SCARAB Fall 2014

The magazine of the MCV Alumni Association of Virginia Commonwealth University Fall 2014

Vol. 62, No. 2

RIVER of KNOWLEDGE

Students explore Virginia’s past, present and future through the lens of the James River

MCV Alumni Association

More than 400 athletes from 115 universities raced around Richmond, Virginia, for the three-day USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, held in May 2014. As the medical sponsor and sole health care provider for the event, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center fielded its own team of 30 physicians, medical residents, physical therapists, nurses and volunteers who treated more than 50 cyclists and spectators. The winner of the Division I individual men’s time trial, Chris Jones, a VCU senior health and physical education major (inset), finished in 43:24.64. The championships served as a test run for 2015’s nine-day UCI Road World Championships, which is expected to bring 1,500 athletes and 450,000 spectators to the city.

Main photo Thomas Kojcsich, inset photo Allen Jones

BIGPICTURE

Fall 2014

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Greetings from the MCV Campus of VCU!

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he cover article in your alumni magazine describes a “river of knowledge” experience that provides a convenient metaphor for alumni engagement. It might begin when you first arrive as a student, expand as you follow your intellectual and professional aspirations as a student (alumni-in-residence) and explode as you realize the shoulders upon which you have stood and prepare to continue a robust relationship with your alma mater as a graduate!

Our mantra, “celebrate the heritage, support the present and invest in the future,” guides us as we seek to realize VCU Alumni’s mission to serve our university and one another. This issue also features articles about philanthropy, leadership, teamwork and impact. Whether the focus is on students, faculty, staff or alumni, the themes of excellence, passion and possibility are constant and unwavering.

It’s no wonder that your university continues its upward trajectory. As you will learn throughout the articles, you can choose from an array of options and avenues to support and invest in the university.

We hope that you enjoy reading the entire issue and that you are encouraged and inspired to become an even more active member and leader.

The MCV Alumni Association of VCU, in partnership with other constituent organizations — academic, geographic and shared interest — under the umbrella of VCU Alumni, strives to provide alumni with a menu of value-added engagement opportunities in support of the five themes of the university’s strategic plan, Quest for Distinction. The MCV Alumni Association of VCU is a duesdriven organization that offers a full spectrum of benefits and services.

It is my pleasure and honor to serve as the president of the MCV Alumni Association of VCU and work collaboratively with distinguished School of Dentistry alumnus W. Baxter Perkinson Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’70/D), in his role as the first president of VCU Alumni.

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

Yours for VCU and in the tradition of MCV,

Fall 2014 Volume 62, Number 2 vcualumni.org Associate vice president, University Alumni Relations Gordon A. McDougall Senior director, finance and administration Judy Frederick Senior director, outreach and engagement Ramin Mirshah (B.A. ’01/H&S) 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)

Editorial, design and photography VCU University Relations The alumni magazine is published semiannually by the Virginia Commonwealth University Office of Alumni Relations. The views and opinions expressed in the alumni magazine do not necessarily represent those of the alumni office or university.

Send address changes or comments to: Office of Alumni Relations Virginia Commonwealth University 924 West Franklin Street P.O. Box 843044 Richmond, Virginia 23284-3044 Phone: (804) 828-2586 Email: alumni@vcu.edu vcualumni.org © 2014, Virginia Commonwealth University

Kenneth Kolb, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’82/P)

Correction The spring 2014 alumni magazine incorrectly published an obituary for Justin K. Bousquet (B.F.A. ’00/A; M.S. ’05/MC). We apologize for the error.

On the cover As part of the summer course Footprints on the James, students and guides pole the bateau Mary Marshall along the riverbanks.

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an equal opportunity, affirmative action university 000035-01

CONTENTS

10 Features 10 What’s in a campaign?

Gifts to the university’s last capital campaign continue to provide support for education, patient care, research and community outreach.

16 River of knowledge Students navigate 150 miles of the James River during a summer course that explores the history and biology of its watershed.

20 Protests in pictures VCU Libraries’ Freedom Now Project unveils a rare collection of Virginia civil rights protest photographs.

