health Sciences in the College of Humanities and Sciences. The team completes a comprehensive geriatric assessment, including blood pressure and glucose monitoring, helps the resident identify wellness goals and coordinate any doctor or hospital visits needed through scheduling, arranging for transportation and assisting with insurance questions.

Time is key to the whole process, says Caroline Hartmann (B.S.’13/N; M.S.’17/N), a former student in the family nurse practitioner program in the School of Nursing, who worked at RHWP during the fall 2016 semester.

“Each shift was about eight hours, and we would see anywhere from three to six patients a day, so the patients had plenty of time to discuss their concerns,” Hartmann recalls. “And since each student had a different background, we all were able to bring something different to the table and really work together to identify any barriers to health and come up with a plan to improve the patient’s overall well-being.”

That kind of collaborative experience should lead to a better prepared workforce moving forward, Parsons says.

“This program should have been here a long time ago. I’ve been coming to the clinic since it came in, and it’s just wonderful.

I really put them up on a pedestal because they’ve just done so much to help me better my life. They’ve saved my life.”

– HELEN JONES, 72, DOMINION PLACE RESIDENT

“That’s where we need to go to meet the needs of this population, which is only growing,” Parsons says. “By giving our students the opportunity to understand roles from other disciplines and engage differently as they develop care plans, they can see firsthand how different professions can and should work together at the same time.”

With the immediate success of the partnership with Dominion Place, Parsons and her team tapped into a larger vein of funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand the program into two additional residences the second year by partnering with the Better Housing Coalition, and two more the year after that through a partnership with the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Since the program started, 803 students have participated, helping 400 patients through 4,663 clinic visits, which is major progress in five years with $20,000. Parsons says she’d like to see the program expand into more residences and to provide more activities to promote wellness. But for Parsons, the community engagement grant was less about the money and more about the buy-in from the university.

“Having that grant showed institutional support, which is invaluable, and we were able to leverage that when opportunities for more funding became available,” Parsons says.

That’s a refrain echoed by Caskey, Leibowitz and Howard.

“Sustainability can be tough to achieve,” Howard admits. “But I think in a lot of instances, these grants help legitimize the visions of these faculty members and their community partners. It gives them an opportunity to see where that vision might take them, and sometimes you just never know where something might go.”

By the numbers Since its inception in 2007, the Council for Community Engagement has awarded more than $1 million to 69 projects. In turn, these projects have: • Leveraged more than $2.3 million in external funding — a roughly $3 return on investment per dollar granted* • Provided opportunities for communityengaged scholarship, teaching and service to 1,350 students and 219 faculty members** • Served as catalysts for 199 community-engaged scholarly products, including journal publications and symposium presentations *Grants awarded during the 2016-17 cycle are not included in calculation of return on investment.

Similarly, some funds from the 2015-16 cycle are under review or pending delivery from external sources and, as such, have not been factored into the total. **These numbers reflect student and faculty engagement only during the year in which a project was funded by a community engagement grant and do not reflect subsequent student and faculty involvement once the grant has expired.

– Andy Bates is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

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Model citizens VCU ASPiRE inspires alumni to become agents of change in their communities

BY SARAH LOCKWOOD

ASPiRE students turn awareness into action by participating in service projects that range from mending fences at Chenoa Manor animal sanctuary in Pennsylvania (right top) to preparing community gardens for a summer crop (bottom).

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undergraduate students spanning nearly 40 majors serve the community in myriad capacities from health and wellness to sustainability, with one common thread: They are ASPiRE students.

VCU ASPiRE, the university’s first living-learning community, focuses on deepening students’ understanding of their capacity to create positive change in their communities. Short for Academic Scholars Program in Real Environments, ASPiRE brings together students in the West Grace Street Student Housing – South, part of the Grace Street Village, a collaborative group of living-learning communities that connect coursework, cocurricular activities and a vibrant residential experience.

ASPiRE launched in fall 2012 and is open to all undergraduates who have at least two years of studies remaining at VCU. During their first year in the program, students take two three-credit courses where they learn the fundamentals of community engagement.

Students then complete three one-credit, community-based seminars where they engage with community partners through various activities and projects.

These cocurricular activities span five areas of impact: accessible and affordable housing, community building, education and workforce development, environmental sustainability, and health and wellness.

The program’s inaugural class of 143 graduated in 2014, and now three classes of ASPiRE alumni have entered the workforce armed with their understanding of community engagement and experience addressing critical societal needs.

Recent graduate Kori Johnson (B.S.’16/H&S) says she was “sold on the concept of a living-learning community.” The opportunity was one of her biggest reasons for choosing VCU.

Photos courtesy ASPiRE

On

any given day, Virginia Commonwealth University

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“I enjoyed having my values, thought processes and beliefs challenged,” she says. “I was forced to come out of the rock I didn’t know I was living under and face realworld issues I never knew existed.”

Equipped with this foundation in community engagement, ASPiRE students stand out when they go into the community.

“Our community partners have noted that ASPiRE students have a commitment and an understanding of community issues that makes them exceptional volunteers,” says ASPiRE Director Erin Brown, Ph.D. (M.P.A.’08/GPA; Ph.D.’14/GPA). “I think that sometimes the community is skeptical of initiatives created to get students out into the community. We have shown that ASPiRE is here to stay and that our students have a true desire to give back during their collegiate experience.”

Johnson shows signs of that trademark commitment. An exercise science major, Johnson worked in spinal cord injury research at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center after graduation and recently took a post as a teaching assistant at Faison School, a Richmond, Virginia, school for individuals with autism and related challenges. There, she works one-on-one with 16- to 22-year-olds, helping them increase their level of functioning and preparing them for adult day programs.

“I love seeing the progress [my students] make,” Johnson says. “The best part is when my assumptions are proved wrong. It’s so easy to underestimate the abilities of others. I enjoy being reminded that anyone is capable of anything as long as love, patience and the right help is provided.”

She enjoys spreading this awareness with the community when she works on real-world skills with her students at the grocery store or in the park, for example.

“Not only are we helping the students, but I think we’re also teaching the community,” says Johnson, whose work has reinforced what she learned at VCU. “A lot of what I learned [through ASPiRE] was from the people I worked with; it taught me to be humble,

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grateful and to always, always have faith in humanity.”

Johnson also teaches a leadership class for adults with intellectual disabilities at the School of the Performing Arts in Richmond, an ASPiRE community partner she worked with as a student.

Johnson continues to live the tenets she learned through ASPiRE, and they shine through in her future plans, which are twofold: to become a traveling occupational therapist working in underdeveloped cities around the world and to start a nonprofit that works with service dogs for individuals with disabilities.

“My experience with ASPiRE has made me much more aware of my environment,” Johnson says. “It’s given me the ability to be more empathetic with my community and to stand alongside others.”

Learning through serving In addition to their bachelor’s degree, ASPiRE students graduate with a certificate of completion for the program. ASPiRE students have the opportunity to work with many of VCU’s now 108 community partners, including recent additions UNOS, Art for the Journey and Change the World RVA. Mark Hairston (B.S.’16/H&S), a biology major who graduated in December, acquainted himself with several of these partners through his participation in the program.

During his first summer with ASPiRE, he volunteered in the monthlong Mosby Court Leadership program, teaching computer fundamentals in the Mosby Resource Center, which equips residents with skills in resume building and job acquisition. Some of his most memorable experiences that summer were working with St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, assisting in monthly food distributions to less fortunate families. He also worked with children at Peter Paul Development Center as a reading buddy and with the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Fit-to-Go program.

Then as part of the ASPiRE seminar “Mentoring Adolescents in High Poverty Schools,” Hairston and his peers mentored

students from Richmond’s Armstrong High School, which has a high population of economically disadvantaged students and a graduation rate well below the state average.

Hairston says he tried to be a positive role model, to build friendships with his mentees and to encourage them to explore what it means to be successful in college.

ASPiRE offers students up to 25 activities each week that count toward their 100 hours of required cocurricular experiences. That sounds like enough on its own, but Brown says ASPiRE is just one part of the day for many of her students.

“Most of our students work, sometimes two jobs, in addition to being full-time students,” she says. “They are in ASPiRE in addition to being involved in other extracurricular activities and clubs where they are often the leaders. I am impressed that despite all of their competing priorities that they are able to take time to give back to the community.”

With a no-phone policy while working in the community, Brown says, students often say this time is a “‘break’ from reality where they focus on something greater than themselves.”

That was the case for Hairston. “ASPiRE really opened another avenue for me to see where my future career path can potentially lead,” says Hairston, a wildlife removal specialist at Critter Control in Alexandria, Virginia.

“Working with my ASPiRE peers has inspired me to always search for a way to help those less fortunate than myself and improve the all-around well-being of the environment and community.”

Hairston and his peers are uniquely prepared for the job hunt and beyond, Brown says.

“I hear many employers discuss how recent college graduates are lacking in some of the 21st-century skills that are necessary to be effective in the workplace,” she says. “I believe that the work that our students do in the community prepares them to be effective working in groups, communicate effectively across differences and think critically to resolve problems. Our program model creates a space for them to have difficult dialogues, think about societal issues and think creatively about solutions in ways that classroom projects and hypothetical scenarios cannot.”

An individualized student experience ASPiRE welcomes all majors, and with 30-40 different majors represented in each cohort, Brown says, it’s important to provide varied activities that reflect student interests.

“We use an opt-in service model that allows students to choose the activities that fit their schedule that are of interest to them,” she says. “As a result, our students can craft an ASPiRE experience that directly connects to their major that provides them with experience in the career fields they hope to pursue after graduation.”

Meron Asfaha (B.S.’15/H&S) incorporated her career goals with her ASPiRE education from the beginning. She and several other students co-developed a proposal for an app designed to improve communication for the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. “Over the semester, we conducted a community needs assessment and collaborated within our teams to think of useful ways to improve hospital communication,” Asfaha says. The team developed budget estimates and timelines for producing an app that would suggest which specialists to see within the hospital based on symptoms and ailments.

“I learned that community engagement is a necessary element for a constructive and healthy society,” Asfaha says. “What’s most important for me is the ability to sustain relationships with community partners.”

She says her ASPiRE experience influenced her decision to enroll at Emory University this fall to pursue a Master of Public Health in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education with the goal of becoming a community outreach specialist or a reproductive health specialist with a focus on maternal and child health.

“In sub-Saharan countries, such as Eritrea and Ethiopia, where my parents are from, there are high maternal and child deaths,” Asfaha says. “The World Health Organization has discovered that preventative care is a powerful tool to improve these statistics. I plan on implementing programs to increase the quality of care in these regions, where prenatal/

antenatal and clinic care can geographically be difficult to access.”

Academic immersion

A life of public service Symone Simmons (B.F.A.’15/A) chose a public service career path that stemmed from her community partner experiences at VCU. Through ASPiRE, she helped start a “student voice team” at a local high school, geared toward helping students speak up in their school community.

She and her classmates worked to increase student engagement by helping students plan and execute schoolwide video projects and organize a teacher-versus-student basketball game fundraiser.

“The students at that school really felt like they were now a major part of their school and that their voice mattered,” says Simmons, who also studied abroad on an ASPiRE service-learning trip to Belize. “That is one of the main reasons why I am a teacher.”

Simmons joined Teach for America and is a special education teacher in Northampton County Schools in North Carolina where she works with grades K-4. Most of her students are several grade levels behind and have serious behavior issues, but Simmons has enjoyed getting to know them and learning their nuances.

“Students have begun to trust me and see my room as a safe place they can go to when they need to talk, vent or express their emotions,” she says. “I love watching my students grow and change with how they interact with others on a daily basis.”

Long term, Simmons shares Johnson’s dream of starting her own organization, one that provides a creative outlet for youth.

“I want this organization to be a safe place where children can come, be creative and engage in art making,” Simmons says. “I learned that community engagement is all about relationships. Community engagement is more than one-time volunteering; it is about immersing yourself in the community and really listening to the people you wish to help.”

– Sarah Lockwood is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

By integrating on-campus living with a focused academic experience, VCU’s four other living-learning communities encourage upperclassmen to think beyond the classroom.

The Honors College, located at the corner of Grace and Laurel streets, allows for increased interaction among honors students and facilitates active involvement in Honors College programs, including seminars and activities.

VCU Globe opens windows to the complexity of globalization and fosters intercultural learning through sustained and structured interactions among program participants, international students and community members in Richmond. The program, located in West Grace Street Student Housing – North, features opportunities for students to meet people from around the world, to participate in special events and celebrations, to work in teams and to be instrumental in making VCU and Richmond more global. VCU Globe also is a designated Peace Corps Prep Program, so students who complete all program requirements plus a foreign language through the 200 level, also receive a certificate of completion from the Peace Corps.

VCU INNOVATE, the da Vinci Center’s livinglearning program, emphasizes a multidisciplinary perspective and seeks to create a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship through academic coursework and cocurricular activities. Students live in the Grace and Broad Residence Center and get the opportunity to take part in high-impact extracurricular activities, such as networking trips to startups and companies in other cities across the country, and to engage with local entrepreneurs on how to successfully launch business ventures.

VCU LEAD, located in the Grace and Broad Residence Center, prepares students to successfully lead professional and civic organizations at the local, national and global levels. Students integrate their learning by participating in leadership pathway experiences that complement their major.

Pathways can include service, internships, study abroad, undergraduate research and peer leadership opportunities.

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A DEEPER UNDERSTAND

Above: Rebecca Vareed, on assignment in Panama, looks for the tiny prothonotary warbler. Right: A Panamanian middle school student prepares to release a warbler.

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DING Service-learning connects students to communities

Main photo courtesy Rebecca Vareed, inset photo courtesy Catherine Viverette

BY JANET SHOWALTER

ebecca Vareed (B.S.’17/H&S) ignored the oppressive heat and humidity as she carefully examined the tiny prothonotary warbler.

Mesmerized by the migratory songbird’s beauty, she took a moment to reflect on its strength.

“These birds are so fragile and small, yet they fly thousands of miles each year to get here,” she says. “I never thought about the importance of conservation and the role a creature like this can have on the environment. It’s been an eye-opening experience.”

Vareed, who graduated in May with a biology degree, was one of 18 students from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Panama Avian Field Ecology class to travel to Panama for two weeks in January to study the warbler, which is representative of more than 100 species of migratory songbirds experiencing population declines because of habitat loss on both breeding and wintering grounds. While the warbler’s numbers in the breeding areas of the tidal James River are stable or increasing, their survival also depends on mangrove wetlands on tropical wintering grounds, which are vanishing in Central and South America because of coastal development.

