Spider Insider: Spring 2023

Spider Insider Spider Insider

MATH MINDS

This spring, floor-to-ceiling equations covered the whiteboards of a room in the basement of Jepson Hall. As part of an international collaboration, mathematics professor Jim Davis (pictured below) and visiting Robert Edwin Gaines Chair in Mathematics John Polhill, a 1993 UR graduate and professor at Bloomsburg University, hosted math scholars from around the world to discuss projects in coding theory and partial difference sets. The research will influence teaching, as well as journal articles and research in the field.

Staff

Jamie Betts

Sunni Brown, Alexandra Byrum, Megan Condict, Catherine Amos Cribbs, Rachel Dawson, Matthew Dewald, Phillip Gravely, Paul Heltzel, Terrance Henderson, Kevin Heraldo, Alicia Hubbard, Pamela Lee, Rachel Long, Katie McBride, Kyra Molinaro, Amy Ogle, ’26, Cynthia Price, Gordon Schmidt, Cindy Smith, Maribel Street, Greg Thompson, and David Vinson

16 Our Accomplishments

17 Outstanding Business Affairs Performance Award Winners

18 International Education Awards

20 Recent Appointments

21 2023 Outstanding Service Award Winners

Boatwright Beach is a favorite spot among students looking to take a study break while catching some rays.

Photograph by Jamie Betts

Stick Mobility and Strength is just one of many group exercise classes available to staff and faculty through the Weinstein Center.

STAY CONNECTED

Read more of President Hallock’s messages to the University community — or share your thoughts or ideas with him at any time — at president. richmond.edu.

Committed to Well-Being

Dear Colleagues,

Starting in waves at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, hundreds of students, staff, faculty, and retirees gathered by Cannon Memorial Chapel for the Spider Dash, our inaugural 5K event. Having recently recovered from hip surgery, I was thrilled to participate in this fun run — or, in my case, walk! And it was wonderful to traverse our campus alongside so many members of the UR community.

We crossed over Westhampton Lake; encircled our campus buildings; trekked through the Eco-Corridor, under the Modlin arch, and across Westhampton Green; and arrived at the Heilman Dining Center for a group meal and awards ceremony. Volunteers provided support — directing participants, managing water stations, and cleaning the course. And race proceeds benefited Caritas, a local nonprofit that provides safe spaces for healing and recovery for those experiencing homelessness or addiction in our greater community.

This new campus tradition was made possible thanks to the coordinated and dedicated efforts of so many. Thank you to colleagues in Dining Services, Human Resources, UR Well, the UR Police Department, University Recreation, the Center for Student Involvement, Events and Support Services, Disability Services, University Communications, and Athletics for helping to plan Spider Dash. And thank you to our student, staff, and faculty participants and volunteers for supporting and celebrating the well-being of our Spider community.

Well-being is one of our university’s “guiding lights” and will continue to guide our future direction. We emphasize five key areas of well-being at UR: exercise, nutrition, self-care, mindfulness, and sleep. As we approach the summer, I hope you will find opportunities that support these aspects of health and wellness and benefit all dimensions of your well-being.

Thanks so much for all you do to make our university so remarkable.

Please remember to take care of yourself and look out for others.

Sincerely,

Kevin F. Hallock President

SOCIAL BUZZ

So exciting!! I remember when my daughter opened that email … we both cried!! She loves UR! Best of luck to future Spiders!!

—@quakesphere via Instagram Referring to early-action admission decisions hitting email boxes in January

Will never forget this day!! My son can't get the smile off his face.

—Ann Ranelle via Facebook Referring to regular decision admission notifcations

Genius idea. Also, how can I get a job like Karla’s? I respond well to belly scratches.

—@dominickq via Instagram

Referring to UR’s new well-being dog, Karla

Enhancing Efficiencies Search for finance, HR system replacement underway

When the University first implemented its enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, Banner, George H.W. Bush was president, My Cousin Vinny was in theaters, and the world’s first web browser was 2 years old. More than three decades after its 1992 introduction, a UR project team is looking for a replacement for the finance and human resources system, a daily tool for many employees.

Used to manage core day-to-day functions such as HR recruiting, accounting, payroll, and procurement, an ERP system is where the work gets done. And while Banner has served UR well for many years, it now requires significant time and effort to maintain and can’t meet the University’s need for automated workflows, dashboards, and reporting.

“The excess manual data entry required by Banner is frustrating for staff and faculty,” said Mark Detterick, senior associate vice president for business affairs strategy and project lead. “When employees can minimize transactional work, they’re freed up to do more of the analytical work needed to better serve the University’s mission.”

New software will also position UR to better attract, develop, and retain top talent and avoid a situation where an emergency system replacement is needed in the future.

A project team began looking at an ERP change in December 2016 but decided a year later to instead pursue a process improvement program — UR Better — to evaluate and streamline processes. In spring 2022, conversations returned to ERP with plans to select a vendor this spring and begin the approximately 18-month implementation this summer. UR is not reviewing the Banner student module at this time.

“We are very excited to undertake this important effort that will ultimately provide a significant enhancement to the University’s administrative and financial transactions,” said David Hale, executive vice president and chief operating officer. “This will require real change to many of our current processes, which will not always be easy but will serve our University community well for generations to come.”

For more information about the project, visit businessaffairs.richmond. edu/initiatives

A far cry from the mid 80’s when chicken patty day was a big deal!!

—Tom Raub via Facebook

Referring to D-Hall’s first major renovation since 2006

What a beautifully peaceful photo.

—@wegiep via Instagram

Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @urichmond

FACULTY EXCELLENCE

For a complete list of endowed chairs, professorships, and fellowships, visit provost.richmond.edu/ faculty-recognition/ endowed-chairs.html.

Supporting Faculty Scholarship

Endowed faculty funding advances research and innovation

Management professor Violet Ho has been analyzing social entrepreneurial passion lately. “We are conducting an experiment to look at harmonious passion versus obsessive passion and how that relates to success,” she said.

To incentivize survey participants, she’s relying on funding that comes as part of her appointment in 2021 to the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professorship in Business. The professorship has allowed Ho (pictured above) to expand her award-winning research examining employee work passion as well as various forms of employee deal-making.

Currently, UR has more than 40 endowed chairs, professorships, and fellowships. The prestigious positions, paid for with revenue from endowments established by donors, are awarded to faculty in recognition of excellence in scholarship and teaching. The appointments celebrate individual contributions and provide funding to propel research and invest in innovative pedagogical approaches.

“Endowed faculty positions are essential to recruiting and retaining world-class faculty who offer students an unparalleled academic experience, not only with exceptional teaching, but by including them in cutting-edge research

with real-world applications,” said Jeff Legro, executive vice president and provost. “We are deeply grateful for generous donor support of our talented faculty and vibrant intellectual community.”

For Ho, the professorship is also beneficial for supporting her classroom teaching. In December, she accompanied a group of students on the Spiders in Silicon Valley road trip, organized by the Career Services team. This experience allowed students to connect with alumni and other professionals while visiting tech companies in the Bay Area, including Salesforce and C3 AI. “I can relate this experience to my current students to contextualize what we are learning in class and encourage them in building an entrepreneurial mindset,” she said.

Della Dumbaugh, professor of mathematics, received support from the Robert Edwin Gaines Chair in Mathematics to publish two books last year: Count Me In: Community and Belonging in Mathematics, co-edited with Deanna Haunsperger of Carleton College, and A History of Mathematics in the United States and Canada, Volume 2: 1900–1941, written by David E. Zitarelli with Dumbaugh and Stephen Kennedy of the Mathematical Association of America.