Departments 24 A clean start A donor-supported student organization provides scholarship assistance to students struggling with drug and alcohol addiction.

26 Your support, our future Scholarship recipients express their thanks for the generosity of donors who have invested in their education.

28 Road tripping for the Rams A 108-mile drive to campus creates lasting memories, and relationships, for one family.

4 University news 9 Presidential perspective 30 Alumni connections 37 Alumni support 38 Class notes 42 Alumni profile: Chris “Pav” Crowley 45 Alumni profile: Susan Wyant, Pharm.D. 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

ICA groundbreaking

Ed Trask (B.F.A. ’92/A) laying a colorful foundation for the ICA groundbreaking in the institute’s signature hues

VCU broke ground in June on the Markel Center, the Steven Holl Architects-designed building that will house the university’s new Institute for Contemporary Art. Expected to open in 2016, the ICA will be dedicated to contemporary visual art, design, music, performance and film by nationally and internationally recognized artists. The ICA is being funded through private donations, with Kathie and Steve Markel and Pam and Bill Royall serving as campaign committee co-chairs. The noncollecting institution will enhance VCU and its renowned School of the Arts, while introducing a vibrant destination for contemporary art to the region.

Located at one of the most prominent intersections in Richmond — the corner of Belvidere and Broad streets — and adjacent to several historic neighborhoods, the ICA will link VCU’s two campuses and crown Richmond’s Downtown Arts District.

The Markel Center building, named in Campaign co-chairs Steve (left) and Kathie Markel honor of the generosity of Markel Corp., with VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. will be a piece of art, too.

“An integral part of [our] vision was to decide that the architecture of this building should be a piece of art all in and of itself,” says Steve Markel, chairman and CEO of Markel. “And the selection of Steven Holl [and his team] to build this building is maybe the best decision that we possibly could have made.

“When that structure exists on this site, it will be an icon for the city of Richmond. It will be something that VCU and Richmond are really known for around the world.”

AWARD

Highest honor for patient safety

The American Hospital Association recognized VCU Medical Center with its top honor for leadership and innovation in safety and quality improvement. The medical center was selected in July as the 2014 recipient of the AHA–McKesson Quest for Quality Prize, in part because of training that resulted in a 50 percent reduction in serious safety hospital events, an electronic early warning system that alerts caregivers in real time of a patient’s declining health status and a community clinic that has enhanced care management and care coordination for the sickest, poorest patients.

The medical center, which was also ranked in July by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 hospital in the Richmond metropolitan area, was selected for its sustainable and widely adopted approach to achieve the Institute of Medicine’s six quality aims for safe, effective, efficient, timely, patient-centered and equitable health care.

“We are humbled and honored by this recognition because it affirms that we are among the best of the very best in the nation,” says John Duval, CEO of MCV Hospitals. “It is because of the dedication and

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hard work of our more than 10,000 alert and concerned team members that we have had such success in keeping our patients from encountering preventable harm.”

In 2008, the medical center developed “Safety First, Every Day,” a mantra to support the goal of becoming America’s safest health system. Since the initiative’s inception, more than 12,000 team members have been trained in safe behaviors and error-prevention tools, and the hospital has seen a 50 percent reduction in serious Setting the bar sky-high for patient safety safety events.

ACCOLADES

TOP 10 ENGINEERING SCHOOL

CMH employees celebrating the affiliation with VCU Health System

PATIENT CARE

New health care partnership

Community Memorial Healthcenter in South Hill, Virginia, has joined VCU Health System, expanding the range and depth of health care delivery for residents of Southside Virginia and northern North Carolina. Under the agreement, VCU Health System will commit strategic investments in the newly named VCU Community Memorial Hospital, including a new hospital facility, health care technologies, clinical initiatives and physician recruitment.

“We believe that VCU Medical Center was a natural choice for CMH as we have enjoyed a productive and positive relationship for several decades, including establishing the first rural oncology clinic [through partnership with the VCU Massey Cancer Center] in the region over 25 years ago as well as other clinical and educational services,” says CMH President and CEO Scott Burnette. “Our affiliation will bring together two high-performing organizations, combining CMH’s clinical expertise as a community-based hospital with the nationally ranked programs of the VCU Health System.”