“Up until now, most of my work had been done from behind a desk,” Vareed says. “To be able to get out there in the field and to give back to a community is just incredible. It teaches empathy. I think it’s a life-changing experience for all of us.”

Since the 1990s, VCU has been making a push to increase service-learning classes that engage students in activities that meet community-identified needs. In 2016-17 alone, more than 3,900 students took at least one service-learning class as part of their undergraduate or graduate degree program.

“Students learn best by not just sitting in a classroom and taking notes but by actually doing,” says Lynn Pelco, Ph.D., associate vice provost for community engagement and director for the VCU Service-Learning Office. “Students are taking what they learn in the classroom and applying it to the real world. It deepens the learning experience.”

VCU offers more than 200 service-learning classes, up from 40 in 2008. The classes, one to four credits each, all address communityidentified needs. Students spend time in the classroom, log a minimum of 20 hours each of service per semester and participate in planned reflection activities.

Service activities and classes are varied and are available from the firstyear to the Ph.D. level. Service-learning courses are offered in most majors and are designed to help students understand their civic responsibility and embrace diversity in their communities.

“This type of hands-on learning enables the students to make connections,” Pelco says. “These are the classes students remember five years out.”

Braveen Ragunanthan, M.D. (M.D.’17/M), performed more than 20 hours of community service as part of Learners Involved in the Needs of Communities during his first year of medical school and still points to the service-learning experience as one of the best of his medical school career.

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Photo courtesy Catherine Viverette

Madison Glackin (B.S.’17/H&S) prepares to release a prothonotary warbler in Panama.

“LINC exposes students to a deeper level of understanding,” he says. “You can study all aspects of basic science to become a doctor, but until you get out in the community and see the social and environmental determinants that can impact a person’s health, you cannot possibly have the full picture of your patient. It helps you appreciate the bigger ways we are all connected.”

Through LINC, Ragunanthan worked in the CARITAS Clinic providing health screenings to underserved patients and helped organize health fairs in Church Hill, a neighborhood near the medical school. While parents were participating in the clinics, Ragunanthan spent time with their children, teaching them the importance of good nutrition and exercise.

“It was a lot of fun for me,” he says. “Getting out in the community is a great way to engage with people and gain their trust. It’s where we can make the most impact.”

When LINC was established in 2010, it was a requirement for all first-year medical students. That changed a few years ago and is now a requirement for second-years.

“It is important for these students to understand the lives of the patients they are serving,” says Christopher Woleben, M.D. (M.D.’97/M; H.S.’01/M; Cert.’16/E), associate dean for student affairs for the School of Medicine and co-creator of LINC. “It gets our students into the community to see firsthand what our patients are experiencing. Many of our students have never been in that type of situation before.”

Ragunanthan was so touched by his experience that he continues to work in the community. That seems to be the norm for service-learning students.

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“It is so engaging that you keep coming back for more,” he says. “It changes you.”

Through service-learning, students can witness the challenges communities face and then plan appropriate action. For LINC students, that could mean working with the Central Virginia Food Bank or Meals on Wheels, mentoring students after school or harvesting vegetables with Shalom Farms. For first-year undergraduates in the Focused Inquiry Program, it could mean working alongside community residents at an urban farm. For students in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, it could be creating emergency response plans for municipalities across Virginia. And for those in the College of Humanities and Sciences, it’s taking a literature, English or religious studies class alongside inmates at the Richmond jail.

“No matter the class, it comes down to learning by doing,” Pelco says. “You are learning then applying. There have been a lot of studies done that show students learn better by doing. Not only does their academic knowledge deepen, but they become better problem-solvers as well.”

According to a 2013 study by Pelco and Kelly Lockeman, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’12/E), assistant professor in the School of Medicine, VCU undergraduates who took service-learning classes showed a higher six-year graduation rate than did undergraduates who took no servicelearning classes (73 percent to 48 percent). They also had a higher grade-point average (2.92 to 2.57).

“Service-learning is still catching on, but it’s already had a huge impact on learning,” says Lelia Brinegar, Ed.D. (Ed.D.’16/E), assistant

dean for curriculum in the School of Medicine and co-creator of LINC. “It allows students to circle back and see the impact they can have on outcomes.”

Just ask Vareed. She never envisioned herself studying warblers in an effort to save their habitat. The birds, with their brilliant dash of gold, populate America’s wooded swamps and river bottom forests, nesting in cavities or constructed birdhouses after their long journey from Central and South America each spring.

“It was a welcome change from the classroom,” Vareed says. “To be out there working in the mud was incredible. There, you are working alongside others who have a passion for conservation; it was very enriching.”

Vareed and her classmates, as well as students from Ohio State University and partners from the Panama Audubon Society, netted the warblers in two provinces of Panama. They examined them to determine their health, tagged them to track their movements and took feather samples to further research the species.

The goal was to determine the ecological variations across the mangroves in Panama and how coastal development is impacting the birds’ survival. The students will work with the Panama Audubon Society to provide data as justification for the organization’s conservation efforts.

“We may live far away, but we all have the same challenges,” says Catherine Viverette, Ph.D. (M.S.’04/LS; Ph.D.’16/LS), assistant professor, Center for Environmental Studies, who teaches the avian class. “By sharing ideas and resources, we are connecting cultures.”

As part of the service-learning course, Vareed and her classmates are also partnering with Goochland (Virginia) Middle School students to make, install and monitor warbler nesting boxes along the James River.

“To have the opportunity to impact young minds is incredible,” says Vareed, who plans to pursue a master’s and doctorate in biology or neuroscience. “They will be our next leaders.”

Without service-learning, Vareed would not have had that opportunity.

“Each one of us will get something different out of the experience, but we all will be changed,” she says. “It brings out a passion you didn’t know existed.”

– Janet Showalter (B.S.’87/MC) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

THIS IS MY REAL.

Phong Truong

Scholarship recipient

“Losing my mom to cancer three months after I started college was a huge blow. No child should feel as helpless and alone as I did then.

My scholarship takes the pressure off so that I can devote a helping hand to others struggling with a similar experience.”

At VCU, making an impact is what we do. But we can’t do it alone.

That’s why we launched the Make It Real Campaign for VCU, our most ambitious fundraising initiative in the university's history. How will you help us support people, fund innovations and enhance environments?

Make your impact at campaign.vcu.edu. an equal opportunity/affirmative action university

TIME&TALENT M E M B E R S O F V C U A L U M N I ’ S R VA G O L D C H A P T E R G I V E B A C K T O T H E I R C I T Y

By Anthony Langley

The Alumni Charity Challenge, established in 2013, engages alumni chapters from Virginia and out-of-state universities for a fall food drive competition benefiting FeedMore, the Central Virginia Food Bank.

T

he importance of giving back to your community is a tenet that was ingrained in the heart and mind of Joseph Stemmle (B.S.’13/B), director of volunteering for VCU Alumni’s RVA GOLD Chapter, from a young age.

“My family was always engaged in various civic activities,” he says. “Once I found something that I really loved to do, it energized me even more.”

The RVA GOLD Chapter, which connects Graduates of the Last Decade living in the greater Richmond, Virginia, region, is just one of many VCU Alumni chapters across the country that creates community service opportunities for its members.

Civic engagement is one of the group’s three founding pillars, along with hosting social get-togethers and providing educational events.

Those values are present in every chapter event, from basketball watch parties and first-time homebuyer workshops to volunteer opportunities.

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“We knew that just telling somebody to come out for something they had no interest in wouldn’t work,” Stemmle says. “You have to provide them the opportunity to be involved and engaged with something that is close to their heart.”

Stemmle helped coordinate a partnership with YMCA’s Bright Beginnings program, which pairs alumni volunteers with local schoolchildren for a back-to-school shopping trip. The program is near to the hearts of many alumni who know the importance of education. “[Bright Beginnings] was a unique opportunity and made people want to get involved,” says Timmy Nguyen (B.S.’11/B), former RVA GOLD Chapter president. “We go to our members and say, ‘What causes are you passionate about?’ and then find ways to accommodate them.”

As chapter president, Nguyen organized Operation Veterans Appreciation, one of the chapter’s newest community outreach events, and the Alumni Charity Challenge, marking its fifth year in September.

– Anthony Langley (B.S.’16/MC) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

Photo courtesy RVA GOLD Chapter

Top to bottom: Bright Beginnings pairs alumni with students for a back-to-school shopping trip. RVA GOLD Chapter members visit veterans at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center. Future alumni pose with Rodney at the Alumni Charity Challenge.

Photo courtesy RVA GOLD Chapter Photo Daryll Morgan Photography

Photo James H. Loving Photography

Operation Veterans Appreciation grew from discussions within the chapter about causes they should support in the Richmond area, and many members mentioned veterans. Working alongside the mid-Atlantic chapter of Paralyzed Veterans of America and Virginia Credit Union, chapter members provided veterans at Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center with blankets, toiletries and pizza and arranged for former Navy SEAL John McGuire, of SEAL Team Physical Training, to speak at the event. “[Paralyzed Veterans of America] mentioned that the holidays are big for them, but they have a drop-off around February, so that’s when we decided to have our event,” Stemmle says. “This year we had to cut off our number of volunteers because of the immense number of signups we received.”

The visits have been so successful that the chapter is working with Paralyzed Veterans of America to hold a second event in September or October.

The chapter’s largest and most successful event has been the Alumni Charity Challenge, which brings together alumni chapters from more than 25 universities in Virginia as well as several out-of-state institutions.

Every September, during Hunger Action Month, the participating alumni groups come together at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery in Richmond, Virginia, to see which school’s graduates donate the most canned goods for Feedmore, the Central Virginia Food Bank.

Tim McDermott (M.P.A.’82/GPA), chief development officer at Feedmore, first became familiar with the close interaction between nonprofits and governmental sectors while working on his master’s degree at VCU. For him, the Alumni Charity Challenge is a vitally important partner.

“One in 7 of our neighbors is struggling to put food on the table, and 1 in 6 children in our region aren’t receiving necessary nutrition," he says. "Events like this help raise awareness and allow us to reach folks who may not be familiar with Feedmore, our mission, our programs and our impact. Even 35 years after I graduated, VCU continues to be invested in the Richmond community, and events like the charity challenge validate that.”

Since the first food drive, the Alumni Charity Challenge has raised 16 tons of food that has benefited 200,000 children, families and seniors in 34 cities and counties across central Virginia. In addition, a portion of beer sales at the event are donated to the Friends Association of Richmond, which provides child care, developmental skills and family support services to children and families in the area.

“All of our members strive to make an impact with the education we received from VCU, and giving both our time and talents are the best way to do that,” Nguyen says. “We’re not only giving back to the university but also to the entire community, and that’s what’s important.”

With a track record of success in tow, the chapter’s next move is planning a universitywide day of community service with the long-term goal of involving student organizations, faculty, staff and VCU alumni groups from across the country.

“I think that every single [VCU alumnus] wants to make the world a better place,” Stemmle says. “It doesn’t take an organization like the RVA GOLD Chapter to make that happen. Find a cause you love and go make change happen.”

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Decade of difference T

he VCU Division of Community Engagement celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2016, but the anniversary was marked by more than years. It was a milestone marked by impact. By collaborating with faculty to advance communityengaged teaching and scholarship while addressing critical issues in the region and world, the division has led VCU in becoming a national model for community engagement.

Recognition and honors

Community engagement grants

• One of 37 universities with an academic medical center classified

by Carnegie as “very high research” and “community engaged”

• $1,000,600 awarded to 69 projects directly involving 1,350 students since 2006 • Grants generated $3 from external funding for every dollar of seed funding invested

• Received the 2014 C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award for the Pharmacist Collaborative Care and Outreach in the Community program in the School of Pharmacy

• 219 faculty and staff involved

• Listed eight consecutive years on U.S. President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll

Service-learning

Mary and Frances Youth Center: Lobs & Lessons

• 110 percent increase in number of departments offering service-learning courses from 19 in 2005-06 to 40 in 2015-16

• Youth served increased from 36 in 2006-06 to 671 in 2015-16

• 62 percent increase in the number of service-learning class sections offered in past 10 years • 91 percent increase in students taking at least one service-learning class from 1,894 students in 2005-06 to 3,616 students in 2015-16

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• Volunteer service increased from 41 volunteers and 100+ hours in 2005-06 to 181 volunteers and 2,500+ hours in 2015-16

“Our mission as a leading urban public research university is not simply to focus on our campus but to contribute to our community and to elevate the human experience through innovation, discovery and engagement.”

Neighborhood relationships

– Michael Rao, Ph.D., president, VCU and VCU Health System

• 20-year sustained Carver-VCU Partnership to create a shared urban community, now expanded to additional neighborhoods surrounding campus: the Fan, Jackson Ward, Oregon Hill and Randolph • VCU Neighborhood Team established to address concerns of five neighborhoods surrounding Monroe Park Campus • VCU police officer and neighborhood outreach director attend 55 neighborhood meetings annually • 159 sustained community partnerships throughout the Richmond region

Student service hours ASPiRE • VCU’s first living-learning program, created in 2012 • More than 22,000 community service hours completed by ASPiRE students • 125 community partners served

• 7,204,007 student service hours since 2006-07 • 1 million-plus hours of service contributed annually by students to the Richmond community since 2012-13

• 428 student participants

Summer 2017

27

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A coordi n at ed effort i m pro v es ex t ern a l rel at i on s i n t h e n ei gh borhoods su rrou n di n g c a m pus

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Good neighbors

BY KATE ANDREWS

In the ’90s, Carver, a community that sits to the north of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Monroe Park Campus, ranked the highest in violent crime and second-highest in property crime among 33 Richmond neighborhoods. Unemployment, at 12 percent, was twice as high as the city’s average, and more than a quarter of Carver’s homes were vacant, the highest rate in Richmond. Carver Elementary students’ scores on standardized tests were among the lowest in the city school system, and 98 percent received free or reduced-price lunches.

“2017 Carver is very, very different from circa-1994 Carver,” says Chris Preuss (B.S.’91/GPA), VCU Police’s assistant chief

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VCU Alumni

who joined the campus police force that year. “People didn’t walk through Carver then unless you were buying crack.”

Preuss says he often saw more criminal violence as a young university police officer than some of his peers did on city and county forces.

VCU didn’t sit by idly. In 1996, an agreement between then-VCU President Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D., and Barbara Abernathy, president of the Carver Area Civic Improvement League, gave rise to the Carver-VCU Partnership. In the 20 years since, VCU’s partnership with Carver has led to numerous benefits, including a community center with computers and multipurpose space for classes and tutoring sessions; access to the Cary Street Gym

for Carver civic association members; greater VCU police presence in the area, including a bike patrol and a satellite office; and university involvement in elementary school programs.