In spring 2021, Dumbaugh brought Haunsperger and Kennedy to UR to conduct research and collaborate on the books. The Gaines Chair covered funding for Haunsperger’s salary and the pair’s travel and housing costs.

“Steve and I had been working on our project for three years, and Deanna and I had been working for two years,” Dumbaugh said. “Having them here for the semester allowed us to bring the books across the finish line. Now, these books will go into the hands of people that we don’t know. They’re going to hopefully expand the discipline of mathematics to people we may never meet.”

Last year, law professor Andrew Spalding was awarded the Jennifer and Samuel Tarry Faculty Fellowship, a new endowed research position in the School of Law. Spalding specializes in international anti-corruption law and teaches a biannual, two-semester seminar as part of an ongoing research effort examining anticorruption reform movements related to mega sporting events such as the World Cup and the Olympics. In March, Spalding and his

students traveled to France and Switzerland and presented original research findings to representatives at the headquarters of FIFA and the International Olympic Committee.

“Through this course, I collaborate directly with students in developing new ideas — not only do they help me research; they help me innovate,” Spalding says. “They’re not just studying the law; they’re participating in the enforcement and implementation of the law. We’re at the table with policymakers, sharing our ideas and contributing to the formation of policy.”

Spalding says he is excited to partner with Samuel Tarry and Tarry’s employer, McGuireWoods, to build and expand the Tarry Faculty Fellowship into a multiyear pro bono initiative supporting expanded research into mega sports anti-corruption efforts.

“This endowment is giving us the opportunity to develop a number of impactful and innovative anti-corruption and human rights initiatives,” he says. “Sam and McGuireWoods will be crucial players in taking these ideas and turning them into practice.”

A LAW SCHOOL FIRST

In 2022, professor Jessica Erickson, who teaches and writes about corporate and securities litigation and is the founding director of the Richmond Law and Business Forum, was named the Nancy Litchfield Hicks Professor of Law. Made possible by a generous gift from the Hicks family in memory of the 1985 law alumna, the professorship is the law school’s first named in recognition of a woman.

“Women are such an important part of the law school’s story, and we are thrilled that this new professorship serves as an enduring tribute to two important women in our history,” said Dean Wendy Perdue. “I am grateful to the Hicks family for making it possible.”

“They’re not just studying the law; they’re participating in the enforcement and implementation of the law.”

ACCOLADES

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs named UR one of the U.S. colleges and universities that produced THE MOST FULBRIGHT U.S. STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS FOR 2022–23 Richmond is among only 18 institutions to be honored in both categories. It’s the fifth year in a row UR has been named a top producer of Fulbright students.

The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation awarded UR a $156,000 BECKMAN SCHOLARS GRANT for faculty-mentored student research. Funds will support six student research scholarships over three years. It is the sixth time Richmond has received the Beckman Scholars award since 2006.

The Institute of International Education ranked UR high among baccalaureate colleges for INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS and the NUMBER OF STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD in its “Open Doors Report.” Richmond ranked No. 5 overall and No. 2 for short-term study abroad programs. UR ranked 12th for total number of international students

The Princeton Review named UR to its list of the 168 BEST LAW SCHOOLS. The law school was ranked No. 9 for BEST STATE AND LOCAL CLERKSHIPS.

Poets&Quants for Undergrads, an online publication for undergraduate business education news, ranked the Robins School of Business No. 18 on its 2023 “BEST UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS SCHOOLS” list. The business school ranked No. 14 on career outcomes, No. 21 on academic experience, and No. 23 on admission standards.

The Associated Colleges of the South awarded UR and two other ACS schools nearly $50,000 for the collaborative faculty-focused project “Facilitating Constructive Dialogue in a Challenging World,” which seeks to provide faculty with strategies to lead productive dialogues in their classrooms.

Cigna awarded UR the SILVER 2022 CIGNA HEALTHY WORKFORCE DESIGNATION for demonstrating a strong commitment to improving the health and well-being of employees through a workplace wellness program (UR Well).

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia awarded the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement a $12,300 GRANT to support the CCE’s Pathways to College Experiences program, which introduces Richmond-area middle and elementary school students to the possibility of a college education.

MEDIA MENTIONS

“Native Americans — and their genes — traveled back to Siberia, new genomes reveal” quoted biology professor MELINDA YANG, who studies the genetic history of ancient East Asian populations. She said, “They’re really clearly showing there’s something Jōmon-like on the mainland,” about a new paper focused on understanding how East Asian ancestry came to permeate Siberia during the Holocene.

Leadership studies professor DAVID WILKINS, a citizen of the Lumbee Nation of North Carolina, was quoted in “The Nooksack tribe in Washington is attempting to evict people from tribal homes.” In the article, which discusses tribal disenrollment, Wilkins said, “Family squabbles and racism are the two major factors rather than money issues.”

In “Why Does Money Exist?” economics professor SAIF MEHKARI, a macroeconomist specializing in fiscal policy and business cycles, emphasized the importance of money in society and culture by saying, “With no money, you would be forced to produce everything you consume.”

Law professors CARL TOBIAS and JULIE MCCONNELL were both quoted in “6-Year-Old Shot Va. Teacher with Mother's Gun, Police Say: Could Mom Face Charges?” McConnell, the director of the Children’s Defense Clinic, said Virginia does not currently have a law “that would allow the prosecution to go forward with a case against a parent.” Tobias said he thinks “authorities are proceeding in a very cautious way, as they probably should.”

Liberal arts professor ERIK NIELSON, an expert in African American literature and hip-hop culture and a sought-after expert on the use of rap lyrics as criminal evidence in court, was quoted in “Should rap lyrics be used in criminal trials? Formerly incarcerated rapper speaks about ‘egregious’ conviction.” “I'm not here to tell you that somebody is guilty or innocent,” said Nielson, co-author of Rap on Trial. “I'm only here arguing for a person's right to a fair trial.”

“Parenting the Disappointed College Applicant” quoted MICHAEL PINA, director of admission. On the topic of comparing children to other applicants or an older sibling, Pina warned parents to “avoid talking about what happened this year or last year to other students.” He added, “Your children want you to be happy and proud of them, and this exacerbates the problem.”

Visit

This Q&A was published as part of The Conversation’s “Uncommon Courses,” a series highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. It has been adapted from the original with the author’s permission.

COURSE TITLE: For the Love of Books

WHAT PROMPTED THE IDEA FOR THE COURSE?

The idea for the class came from seeing University of Richmond students interact with the rare books and archival collections. Their curiosity about historic texts was not just with how the materials were made and used, but also with how these particular volumes survived and became a part of the University’s collection. The course is offered as a first-year seminar.

WHAT DOES THE COURSE EXPLORE?

For most students, books are for homework or reading for pleasure, but I ask them to look deeper into the concept of a book by analyzing books through four themes: object, content, technology, and art.

For books as objects, we look at books through their anatomy and structure, including paper and material form. Students then explore books as content, including how books are written, sold, read, collected. and sometimes banned.

We also explore changes in the technology of book production, including the new virtual and augmented-reality technologies that allow readers to experience books in new ways.

WHY IS THIS COURSE RELEVANT NOW?

When students focus on how the transmission of information has changed over time, they use books as a lens for social and cultural

analysis. Exploring books as a communications technology, students develop a stronger understanding of how books have long influenced literacy, economics, technology, art, and culture. In so doing, they also learn the histories, traditions, and labor involved in the creation and distribution of information.

WHAT’S A CRITICAL LESSON FROM THE COURSE?