CMH, which has received numerous state and national recognitions for quality patient care and customer service, provides an array of inpatient and outpatient services and is one of the area’s largest employers with about 800 employees and 200 volunteers.

RESEARCH

Tackling obesity in young adults

Live Well RVA, a new study underway at VCU, is focused on tackling obesity in young adults. Jessica LaRose, Ph.D., assistant professor of social and behavioral health in the VCU School of Medicine, is investigating and comparing the efficacy of two programs that promote weight control and cardiovascular health in early adulthood.

“There is a gap in current research and clinical programs — we have gold standard weight management programs for kids as well as adults.

This study is focused on developing programs for the transition from adolescence into adulthood,” says LaRose, the study’s principal investigator.

“Even though this is a high-risk developmental stage, very few programs have been developed for this specific age group.”

The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is testing two 12-week weight loss programs designed for young adults. Both programs involve two individual sessions with a lifestyle counselor, followed by weekly lessons and personalized coaching and feedback from their counselor, all via a Web platform to reduce time barriers. One of the goals is to discern which approach is better at getting participants to stick with the program and to make changes to their behavior.

The American Society for Engineering Education ranked VCU’s School of Engineering as the nation’s ninth best school for awarding doctoral degrees to women. VCU, which awarded 32.1 percent of its engineering doctoral degrees to women in 2013, was the only institution in Virginia to be ranked among the top 10.

STATE SCIENTIST Gov. Terry McAuliffe presented Paul B. Fisher, Ph.D., a researcher with VCU Massey Cancer Center, with Virginia’s Outstanding Scientist of 2014 award. Fisher, the Thelma Newmeyer Corman Endowed Chair in Oncology Research, was recognized for his pioneering work in the field of molecular biology and the translation of his research from “bench to bedside.”

Detail from Reni Gower’s mixed media “Fragments: Entwined”

DISTINGUISHED ART TEACHER Reni Gower, professor in the Department of Painting and Printmaking in the VCU School of the Arts, received the College Art Association’s 2014 Distinguished Teacher of Art Award. Gower, whose work has been showcased nationally and internationally, has more than 30 years of professional experience in the fine arts.

STUDENT SCHOLARS

Two VCU students received prestigious scholarship awards. Charlene Gaw, a junior majoring in both chemistry and psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences, received a Critical Language Scholarship to study Mandarin

Chinese at the advanced level at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. Nicolas “Nico” Andrade, a sophomore, received a Goldwater Scholarship. Andrade, a member of the VCU Honors College, is majoring in electrical engineering through the School of Engineering and physics through the College of Humanities and Sciences.

ROME PRIZE

Corin Hewitt, assistant professor in the Department of Sculpture and Extended Media in the VCU School of the Arts, won the Rome Prize Competition, one of the top awards available to artists in the U.S. Hewitt will receive a fellowship to study in Rome.

FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS

A pair of VCU faculty members received Fulbright grants to travel abroad in 2014. James Vonesh, Ph.D., a biology professor at VCU, received a Fulbright Scholar award to study a globally invasive frog species in South Africa. As part of the grant, Vonesh will collaborate with scientists at several South African universities and research institutes to conduct research on the frog species Xenopus laevis. Susan Gooden, Ph.D., professor of public policy and administration in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and executive director of The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute, received a Fulbright Specialist Award, allowing her to gain an in-depth understanding of the public administration program at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates and to work with university officials on global accreditation standards.

TOP-RANKED KIDNEY CARE

Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU ranked No. 28 in nephrology in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of best children’s hospitals, a significant jump from its 2013 ranking of 50. CHoR has been committed to advancing pediatric kidney care by recruiting specialists and a multidisciplinary team to meet the complex needs of patients and their families.