The relationship has been symbiotic as the university also has benefited by partnering with Carver. Through this partnership, VCU has expanded its physical footprint with the approval and support of Carver residents. Most recently, they supported the Basketball Development Center and supported VCU when it decided to build the Siegel Center.

Over the years, the Carver community has partnered with various VCU departments in applying for community development grants.

Photo Allen Jones (B.F.A.‘82/A; M.F.A.‘92/A), University Marketing

T

hey say fences make good neighbors, but when you’re an urban university whose people and programs blend into the cultural fabric of the city, you look for opportunities to collaborate, not separate.

VCU’s Neighborhood Team — Officer Greg Felton (left), OffCampus Student Services Coordinator Lisa Mathews-Ailsworth and Neighborhood Outreach Director Tito Luna — works to build and maintain strong community partnerships.

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Culture clash

About 26,000 VCU students live off-campus, and as many of them moved into neighborhoods beyond the Fan in recent years, longtime city residents felt something of a culture shock.

In 2010, in the Randolph neighborhood east of Maymont, a packed room of neighbors booed VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., after complaining that some students were partying late and loud in what used to be a quiet residential section.

“The first VCU students who moved in [in spring 2010] really enjoyed their freedom,” says Amy Robins (B.S.’12/LS; M.Envs.’14/ LS), president of the Randolph Neighborhood Association. Similar stories circulated in Carver and Oregon Hill, as well as in the Fan and Jackson Ward, including complaints that police weren’t doing anything to address the situation.

“Neighbors were complaining about students creating problems in the neighborhood, quality-of-life issues. We weren’t doing a good job,” says VCU Police Chief John Venuti. In 2010, he had just been hired to lead the university’s force, after serving for more than two

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VCU Alumni

Photo Dan Currier

decades in the Richmond Police Department, and it was clear that a different approach was needed. He promoted Felton to help mend the university’s relationship with its neighbors.

Felton recalls that police would go to a noisy house and usually tell whomever answered to keep the ruckus down: a 30-second interaction with no real consequences. But today, he takes time to find and sit down with all of the students who live in a house or apartment and tell them that this won’t work. And because of Felton’s work with landlords, noisy residents could face eviction after one or two calls to police and possibly a violation of VCU’s student code of conduct. If a student’s parents co-signed the lease, they’ll be involved, too.

“He’s done a tremendous job building relationships with the landlords and facilitating when a home becomes a problem household,” Luna says of Felton.

VCU Police also launched prtysmrt.com, a website that allows students to register their parties. Yes, that’s correct: a party registration system. When a student registers an event, say a 200-attendee party on West Grace Street on April 12, and the police get a noise violation call, the host receives a text warning. That often does the trick, Venuti says, or a second text will. If there’s a third call, however, a registered party gets the knock on the door. This helps keep police focused on more important work, like maintaining safety and preventing serious crimes.

Student involvement Mathews-Ailsworth, meanwhile, works with students who are often moving into their own place for the first time. She goes through leases with them, helps them figure out what kind of roommates they’d get along with best and explains “how to be a good citizen and a good neighbor.”

Mathews-Ailsworth also has flyers with neighborhood information: trash pickup days, the city’s noise code, parking policies and important phone numbers. She also reminds students to plan ahead for moving out so they can find a new space for that unwanted couch or chair and asks them if they’re prepared to mow their lawn if that’s required.

To help build bridges between permanent residents and students, some neighborhoods hosted ice cream socials at the start of the 201617 academic year, and that will likely expand

Photo courtesy VCU Police

The university’s continued engagement with Carver and other surrounding neighborhoods in recent years, as well as the police department’s concerted effort to address noise issues, has helped to build positive community relationships. At the core of the effort today are three university employees who consistently attend neighborhood association meetings as part of their dedicated role in building and maintaining strong community partnerships.

Attending the meetings has “brought a bit of stability to the relationships,” says Tito Luna, neighborhood outreach director with the VCU Division of Community Engagement. “We’ve built trust. Between Greg and Lisa and I, we’re not just going to meetings. We’re involved.”

Greg is Officer Greg Felton, VCU Police’s first full-time external relations officer. It’s his job to listen to neighbors in the surrounding neighborhoods of Carver, Randolph, the Fan, Oregon Hill and Jackson Ward about lawenforcement issues. He also intervenes when students make too much noise. Lisa MathewsAilsworth, coordinator of VCU’s Off-Campus Student Services, helps students navigate leases, find roommates and learn how to be good neighbors.

Staying proactively involved with the communities surrounding VCU’s campus, whether it’s attending neighborhood meetings or a National Night Out event, has helped build positive community relationships.

this year. On their end, students host an annual beautification day of service in April managed

by Luna, and the first Saturdays in June, July and August are designated as Project Clean and Green Move, when student volunteers join non-VCU residents to clear furniture and other bulk trash out of city alleys.

Today, Robins says, you no longer hear boos at Randolph Neighborhood Association meetings. Some friction over parking and litter remains, she notes, but with Felton and Luna attending meetings regularly, relationships have improved.

Continued success

Last October, VCU Police moved into a new facility at 224 E. Broad St., between the Monroe Park Campus and the MCV Campus. After more than a decade on West Grace Street, officers have welcomed the move.

“This building is really a crown jewel,” says Assistant Police Chief Chris Preuss (B.S.’91/GPA), who’s served on the force for 23 years. “In the old place, we were tripping over each other.”

Chief John Venuti, who served as honorary chair of VCU’s second annual faculty, staff and retiree giving campaign launched in April, has hired 17 officers since 2010, bringing the VCU Police department to 99 officers.

In their new building, the officers have conference rooms, kitchen space and a better view of the city, not to mention quicker access to the medical campus.

“Being a campus police department, we provide a much higher level of care with what we do,” Venuti says. “[In our new building], we’re very responsive to students and to neighborhood crime.”

Photo Will Gilbert (B.S.‘15/MC)

Back in Carver, the partnership that started two decades ago continues to bring qualityof-life enhancements to the neighborhood, for both residents and students.

Jerome Legions, president of Carver’s civic association and a resident since the 1990s, has seen dramatic changes, including fewer derelict properties and more streetlights. People walk through the neighborhood and feel safer overall, he says. VCU has helped bring in students for neighborhood cleanup days, and Legions says that, typically, if people are being noisy in Carver, they aren’t students. “Officer Felton’s on top of student behavior,” he says. “The police have been fantastic.”

Felton, too, is pleased with the improved relationships between the university and its neighbors.

“They see our department as a resource to help them with a problem, rather than as a problem,” Felton says of Carver and the other neighborhood associations.

Today, dotted with trendy restaurants and elegant brick row houses, Carver is a desirable neighborhood for students, young professionals and longtime residents alike. And along with a new atmosphere is a fresh outlook on relationships between the university and its neighbors.

“I had to develop rapport with the property owners first and get buy-in from community members that we weren’t just paying lip service,” Felton says. “Then, students understand you get to live in some pretty cool neighborhoods, but the trade-off is that they have to develop some neighbor skills.”

New digs on East Broad Street

– Kate Andrews is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

Summer 2017

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THEWORLD

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2018 TRIPS JAN. 20-30 ��������������������������Israel (eight-day trip highlighting rich history and spiritual milestones) FEB. 10-28 ���������������������������Rainforests to Relics (luxury cruise touring rainforests and archaeological sites) FEB. 13-23 ���������������������������Cruising Tahiti and French Polynesia (South Pacific cruise) FEB. 17-25 ���������������������������Amazon River Expedition (Amazon River basin cruise) APRIL 3-11 ���������������������������Amalfi Coast (excursions along the Mediterranean Sea coastline) MAY 1-9 ������������������������������Dutch Waterways (Amsterdam to Antwerp or Antwerp to Amsterdam) MAY 2-10 ����������������������������Timeless Beauties (cruise from Barcelona to Monte Carlo) MAY 9-17 ����������������������������Springtime in Provence, Burgundy and Beaujolais (cruise through France’s wine regions) MAY 14-24 ��������������������������Gems of the Danube (Danube River cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest) JUNE 12-27 ��������������������������Romantic Rhine and Moselle (cruise from Basel to Amsterdam) JUNE 19-27 ��������������������������Reims (highlighting France’s Champagne country) JUNE 27-JULY 5 ��������������������Odyssey of Ancient Civilizations (cruise from Venice to Athens) SEPT. 5-14 ���������������������������Symphony on the Blue Danube (custom-designed, music-themed journey) SEPT. 8-16 ���������������������������Spain-Basque Country (cultural excursions and lectures) SEPT. 16-24 �������������������������Wines of the Pacific Northwest (cruise from Portland to Clarkston) SEPT. 30-OCT. 11 �����������������Wonders of Peru (featuring an Amazon cruise) OCT. 13-24 ��������������������������Glorious Greece (luxury cruise touring Grecian islands)

ALUMNISUPPORT

A gift for giving Alumna dedicates her time, talent and treasures to the university that changed her life

Photo Jay Paul

By Julie Young

S

tephanie Lawson Holt (B.S.’74/E) was born in the Red House community south of Appomattox, Virginia, in a county so rural it didn’t even have a stoplight. She spent her formative years in Richmond, graduating from Huguenot High School but returned to her rustic, conservative roots to study education at Longwood College. “It wasn’t what I anticipated,” she says. “It was past conservative. They were living in the ’50s.”

Holt’s goal was to teach business education in a diverse urban setting, which made transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University an easy decision. The university “changed my whole life,” she says. “It opened up so many avenues for me.

I met so many diverse people — just a wonderful experience. From 1972 to ’74, you had the civil rights movement, Vietnam War protests, the feminist movement.

I remember going to rallies in Monroe Park. [It] totally changed my whole outlook on everything.”

In the 43 years since graduating from VCU, Holt has remained closely aligned with her alma mater as a Life member of VCU Alumni and as president of its Education Alumni Council and as a member of the Friends of VCU Libraries board, the VCU Monroe Scholars Book Award Committee and the VCU Alumni Board of Governors. She’s on campus an average of three days a week for meetings and special events. “People ask me if I work here,” she says, laughing.

Last fall, Holt donated $112,000 to support student scholarship in the School of Education. A $27,500 pledge established an endowed scholarship and a planned gift of $85,000 will eventually increase the endowment. The Stephanie, Rebecca and Norris Holt Scholarship will be awarded annually to an undergraduate or graduate student who plans to pursue a career in urban secondary public education.

The name honors her late father and her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

“Stephanie has been incredibly generous with the School of Education, not only financially but through the gift of time,” says Andrew P. Daire, Ph.D., dean of the School of Education. “We are very grateful for her dedication to the school and our mission.”

Holt also has made outright and planned gifts to VCU Libraries and the Institute for Contemporary Art. Her gift to education, she says, underscores her caring for inner-city high school students, who she knows from experience can thrive under a skilled, inspirational teacher.

After graduating from VCU, Holt taught at John F. Kennedy High School in Richmond’s East End and later at the city’s George Wythe High School. “I taught for five years, but I just decided that I didn’t want to be in the classroom for the rest of my life,” she says. “I loved my students, but I just got too emotionally involved.”

Administrative work didn’t interest her, so she left teaching for a job at Xerox and enjoyed a 32-year career in the corporate world. But education remained a passion — one that originally was sparked in fifth grade by her favorite teacher, the late Virginia Newell (B.S.’52/H&S), for whom a School of Education scholarship is named — and continues to dominate her volunteer activities.

In 2005, Holt was honored as the School of Education’s Alumni Star, a program that recognizes VCU graduates for their career and humanitarian achievements.

“I want to leave a legacy,” Holt says. “I’m fortunate that I’m able to do it.

The greater good can be done by leaving it to a university and helping out young people who just don’t have the same opportunities that you did.”

– Julie Young is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

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F A M I L Y L E G A C Y

Roads well-traveled

THREE GENERATIONS OF THE McCAULEY FAMILY HIGHLIGHT THE FLEXIBILITY OF A VCU EDUCATION

A

two-sport athlete at Richmond Professional Institute, one of Virginia Commonwealth University’s predecessor institutions, Willis McCauley (B.S.’54/B) could be found at the end of each day in one of two places. During basketball or baseball season, if the team finished up late, he would crash on a friend’s couch near campus. On most other days, however, he could be spotted thumbing a ride to his home in Hanover County, Virginia, roughly 20 miles northwest of campus, a stack of books in hand.

His son Larry (B.S.’91/B) and daughter-inlaw Michele (B.A.’91/H&S) both commuted while they were students, as does their eldest daughter Kelsey, a current VCU student, though they’ve had the benefit of their own modes of transportation.

The fact that each McCauley who has attended VCU has done so while working and juggling myriad personal commitments speaks to the university’s bedrock ability to reach students in nontraditional ways and to allow them to dovetail their college experience with their everyday lives. For example, in addition to playing sports, Willis worked in the RPI bookstore while he was a business student. Larry worked for an electrical contractor and umpired Little League baseball

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VCU Alumni

while studying business. Michele worked in retail as she shifted her focus from biology to psychology, and Kelsey balances a sociology course load with a job as a sourcing specialist, while also finding time to teach dance to kids and to take dance classes at the Richmond Dance Center in nearby Henrico. In each instance, that diversity of experience afforded them opportunities to find their own path.

“VCU is unique in that it provides a traditional college experience or a nontraditional college experience. You can literally ‘choose your own adventure,’” Michele says. “I think what made it work for me was the urban campus, the diversity and the flexibility it provided so I could work and go to school at the same time.”

That flexibility was what ultimately drove Willis into his chosen field as well.

“Like a lot of students, I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Willis recalls. “That’s one of the main reasons I went into the business department and encouraged Larry to do the same, because more than likely, you’re going to be working for somebody and you can use what you took in college in the workforce.”

It was good advice, Larry says, although the process ended up being reversed slightly in his case, as it took being in the workforce to jump-start his desire to be in college.

“I didn’t get a good start,” Larry admits, adding that with all his other pursuits, his grades suffered to the point of having to take a break from school and take a full-time job.

“That was just the break I needed, personally.

It made me realize that I needed my education.

After that, I started again with a completely different perspective.”

It’s a path not unlike that followed by his father, who started as a business major, switched to distributive education and then later switched back to business; his wife, who used her switch from pre-med to psychology to inform her work in human resources and to advance in her career quickly after graduation; or his daughter, who also found herself needing to take a break early on in her college experience — not to pin down

Photo Tom Kojcsich, University Marketing

BY ANDY BATES

The McCauleys: Kelsey (left), Willis, Michelle and Larry

what she wanted to study but to find the right place in which to pursue it.