By choosing to focus on the history of books, the lesson is hopefully that what might appear to be something simple can often be deeply complex, far more meaningful, and have more of an impact than students might expect. For instance, there has been a recent rise in requests to ban books in schools and libraries. By exploring the long history of book censorship, students can better understand the context of current events within that larger history.

WHAT WILL THE COURSE PREPARE STUDENTS TO DO?

Books are physical artifacts that connect today’s students with people from long ago and from faraway places, but books are also agents of change that have influenced societies and cultures for centuries. Students will be able to trace the history of the book and the exchange of information and ideas over time in a way that helps them understand both the historical context and how that continues to shape their world today.

By Lynda Kachurek, head of Book Arts, Archives, and Rare Books, Boatwright Memorial Library

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

A complete list of The Conversation articles by Richmond experts, including this one by Kachurek, is available at news.richmond. edu/placements/ conversation.html.

Faculty interested in writing for The Conversation can contact Cynthia Price, associate vice president for media and public relations, at cprice2@richmond. edu or Sunni Brown, director of media and public relations, at sbrown5@richmond. edu.

Reprints of The Conversation articles appear frequently in Spider Insider, University of Richmond Magazine, and UR Now (urnow. richmond.edu).

This course teaches how to judge a book by its cover — and its pages, print and other elements of its design

ON SOCIAL

Seeing what his generosity provided for me and other students (along with other donors, big and small) has left an impression on me that I hope to pass down to my kids one day.

… I can say that his philanthropy made a difference in many lives.

—Igor Martic via Facebook Referring to Marcus Weinstein being awarded the Paragon Medal, UR’s highest honor

The Transformative Power of Philanthropy

$25M gift from Weinstein family will create center focused on student learning

UR alums and longtime benefactors Carole and Marcus Weinstein will donate $25 million to the University of Richmond to support a center focused on student learning. This is the second-largest single gift in the University’s history. The Carole and Marcus Weinstein Learning Center will be located in Boatwright Memorial Library.

“We are deeply grateful to the Weinsteins for their steadfast support,” said University of Richmond President Kevin F. Hallock. “They continually lead by example in showing the transformative power of philanthropy at UR.”

This gift will enable the University to create a collaborative, state-of-the-art center that

co-locates, integrates, and expands services that support academic achievement, including effective speaking, writing, peer tutoring, and other resources for students in every stage of their educational journey.

The center will include a new comprehensive Quantitative Resource Center to support the quantitative, data-related, and computational learning and research of students and faculty, including in areas such as statistics, pre-calculus, experimental design, and programming. The search for the inaugural director of the Quantitative Resource Center is underway.

“We are excited by the way the University’s Boatwright Library will accommodate the next

“We hope others will be inspired by our example to make a difference in whatever way they can.”

generation of students,” said Carole Weinstein. “Marcus and I remember spending hours poring over the library’s card catalog to do further research for papers we were writing. The new Learning Center will use the library’s centralized space to offer cutting-edge practices and support new skills students need now and into the future.”

Among numerous contributions to campus, the Weinstein family’s gifts have supported scholarships, faculty chairs, international education, well-being, and chaplaincy programs, as well as the creation of the Carole Weinstein International Center, the Weinstein Center for Recreation, and Weinstein Hall.

“The commitment and dedication of generations of Spiders has helped to make UR what it is today,” said Martha E. Callaghan, vice president for advancement. “This important milestone in our upward trajectory amplifies our academic excellence and helps ensure our students thrive in and outside of the classroom.”

The Carole and Marcus Weinstein Learning Center will be built within the existing footprint of the library. The planning process is underway.

“Our family and faith have encouraged us to make the world a better place,” said Marcus Weinstein. “We hope others will be inspired by our example to make a difference in whatever way they can. The happy surprise is that not only will they do good, but it will also make them feel good.”

UR AWARDS PARAGON MEDAL TO MARCUS WEINSTEIN

Marcus Weinstein, chairman of Weinstein Properties, recently received the Paragon Medal, UR’s highest honor, in recognition of his decades of support for students and the University’s academic mission.

“Over five decades, Marcus and the Weinstein family have enhanced the student experience while holding our university to the highest standards,” said President Kevin F. Hallock. “They’ve improved our campus facilities; increased access and affordability for our students; supported the ethical development, health, and well-being of Richmond Spiders; raised the bar for academic success; and transformed Richmond into a truly global center for learning.”

Weinstein is only the second person in history to receive the medal; the first was E. Claiborne Robins in 1986. The Paragon Medal is not given to anyone else during the lifetime of its recipient.

FAITH EXPLORATION

A previous gift from the Weinsteins provides funding in part for the Office of the Chaplaincy’s pilgrimage program, which supports students in their journeys to explore their faith and learn from others around the world. As part of a semester-long course, a group of UR students and staff traveled to Berlin over spring break to explore the rise of Nazism in Germany, the legacy of the Holocaust and the Cold War, and the ways memory and trauma impact current political issues such as refugee crises and the search for just solutions for Israelis and Palestinians.

CAMPUS DEBUTS SAFETY APP

Students, staff, and faculty now have a new way to stay safe on campus — URSpiderSafe, the University’s new safety app.

URSpiderSafe replaces the LiveSafe app and is available for download on iPhone and Android devices. The app provides emergency alerts from the University of Richmond Police Department and offers multiple ways to connect with the police, including an anonymous tip function, a mobile blue light button, and a walk tracker, which allows users to share their location with friends or the URPD and have their movement monitored in real time. The app’s safety toolbox includes a chat function to connect the user directly with police and an “I’m OK” function for users to notify friends and family of their location and well-being during emergency situations.

“This app provides a variety of resources for our campus community and is a great tool to providing more safety on campus,” said Maribel Street, director of emergency management.

The app’s campus map highlights walking paths, parking lots, and buildings, while the Umatter Resources function provides quick links to some of the most common support resources, such as CAPS; the Student Health Center; and the Center for Awareness, Response, and Education. Buttons lead users directly to the websites of the Center for Student Involvement and the Center for Equity and Inclusion, and another connects users with UR buses to increase connectivity between campus and the city of Richmond.

“We know people almost always have their phones with them,” Street said. “URSpiderSafe puts safety at your fingertips.”

The app is available on app stores or can be downloaded from preparedness.richmond.edu.

Digging Deep

Training series helps campus community connect through dialogue

Most Friday mornings during the academic year, you can find a group of staff, faculty, and students gathering on the third floor of Tyler Haynes Commons practicing a skill critical for our lives and the health of our communities: authentic dialogue.

The Community Dialogue Facilitation Network is a growing cohort of facilitators at UR, and the core of the initiative is a training series that explores dialogue design and techniques for leading difficult conversations.

“Time and again, the warmest, most spontaneous conversations I’ve had have been in those training sessions with CDFN members,” said Monti Datta, CDFN steering committee member and associate professor of political science. “The space we’ve created offers a kind of vulnerability that I wish could spread across the entire UR campus — Spiders having fun, digging deep into complex topics, and really bonding as a community.”

CDFN, which is unique to UR, was created by the Office for Institutional Equity and Inclusion in collaboration with Human Resources and with the guidance of experts Matthew Freeman, author of Overcoming Bias: Building Authentic Relationships Across Differences, and David Campt, founder and principal of The Dialogue Co. and co-author of The Little Book of Dialogue for Difficult Subjects: A Practical, Hands-On Guide. During the six-session program, participants learn group facilitation skills to better lead discussions on polarizing topics; they also learn methods for addressing a range of facilitation-related challenges.