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UNIVERSITYNEWS

« Barry Falk, Ph.D., a respected economist with significant

experience in honors education, joined VCU as dean of The Honors College. Falk previously served as director of the Honors Program and was a professor of economics at James Madison University. Before taking his position at JMU in 2007, Falk was an assistant, an associate and then a full professor of economics at Iowa State University. He has also served as a visiting fellow at Yale University and as a visiting scholar in the economics research division of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board.

ALUMNI

Super Bowl success

Making it to the Super Bowl marks the pinnacle of a career. While that’s certainly true for the athletes on the field, it’s equally significant for the behind-the-scenes professionals who create the much awaited commercials that play between the action during the big game.

VCU is no stranger to this elite branding effort. This year, 10 alumni of the VCU Brandcenter had a hand in commercials that ran during the Super Bowl.

Kris Kennedy (B.S. ’09/MC), who graduated in 2009 from the copywriting track, works with Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago. He was part of the four-person team who developed the Heinz spot, “Happy and You Know It.” Kennedy felt more than prepared for the task, after surviving the Brandcenter.

“The Brandcenter prepares everyone who passes through its doors by being uncompromising,” Kennedy says. “The teachers are demanding.

Only greatness is accepted.”

EDUCATION

Summer science camp for teachers

The VCU School of Education, through the Virginia Initiative for Science Teaching and Achievement, held a summer science institute for fourththrough sixth-grade teachers. The four-week Elementary Science Institute, part of a $5.1 million grant awarded in 2010 to VCU, provided more than 30 teachers training in hands-on, problem-based learning — VISTA’s innovative approach that shows teachers how to create “real-world” student scientists. Teachers practiced the techniques with students during science camps embedded in the institute. They then returned to their classrooms to implement the new teaching methods, with support throughout the year from experienced science teachers.

“It’s great that VISTA teaches us how to use these strategies by immersing us in them,” says Katherine Gregory, a fourth-grade teacher from William Perry Elementary School in Waynesboro, Virginia. “VISTA is not just a fantastic opportunity for teachers to gain something they can take back to the classroom and use immediately but also a win for the students of Virginia who benefit from our experiences.”

VISTA is a statewide partnership among more than 80 Virginia school districts, six Virginia universities (George Mason University, College of William & Mary, VCU, Virginia Tech, James Madison University and the University Science camp lessons in action of Virginia) and the Virginia Department of Education. The initiative is funded by a five-year, $34 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education through the Investing in Innovation program, which includes a $5.7 million private-sector matching requirement.

Photo Rachael Quick

LEADERSHIP

VOLUNTEERISM AWARD

Community service honor

Creative from Heinz’s game-day spot “Happy and You Know It”

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Gov. Terry McAuliffe honored VCU’s ASPiRE (Academic Scholars Program in Real Environments) program as one of seven winners of the 2014 Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Awards.

The 2-year-old ASPiRE, which received the Outstanding Educational Institution Volunteer Program Award, brings together students who share an interest in community engagement. The students live in the West Grace Street Student Housing – South residence hall, take four semesters of community-engagement course work and participate in community service projects together. Between August and December 2013, ASPiRE students contributed more than 7,500 service hours to the Richmond community.

“This honor affirms that the VCU ASPiRE living-learning community offers a unique community-engagement approach that contributes to our community in a meaningful way while providing extraordinary learning opportunities for our students that equip them to be active citizens — now and as VCU alumni in their future communities,” says Catherine W. Howard, Ph.D., vice provost for community engagement.

UNIVERSITYNEWS

COMMUNITY

CSI: After school

Seven students in the Department of Forensic Science in the College of Humanities and Sciences taught forensic science methods and techniques to roughly 25 students at after-school programs at Martin Luther King Jr. and Fred D. Thompson middle schools in Richmond and Fairfield Middle School in Henrico, Virginia.

The program, launched in the fall, gives middle school students an opportunity to gain hands-on experience with “CSI-style” techniques, including fingerprint and blood spatter analysis, DNA sample testing and crime scene processing.

“The obvious benefit is that it empowers young people at this critical age to appreciate science in tangible, relevant ways,” says Michelle Peace, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’05/M), interim chair of VCU’s forensic science department and president-elect

of MCV Alumni Association. “That a light goes off for them that ‘science is cool.’ That they connect the fun and engaging exercises they do with our forensic science students to principles that they are learning in their classrooms.”