“I originally attended a smaller university in Virginia, but quickly realized it wasn’t the right place for me,” she says. “As soon as I got home, I called VCU. Now, I love having the ability to live at home and attend a school that is right for me while still continuing to do the things I love with the people I know and love, so I really do get the best of both worlds.”

And, as her parents and grandfather would contend, the best of both worlds can often be found in the connections that bridge the two.

So, while Larry and Michele did not meet on campus but by chance while both of their families were vacationing in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, the fact that they both attended the same school helped them to keep that relationship going. Fittingly, Larry proposed before a night class they were both taking and the two married during winter break.

Similarly, when Willis thinks about his college experience, it doesn’t just live in the past while he was student. It lives in the bonds forged during that time — bonds strong enough to compel he and more than a dozen classmates

to begin getting together every year all up and down the East Coast, from Charleston, S.C., to Niagara Falls, nearly four decades after they all graduated.

“I met a lot of people I wouldn’t have had the chance to meet had I not gone to college,” Willis says. “And the fact that we were able to reconnect just rekindled that closeness we shared, which was a very important part of it all for me.”

– Andy Bates is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

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ALUMNICONNECTIONS VCU Alumni Month ramps up Ram pride Throughout the month of April, alumni returned to campus to connect with old friends and classmates and to enjoy a variety of events. In addition to lectures, performances and programs held on campus, alumni were treated to various outings to enjoy their time in the city.

The RPI Alumni Council dedicated the RPI History Wall on April 7 at the University Student Commons. The exhibit includes photos and commentary highlighting significant milestones in Richmond Professional Institute’s history from its inception in 1917 to its merger in 1968 with the Medical College of Virginia to form VCU. The second annual Diversity and Inclusion Networking Reception, also held April 7, brought together alumni, students and campus members to recognize, honor and explore opportunities to expand diversity and inclusion at VCU. The seventh annual Monroe Scholars Book and Author Luncheon, held April 26, featured award-winning writer Howard Owen (M.A.’81/H&S), author of the best-selling Willie Black mystery series. Owen spoke about his writing life and signed copies of his thriller, “Grace.” The event raised funds to support the Monroe Scholars Book Award, which provides $1,000 scholarships to award winners who enroll at VCU. Alumni Month ended strong with the April 29 VCU Alumni and Community Bike Ride and Family Fun Fest. The 22-mile bike ride began at the Cary Street Gym and traveled along Route 5 through Varina to the Osborne Boat Landing before returning to campus.

After the ride, cyclists, alumni and community members enjoyed the Family Fun Fest at Cary Street Gym, co-hosted by VCU Alumni and VCU Recreational Sports. The afternoon’s activities included pool games, rock-wall climbing, group exercise classes and giveaways.

Clockwise, from top: Cyclists get ready to hit the road for the VCU Alumni and Community Bike Ride. The RPI History Wall, located in the University Student Commons, chronicles the history of one of VCU’s predecessor institutions. Howard Owen (right) signs copies of his book “Grace” at the Monroe Scholars Book and Author Luncheon.

Rodney A. Harry (B.S.’90/H&S) (left), president of the African-American Alumni Council, and Carl Granderson (B.S.’87/B) enjoy the Diversity and Inclusion Networking Reception. RPI Alumni Council members cut the ribbon on the RPI History Wall.

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VCU Alumni

News, highlights and event photos from VCU Alumni. Stay connected at vcualumni.org.

ALUMNICONNECTIONS

DID YOU KNOW? New groups form around shared interests VCU Alumni has chartered four new groups, offering even more opportunities for members to affiliate around their academic degree or personal interests.

• • • •

New webinars offer alumni career advice VCU Alumni has partnered with Modern Career Advice to bring alumni the latest practical and actionable job search and career management strategies. MCA’s data-driven techniques have helped thousands of working professionals — from recent graduates to managers, directors and vice presidents — land the high-quality job offers they want and advance their careers.

Upcoming webinars are: • Sept. 14 – Job Search Case Studies: Interview Techniques to Win 3x More Offers • Dec. 7 – Why You’re Not Getting Promoted – Even When You Do Everything Right • Feb. 8 – Successfully Negotiate Your Offer Letter/Salary Even if You Think You’re Bad at It Register online to attend a webinar at go.vcu.edu/careerwebinars.

VCU alumni receive free access to live and archived webinars.

The Honors College Alumni Association Information Systems Alumni Association Political Science Alumni Association Jewish Alumni Association

You can affiliate with these groups or with any of the other geographic, academic or shared interest groups. Go to vcualumni.org, click on the “Select your affiliations” button in the top right-hand corner of the page and complete the form. For information on all of VCU Alumni’s constituent organizations, visit vcualumni.org /organizations.

VCU Alumni offers Legacy scholarships Incoming students who are legal children, grandchildren or dependents of current members of VCU Alumni are eligible to apply for legacy scholarships, which honor a family tradition while helping students achieve their educational goals. To apply or to make a gift to these scholarships, visit vcualumni.org/students/scholarships.

Alumni Stars recognizes top grads this fall VCU Alumni will honor its most accomplished alumni Nov. 3 at the 2017 Alumni Stars ceremony. The biennial event recognizes alumni from across the university’s academic units for their remarkable personal and professional achievements. Learn more at vcualumni.org/News/Awards/alumnistars.

Are you following VCU Alumni on Instagram?

If not, you’re missing out on some great alumni stories and photos. Since April, Rams all over the world have shared their lives with us through Instagram takeovers.

So far, we’ve taken a tour of Doha, Qatar, with artist Hadeer Omar (B.F.A.’10/A; M.F.A.’16/A), gone behind the scenes of Ruby Scoops Ice Cream and Sweets with chef Rabia Kamara (B.S.’10/B) (right), explored China with professor Guido Alvarez, Ph.D. (M.F.A.’14/A; Ph.D.’15/H&S), and peeked into the life of marketing director and powerlifter Melicia Limbo (B.S.’09/GPA).

For all of this and more, make sure to like us on social media.

VCU Alumni

@VCUAlumni

@VCUAlumni

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ALUMNICONNECTIONS

R e cap

Reunion

2017 April 7-9

Photo Skip Rowland Photography

Photo 2 School of Dentistry; Photo 3 Skip Rowland Photography; Photo 4 Jaclyn Brown Photography; Photo 5 Julia Rendleman, University Marketing

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MCV Campus Reunion

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3

Alumni returned to campus to connect, celebrate and reflect. Along with general events such as trolley and bus tours of campus and Richmond, a tasting tour of some of the city’s best restaurants and the MCVAA President’s Reception, individual schools filled out the weekend with a variety of activities for their respective alumni.

View more photos: MCVAA events and events and class parties for the schools of Dentistry, Nursing and Pharmacy mcvcampusreunion2017.shutterfly.com School of Medicine class parties and events www.skippix.net/g/som17

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5

1 Alumni enjoy the MCVAA President’s Reception during Reunion Weekend. 2 Members of the School of Dentistry’s Class of 2007 return to campus to reconnect. 3 School of Medicine alumnae flip through the Class of 1982 yearbook.

4 The School of Pharmacy Class of 1967 meets up at a local restaurant to reminisce. 5 School of Nursing Dean Jean Giddens (left) presents the Outstanding Nurse Alumnus Award to Deborah J. Jones, Ph.D. (M.S.'02/N; Ph.D.'07/N).

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VCU Alumni

save the date Reunion 2018 • April 20-22 Visit vcualumni.org/events/reunion for details.

ALUMNICONNECTIONS

RPI Reunion Richmond Professional Institute alumni returned to campus for the annual RPI Reunion, which included a tea party in the Ad Building, the dedication of the RPI History Wall, a cobblestone campus tour and the annual Reunion dinner where members of the Class of 1967 were honored with their 50-year pins.

View more photos: rpialumnireunion2017.shutterfly.com

6 Photo 6 Will Gilbert (B.S.’15/MC); Photos 7, 8 Stephen Salpukas (B.F.A.’85/A; M.F.A.’97/A)

AAAC Reunion VCU Alumni’s African-American Alumni Council Reunion attracted alumni and guests to a various activities held throughout the weekend, including a golf outing, a block party and step show, and the Mentoring Circle Mocktail Party.

The weekend also featured the second annual Diversity and Inclusion Networking Reception and visiting speaker Christine Darden, Ph.D., a retired NASA mathematician who is featured in the movie “Hidden Figures.”

View more photos: tinyurl.com/AAACReunion2017

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6 Ed Peeples (B.S.’57/E) dons his RPI beanie at the RPI History Wall dedication. 7 Alumnae enjoy catching up at the annual RPI Reunion dinner. 8 Dick Robertson (B.S.’67/MC; H.L.D.’05) welcomes the Class of 1967 to Reunion.

9 Alumni and students network at the Mentoring Circle Mocktail Party. 10 Alumni catch up at the Day Party at The Depot, a new Reunion event. 11 Sigma Gamma Rho alumnae represent at the Block Party.

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Photos 9-11 Will Gilbert (B.S.'15/MC)

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EXCLUSIVE EVENTS

Benefits worth bragging about

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

VCU Alumni members receive exclusive benefits, from insurance discounts to access to on-campus facilities, to career services and ongoing alumni-centered programming. By taking advantage of just a few of these discounts, your membership can pay for itself.

Plus, by registering and creating an account at vcualumni.org/alumni/register, you gain access to member benefits and services available only online.

Here are just some of the benefits of membership: • Free career webinars • Discounts on home and auto insurance through Nationwide • Discounts on hotels and car rentals • Access to online academic and business journals

REGIONAL NETWORKS

• Savings on UPS online shipping and Fios by Verizon See more at vcualumni.org/Benefits/members-benefits.

CLASSNOTES

Can’t wait to see what’s happening with your fellow alumni? View archived and expanded class notes online at vcualumni.org/classnotes.

UPDATES

healthy social opportunities, and as LAM president, he more than doubled the organization’s charitable fund. M

1960s

Charles Copenhaver (M.H.A.’72/AHP) has worked as a hospital administrator for 40 years and is president of the Foundation for a Healthy Carolina.

Mary Lee Boesewetter (B.S.’69/AHP) founded Healing Insight in Ohio, offering holistic occupational therapy and healing through education.

Grace E. Harris, Ph.D. (M.S.W.’60/SW), was named a 2016 Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year.

She retired from VCU in January 2016 after 48 years with the university, where she served as a professor, a provost, a dean and acting president.

Lon Keim, M.D. (B.S.’66/P; M.D.’70/M; H.S.’73/M), works as a staff physician in the Hyperbaric Medicine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

In 2002, he became the first physician in Nebraska to become board certified in hyperbaric medicine and was recertified in 2012. He also was the first physician in Nebraska to be elected to a fellowship in the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. He owns and operates a ranch in north central Nebraska where he plans to retire in 2018. L John Melton, M.D. (M.D.’67/M; H.S.’70/M), retired March 31, 2017, after a 50-year medical career where he specialized in rheumatology. L Sandra Short (B.S.W.’68/SW) retired in 2013 after a 44-year career in social work. Her last position was director of children and family services at Volunteers of America Texas. “I will always be grateful to VCU for my wonderful education in social work. I had a marvelous career and continue now as a volunteer serving the homeless and families in need,” she writes.

1970s Victoria H. Ballantyne, CRNA (Cert.’79/AHP), has retired after 37 years in practice as a nurse anesthetist. She served as a clinician, manager, educator and mentor at Carilion Clinic in Roanoke, Va., and Roanoke Valley Center for Sight in Salem, Va. She also served in leadership roles in the Virginia Association of Nurse Anesthetists. She and her husband live in Williamsburg, Va. Thomas Carrico, M.D. (M.D.’78/M; H.S.’83/M; H.S.’85/M), received the William H. Barney Distinguished Award in October 2016 from the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine for his service to the academy and the larger community. He has worked with the academy for more than 20 years, including serving as chair of the public relations committee, as a delegate for six years to the Medical Society of Virginia, as editor of the LAM Light from 1997-2005 and as president from 2006-07. He also founded the Healthy Teen Initiative in the late 1990s, which sought to provide Lynchburg, Va., youth with safe,

M Member of the alumni association

Isabel Dowrick (B.A.’74/H&S; M.Ed.’92/E) has mostly retired from her work at the University of Richmond as head of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. She works part time for the READ Center teaching adults who want to improve their reading skills. She also is a volunteer mentor for Education for Ministry, a study program of Sewanee: The University of the South, and serves as the coordinator for EfM for the Diocese of Virginia. L Robert Grey (B.S.’73/B) was honored in fall 2016 by the American Bar Association Forum for Construction Law for his commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Grey served as ABA president in 2004-05 and is currently president of the ABA Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. L Darrell Griffin, M.D. (B.S.’71/H&S; M.D.’75/M), retired from Florida State University in December 2015. He continues to work part time with pediatric house staff at the University of Florida residency program in Pensacola, Fla. M Douglas Heritage, M.D. (M.D.’75/M; H.S.’78/M), wrote “My Life as an OB-GYN: A Look Behind the Scenes,” published by Atlantic Publishing in November 2016. M Richard Ledford (B.S.’71/B) retired as resource manager from Packaging Corporation of America after 31 years.

Richard Spinak, M.D. (M.D.’76/M), retired in March 2016 as center medical director at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. M Werner Wieland (B.S.’73/H&S; M.S.’77/H&S) retired in June 2016 as emeritus professor of biological science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. He worked for the commonwealth of Virginia for 37 years, 33 of which he spent at UMW. L

1980s David Baldacci (B.A.’83/H&S), a best-selling author of 34 novels, received the 2017 Literary Lifetime Achievement Award from the Library of Virginia, which recognizes outstanding and long-lasting contributions to literature by an author with Virginia ties.

Rudy Burwell (B.S.’86/H&S), owner of the Northern Virginia-based electrical supplier Encompass Supply, opened the company’s first Richmond, Va., office in January 2017. Encompass, founded in 2013, sells electrical supplies to subcontractors who are building throughout Virginia. L

L Life member of the alumni association

Scott Coyne, M.D. (H.S.’81/M), was named the New York State EMS Physician of Excellence for 2016. The award is presented to a physician who has demonstrated exceptional dedication and experience in the pre-hospital environment.

Stephanie Ferguson, Ph.D. (M.S.’87/N), was appointed to the Committee on Global Health and the Future of the United States by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

The committee seeks to demonstrate the importance of continued investment in global health initiatives to the next presidential administration.