“The program is helping to advance the goal of UR becoming a skilled intercultural community where each person can reach their full potential and thrive,” said Amy Howard, senior administrative officer for equity and community.

About 60 staff, faculty, and students have graduated from the program so far, creating a network of skilled facilitators who can serve as a resource for campus forums and dialogues.

“We now have dozens of staff and faculty on campus trained in the CDFN method,” Datta said. “I am starting to feel more confident that when those next difficult moments arise, we can begin to look at them and grow stronger as a campus community.”

To learn more about the Community Dialogue Facilitation Network and to register for a future cohort, visit equity.richmond.edu/resources/community-dialogue-facilitation-network.html.

Illustration by Katie McBride

Service with a Smile

Help desk staff hone customer service skills through training

A visit to the Information Services help desk can conjure feelings of frustration and unease. It is often, after all, a trip of necessity, not desire. But Scott Tilghman, who oversees the help desk, sees each trip as an opportunity for his team to build relationships. He wants the students, staff, and faculty who visit his area to leave with both a solution and a smile.

The combination of positive resolution and good feelings is the ideal result of a great customer service interaction, said Tilghman, director of user services in Information Services. He credits this philosophy to working at hotels during college — and says it was lacking when he started working in IT 35 years ago.

“You couldn’t really count on technicians being personable or helpful,” he said. However, “the University of Richmond is more about an experience — the Richmond experience. Everything about it elevates our game.”

Soon after Tilghman arrived at UR in 1998, he designed a customer service training program for his staff, pulling ideas and practices from manuals he encountered throughout his career. One trend he noticed but wanted to buck: a tendency to focus on either the numbers or the customer, but not both. He wanted to ensure the help desk employed good metrics while building solid relationships with customers. Tilghman believes that “good technician” and “good customer service agent” are highly compatible skill sets.

“Eighty percent of what we do is customer service; 20% is technical,” he said. “We take care of our customers’ needs, and in the process, we fix a few computers.”

Tilghman’s methodology focuses on what he calls “12 Secrets to Making a Difference,” and he requires all new help desk employees to undergo three days of training, during which they don’t even touch the technology they’ve been hired to support. He takes common ideas, such as knowing one’s customer, and applies them in concrete ways to the University context. For example, a first-year student may need help setting up a brand-new computer or getting onto a University network, whereas seniors might be dealing with older laptops that are beat up and worn down after years of use. Tilghman’s training also includes segments on problem solving and empathy. A listening activity teaches employees to home in on repetitive or unusual words and phrases when speaking with a customer, which can help them determine the root of the customer’s issue and empower them to act on their behalf.

“The key to good customer service is knowing what services you provide and how to enable your customer to use technology for what they need,” he said. “Technology shouldn’t be a barrier; it should be a tool to assist you in reaching your goals.”

IN A NUTSHELL

Tilghman cites “12 Secrets to Making a Difference” as central concepts to good customer service.

They are:

• Have a mission that matters.

• Be a big thinker.

• Be ethical.

• Be a change master.

• Be sensitive.

• Be a risk taker.

• Be a decision maker.

• Use power wisely.

• Be an effective communicator.

• Be a team builder.

• Be courageous.

• Be committed.

“Eighty percent of what we do is customer service; 20% is technical.”

Always Room to Grow

Certificate programs facilitate post-graduate specialization and career advancement

Twice a week, instructor George Chieffo fires up a Zoom session that draws in an increasingly rare and enviable cross section of partisan professionals. His students discuss their political affiliations openly and with collegiality because they share a common purpose: to understand the ins and outs of political campaigns.

They also share a common goal, one that makes them different from most Richmond students. They’re pursuing a certificate, not a degree.

The program in political campaign management is one of more than 20 certificate programs offered by the School of Professional & Continuing Studies. Some, like that program, award continuing education units, contact hours, or some other form of recognition that can be applied to a professional development goal, such as a promotion or sitting for a certification exam. Others are post-bachelor’s or post-master’s programs that earn academic credit. All of them offer a shorter time to completion and lower costs than a degree, filling a niche that is ideal for some students, said Jamelle Wilson, SPCS dean.

“We’re always thinking about how we position SPCS to educate broadly, and we want, within that broad education, to include opportunities

for upskilling and reskilling,” she said. “Our professional education certificates are one among a continuum of opportunities for individuals and an important piece of the professional and continuing education puzzle.”

Chieffo’s program draws cohorts of a dozen students who complete the course over six modules. The spring group included students from eight states and Australia — a mix made possible because the program went online in 2020 — who typically work on issue advocacy or campaigns for political parties. SPCS’s certificate program is meatier than weekend programs but not the full commitment of a master’s program, which makes it ideal for working practitioners with degrees who are looking to move up.

“This gives students the ability to understand areas of communications, finance, fieldwork, opposition research — all that goes into campaigning in a way that would take them years to learn by doing those particular roles on campaigns,” Chieffo said. “One of the big benefits of a program like this is that students are exposed over multiple sessions to the viewpoints of their classmates. It’s important to know how the other side thinks.”

That notion of advancement in one’s current profession is also a big draw for students in the paralegal studies certificate program, said Ann Hodges, its chair. The post-bachelor’s program requires 18 semester hours of coursework, a little more than half of a master’s program. Some students are working to advance as paralegals — a major growth field, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — or are in legal-adjacent fields, such as compliance or insurance, where understanding of the law is helpful.

The paralegal studies program also attracts students exploring a career shift, perhaps with the intent of becoming attorneys. “They see this as a way to get some exposure to the law and see whether it’s something they will enjoy before investing in three years of law school,” Hodges said.

Alongside moving up, another motivation is keeping up, said Justin Madron, an instructor with the geographic information systems certificate program. His program attracts teachers, archaeologists, and people who work for government agencies with ongoing mapping needs, such as the U.S. Forest Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Some students are seasoned profes-

sionals, but tech being tech, there are constant evolutions of existing technology and new tools to learn. For example, many government agencies are currently undergoing a shift from a tool called ArcMap to one called ArcGIS Pro.

“ArcGIS Pro is very different, so folks that have been doing this a long time are saying, ‘I’ve got to learn this new stuff,’” Madron said. “They’re not in it to learn the foundations of GIS. It’s neat because we’ll have one or two in every cohort, and they almost act as a teaching assistant because they know the concepts. They’re just trying to figure out the software.”

Wilson uses the metaphor of a spectrum to describe how certificate programs fit into the broader portfolio of SPCS offerings.

“I encourage anyone who’s thinking about the lifecycle of their employment and their trajectory to think about different ways that they can build their skill set, expand themselves, and continue learning,” she said. “Whether it’s a professional certificate, an individual course, or a degree, we embrace this notion of continuing education and all it encompasses.”

Students in the permaculture design certificate program, offered through a special partnership with the Shenandoah Permaculture Institute, visit a local farm to learn techniques for building more sustainable communities.

OPTIONS GALORE

SPCS’s certificate programs range widely in focus. Here are a few of the selections:

• Cybersecurity boot camp

• Information systems

• Interior decorating

• Nonprofit studies

• Permaculture design

• SHRM Learning System

• Technical writing

• Women in leadership

“Whether it’s a professional certificate, an individual course, or a degree, we embrace this notion of continuing education and all it encompasses.”

DASH,

SPIDER! DASH!

Campus beauty took center stage on March 25 as several hundred staff, faculty, students, retirees, and dependents participated in UR’s first Spider Dash 5K. Some ran; some walked; some pushed strollers — everyone had a great time!

“I loved that it brought together people from different parts of the UR community for a fun event.”

“What a great new tradition!”

“The vibe before and after the race really showcased some great leadership from students and staff.”