Along with forensic science techniques, the middle school students also gain experience with general science skills such as sensory observations, critical thinking, and classification and identification.

“It’s very challenging to find engaging programs for the kids, especially in the health sciences,” says Tamiko Williams (B.A. ’13/H&S), who coordinates after-school programs at MLK on behalf of the nonprofit Communities in Schools. “For this program, though, the students just keep coming back. They’re very, very engaged.”

VCU student Carla Barrera (left) showing how alternative light sources can make fingerprints more visible

IN MEMORIAM

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Edmund F. Ackell, M.D., D.M.D., who led VCU as president from 1978 to 1990, died in May at the age of 88.

As the university’s third president, Ackell is credited with helping the university during a critical phase of its development. VCU was just 10 years old at the beginning of his tenure, having been formed in 1968 through the merger of Richmond Professional Institute and the Medical College of Virginia.

VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., says that Ackell served as VCU’s leader during a transformational era for the university.

“VCU would not be the major public research institution it is today without the leadership and vision of Edmund Ackell,” Rao says. “He embodied the vision of VCU as one university, and he worked tirelessly to integrate what are now the Monroe Park and MCV campuses.”

Edmund F. Ackell, M.D., D.M.D. Ackell’s contributions include leading a major overhaul of the university’s governance system and administrative structure, instituting a new system for both short-range and long-range university planning, playing an active role in faculty leadership by establishing faculty convocation and a new set of faculty tenure and promotion guidelines, and establishing greater access to the community by supporting the use of the university’s research and educational resources to meet social needs.

In 2004, VCU dedicated the Edmund F. Ackell Residence Center on the Monroe Park Campus in Ackell’s honor.

VCU launched a new office to centralize continuing education and professional growth opportunities. The Office of Continuing and Professional Education delivers high-quality, noncredit courses and programs, provide continuing and professional education support to the schools and colleges of VCU, and offer mediation services and skills training.

Michael Huffman, Ph.D. (M.S. ’02/E; Ph.D. ’12/GPA), interim director of OCPE, says offerings such as a paralegal certificate program and new courses for teacher recertification points began this fall. Huffman will work within the university to collaborate on course offerings that include continuing education units to build a robust program over the next couple of years.

Also joining OCPE will be the Virginia Center for Consensus Building, which will provide mediation services and negotiation skills training to state, local and regional entities and to private stakeholders.

Passing of a former VCU president

Courses for nontraditional learners

STUDENT ACTIVISTS

Meeting with the VP

A pair of VCU students and their adviser met with Vice President Joe Biden earlier this year to discuss ideas for strengthening sexual assault policies on college campuses across the country.

Students Calvin Hall and Kaylin Tingle (B.S. ’12/H&S; Cert. ’13/H&S), along with Tammi Slovinsky, assistant director of sexual assault and intimate partner violence and stalking advocacy services at The Wellness Resource Center, traveled to Washington, D.C., to offer input to the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault.

The meeting included participation by student advocates, sexual assault survivors and educators from across the country.

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UNIVERSITYNEWS Photo Shawn Martin, School of Engineering

RESEARCH

A model for student support

VCU will lead a three-year research grant of $1.5 million from the Institute of Education Sciences to develop a professional development model to help sixth- through eighth-grade teachers support all students, including those who have difficulties and are at-risk for poor academic outcomes.

Thomas Farmer, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Disability Policy in the School of Education, was awarded the grant with two co-principal investigators from other universities.

During middle school, many students struggle academically, feel they don’t belong in school and perform poorly in their classes. Some eventually drop out. The purpose of the professional model, Supporting Early Adolescent Learning and Social Success (SEALS II), is to build on the original SEALS program that focused on supporting sixth-graders as they transitioned into middle school. SEALS II will extend this work to seventh- and eighth-graders.