Neil Katz, M.D. (M.D.’85/M), has retired from his role as chief of therapeutics and diagnostic imaging services at the Dayton VA Medical Center in Ohio.

Though continuing to work a couple of days a week, he and his wife, Karin, are enjoying retirement, a new grandchild and a recent move to a loft in downtown Dayton. L Cade Martin (B.G.S.’89/H&S) photographed toys for the movie “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” with advertising agency Deutsch LA for Target.

David Moliterno, M.D. (M.D.’87/M), was named editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions. L Sigmund Seiler, M.D. (M.D.’86/M; H.S.’89/M), teaches at the Osteopathic College at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. His oldest daughter is in the inaugural class at the college, his middle daughter is going into physical therapy and his youngest is a senior at Liberty majoring in global studies. The family has been in Lynchburg for two years.

1990s Matthew Bartholomew, M.D. (B.S.’92/H&S; M.D.’97/M), received the Carnegie Medal, which recognizes individuals who risk their lives to save, or attempt to save, the lives of others. Bartholomew was recognized for saving a woman from drowning in a frozen retention pond in February 2015.

Clary Carleton (Cert.’98/E; M.A.’98/H&S) was named Richmond Public Schools’ 2017 Teacher of the Year. Carleton has been an English teacher at Open High School in Richmond, Va., since 1999.

David Hamilton, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’98/SW), was recognized for outstanding service to the New York State Board for Social Work by the Association of Social Work Boards during its 2016 Annual Meeting of the Delegate Assembly, held in November 2016 in San Diego. Hamilton, executive secretary of the New York State Board for Social Work, was awarded the Glenda McDonald Board Administrator Award for Outstanding Commitment to Social Work Regulatory Board Service.

He was recognized for his years of dedicated service to licensed social workers, the social work board and his supportive leadership within ASWB.

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CLASSNOTES

Donwan Harrell (B.F.A.’92/A), founder and creative director of the New York-based luxury denim line Prps, was featured in The Gap Document, a retrospective magazine published by The Gap that takes a close look at the brand through the eyes of those who have left a lasting mark on the fashion industry.

Amanda Birch (B.S.'92/AHP) joined Westminster Woods on Julington Creek in Jacksonville, Fla., in January 2015 as executive director.

Brian Herrod (B.S.’93/AHP) is a systems solutions executive at Abbott Labs. L Michael L. Huband, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’93/D), was awarded a full fellowship in the American Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics. L

2000s Nathan Burrell (B.S.’04/H&S) was honored by Richmond, Va.’s GRTC Transit System as part of its Black History Month celebration for his more than a decade of service to the James River Parks System and the city of Richmond.

Phoenecia Hill (B.S.’08/MC) was a contributing writer for “The Christ Worker: Devotions for Career and Workplace,” published in November 2016.

Angela Patton (B.S.’00/E) was appointed a White House Champion of Change for extracurricular enrichment for marginalized girls and boys of color.

Patton is CEO of Girls for a Change and has overseen the creation of more than 200 social change projects.

Mark Ryan, M.D. (M.D.’00/M; H.S.’03/M), assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health in the VCU School of Medicine, won the 2017 American Medical Student Association Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence.

Sabrina Scott (B.S.’09/H&S) is completing a yearlong APA-accredited counseling psychology doctoral internship at the VCU Virginia Treatment Center for Children in Richmond, Va.

2010s Victoria Ahmadizadeh (M.F.A.’16/A) and Emily McBride (M.F.A.’16/A) were featured in “Stanislay Libensky Award 2016” at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague.

Andrea Donnelly (M.F.A.’10/A) will exhibit her large-scale textile artwork at the Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, N.C., starting in August 2017.

Jennifer Rajkumar, M.D. (M.D.’12/M), practices family medicine in Gretna, La., and is certified in obesity medicine from the American Board of Obesity Medicine. M Samuel Runko (B.S.’16/B) opened a financial planning practice to help young professionals start their financial journey to reach their goals. M

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VCU Alumni

Darren Rounds (B.S.’16/B) is a certified executive chef and chef instructor at Reynolds Community College in Richmond, Va. M

suppliers and local organizations who support the advancement of the nuclear industry.

Lindsey Saul, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’13/M), was named branch chief of the data and analysis team for the Non-Medical Counseling Program Office in the U.S. Department of Defense.

Fatima Smith (M.S.W.’12/SW), assistant director of sexual and intimate partner violence, stalking and advocacy services at the VCU Wellness Center, was honored as a 2016 Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year.

Faculty and staff Andre Bazemore, M.D., M.P.H., associate clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health in the School of Medicine, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, which sets a global agenda for progress in health care.

Jill Bradford-Shuemaker, senior clinical informaticist at VCU Health, was one of nine selected to receive a national award and scholarship in the field of health care and information technology from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. The award recognizes those who have made outstanding contributions in helping the organization’s mission to improve health through IT. Sonya Clark, chair of the Department of Craft and Material Studies in the School of the Arts, was recognized as one of 10 recipients of the 2016 Anonymous Was a Woman award, which honors female artists 40 and older. The award comes with a $25,000 grant, which Clark will use to benefit the community.

Ginna Cullen, Central Virginia coordinator for the M.I.S. in Interdisciplinary Art Program with the VCU Office of Continuing and Professional Education, was named the Virginia Art Education Association’s 2016-17 Art Educator of the Year for her more than 50 years of service to the art education field.

James Levenson, M.D., professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, co-edited the second edition of “Clinical Manual of Psychopharmacology in the Medically Ill.” The new edition provides a comprehensive practical guide to the prescription of psychotropic medications and addresses the prevalence of psychiatric illness in patients with serious medical issues.

Marsha Rappley, M.D., CEO of the VCU Health System and vice president of VCU Health Sciences, has been named chair of the board of directors for the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Marriages Jason A. Cecil (M.H.A.’01/A) L married Keith Warren on Oct. 22, 2016, at All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta.

Michelle Johnson-Brown (B.S.’95/B) L married Laurie (Abdelmageed) Johnson-Brown, Ph.D., on Dec. 31, 2016.

Veronica McKinney (B.A.’97/H&S) L married George Collins in September 2016. The couple lives in Seattle, where she works for the Renton School District.

Ashley Woodward (B.A.’09/H&S) L married Joshua Boyles on June 27, 2015.

Births Tara Tench (M.Ed.’04/E; Cert.’04/E) welcomed son, Bryce, on Sept. 12, 2016. She also has a daughter, Lacy, who was born May 22, 2015.

Nicole O-Pries (M.S.W.’04/SW) and Lindsey O-Pries welcomed Zora Ethel Suzanne on Feb. 2, 2016. Zora weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces.

Cecil B. Drain, Ph.D., dean of the School of Allied Health Professions, released the seventh edition of his textbook, “Drain’s PeriAnesthesia Nursing, A Critical Care Approach,” which provides comprehensive clinical content for perianesthesia nurses.

IN MEMORIAM

Antonio Garcia, director of jazz studies in the Department of Music in the School of the Arts, published “Jazz Improvisation: Practical Approaches to Grading,” which addresses how teachers and professors can grade jazz improvisation courses due to the style’s personal and amorphous nature.

Jessie Jeffers Landmesser (B.S.’39/N), of Searsport, Maine, Dec. 19, 2016. L

Sama Bilbao y León, Ph.D., associate professor and director of nuclear engineering programs in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering in the School of Engineering, was named chair of the Virginia Nuclear Engineering Consortium. The consortium represents nuclear energy companies,

1930s 1940s Audrey M. Bohlken (B.S.’49/AHP), of Indianola, Iowa, March 5, 2017.

Marjorie Farley Bruce (B.S.’48/H&S; M.Ed.’74/E), of Richmond, Va., April 16, 2015.

C. Whitney Caulkins Jr., M.D. (M.D.’47/M; H.S.’55/M), of Waynesboro, Va., Jan. 20, 2016. M

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

Martha S. Cleveland (’42/St.P), of Farmville, Va., Sept. 24, 2016. L Emma Sanford Eaves (Dipl.’42/St.P), of Washington, D.C., Aug. 16, 2016. M Paul Spiro Gotses, M.D. (M.D.’45/M), of Fairmont, W.Va., Sept. 26, 2016.

James A. Harrell Sr., D.D.S. (D.D.S.’45/D), of Elkin, N.C., March 6, 2017. L

in Want to jo n 7,000 a th re o the m ho call alumni w e? ms for Lif a R s e themselv r membership you Upgrade day at to Life to /join. org i. n vcualum

The following alumni and friends have made a lifetime commitment to VCU by becoming Life members of VCU Alumni. Thank you!

The list includes individuals who joined VCU Alumni as Life members between July 1, 2016, and Feb. 1, 2017.

Myrtle Mae Harris (B.S.’47/N), of Mechanicsville, Va., Dec. 6, 2016.

Mac Johnson Hough, M.D. (M.D.’45/M), of Mooresville, N.C., Jan. 1, 2016.

Jerome Imburg, M.D. (M.D.’47/M), of Henrico, Va., Jan. 6, 2017.

Fred C. Jones, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’45/D), of Phoenix, Dec. 6, 2007.

John William Jordan III (B.S.’49/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 21, 2017. L Nelson Darrow Large, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’46/D), of Manassas, Va., Feb. 27, 2017. L Norman Wilbur Littleton, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’49/D), of Henrico, Va., Dec. 28, 2016.

Charles Antony Moses (B.S.’48/P), of Glen Allen, Va., Aug. 11, 2016. L Cornelia Nye Mowry (Cert.’46), of Hayes, Va., March 13, 2017.

Mae Dell Pitts (Dipl.’45/St.P), of Washington, D.C., June 6, 2016.

Mageswari Babu Ahsley R. Bacon-Ward Donald Wayne Berkeley Sandra J. Beverage William Rudolph Beverley IV Amanda Edwards Birch Carol J. Blair Diane F. Brasington James and Estelle Brodeur Breonne S. Brooks Dr. Emily C. Cahoon Robin S. Chavis Betty L. Conner Dr. Joice E. Conyers and Dr. Charles C. Conyers Dr. Douglas E. Cook and Dr. Cherie E. Scheer Ryan Dale Costa Rev. Shawn L. Dandridge Sr.

Stephanie A. Davis Cintra Davis LaKeisha L. Doman Brian F. Duross Jr. Andrew M. Franzyshen Timothy R. Fritts Dr. Robin E. Graham Brittany Gray James R. Gregory Dr. LaToya Griffin-Thomas Paul E. and Kendra C. Harvey Gianni S. Hayes Ronijean Horton Dorcille Magdalene Jernigan Michelle F. Johnson-Brown Ann W. Jones Ashley L. Land Cecil Lee Lintecum Jr. Diane M. Marks

John Lockwood Mashack Faith Mason-Bettis Beth Abruzese Mason Richard G. Mason Joseph W. McCullough Lori L. McLean Sandra B. Morton Andrea D. Nevers Joyce B. Oandasan Dr. Gwedolyn D. Perkins Kevin R. Plantan Teresa Hubbard Powers Kemberly Liles Rainney Michael Alan Rancka Jr. Eriza Robinson Freddie W. Robinson Jr. Hillary Sarich Dr. Charles A. Semones Keshawn C. Simmons

Dr. Richard H. Singleton Lauren Oltermann Smith Novin Sornapandi Jamie M. Stillman Dr. Kenneth E. Stoner Louis P. Szollosy Jr. Dr. Donna Maria Tapp-Reid Charles W. Townes Jr. Lena A. Townes Kendal H. Washington White Laurie D. Washington Dr. Christopher C. Webb Donald P. Whitley Jr. Andrea M. Wiegner Habibah D. Williams Dr. Charles John Winters

Lila Holden Shotwell (B.S.’48/N), of Richmond, Va., March 10, 2017.

Russell Edward Simpson Jr. (B.S.’47/P), of Virginia Beach, Va., Nov. 2, 2016.

John Lemuel Thornton III, M.D. (M.D.’49/M; H.S.’54/M), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 2, 2016. L Alice Virginia Thorpe, M.D. (M.D.’49/M; H.S.’53/M), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 18, 2016.

Gordon Lee Townsend, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’46/D; H.S.’47/D), of Dunn, N.C., Feb. 28, 2017. L Robert Palmer Trice, M.D. (M.D.’44/M; H.S.’45/M), of Richmond, Va., Oct. 1, 2016.

Katherine Hare Tucci (B.S.’43/N), of Charleston, W.Va., Nov. 30, 2016. L Marguerite B. Turner (B.S.’41/H&S), of Henrico, Va., Nov. 10, 2016.

Joanne Miller Vaughn (B.S.’49/AHP), of Mission, Kan., Nov. 23, 2016.

James G. Walker, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’42/D), of Wayne, Pa., April 22, 2016.

Why I became a Ram for Life “My lifelong loyalty to VCU began when the university adopted me at 17 years old. At that age, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but at the university, I was encouraged and nurtured to live out my dreams and accomplish Mary Kane and Bill Beville more than I ever thought possible.

Whether it’s being involved with the RPI Alumni Council, collaborating with my lifelong friend Dick Robertson (B.S.’67/MC; H.L.D.’05) or contributing to the VCU Athletic Fund, I’ve been involved with the university for the past 60 years. It just seems natural to be a Ram for Life.”

– William “Bill” Beville (B.S.W.’65/SW)

Shirley S. Weiss (M.S.W.’48/SW), of Kingston, Pa., Jan. 14, 2017.

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ALUMNIPROFILE

Port of care Alumna serves aboard the world’s largest private hospital ship

By Sarah Lockwood

B

rittany Blake, D.N.A.P., CRNA (D.N.A.P.’15/AHP), was flipping through a magazine on her flight back to Florida when she came across a reference to Mercy Ships. It was December 2015, and Blake had just received her Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. She had built houses and fed the homeless on mission trips in the past but using her advanced medical training to give back intrigued her.

She applied to the program, and in October 2016, Blake traveled to Benin, West Africa, aboard the Africa Mercy, the world’s largest private hospital ship. Docked at the port of Cotonou, she helped perform anesthesia for free, life-changing surgeries to those in desperate need. The types of patients and surgeries Mercy Ships provide differ depending on which surgeons are volunteering throughout the year. Eye surgery, head and neck surgery, cleft lip and palate repairs, GYN fistula repairs and orthopaedic procedures are among those performed in one of the five operating rooms onboard the ship.

Mercy Ships also offers training for medical professionals from Africa, including surgeons, nurses and advanced-practice providers, to help strengthen the local health care system, effecting change long after the ship leaves that country.