“As a student, I was able to map out an accessible and fun 5K route that I can run with friends now outside of the race.”

“I loved the community engagement piece. Such a fun way to get some exercise and connect.”

AROUND THE LAKE

See more accomplishments and submit your own grant, publication, or honor at richmond.edu/ faculty-staff.

OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

TIMOTHY BARNEY, associate professor of rhetoric and communication studies, presented “‘The Angel of Sarbandan’: Ford Foundation Philanthropy, Transnational Development, and the Scalar Geopolitics of 1950s Iran” at New Futures: The 17th Biennial Public Address Conference at the University of Kansas.

JENNIFER CABLE, professor of music, published the chapter “Mary Carlisle Howe (1882–1964) and Adella Prentiss Hughes (1869–1950): Creating an Arts Culture in America, One Woman at a Time,” in The Routledge Handbook of Women’s Work in Music (Routledge).

JUD CAMPBELL, professor of law, published “The Emergence of Neutrality” in the Yale Law Journal

JEFFREY CARLSON, associate professor of marketing, published “When polychronicity affects salesperson performance: The effects of improvisation, role ambiguity, and sales job complexity” in Industrial Marketing Management

KATE CASSADA, associate professor of education, and Harold Fitrer, adjunct associate professor of education and nonprofit studies, facilitated the panel presentation “K12 Workforce Readiness and Internship Opportunities” by former and current students at the Brightpoint Community College symposium SYNCH 2023: Building Bridges to Understanding.

DAN CHEN, assistant professor of political science, and Gengsong Gao, associate professor of Chinese Studies, published “Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signalling on Sina Weibo” in The China Quarterly

MARILIE COETSEE, assistant professor of leadership studies, published “In Answer to the Pauline Principle: Consent, Logical Constraints, and Free Will” in Religions and “The Moral Duty Against Dogmatism” in The Journal of Ethics

TOM COSSE, associate dean for international business programs, was elected to the steering committee of the Latin American Council of Management Schools – CLADEA, an international organization that unites higher education institutions and international organizations committed to the teaching and research of management.

MARIAMA REBELLO DE SOUSA DIAS, assistant professor of physics, and a student published “Refractory Metals and Oxides for HighTemperature Structural Color Filters” in Applied Materials & Interfaces

WADE DOWNEY, professor of chemistry, and students published “Synthesis of ß,ßDisubstituted Styrenes via Trimethylsilyl Trifluoromethanesulfonate-Promoted AldehydeAldehyde Aldol Coupling-Elimination” in The Journal of Organic Chemistry

DELLA DUMBAUGH, professor of mathematics, published “Building Communities” in The Mathematical Intelligencer. Dumbaugh delivered “Every Paper Tells a Story: Mathematics at the Monthly” as part of the Mathematical Association of America Distinguished Lecture Series.

DANA EL KURD, assistant professor of political science, published “Support for Violent Versus Non-Violent Strategies in the Palestinian Territories” in Middle East Law and Governance

DALE FICKETT, instructor of entrepreneurship, spoke at the 19th annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference at the University of Southern California. The conference brought together scholars, researchers, students, and practitioners from around the world to discuss emerging concepts and explore topics in social entrepreneurship, social enterprise, social innovation, sustainability, and impact.

JESSIE FILLERUP, associate professor of musicology, published “Marimbo Chimes and the Wizard’s Monster Band: Music in Theatrical Magic Shows” in Music & Letters

HAROLD FITRER, adjunct associate professor of education and nonprofit studies, and Kate Cassada, associate professor of education, facilitated the panel presentation “K12 Workforce Readiness and Internship Opportunities” by former and current students at the Brightpoint Community College symposium SYNCH 2023: Building Bridges to Understanding.

JESSICA FLANIGAN, Richard L. Morrill Chair in Ethics and Democratic Values, published the chapters “Leaderless Work and Workplace Participation” in Debating Leaderless Management: Can Employees Do Without Leaders? (Palgrave Macmillan) and “Anarchism and Redistribution” in Wealth and Power: Philosophical Perspectives (Routledge). Flanigan published “Social Equality and the Stateless Society” in Ethics, Politics & Society

GENGSONG GAO, associate professor of Chinese Studies, and Dan Chen, assistant professor of political science, published “Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signalling on Sina Weibo” in The China Quarterly

AL GOETHALS, E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor in Leadership Studies, published “Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and the Interpersonal Dynamics of Leadership” in Army History

JEFF HARRISON, W. David Robbins Chair of Strategic Management, received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The awards are the highest honor for faculty at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities and recognize superior accomplishments in teaching, research, and public service.

BRIAN HENRY, professor of English and creative writing, edited and translated Aleš Šteger's Burning Tongues: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books). Henry also recently published over 40 translations of poems by Tomaž Šalamun in Changes Review, The Common, Conduit, Copper Nickel, Epiphany, Fence, New England Review, The New Humanist, North American Review Notre Dame Review Poetry London Sixth Finch, and The Yale Review, among other journals.

DANIEL HOCUTT, web manager in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, copublished “Localizing Content: The Roles of Technical & Professional Communicators and Machine Learning in Personalized Chatbot Responses” in Technical Communication, the journal for the Society of Technical Communication.

CRYSTAL HOYT, Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness

Endowed Chair in Ethical Leadership, co-published “Mindsets of criminality: Predicting punitive and rehabilitative attitudes” in Psychology, Crime and Law and “The Implications of Mindsets of Poverty for Stigma Against Those in Poverty” in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. Hoyt; Laura Knouse, associate professor of psychology; and others published “A systematic review of growth mindset intervention implementation strategies” in Social and Personality Psychology Compass

KATHRYN JACOBSEN, William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair and professor of health studies, published Introduction to Global Health, fourth edition (Jones and Bartlett Learning).

SANDRA JOIREMAN, Weinstein Chair of International Studies, published Peace, Preference, and Property: Return Migration after Violent Conflict (University of Michigan Press). Joireman was invited to present “Return: Going Home After Fleeing Violent Conflict” at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and the FORTHEM European University Alliance.

Outstanding Business Affairs Performance Award Winners

The annual Business Affairs Awards recognize individuals or teams who excel in the performance of their duties, promote teamwork, inspire excellence in others, and consistently reflect the values of the Business Affairs division — inclusivity, cooperation, and collaboration; working together for the good of the whole; working in an open and accountable manner; and being innovative.

AUBREY BLIZZARD Police Lieutenant Public Safety

TRACY KITT Business Partner Human Resources

TISHELLE COSBY Line Service Associate Heilman Dining Center

ALLISON STEELE Associate Director of Employee Experience and Professional Development University Facilities

ROCC JOHNSON Utility Associate Heilman Dining Center

International Education Awards

These annual awards recognize staff, faculty, students, and alumni who perform exemplary acts of internationalization to benefit the University of Richmond and communities beyond.

For a complete list of award winners, visit international.richmond. edu.

KRISTINE GRAYSON

Associate Professor of Biology

For her effective leadership, partnership, and persistence in bringing engagement with other cultures into the classroom

OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY

ROB ANDREJEWSKI

Director of Sustainability

DANIEL HART

Associate Director of Sustainability and Environmental Justice

KELSEY FASTABEND Sustainability Program Coordinator

For their commitment, generous partnership, and vision, which has helped UR address complex global challenges

MICHELLE KAHN, assistant professor of history, was awarded the American Historical Association’s 2022 Chester Penn Higby Prize for the best article published in the Journal of Modern History in the preceding two years for “The Long Road Home: Vacations and the Making of the ‘Germanized Turk’ Across Cold War Europe.”