The original program has been shown to create classroom cultures in which students are academically motivated, support one another’s engagement in instruction, have fewer social difficulties and concerns about bullying, and have better academic outcomes.

RESEARCH

10,000 reptile species and counting

Engineering professor B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D., in his research lab

GRANT

Improving access to AIDS drugs

A $4.4 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving the VCU School of Engineering and collaborating research universities an opportunity to supply developing countries with affordable access to AIDS drugs.

B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’00/H&S), VCU School of Engineering research professor and chair of the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering, is leading an interdisciplinary team that will focus on cost improvements for the drug nevirapine. The World Health Organization considers nevirapine a first-line therapy for the treatment of AIDS. Gupton and other researchers from the VCU engineering school have organized a partnership with several higher-education institutions. This collaboration, known as the Medicine for All Initiative, includes specialists from the University of Washington, Florida State University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Because of his extensive experience in pharmaceutical process development, Gupton will serve as principal investigator for the effort.

The Gates Foundation has devoted resources to the project to employ new synthetic and manufacturing methods. This will provide necessary health care to those in need. The mission is to provide a dramatic change in pharmaceutical manufacturing technology while increasing access to lifesaving medicines worldwide.

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More than 10,000 reptile species have been recorded into the Reptile Database, a Web-based catalog of all living reptile species and classification, making the reptile species among the most diverse vertebrate groups in the world.

“Previously, 10,000 was considered the landmark number because there are approximately 10,000 bird species. However, we can predict that reptiles will be more speciose, at least on paper, than birds very soon,” says Peter Uetz, Ph.D., associate professor of systems biology and bioinformatics in the Center for the Study of Biological Complexity, part of VCU Life Sciences. Uetz is the founder, editor and curator of the Reptile Database, which he operates with Jirí Hošek, a programmer in the Czech Republic.

The discoveries entered into the database are made by taxonomists working in the field and those working in museum collections or laboratories.

Uetz and a team of reptilian and biodiversity experts, including many volunteers, organize the data, evaluate it and redistribute it.

According to Uetz, there is much more work ahead for the database, which has little to no support in terms of funding dollars, including entering distribution and natural history data and analyzing that data for various projects, including conservation efforts.

“Hopefully, the new status as a five-digit species animal group brings more support, funding and awareness for the bewildering diversity reptiles continue to reveal,” Uetz says.

The 10,000th species recorded into the database, Cyrtodactylus vilaphongi, a tiny gecko found in the jungle of Laos in Southeast Asia Photo courtesy Truong Nguyen

PRESIDENTIALPERSPECTIVE

Pairing passions VCU-community partnerships spur enthusiasm and create a vested interest to bring ideas to life

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

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he adage “better together” rings louder and truer today than ever before in the world of higher education and in the broader community. From efforts to improve civic engagement to ventures for introducing innovative treatments, organizations and companies often turn to universities as partners because we are equipped to offer creativity, knowledge and a commitment to the community we serve. And, as a premier urban, public research university and an anchor to the city of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University very much welcomes these opportunities.

Nationally and locally, we have a notable record for getting things done. We did not gain that reputation overnight.

These partnerships often started with a conversation, an inkling of an idea that quickly turned into something great, something that might have seemed impossible.

Such is the case with the Institute for Contemporary Art, thanks to the dedicated work of the campaign’s volunteer co-chairs Bill and Pam Royall and Steve and Kathie Markel.

Ground was broken for the ICA in June. It went from being an idea to — nearly 15 years later — a construction zone for the $35 million facility that will showcase changing exhibits of experimental art and performance programs. When the ICA opens in 2016, it will transform VCU, Richmond and one of its busiest intersections into the gateway to Richmond’s newly designated Downtown Arts District.

An idea like the ICA needed the partnership of Richmond’s business community, especially of the city’s top employers whose viability relies on hiring, attracting and keeping creative talent in Richmond. In fact, the ICA building will be called the Markel Center, in tribute to a major gift from the Markel Corp., an innovative, Richmond-based insurance and investment company. The passion for the ICA continues to grow, with more and more groups and individuals providing support, including major gifts and pledges from The Martin Agency, Altria, NewMarket Corp. and others.