One patient stood out in particular to Blake: an 18-year-old pregnant woman named Amidou who had a grapefruit-sized dental tissue tumor blocking her mouth and progressively blocking her airway.

“She had great difficulty swallowing and was severely malnourished,” Blake says. “Surgeons were able to remove the tumor during a 14-hour surgery and reconstruct the entire left side of her face. Seeing how much of a difference these surgeries make in the lives of patients such as Amidou and seeing their tears of joy from having people want to help was truly life-changing.”

During the two weeks Blake spent aboard the Africa Mercy, she was amazed by the volunteer medical staff and crew of 400.

“When you board the ship, you are struck immediately by the camaraderie and positive energy of the crew,” Blake says. “Everyone is excited for the opportunity to help patients who would otherwise have no way of getting medical care.”

Volunteers hail from 40 countries, filling positions as varied as nurses, doctors, engineers, cooks, IT and HR staff and more.

“I expected to experience more difficulty in communication, but it was a wonderful experience to work with people from so many different cultures,” Blake says. “While we are very different in many ways, our motivation and desire to help heal the hurting is a common bond we share.”

Blake received her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of North Florida in 2009. She’s worked as a certified registered nurse anesthetist at Mayo Clinic Florida in Jacksonville since 2010 and, after receiving her doctorate from VCU, returned to the clinic where she is enjoying her new role as the lead cardiac, thoracic and abdominal transplant CRNA. Whether for her new role at the Mayo Clinic or her Mercy Ships experience, Blake says her VCU education prepared her well.

“VCU gives you the skills necessary to not only survive in a nurse anesthesia position but to thrive in a world where critical-thinking skills are crucial and thinking outside the box is necessary,” Blake says.

These skills led her to a meaningful experience aboard the Africa Mercy. One she will not soon forget.

“Hope is a powerful drug. Mercy Ships provides hope for people who didn’t have any,” she says. “My experience with Mercy Ships has left me feeling truly grateful to be in a position that allows me to help others.

It is a humbling experience that makes you appreciate all the resources we have in America.

“We might not be able to change the world, but we can help change one person’s world, one patient and one surgery at a time.”

– Sarah Lockwood is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

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VCU Alumni

CLASSNOTES Brittany Blake, D.N.A.P., CRNA, aboard the Africa Mercy

1950s Dorothy Jackson Allen (Dipl.’51/St.P), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 29, 2017. L James John Andre, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’57/D), of Glen Allen, Va., Feb. 20, 2017.

Burness F. Ansell Jr., M.D. (M.D.’57/M; H.S.’58/M), of Henrico, Va., Jan. 27, 2017. L Lloyd Douglas Bell (B.M.’55/A), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 16, 2017.

Helen Claire Burkhardt (M.S.W.’54/SW), of Vestal, N.Y., Nov. 19, 2016. M

Photo Mercy Ships, Katie Callow

M Member of the alumni association

Clayton Edward Marr (B.S.’50/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 29, 2017.

William Broaddus Massey Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S.’52/D), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 24, 2016.

Marianne E. McDonald (B.S.’58/AHP), of Richmond, Va., July 1, 2016.

Mary Leah McFee (B.S.’54/AHP), of Spencer, N.C., Feb. 9, 2017.

Peggy A. Miller (Cert.’55/A), of Williamsburg, Va., Sept. 25, 2016.

Anne Everly Minnick (B.S.’57/P), of Timberville, Va., Oct. 4, 2016.

Jane W. Britton (’52/AHP), of Wilmington, Del., March 1, 2017.

Jocelyn Anne D. Mumpower (Dipl.’54/N), of Big Stone Gap, Va., Sept. 13, 2016.

Thomas W. Collins Sr. (B.S.’57/B), of Richmond, Va., Oct. 29, 2016.

George J. Orr, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’52/D), of Marion, Va., Sept. 24, 2016.

John Robert Corder, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’57/D), of Parkersburg, W.Va., Dec. 27, 2016.

Ambrose Donnie Parker Jr. (B.S.’56/B), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 1, 2017.

Leonard Leslie Davis Jr., M.D. (M.D.’54/M), of Portsmouth, Va., Aug. 14, 2016.

Madison R. Price, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’59/D), of Glen Allen, Va., Oct. 9, 2016. L

William Curran Day, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’53/D), of Weems, Va., March 8, 2017.

Richard Baylor Rice (B.S.’58/P), of Midlothian, Va., Feb. 19, 2017.

James Henry Dwyer, M.D. (M.D.’54/M), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 2017. M

Nancy Lee Riley (B.S.’54/N), of Elon, N.C., Feb. 9, 2016.

Rudolph Charles Garber Jr., M.D. (M.D.’54/M; H.S.’64/M), of Sarasota, Fla., Jan. 26, 2017.

Anne S. Rothschild (B.S.’50/B), of Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 14, 2016. M

Hunter M. Gaunt Jr., M.D. (B.S.’53/P; M.D.’57/M; H.S.’62/H), of Winchester, Va., Jan. 8, 2017. L

William B. Russell, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’51/D), of Colonial Heights, Va., Sept. 15, 2016.

Charles M. Haag (B.S.’50/AHP), of Barberton, Ohio, Feb. 15, 2017.

Carolyn Pederson Saxon (Cert.’50/AHP), of Winston-Salem, N.C., Sept. 13, 2016.

John Newton Harman, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’54/D), of Longwood, Fla., Nov. 29, 2016.

Charlotte Broughton Shepard (A.A.’50/A), of Fairfax, Va., Feb. 15, 2017.

Norman Lynwood Hilliard (B.S.’53/P; M.Ed.’70/E), of Glen Allen, Va., Nov. 19, 2016.

Herndon H. Smith (B.S.’53/B), of Hopewell, Va., Sept. 27, 2016.

Betty Amos Holmes (B.S.’52/AHP), of Walker, La., Feb. 10, 2015.

Norma Jean Sorrells (B.S.’50/N), of Houston, Jan. 14, 2017.

Barbara P. James (B.S.’53/H&S), of Fairfax, Va., Sept. 15, 2016.

Helen Cook Stiebel (Dipl.’54/N), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 24, 2016.

William R. Johnson Jr., M.D. (M.D.’53/M), of Bridgewater, Va., Feb. 8, 2016.

Jane R. Trout (B.S.’56/AHP), of Silver Spring, Md., Sept. 18, 2016.

Alan Kleiman (B.F.A.’51/A), of New York City, Dec. 21, 2016.

Richard Bonner Trumbo, M.D. (M.D.’58/M), of Alexandria, Va., Feb. 18, 2017. L

Miriam Wilena Lingo, M.D. (M.D.’51/M; H.S.’54/M), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 1, 2017.

Joyce G. Watkins (B.S.’59/N), of Camden, S.C., Oct. 14, 2016.

Everett C. Lyon Jr., M.D. (B.S.’53/P; M.D.’60/M), of Manassas, Va., Jan. 24, 2017. L

Patrick C. Williams Jr., M.D. (M.D.’58/M), of Anderson, S.C., March 1, 2017.

John B. Markey, M.D. (M.D.’54/M), of Gibsonia, Pa., Dec. 13, 2015.

James Edward Williams (B.S.’50/H&S), of Newport News, Va., Feb. 14, 2016.

L Life member of the alumni association

Summer 2017

45

CLASSNOTES

New releases

Alumni and faculty books Strange cases

Hidden truth

Best intentions

STEVEN MARCUS, M.D.

HOWARD OWEN

JUDY NELSON

In “Medical Toxicology Antidotes and Anecdotes,” Marcus (M.D.’67/M) collects a career’s worth of unusual and challenging cases from his experiences as a medical toxicologist. From blue children to attempted murder, Marcus gives his account of these complex cases in a way that’s perfect for those at an early stage in their medical career.

In “Grace,” the fifth novel in the Willie Black mystery series, Owen (M.A.’81/H&S) follows veteran night cop reporter Willie Black as he unearths the truth behind the disappearances of black youth in the East End of Richmond, Virginia. As he teases out the real story, he manages to antagonize his publisher, the city’s power structure and the police chief while forming a strange alliance with Big Boy Sunday, a dangerous man who exhibits a strong interest in seeing that Willie finds the truth but also wants parts of that truth to remain hidden.

Nelson (M.S.W.’71/SW), an international leadership coach, wrote “Intentional Leadership: Using Strategy in Everything You Do and Say Today” to share the wisdom she gained during her 30 years as a CEO and in other leadership roles. The book presents her philosophy in four parts to address the different areas of leadership that affect an individual’s style and includes personal stories from Nelson’s leadership experiences.

Secret agents EVA DILLON

Author Dillon (B.M.’82/A) chronicles the story of her father and his relationship with a Russian double agent during the Cold War in her book “Spies in the Family: An American Spymaster, His Russian Crown Jewel, and the Friendship That Helped End the Cold War.” With the cooperation of both families and access to archival documents and former FBI and CIA officials involved, Dillon provides part family memoir, part spy-thriller.

Camera ready

46

Conversation starter PAUL GERBER, PH.D.

Gerber, professor emeritus in the VCU School of Education and former Ruth Harris Professor of Dyslexia Studies, published “Ferguson the Forgetful Frog: A Story About Dementia,” a children’s book that serves as a vehicle for discussion and understanding of loved ones with dementia.

PATRICK HARWOOD

Digital coins

In his third book, “Nature-ly Fun! Bird Photography From A to Z,” Hardwood (B.S.’83/MC), a communication professor at South Carolina State University, spotlights bird and nature photography as a fun and healthy hobby. The book contains hundreds of Harwood’s photographs, including those of more than 85 different bird species.

DAVID GOLUMBIA

VCU Alumni

Golumbia, associate professor in the Department of English in the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences, published “The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism.” The book analyzes the underlying politics of the digital currency and its supporters.

Lesson plans JOYCE HURT, PH.D.

Filled with advice from a veteran teacher, “What I Wish I Had Known in 1989: Practical Advice for the Beginning Teacher” collects Hurt’s (Ph.D.’06/E) personal experiences to give new teachers commonsense advice for dealing with the real issues teachers face almost daily in the classroom.

Calling alumni authors Send us your latest novel, mystery thriller, memoir, poetry collection, nonfiction or other published work! Last two years only, please.

Mail to VCU Alumni magazine, Box 842039, Richmond, VA 23284-2039. Please note, works will not be returned.

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

CLASSNOTES

Larry Daryle Worley (B.M.’59/A; M.M.’60/A), of Toccoa, Ga., May 19, 2015.

DRIVINGwithPRIDE

Charles A. Wornom (B.S.’51/P), of Hampton, Va., Feb. 26, 2017.

VCU alumni sport their Ram pride on the road, wherever they go.

1960s Herman W. Allen Jr. (B.S.’67/E), of Henrico, Va., Dec. 22, 2016. M Barbara Sperry Ambrose (B.S.’66/P), of Front Royal, Va., Dec. 17, 2016.

Katherine Robinson Banisch (B.S.’66/SW), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 6, 2017.

Dennis A. Bellone (B.F.A.’66/A), of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Sept. 20, 2016.

John Stanley Belvin Jr. (B.F.A.’68/A), of Elizabeth City, N.C., Nov. 13, 2016.

Opal Tusing Bristow (B.S.’69/H&S; M.S.’72/H&S), of Chesterfield, Va., Nov. 15, 2016.

A Ram fan's rallying cry

Taking Havoc to the streets

PATRICK CAINE (B.S.’87/B)

BRIANA KRACKE (B.S.’15/GPA)

Representing VCU in the Sunshine State

A “Mini Ram” on a Mini Cooper

HARVEY SIEGEL (B.S.’75/MC)

CHARLOTTE RIVERA (B.S.’15/GPA)

Bernice King Brooks (B.S.’67/E; M.Ed.’71/E), of Tappahannock Va., Jan. 8, 2017.

Ann Hubiak Calder (A.S.’61/N), of Virginia Beach, Va., Jan. 6, 2017.

Roger D. Copenhaver Jr., M.D. (M.D.’68/M), of Murphy, N.C., Feb. 24, 2017.

H. Kent Van Duyne, M.D. (M.D.’60/M), of Flemington, N.J., Oct. 24, 2016. L Garland Randolph Ellington Jr. (B.S.’61/B), of Henrico, Va., Jan. 30, 2017.

Harry E. Eney (B.F.A.’63/A; M.F.A.’65/A), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 16, 2017. L Eleanor Cline Garnett (B.S.’62/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 16, 2016.

Bobby G. Holden, M.D. (M.D.’62/M), of Petersburg, Va., Nov. 6, 2016.

Charlotte Mahoney Loving (B.S.’66/N), of Goochland, Va., Feb. 25, 2017.

Francis J. Gillen, M.D. (M.D.’63/M), of New York City, Jan. 20, 2017.

Henry Davis Holland, M.D. (M.D.’66/M; H.S.’70/M), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 9, 2017. M

Frieda Jane Mack (M.F.A.’68/A), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 30, 2016.

Floyd James Glidewell (B.S.’69/H&S), of Chesterfield, Va., March 12, 2017. L

John R. Hubbard, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’60/D), of Gaffney, S.C., Jan. 7, 2017.

Rufus Harry Mewborn Jr. (B.S.’60/P), of Franklin, Va., Sept. 21, 2016.

B. Richard Goldburg, M.D. (M.D.’66/M; H.S.’68/M), of Marion, Ind., Feb. 17, 2017.

Linda M. Hudson (B.S.’62/B), of Woodlawn, Va., Feb. 10, 2017.

Jane Guilford Moser (B.S.’68/B), of Glen Allen, Va., Nov. 23, 2016. L

Phillip James Gosher (B.S.’68/B; M.S.’75/B), of Richmond, Va., Sept. 20, 2016.

Kimlah Larue Hyatt (B.S.’61/B; M.S.’95/AHP), of Henrico, Va., Nov. 22, 2016.

Sylvia Hogan Neely (B.S.’69/SW), of Gastonia, N.C., Feb. 27, 2017.

Charles E. Green III (B.S.’66/P), of Lynchburg, Va., Jan. 10, 2017. L

Charles Phillip Joyce (B.S.’66/MC), of Staunton, Va., Dec. 11, 2015.

Charles Frederick Neurohr II (B.S.’67/MC), of Powhatan, Va., Jan. 11, 2017. L

Norman Eugene Hall (’62/B), of Trenton, Tenn., Dec. 15, 2016.

George Edward Kellam (B.S.’63/P), of Biloxi, Miss., March 8, 2017.