KELLY LAMBERT, professor of behavioral neuroscience and holder of the MacEldin Trawick Professorship in Psychology, with undergraduate students, published the chapter “Developmental Lead Exposure in Rats Causes Sex-Dependent Changes in Neurobiological and AnxietyLike Behaviors that Are Improved by Taurine Co-Treatment” in Taurine 12: A Conditionally Essential Amino Acid, part of the Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology series (Springer). Lambert and students also published “Disrupted Development from Head to Tail: Pervasive Effects of Postnatal Restricted Resources on Neurobiological, Behavioral, and Morphometric Outcomes” in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, “Influence of EffortBased Reward Training on Neuroadaptive Cognitive Responses: Implications for Preclinical Behavioral Approaches for Depressive Symptoms” in Neuroscience, “The Emotional Impact of Disrupted Environmental Contexts: Enrichment Loss and Coping Profiles Influence Stress Response Recovery in Long-Evans Rats” in Journal of Neuroendocrinology, and “Divergent Neural and Endocrine Responses in Wild-Caught and Laboratory-Bred Rattus norvegicus” in Behavioural Brain Research

MATTHEW LOWDER, assistant professor of cognitive psychology, and students published “Effects of Syntactic Structure on the Processing of Lexical Repetition During Sentence Reading” in Memory & Cognition

JULIE MCCONNELL, professor of law, received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The awards are the highest honor for faculty at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities and recognize superior accomplishments in teaching, research, and public service.

BRUCE MCKECHNIE, adjunct assistant professor of paralegal studies, was named the 2023 recipient of the SPCS Innovations in Teaching Award, which recognizes instructional innovation in the recipient’s classroom.

MARIELA MÉNDEZ associate professor of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies and women, gender, and sexuality studies, published the chapter “Que(e) rying Femininities: Clarice Lispector’s ‘Correio Feminino’ on TV Globo” in After Clarice: Reading Lispector’s Legacy in the

Twenty-First Century (Legenda). While on a Fulbright Scholar Award in Brazil, Méndez presented “Impertinências feministas no arquivo clariceano: Proposta para uma aproximação material sensorial e performática às intervenções feministas” [“Feminist Impertinences in the Claricean Archive: Proposal for a Material Sensorial and Performative Approach to Feminist Interventions”] at the roundtable Impertinências Feministas na Literatura Latinoamericana [Feminist Impertinences in Latin American Literature], organized by the Feminist Lab at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.

TRACY NICHOLSON, assistant professor of human resource management, was named among 10 Inspiring Educational Leaders in the December 2022 issue of Higher Education Digest. Nicholson published “Professional Career Graduate Degree Programs: A Welcome Place for Student Athletes” in the same publication.

MICHAEL NORRIS, assistant professor of chemistry, and students published “Six-Electron CO2 Reduction Involving Participation by Benzimidazole-Derived Bidentate Ligands in Ruthenium Complexes” in ACS Applied Energy Materials

LAURA KNOUSE, associate professor of psychology; Crystal Hoyt, Colonel Leo K. and Gaylee Thorsness Endowed Chair in Ethical Leadership; and others published “A systematic review of growth mindset intervention implementation strategies” in Social and Personality Psychology Compass

CAROL PARISH, Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Professor of Chemistry and associate provost for academic integration, and students published “Atomistic Insights into the binding of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Receptor Binding Domain with the Human ACE2 receptor: The Importance of Residue 493” in the Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modeling

JON PARK, assistant professor of computer science, co-published “Plugand-Play Adaptation for Continuously-Updated QA” in Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2022 and “Masked Summarization to Generate Factually Inconsistent Summaries for Improved Factual Consistency Checking” in Findings of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (NAACL). Park and students published “Argument Mining for Review Helpfulness Prediction” in the Proceedings of the Empirical Methods on Natural Language Processing (EMNLP)

SANDRA PEART, dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, co-published the chapter “Responses to Our Commentators” in Research in the History of Economic Thought

and Methodology: Including a Symposium on the Work of Francois Perroux (Emerald Publishing). Peart co-published “Menger and Jevons: Beliefs and Things” in The Review of Austrian Economics

JANELLE PEIFER, assistant professor of psychology, published “Heightened cognitive empathy and intercultural competence for individuals with historically marginalized identities” in the International Journal on Social and Education Sciences, “College students’ reduced cognitive empathy and increased anxiety and depression before and during the COVID-19 pandemic” in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health – Special Issue: Protective and Risk Factors of Mental Health and Well-Being in Adolescence and Adulthood during Pandemic Era, and “Pilot testing a brief partner-inclusive hybrid intervention for perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs)” in Frontiers in Psychiatry

JULIE POLLOCK, associate professor of chemistry, and an undergraduate student published “Advances in the Development of Prodrugs as Selective Modulators of Estrogen Receptors” in the Journal of the Endocrine Society

LIDIA RADI, associate professor of French and Italian studies, published the chapter “Albania Mon Amour: Tales of Female Love and Duty in the Italian Writings of Vorpsi, Dones, and Ibrahimi” in Contemporary Italian Diversity in Critical and Fictional Narratives (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press).

BILL ROSS, Roger Francis and Mary Saunders Richardson Chair in Mathematics, published Operator Theory by Example (Oxford University Press).

CHRISTOPHER VON RUEDEN, associate professor of leadership studies, co-published “Repercussions of patrilocal residence on mothers’ social support networks among Tsimane forager-farmers” in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B

ANDREW SCHOENEMAN, assistant professor of nonprofit studies, led a Nonprofit Gathering on program evaluation for the Hanover Chamber of Commerce in Ashland, Virginia.

TOM SHIELDS, associate dean of academic and student affairs in the School of Professional & Continuing Studies, facilitated a panel discussion reflecting on the Unpacking the Census project during the project’s 10th anniversary celebration. Panelists included representatives from the Partnership for Housing Affordability, the Institute for Sustainable Communities, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation.

CHRISTOPHER SHUGRUE, assistant professor of chemistry, was awarded an ACS Petroleum Research Fund Grant for research on the development of mild and rapid cycloadditions of electron-rich oxazoles.

Joan Saab

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Joan Saab, who currently serves as the Susan B. Anthony Professor of Art History and executive vice provost of academic affairs at the University of Rochester, will become UR’s executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, effective July 1.

“I have long been impressed by the University of Richmond and look forward to working with the exceptional faculty, students, and staff to further strengthen the school’s sense of intellectual community and advance the academic mission,” Saab said. “Richmond’s commitment to creating a holistic and inclusive learning environment where all students can thrive mirrors my own core values.”

Saab is an experienced administrator and distinguished art history and visual culture scholar with more than 20 years of academic and leadership appointments at Rochester, where she is also serving as interim dean of the faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering.

“Dr. Saab’s passions and expertise as a scholar and administrator align with our own institutional priorities,” said President Kevin F. Hallock. “At her core, she believes in advancing educational opportunities for students of all backgrounds, which echoes our commitments to academic excellence, access and affordability, and belonging.”

At Rochester, Saab has also served as director of the graduate program in visual and cultural studies and chair of the art and art history department. Her teaching and research include 19th and 20th century American visual cultural studies, American cultural history, public culture and community studies, and sensory history.

She is the recipient of numerous teaching, research, and grant awards and is a sought-after scholar and presenter.

Saab earned an undergraduate degree in English and art history from Tufts University, a master’s degree in American civilization with a concentration on material culture and museum studies from George Washington University, and a doctorate in American studies at New York University.

Geraldine Sullivan Chief Human Resources Officer

Geraldine Sullivan joined the UR community March 27 as the University’s first chief human resources officer.

Sullivan worked in human resources at Yale University and the Yale School of Medicine for 15 years — most recently as the associate vice president for human resources. Before joining Yale, she held various positions in the private sector, including nine years with Marriott Hotels and Resorts.

“I had a chance to meet so many people during the interview process, and those conversations helped paint a picture of a community that cares for each other, works well together, and has a deep interest in advancing the mission while ensuring the staff and faculty are engaged and energized about their work and contributions,” Sullivan said.

Melissa Falk Associate Vice President and Dean of Admission

Melissa Falk will join the UR community as associate vice president and dean of admission on July 3.

Falk brings over 30 years of experience to the role and currently serves as the dean of admission and financial aid at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Under her leadership, Muhlenberg achieved its largest-ever percentage of domestic students of color, first-generation students, and Pell-eligible students in 2022.

“I was drawn to the University of Richmond’s commitment to access and how Richmond strives to be an equitable community, demonstrated through programs like the Richmond Guarantee, which provides financial support for internships and research to all undergraduate students,” Falk said. “I’m excited to be part of a community in which a student’s financial status does not determine their ability to thrive, succeed, and meaningfully contribute to a diverse global community as thoughtful and responsible leaders.”

CARL SORENSEN, senior associate vice president for human resources, received honorary life membership in the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources in recognition of his commitment to the higher education human resources profession and his long-term leadership in CUPAHR.

STEPHANIE SPERA, assistant professor of geography, environment, and sustainability, received a $15,898 NASA Land Cover/Land Use Change grant for research in the Cerrado Frontier, a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil.

BOB SPIRES, associate professor of education, co-published “The Stickiness of Tea Garden Workers’ Situation in Assam, India” in Social Change

LESLIE STEVENSON, director of career services, was selected to co-chair the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ annual conference in June in Orlando, Florida.

DANIELLE STOKES, assistant professor of law, received a $47,066 subaward from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation via Barry University for her three-year project “Just Energy Transitions and Place,” focusing on state and local energy transition policies.

RANIA SWEIS, associate professor of anthropology, was selected the winner of the Association for Middle East Childhood and Youth Studies

2022 Book Award for Paradoxes of Care: Children and Global Medical Aid in Egypt. The award recognizes an outstanding contribution on the study of children and youth in the Middle East, North Africa, and their diasporic communities.

SHITAL THEKDI, associate professor of analytics and operations, received the Best Paper 2022 award from the Society for Risk Analysis for “Managing Physical and Economic Risk for Systems with Multidirectional Network Interdependencies.”

YÜCEL YANIKDAG, professor of history and global studies, was awarded a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship for his book project Making and Remaking Men in a ‘Military Nation’: Masculinity, Emotions, and Identity in the Ottoman First World War. This is his third Fulbright-Hays Fellowship.

2023 Outstanding Service Award Winners

These awards, given annually, honor staff for exemplary commitment and service to the University in the following categories: administrative, clerical support, dining services, service/maintenance, and sustainability. Outstanding Service Award winners are nominated by their colleagues and supervisors and receive $1,000 and a personalized plaque.

Clerical Support

Assistant to the Vice Presidents

Enrollment Management and Planning & Policy

Administrative WENDY SHEPPARD Assistant Director of Sports and Risk Management University Recreation

MARTHA PITTAWAY

Dining Services

CHARLIE SPARKS Lead Utility Associate Heilman Dining Center

Service/Maintenance CODY ARBAUGH Landscape Team Leader University Facilities/ Landscape

Sustainability TYLER BETZHOLD Executive Chef Heilman Dining Center

The following highlights employment

status changes for full- and part-time faculty and staff — including temporary to full- or part-time positions — from Nov. 1, 2022, to Jan. 31.

NEW HIRES

FACULTY

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

BIOLOGY

Kathy Ziegenfus

Visiting Instructor of Biology

CHEMISTRY

Billy Miller Postdoctoral Research Associate

MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

John Polhill

Robert Edwin Gaines Professor in Mathematics

PSYCHOLOGY

Sarah Tryon

Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology

SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Edward Abse

Visiting Lecturer of Anthropology

STAFF

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Emily Yang Lab Manager/Study Coordinator, Psychology

ROBINS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Megan Davis Administrative Coordinator, Dean’s Office

SCHOOL OF LAW

Caitlin Bradley Director of Career Development, Public Sector Careers

Tyler Levinson Digital Communications Manager

PROVOST

Ashley Buffey

Assistant Director of Operations, Institutional Equity and Inclusion

Heather Ervin Science Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library

Kyle Jenkins Social Sciences Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library

Lauren Withrow Library Access Services Specialist, Boatwright Memorial Library

ADVANCEMENT

Melissa Joyce-Rosen

Major Gift Officer

Stephanie Street Gift Processing and Records Coordinator, Advancement Systems

Armond Thomas Report Writer and Coordinator, Advancement Data and Analytics, Advancement Systems

ATHLETICS

Adam Denton Head Women’s Soccer Coach

Meghan Gill Associate Head Women’s Soccer Coach

Keelyn Harkey Assistant Director of Athletic Public Relations

Malloreigh Yingling Assistant Director of Athletic Public Relations

BUSINESS AFFAIRS CAMPUS OPERATIONS Roderick Anderson Custodial Floor Technician

Mike Brame Groundskeeper

Gina Foster SpiderShop Director

Jasper Harrison Utility Associate, Heilman Dining Center

Ricardo Hinojosa Cook II, Heilman Dining Center

Harvey Johnson Custodial Floor Technician

Kayla Johnson Events Scheduler, Events, Conferences, and Support Services

Jonathan Lafoon Events and Projects Technician, Events, Conferences, and Support Services

Asia Lee Café Associate, Tyler’s Grill

Nathan Martin Chef Production Manager, Heilman Dining Center

Haley Morse Cook I, Passport Café

Robert Moyd Custodian

Julia Musetti Café Associate, Organic Krush

Thomas Pannacci Café Associate, Tyler’s Grill

Melissa Reynolds Facilities Accounts Payable and Data Coordinator

Roselyn Timon

Utility Associate, Heilman Dining Center

CONTROLLER

Matthew Wiggins

Accounting Manager

SECURITY

David Gallagher Police Officer

COMMUNICATIONS

Rachel Dawson

Social Media Manager

ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

Jaclyn Coates

Financial Aid Advisor

Brendan Devlin

Admission Counselor, Undergraduate Admission

Sen Duty-Stone Administrative Coordinator, Undergraduate Admission

INFORMATION SERVICES

Mirinda McCants User Services System Administrator and Team

Lead, User Services

Specialists

Will Wilkerson

Network Specialist, Network Services

PLANNING AND POLICY

Susan Breeden File Auditor

Cindy Deffenbaugh File Auditor

SPIDER MANAGEMENT

Greg Ciaverelli

Director of Operations

Tripp Taliaferro Director of Investments

STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Britney Campbell Assistant Director, Student Center for Equity and Inclusion

LaWanda Dunn Nursing Supervisor, Student Health Center

Aaron Mahmod Assistant Director, Student Organizations, Center for Student Involvement

Tosha Ross Medical Assistant, Student Health Center

Angela Waters Registered Nurse –Health Promotion, Student Health Center

Kerney Yu Nurse Practitioner, Student Health Center

MOVES

FACULTY

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

Volkan Bakirdan

Visiting Instructor of Math and Computer Science

LATIN AMERICAN, LATINO, AND IBERIAN STUDIES

Montserrat TorresNogales Visiting Instructor of Spanish

STAFF

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

SCHOOL OF LAW

Leigh Deignan Director of Budgeting and Operations

ADVANCEMENT

Abby Roberts

Leadership Gift Officer, Annual Giving

Elizabeth Soady Associate Director of Professional Development for Arts & Sciences, Career Services

Jennifer Stancil Assistant Vice President, Foundation, Corporate, and Government Relations

ATHLETICS

Christian Gravius Associate Director of Athletic Public Relations

Mike Pagano Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations

BUSINESS AFFAIRS

Catherine Fitzgerald Senior Budget and Planning Analyst

CAMPUS OPERATIONS

Richard Bollinger

Catering Chef, Heilman Dining Center

Jaymie Cushing

Catering Sous Chef

Rachid Dadda

Catering Driver

Dusty McChristian Boiler Plant Operator –REACT

Dianne Melia Events Manager, Events, Conferences, and Support Services

Adam Schumm

Senior Catering Chef

Charlie Sparks

Lead Utility Associate, Heilman Dining Center

Milestones

Congratulations to these UR staff and faculty who celebrated major service anniversaries of 25 years and more in 2022.