Cecile Etiennette Noble (B.S.’66/E), of Henrico, Va., Jan. 14, 2017.

Robert R. Harrell III, M.D. (M.D.’65/M; H.S.’66/M), of Suffolk, Va., Nov. 13, 2016.

Charles Richard Killingsworth, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’63/D), of Loomis, Calif., July 30, 2015.

Ann Whitmore Northington (B.F.A.’69/A), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 14, 2017.

Beverly J. Hawkins (B.F.A.’60/A), of Church Road, Va., Feb. 6, 2015.

Joyce Anne Laine (B.S.’62/N), of Fredericksburg, Va., Nov. 6, 2016.

Sally C. Owensby (B.S.’64/N), of San Francisco, Sept. 26, 2016.

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

Summer 2017

47

ALUMNIPROFILE

Changing gears Executive director finds his niche in the nonprofit world

By Janet Showalter

L

uke Buckovich (B.S.’08/B) was taking in the view of Richmond’s skyline from one of his favorite spots in Church Hill when he made a life-changing vow.

“I had just turned 27 and realized I wanted to do something with a little more substance behind it,” he says. “I wanted to make a positive impact on the city I love.”

Two years later, he left his job as a sales rep to become director of business advancement for UnBound RVA. The Richmond, Virginia-based nonprofit connects high-potential individuals from low-income communities to the resources, training and support they need to successfully launch their own businesses.

“It was a no-brainer joining UnBound,” says Buckovich, who was named executive director in May 2016. “Knowing we are helping someone fulfill their dreams is an incredible feeling. It makes you feel pretty awesome.”

Buckovich had no aspirations to lead a nonprofit. He didn’t even know that UnBound existed until he met the organization’s founders, Richard Luck and Sarah Mullens, through a networking event. The three became friends, and Buckovich began volunteering with the group. He joined the paid staff in July 2015.

“Running a nonprofit was never on my radar,” he says. “But now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

With a full-time staff of five, UnBound accepts a small group of entrepreneurs into each of its annual workshops. The first session was held in April 2014, and since then UnBound has helped launch seven small businesses, with five more in the process of launching. The startups have been varied, from a construction cleanup service to an auto detailing venture.

“I tried twice before to start my own business but failed,” says Royal McCargo, owner of 1010 Post Construction. “UnBound has been a life-changer. They are a huge part of my success. Luke’s passion makes it all possible. It’s not a job to him. He’s made it a part of who he is.”

Under Buckovich’s leadership, UnBound provides six months of training and six months of support to help entrepreneurs succeed. Participants learn about personal

48

VCU Alumni

branding, leadership development, developing business plans, marketing, sales and financing. After the business opens, Buckovich and his staff offer support and guidance.

“Starting a business is not an easy undertaking,” he says. “We want to be there for them every step of the way.”

Growing up in Mechanicsville, Virginia, Buckovich admits he never understood the realities that face the underserved. He didn’t regularly socialize with students from diverse areas until he joined a community basketball team in high school.

“I realized that in many ways all kids are the same,” he says. “We all watch the same movies and listen to the same music. The difference is I had more access to opportunities because of where I grew up. That realization definitely changed my perspective.”

VCU also influenced who he would become.

“VCU has such a diverse student population,” he says. “You experience so much there. My time at VCU helped prepare me for just about anything by giving me the confidence I need to take on any challenge.”

Still, by the time he graduated, his top priority was himself.

“As a 22-year-old, I was focused on achieving my own personal success,” he says.

“That quickly changed to doing something that has a positive impact on the greater good.”

Buckovich, who lives in the Fan with his wife, Morgan, and baby daughter, Lennon, plans to stay in the nonprofit world and continue working to make Richmond a better place for everyone, no matter which neighborhood they call home.

“The world is not what’s going on in your own little bubble,” he says. “There’s a bigger picture out there. Everyone should have equal access to opportunity. I’m so proud to be part of that effort.”

– Janet Showalter (B.S.’87/MC) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

Photo Will Gilbert (B.S.‘15/MC)

CLASSNOTES

Thomas Wayne Riley, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’68/D), of Summerville, S.C., March 3, 2017.

Brenda Galloway Cunningham (B.S.’79/B), of Petersburg, Va., Oct. 5, 2016.

Barbara Ann Maynard (B.S.’79/E), of Biloxi, Miss., Jan. 9, 2017.

Ira Rosenberg (B.S.’60/P), of Charleston, S.C., Jan. 21, 2017.

William Henry Dawson Jr. (B.S.’74/H&S), of Heathsville, Va., Jan. 31, 2017.

James Carl McGonagil (B.S.’77/B), of Panama City, Fla., Dec. 2, 2016.

Edward L. Rothgeb (B.S.’66/H&S), of Shipman, Va., Oct. 5, 2016.

Christopher K. Davis, M.D. (M.D.’76/M), of Moultrie, Ga., Sept. 16, 2016.

Mary Anthony Menting (M.H.A.’71/AHP), of Merrill, Wis., Feb. 9, 2017.

Carol Britton Smith (B.S.’65/B), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 26, 2016.

Patricia A. Dzitko (B.S.’72/MC), of Manchester Township, N.J., Sept. 1, 2015.

Marion Florence Moak (M.Ed.’70/E), of Henrico, Va., Dec. 4, 2016.

Pete L. Stephens, M.D. (M.D.’62/M), of Bluffton, S.C., Sept. 10, 2016.

John A. Fagot Jr. (B.S.’74/B), of Naples, Fla., Jan. 13, 2017.

Donald L. Moore (B.S.’71/B), of Virginia Beach, Va., Jan. 11, 2017.

Geraldine B. Story (M.S.’67/B), of Richmond, Va., Sept. 13, 2016.

Joan Marie Ferriter (B.S.’73/N), of Rockville, Va., Feb. 16, 2017.

Frank Michael Nolte (B.S.’75/B), of Norfolk, Va., Feb. 7, 2017.

Jimmy Ray Stuart (B.S.’62/B), of Roanoke, Va., Sept. 23, 2016.

Mark Elliot Fetter (B.A.’73/H&S), of Henrico, Va., Jan. 1, 2017.

June Carol Stubbins (M.S.W.’68/SW), of Midlothian, Va., Nov. 23, 2016.

Deborah Lynne Pickett (B.S.’75/E), of Victorville, Calif., Jan. 20, 2017.

William G. FiGart (B.S.’73/E), of Roanoke, Va., July 31, 2015.

Rose Marie Suyes (B.S.’61/P), Deltaville, Va., Jan. 13, 2017. L

Velma Scaife Foster (B.S.’78/MC), of Hampton, Va., Feb. 12, 2017.

James Hunter Talbott (B.S.’61/H&S), of Mount Sidney, Va., Nov. 13, 2016. L

Sharon Gwen Garnett (B.F.A.’72/A), of Mechanicsville, Va., Feb. 4, 2017.

Peggy P. Tanner (B.S.’60/N), of Kinston, N.C., Sept. 1, 2016. M

Sarah Jacqueline Gilliam (B.S.’75/E), of Pound, Va., Dec. 12, 2016.

Charles Bodeker Thomas (B.S.’61/P), of Norfolk, Va., Feb. 2, 2017.

Thomas Theodore Vest (B.S.’66/B), of Cape Coral, Fla., Feb. 22, 2017.

John Robert Wenger Jr., M.D. (M.D.’62/M), of Bedford, Va., Nov. 11, 2016.

Adele M. Glensky (B.S.’74/AHP), of Aubrey, Texas, July 16, 2016.

Charles R. Hall (B.S.’76/P), of Virginia Beach, Va., Nov. 7, 2016. L

David Bruce Pincus, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’76/D; M.B.A.’95/B), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 2017.

Christopher Bruce Powers (M.S.’79/B), of Chicago, Dec. 28, 2016.

Alice E. Pyles, M.D. (B.S.’72/H&S; M.D.’79/M; H.S.’82/M), of Aylett, Va., Jan. 4, 2017.

Julien Gantling Randolph Sr. (B.S.’79/B), of Alexandria, Va., Feb. 14, 2017.

Roscoe Charles Roe Jr. (B.S.’73/GPA), of Chesterfield, Va., Feb. 3, 2017.

Candace C. Seward (B.S.’70/B), of Wimauma, Fla., Nov. 27, 2016.

Philip Dennis Heim (B.S.’72/H&S; M.S.’77/H&S), of Fredericksburg, Va., Feb. 8, 2017.

Jimmy Bernard Sheats, D.D.S. (H.S.’76/D), of Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2017.

George Edwin Henderson (M.S.’79/B), of Chester, Va., Jan. 4, 2017.

Donald R. Shinn (B.S.’79/B; B.S.’82/B), of Colonial Beach, Va., Jan. 13, 2017.

Rickey P. Hicks, Ph.D. (B.S.’77/H&S; Ph.D.’85/H&S), of Evans, Ga., Jan. 7, 2017.

Robert Worthington-Nunnally Smith (B.S.’70/B), of Petersburg, Va., Nov. 3, 2016. L

Stephen M. Huddle (M.S.W.’74/SW), of Norfolk, Va., Feb. 11, 2017.

William T. Smith (M.S.W.’74/SW), of San Marcos, Calif., Jan. 1, 2017.

Sandra Young Hughes (B.A.’73/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 24, 2017.

Sandra Russell Speer (M.Ed.’73/E), of Chesterfield, Va., Feb. 12, 2017.

Joel A. Imburg (B.S.’74/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 16, 2017.

David Michael Trop, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’76/D), of Virginia Beach, Va., May 1, 2016.

Herbert Donald Jones II (B.S.’78/P), of Haysi, Va., Jan. 1, 2017.

Thomas Leroy Tucker (M.Ed.’76/E), of Henrico, Va., Dec. 10, 2016.

Douglas V. Carson Sr. (B.S.’74/B), of Chesapeake, Va., Oct. 15, 2016.

Natalie Frances Justa (M.Ed.’78/E), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 7, 2017.

Bettie Wootten Tussey (B.S.’75/B), of Midlothian, Va., Jan. 15, 2017. L

Donald Thomas Cashion, M.D. (M.D.’74/M; H.S.’77/M), of Virginia Beach, Va., Oct. 9, 2016.

Howard M. Lebow, M.D. (M.D.’77/M), of Chambersburg, Pa., March 5, 2017.

Joan Wynn Twombly (B.S.’75/N), of Manakin-Sabot, Va., Nov. 11, 2016.

Alan H. Confer (M.B.A.’79/B), of Port St. Lucie, Fla., Oct. 2, 2016.

Betty M. Marsh (M.Ed.’73/E), of Richmond, Va., Oct. 10, 2016.

Robert Lee Vanarsdall Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S.’70/D), of Villanova, Pa., Jan. 1, 2017.

Susan Gibbs Cumbey (M.Ed.’79/E), of Moseley, Va., Nov. 16, 2016.

Doris Peeples Mason (M.S.’76/B), of Yorktown, Va., Nov. 26, 2016.

Robert Lewis Via (M.H.A.’72/AHP), of Jasper, Ga., Jan. 20, 2017.

Cabell Garbee Winston Jr. (B.S.’67/E), of Henrico, N.C., Sept. 19, 2016. L John Fennell Wolfe Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S.’63/D; H.S.’71/D), of Ormond Beach, Fla., Dec. 5, 2016.

Ruth G. Woodfin (B.S.’67/N; M.S.’80/N), of Colonial Heights, Va., Aug. 6, 2015. L

1970s John Thomas Binns (B.S.’70/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 16, 2017. L Kimberley Still Boggs, M.D. (B.S.’76/H&S; M.D.’80/M), of Knoxville, Tenn., Dec. 6, 2016.

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

Summer 2017

49

CLASSNOTES

James Joseph Vickery (A.S.’73/En), of Henrico, Va., Jan. 12, 2017.

Judith Baynard Bradford, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’86/SW), of Marblehead, Mass., Feb. 11, 2017.

Branell McRae Harris (B.S.’85/H&S), of Leesburg, Va., Oct. 7, 2016.

Ronald Lee Walker (B.S.’72/E), of Colonial Heights, Va., Jan. 21, 2017.

Jennifer Lee Cantrell (B.F.A.’87/A), of Manquin, Va., Jan. 18, 2017.

Cheryl Nikita Ivey (B.S.’81/B), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 9, 2016. L

Wyatt Wilson Wall Jr. (M.B.A.’78/B), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 28, 2017.

Barbara A. Chatfield, M.D. (M.D.’85/M), of Salt Lake City, Oct. 8, 2016.

Roland Lynn Kendrick, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’81/D), of Altavista, Va., Nov. 27, 2016.

Paul Richard Walters (Cert.’70/AHP), of Two Harbors, Minn., Jan. 26, 2017.

Betty J. Cochran (B.G.S.’80/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 26, 2017.

Jacob Lloyd Kimbro (B.F.A.’88/A), of New York City, of Feb. 1, 2017.

Ruth Hill Watkins (M.Ed.’75/E), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 26, 2016. L

John Horace Dawson (M.Ed.’80/E), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 8, 2017.

Jean Ann Makena Marangu, M.D. (M.D.’87/M), of San Clemente, Calif., Sept. 20, 2015.

Barbara F. Weinstock (M.S.W.’79/SW), of Columbia, Mo., Oct. 20, 2016.

Helen Dent-Solomon (B.S.’80/H&S), of Bridgewater, N.J., Sept. 27, 2016.

Robert S. Moreland, M.D., Ph.D. (Ph.D.’82/M), of Moorestown, N.J., Sept. 15, 2016.

Carson E. Wiedeman, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’76/D), of The Villages, Fla., Oct. 21, 2016.

Spencer Hardy Elmore (Cert.’84/B), of Richmond, Va., Sept. 12, 2016.

William Richard Morgan (B.S.’86/B), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 24, 2016.

Mark Enloe Williams, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’75/D), of Wytheville, Va., Nov. 17, 2016.

John E. Ely (B.S.’84/H&S), of Midlothian, Va., Nov. 16, 2016.

Doris Jones Moser (M.S.’89/E), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 20, 2016.

1980s

Robert Bruce Evans, M.D. (M.D.’87/M; H.S.’90/M), Marion, Va., Feb. 17, 2017.

John F. Peck III (M.S.W.’87/SW), of Fountain Hills, Ariz., June 8, 2016.

Bradley D. Adams (B.S.’88/B; M.B.A.’99/B), of Midlothian, Va., Feb. 11, 2017.

James E. Flinn (M.S.’87/AHP), of Fresno, Calif., June 6, 2015.

Susan Jean Quinnild (B.F.A.’82/A), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 1, 2017.

Michael Everette Bell (M.S.’81/AHP), of St. Augustine, Fla., Feb. 13, 2017.

Nancy Jane Geary (M.S.’85/N), of Yorktown, Va., Aug. 31, 2016.

Randall S. Rosemond, D.D.S. (B.S.’81/H&S; D.D.S.’87/D), of Providence Forge, Va., July 9, 2016.

Dale Louise Birkle, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’82/M), of Bethesda, Md., March 12, 2016.

Wesley Cullen Gibson (B.G.S.’83/H&S), of San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 4, 2016.

Debra Lynn Schaefer (B.F.A.’82/A), of Bethany Beach, Del., Aug. 25, 2016.

James Randal Black (B.A.’83/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 27, 2016.

Dana L. Guarino-Murphey (B.S.’80/E; M.Ed.’90/E), of Monroe, Va., Jan. 1, 2017. L

James M. Stewart (B.S.’81/GPA), of Springfield, Va., Sept. 26, 2016.

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. Associate degree Cert.

Certificate B.A. Bachelor of Arts B.F.A. Bachelor of Fine Arts B.G.S. Bachelor of General Studies B.I.S. Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies B.M. Bachelor of Music B.M.E. Bachelor of Music Education B.S. Bachelor of Science B.S.W. Bachelor of Social Work D.D.S. Doctor of Dental Surgery Dipl. Diploma D.N.A.P. Doctor of Nurse Anesthesia Practice D.P.A. Doctor of Public Administration D.N.P. Doctor of Nursing Practice D.P.T. Doctor of Physical Therapy H.L.D. Doctor of Humane Letters H.S. House Staff M.A. Master of Arts M.Acc. Master of Accountancy M.A.E. Master of Art Education M.B.A. Master of Business Administration M.Bin. Master of Bioinformatics M.D. Doctor of Medicine

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.

50

VCU Alumni

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 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: Vacant MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE CHAIR: Michael D. Whitlow (B.S.’74/MC) OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE CHAIR: Mary Ann Steiner (B.S.’98/B) AUDIT COMMITTEE CHAIR: Linda M. Warren (B.S.’75/B) SECRETARY: Vacant BOARD OF VISITORS REPRESENTATIVE: Vacant VCU PRESIDENT: Michael Rao, Ph.D. (ex-officio) INTERIM VCU VICE PRESIDENT FOR DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS: Ed Grier (ex-officio) Gokhan Yucel (M.S.’02/B; M.B.A.’04/B) AT-LARGE GOVERNORS Joseph E. Becht Jr. (M.B.A.’80/B) Steven B. Brincefield (M.S.’74/B) Aaron R. Gilchrist Jr. (B.S.’03/MC) John Kelly (B.S.’87/H&S) Peter K. Kennedy (M.H.A.’10/AHP) Kelly Knight (M.S.’08/H&S)

Kenneth W. Kolb, Pharm. D. (Pharm.D.’82/P), Riding Rams Adele McClure (B.S.'11/B) Jibran Muhammad (B.A.'06/H&S) Timmy Nguyen (B.S.’11/B) Cathy Saunders (B.S.W.’76/SW; M.S.’82/AHP) Paula B. Saxby, Ph.D. (M.S.’85/N; Ph.D.’92/N) Vickie M. Snead (B.S.’76/B) Gabriel A. Walker (B.S.’10/B) CONSTITUENT SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES Michael Adu-Gyamfi (B.S.’08/B; M.B.A.’13/B), DMV GOLD Chapter Fabiola Argandona (B.S.’16/B), Information Systems Alumni Association Steven Burkarth (B.A.’14/H&S), Political Science Alumni Society Katie Buzby (B.S.’10/B), Charleston Chapter Joe Damico (M.P.A.’97/H&S), M.P.A. Alumni Association Juliet Daniels (B.S.W.’13/SW), Lynchburg Chapter Quynh Do (B.S.’01/H&S; M.P.H.’05/M), Public Health Alumni Association Todd Emerson (B.A.’93/H&S), Seattle Chapter Maria-Cristina Gavilan (B.A.’12/H&S), Latino Alumni Council Billy Gifford (B.S.’92/B), Accounting Alumni Association Andrew Hobson (B.S.’12/En), Engineering Alumni Association Jennifer Homer (B.F.A.’96/A), Portland Chapter Igor Jekauc (B.S.’01/H&S; B.S.’01/En; M.B.A.’04/B), Dallas Chapter Saif Khan (B.A.'07/H&S), Military Veterans Alumni Council Joseph Lowenthal (B.F.A.’55/A), RPI Alumni Council Andrew Merchant (B.S.’06/B), Hampton Roads Chapter

Skye Mullarkey (B.S.’09/H&S), Atlanta Chapter Jessa Nelson (B.S.’10/MC) and Michael Hughes (B.A.’03/H&S), Triangle, N.C., Chapter Pejmon Noor (B.S.’11/B), Philadelphia Chapter Kimberly M. Ogden, D.Ed. (B.A.’94/H&S; M.Ed.’10/E; D.Ed.’14/E), Education Alumni Council Mason Packard (B.S.’04/B), Charlotte Chapter Michelle R. Peace, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’05/M), MCV Alumni Association of VCU David Phan (B.S.’06/B), St. Louis Chapter Carol M. Schall, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’03/E), Rainbow Rams John Jay Schwartz (B.S.’69/B), Jewish Alumni Association Paul Seward (B.F.A.’96/A), Austin Chapter Frank Shortall (M.B.A.’99/B), Business Alumni Society Joseph R. Stemmle (B.S.’13/B), RVA GOLD Chapter Laura E. Tanger (B.F.A.’91/A), Los Angeles Chapter Michelle Turner (B.S.’93/H&S), New York City Chapter Steve Tzikas (B.S.’09/GPA), San Francisco Chapter Latonya Waller (B.S.’01/H&S; M.T.'01/E), African-American Alumni Council UNIVERSITY ORGANIZATION REPRESENTATIVES Shawn Hakim, Graduate Student Association president (ex-officio) Lionel Bacon (B.G.S.'90/H&S; M.I.S.'94/H&S), VCU Athletics (ex-officio) Holly Alford (M.F.A.'97/A), Faculty Senate (ex-officio) Ethan Scholl, STAT president (ex-officio) Destinee’ Moragne, Joint Student Government Council president (ex-officio)

Just like you, we stand for something bigger.

The connections you make in college help you move forward with your life. Our connections make us more than just a business, but rather a company that cares.

To learn more about our partnership, call 1-888-231-4870 or visit nationwide.com/VCUAlumni

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Products underwritten by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and Affiliated Companies. Home Office: Columbus, OH 43215. Subject to underwriting guidelines, review, and approval. Products and discounts not available to all persons in all states. Nationwide and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. © 2017 Nationwide AFC-0287AO (6/17)

Summer 2017

51

CLASSNOTES

William A. Stickle (Cert.’84/AHP), of Kill Devil Hills, N.C., Oct. 3, 2016.

Damon Leon Igou (M.B.A.’95/B), of Montpelier, Va., Nov. 29, 2016.

Michelle L. Thompson (B.S.’87/B), of Champlain, Va., April 26, 2016.

Ronald Dean Morgan (B.G.S.’93/H&S), of North Chesterfield, Va., Feb. 2, 2017.

David Lee Turosak (B.S.’82/B), of Rochester, Minn., Jan. 20, 2016.

Marc Allen Rozner, M.D. (M.D.’90/M; H.S.’91/M), of Houston, Jan. 9, 2017.

Katherine Marie Virden (M.A.E.’80/A), of Marion, Iowa, Sept. 3, 2016.

Lenetta F. Schools (M.P.A.’96/GPA; Cert.’93/GPA), of Fredericksburg, Va., Sept. 27, 2016.

Jonathan J. Weakley (B.S.’81/E), of Richmond, Va., Oct. 15, 2016.

Thomas Gillam Whedbee III (M.H.A.’85/AHP), of Huntingtown, Md., Nov. 20, 2016.

Mark Grant Williams (B.S.’81/H&S), of Richmond, Va., March 7, 2017.

Mark Richard Williams, M.D. (M.D.’87/M), of Macon, Ga., June 3, 2007.

Kea I. Yoon (B.S.’80/P), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 27, 2016.

1990s Elizabeth Ann Beals (B.F.A.’92/A), of Cincinnati, Nov. 17, 2016.

Lee J. Berman (B.S.’91/B), of Marietta, Ga., Sept. 15, 2016.

Annie Laurie Berry (B.G.S.’95/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 29, 2016.

Matthew Leary Boon (B.S.’90/B), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 24, 2016.

John D. Clem (M.S.W.’96/SW), of Charlottesville, Va., Jan. 25, 2017.

Kathryn Barnes Ebersole (B.F.A.’91/A), of Edenton, N.C., Nov. 6, 2016.

Alexander P. Friel (B.S.’92/GPA), of Charleston, S.C., Jan. 12, 2017.

Linda Lee Hopkins (B.S.’95/AHP; M.S.’98/AHP), of Glen Allen, Va., Jan. 23, 2017. M

Alison M. Shakarian, Ph.D. (Ph.D.’93/M), of Tiverton, R.I., Jan. 10, 2017.

Jeffrey A. Shattuck (B.F.A.’92/A), of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., Jan. 11, 2017.

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 at vcualumni.org/classnotes.

52

VCU Alumni

William E. “Bill” Singleton, of Midlothian, Va., June 11, 2017. A real estate developer, Singleton donated millions of dollars to educational organizations during his lifetime. At VCU, he made a $3 million gift to the Jazz Studies program. In honor of his gift, VCU renamed the performing arts center the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts. He later fulfilled his desire to honor his friend, jazz pianist Jimmy Black, with the naming of the James W. Black Music Center across the street from the Singleton Center. Singleton also made donations to multiple entities on VCU’s medical campus, including the School of Medicine.

Rebecca Williams, of Staunton, Va., Dec. 29, 2016.

She was the wife of James Williams (B.S.’84/GPA; M.S.’96/GPA), president of VCU Alumni.

William Arthur Washburn III (M.B.A.’97/B), of Glen Allen, Va., Feb. 12, 2017.

Susan E. Wells (B.S.’94/H&S), of Henrico, Va., Nov. 1, 2015.

Faculty and staff

Nancy Lee Windbiel (M.Ed.’90/E), of Powhatan, Va., Feb. 16, 2017.

Bill Fisher (B.F.A.’82/A), of Richmond, Va., April 24, 2017. Fisher was an internationally celebrated painter and a dedicated instructor at the School of the Arts.

2000s Shannon Marie Bowman, D.D.S. (B.S.’00/H&S; D.D.S.’04/D), of Petersburg, Va., Nov. 28, 2016.

Denecia Natasha Daniel (B.S.’06/H&S), of North Chesterfield, Va., Nov. 26, 2016.

Angela M. Erale (B.S.’04/MC), of Dumfries, Va., Feb. 14, 2015.

Kimberly A. Fleischman (M.F.A.’04/A), of East Aurora, N.Y., Feb. 1, 2017.

Marcia Marie Gard (M.S.’09/AHP), of Chesterfield, Va., Dec. 16, 2016.

Robert Benjamin Gilliam (B.S.’08/H&S; Cert.’11/B), of Henrico, Va., March 9, 2017.

Michael R. Logtens (B.A.’09/H&S), of Arlington, Va., Nov. 26, 2016.

Henri G. Moore Jr. (B.I.S.’05/H&S), of Mechanicsville, Va., Feb. 10, 2017.

What's new?

Friends of VCU

Janelle Carol Nanavati (M.S.W.’01/SW), of Washington, D.C., March 10, 2017.

2010s John D. Leonard (B.S.’15/B), of Herndon, Va., Jan. 1, 2017.

John J. Richardson (B.A.’11/H&S), of Dillsburg, Pa., Sept. 4, 2016.

Matthew D. Ward (B.S.’11/N; M.S.’14/N), of Norfolk, Va., Sept. 10, 2016.

Michael O’Neill McMunn, D.D.S. (D.D.S.’77/D), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 2, 2017. McMunn was an associate clinical professor in the School of Dentistry’s Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and a former president of the MCV Alumni Association of VCU. He was instrumental in developing the Mission of Mercy project that provides free dental care to medically underserved communities in southwestern Virginia. A practitioner of general dentistry since 1978, McMunn also was the founding president of the Virginia Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. Memorial donations can be made to the School of Dentistry Class of 1977 Scholarship Fund (select “other” and designate “Class of 1977 Scholarship Fund”) or to the David J. and Genevieve McMunn Endowment Fund (select “other” and designate “McMunn Endowment Fund”) at support.vcu.edu/dentistry. L Richard Karl Priebe, Ph.D., of Richmond, Va., June 9, 2017. He was an African literature specialist who taught freshman composition and American, African, Caribbean, Postcolonial and world literatures at VCU for more than three decades before retiring in fall 2005. He found his lifelong enthusiasm for African literature while teaching secondary-school English in Okwagbe, Nigeria, as a Peace Corps volunteer from 1964-66. Priebe wrote five books and numerous articles and reviews. He was a founding member of the African Literature Association and served as the organization’s president from 1988-2001. In 2001, he brought the association's annual meeting to Richmond, Va., which attracted writers and scholars from around the world. In 2009, Priebe donated a collection of nearly 4,000 books, journals, tapes and other documents to the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa. He also donated his collection of African art to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

DATEBOOK Photo VCU Libraries

Check out more university and alumni events at vcualumni.org and events.vcu.edu.

Library Book Sale Oct. 26-30, 2017 The annual Friends of VCU Libraries Book Sale offers an assortment of materials from comics and cookbooks to CDs and DVDs to novels and biographies. The free event is held at James Branch Cabell Library, 901 Park Ave., and is open to the public. Friends of VCU Libraries donors get an early sneak peek at the preview sale. Learn more at library.vcu.edu.

Summer 2017

53

Non-profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid RICHMOND, VA Permit No. 869

Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Alumni 111 North Fourth Street Box 842039 Richmond, Virginia 23284-2039

Alumni ID number:

THIS IS MY REAL. Chloey Henry

Scholarships helped give three School of Dentistry students free time to transform Chloey Henry's wheelchair into an unforgettable Halloween treat.

Thanks to them, she could go places she’d never dreamed possible.

At VCU, making an impact is what we do. But we can’t do it alone. That’s why we launched the Make It Real Campaign for VCU. How will you help us support people, fund innovations and enhance environments?

Make your impact at campaign.vcu.edu. an equal opportunity/affirmative action university