40 Years of Service

JOYCE JANTO Law Library

JERMAINE MASSENBURG University Facilities –Custodial

FRANCINE REYNOLDS One Card Services

JONATHAN WIGHT Robins School faculty (Economics)

35 Years of Service

JERRY GILFOYLE Arts & Sciences faculty (Physics)

IRIA JONES Boatwright Memorial Library

ROBIN SCOTT Tyler’s Grill

30 Years of Service HOLLY BLAKE will

RAFAEL DE SA Arts & Sciences faculty (Biology)

BRYAN GALLAGHER Telecom and Media Support Services

KASONGO KAPANGA Arts & Sciences faculty (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures)

KIMMARIE MCGOLDRICK Robins School faculty (Economics)

CINDY MCGUIRE Westhampton College Dean’s Office

DANTE PARKER Mail Services

BILL ROSS Arts & Sciences faculty (Mathematics and Statistics)

ANTHONY RUSSELL Arts & Sciences faculty (English)

25 Years of Service

LAURA DIETRICK Human Resources

JANE GEANEY Arts & Sciences faculty (Religious Studies)

RICK GLASS Events, Conferences, and Support Services

KRISTINE HENDERSON University Counsel –Compliance and Title IX

TAMMY HICKS Controller’s Office

LINDA HOBGOOD Arts & Sciences faculty (Speech Center)

SOON HONG Campus Safety

BRUCE LOCKHART University Facilities –Landscape

PAUL LOZO University Facilities –Support Services

RICK NEAL One Card Services

TED PEEBLES Arts & Sciences faculty (Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies)

LARRY RICHMOND University Facilities –Carpentry

JEFFREY RILEY Campus Safety

PETER SMALLWOOD Arts & Sciences faculty (Biology)

CHRIS WEAVER University Facilities –Boiler Plant

DOUG WEST Campus Telecommunications

ADDITIONAL HONOREES

For a complete list of staff service award honorees, visit hr.richmond. edu/current-employees/employee-appreciation/service-awards/ honorees.html.

OMICRON DELTA KAPPA

This national leadership honor society recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exemplary character and leadership achievements in one of five phases of campus life: scholarship, athletics, service, communications, and arts.

FALL 2022

TODD LOOKINGBILL

Associate Professor of Biology

Associate Professor of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability School of Arts & Sciences

HEATHER SADOWSKI Director of Health Promotion Health Promotion

MICHAEL TAYLOR Custodian University Facilities

SPRING 2023

DAVE HALE

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Business Affairs

NANCY PROPST

Academic Administrative Specialist

Department of Geography and the Environment

MORGAN RUSSELL-STOKES

Dean for Student Equity and Inclusion

Director of the Student Center for Equity and Inclusion

Student Center for Equity and Inclusion

ALEX SKLUT

Associate Dean of Students Richmond School of Law

Mary Wesseh Custodian

CONTROLLER

Wendy Burchard

Director of Procurement, Procurement and Strategic Sourcing

Shelle Flowers Payroll Manager

Hugh Elwood Purchasing Manager, Procurement and Strategic Sourcing

HUMAN RESOURCES

Janee Bolling

Human Resources

Information Systems Specialist

STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Sarah Mercer

Operations Coordinator, Health and Well-Being Operations

RETIREMENTS

28 YEARS

KRISTA STENGER Arts & Sciences faculty (Biology)

26 YEARS

LORI CATES Accounting

JULIE LASKARIS

Arts & Sciences faculty (Classical Studies)

24 YEARS

KEN CAMPBELL University Facilities –Landscape

LAMONT JOHNSON Heilman Dining Center

22 YEARS

ADRAINE GIBSON Student Center for Equity and Inclusion

21 YEARS

VICKIE BRADY Academic Computing Services

19 YEARS

ROBERT BARNES University Facilities –Landscape

16 YEARS

CHIP HOKE

49 YEARS

FRANCOISE RAVAUXKIRKPATRICK Arts & Sciences faculty (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures)

38 YEARS

VAN NALL Arts & Sciences faculty (Mathematics and Statistics)

32 YEARS

SAMUEL ABRASH Arts & Sciences faculty (Chemistry)

RICHARD WALLER Arts & Sciences faculty (University Museums)

30 YEARS

LADELLE MCWHORTER

Arts & Sciences faculty (Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies)

Arts & Sciences faculty (Mathematics and Statistics)

12 YEARS

KAREN WILLIAMS University Facilities –Landscape

FALL 2022 & SPRING 2023 Epsilon Circle Inductees

There are Spiders everywhere.

AND THAT’S A GOOD THING.

Bright minds arrive at the University of Richmond with the expectation to exceed expectations. Their ambition combines with Richmond’s innovative programs, weaving together in ways that invite Spiders to grow, evolve, and succeed. This web of excellence propels Spiders from Richmond to all corners of the globe.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

We welcome your input. Send your story ideas or comments to spiderinsider@richmond.edu.

MAY

May 5–7

Commencement

May 8, 9–11 a.m.

University Faculty Meeting

Tyler Haynes Commons, Alice Haynes Room

May 18, 8:30–10:30 a.m.

Spiders in the Know Modlin Center for the Arts, Camp Concert Hall

May 25, 3–5 p.m.

SummUR Sounds

Westhampton Green

May 29 Memorial Day

JUNE

June 2–4

Reunion

June 19

Juneteenth

JULY

July 4

Independence Day

AUGUST

Aug. 23, 3–4:30 p.m.

Colloquy Modlin Center for the Arts, Alice Jepson

Theatre

Aug. 28

First Day of Undergraduate Fall Classes

SEPTEMBER

Sept. 1

Preview Richmond Open house for prospective students and their families

Sept. 2

Employee Appreciation Day at Robins Stadium Football vs. Morgan State University; limited free tickets for faculty and staff

Sept. 4

Labor Day

Sept. 29–Oct. 1 Family Weekend

USAC

The University Staff Advisory Council represents the needs of staff to senior administration and works to make the University of Richmond an employer of choice.

Meetings*

May 9

June 13

July 11

Aug. 8

Sept. 12 1–3 p.m.

Visit usac.richmond. edu for meeting locations.

FACULTY SENATE

The University of Richmond Faculty Senate represents the faculty in the University’s governance process on matters that impact the University or affect more than one school.

Visit facultysenate. richmond.edu for meeting times and locations

*Unless otherwise noted, meetings are open to all faculty and staff.

410 Westhampton Way University of Richmond, VA 23173