Part of the ICA’s beauty is that it is bringing together so many from the community to help propel the city’s vibrancy and shape the culture of Richmond.

A similar tale is told about the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center, where a group of people battling Parkinson’s disease took an active and dramatic role in shaping their care. Their idea started around a series of lunchtime gatherings.

In the mid-2000s, members of the Movers and Shakers, a Richmond-area grassroots Parkinson’s disease advocacy group, began talking about the necessity for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary center to provide care for Parkinson’s disease patients. Before that, Michael Rao, Ph.D. Parkinson’s care of this kind was available only to veterans through VA hospitals.

The Movers and Shakers saw a need. They also saw an Do you have a big idea? opportunity in VCU’s position as A vision for something a major research university with that could help better the capabilities to bring research human condition? We want from the bench to the bedside.

Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., to know what you are Ph.D., dean of the VCU School passionate about. Email of Medicine and executive vice president@vcu.edu with president for medical affairs your big idea. at VCU Health System, agreed, and he challenged the group’s members to raise $5 million.

If they could do it, the school would match it.

The Movers and Shakers got to work, forging relationships, educating the public and raising funds.

Today, the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center combines research, clinical evaluation and treatment as well as education and outreach to provide a coordinated approach for developing strategies that combat movement disorders and neurodegenerative disorders. The highly integrated, multidisciplinary center moves groundbreaking research from novel approaches in the laboratory to clinical trials, translating discoveries into real-world treatments.

It is life-changing to see what can happen when someone is brave enough to share an idea. It is inspiring to see the results of groups rallying around that idea.

We at VCU thrive within this collaborative spirit, and it drives our mission for community engagement, helping to improve the lives of those we serve.

Let’s talk

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bright and ambitious

patient c are fulfillment of the American dream national nursing shortage

Revisiting VCU’s most successful surge of private philanthropy and its lasting impacts

By Andy Bates

technical and business skills 10

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“Support for fundraising — both annual and capital — is the lifeblood of all great universities as they strive to achieve the goals of their mission. VCU Massey Cancer Center has been no exception. It has been blessed with broad support not only from its immediate community but also from throughout the commonwealth, as its citizens have realized the importance of cancer research and leading-edge treatment.”

VCU Medical Center

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t’s easy to look at the more than $410 million in gifts, pledges and planned commitments that Virginia Commonwealth University raised during its Campaign for VCU and label it a success. After all, it was more money than the university had ever procured in a single campaign, it was tied to a series of ambitious, forward-thinking initiatives, and by the time it ended in 2007, it had engaged more than 67,000 alumni and friend, corporate, and foundation donors.

But success isn’t measured solely in donor bases or dollars and cents. It’s measured in the lives of students who might never have gone to college without those dollars, in breakthroughs that allow us to live longer and better, and in the signature facilities that help education, research and outreach flourish.

When the Campaign for VCU began in 1999, recalls Thomas C. Burke Jr. (B.S. ’79/E; M.P.A. ’95/WS), executive director of the VCU Foundation, philanthropy at the university was on the cusp of a sea change.

Because VCU is a state-assisted institution, Burke says, donors had traditionally thought that state dollars should drive campus building projects, but a realization grew that relying on the state to provide those funds would stall the strides VCU was making.

“Donors really stepped up,” Burke says.

“Everyone understood that, without top-notch facilities, we wouldn’t attract the kinds of students, faculty and researchers we needed to get where we wanted to go, and so they started making major gifts toward facilities, which was very new for us.

We’d always received strong support for endowed scholarships, professorships and chairs, but the support on the building side of things was unprecedented and has really carried through to today.”

– Matthew G. Thompson, co-founder and former chairman of Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC, and chair, Massey Advisory Board (2006-08) Of course, a building project is only as strong as the vision that drives it, and in the case of the infrastructural advances VCU made between 1999 and 2007, that vision provided the backbone for many of the initiatives tied to the Campaign for VCU. With the addition of the 80,000-square-foot Goodwin Research Laboratory, for example, Massey Cancer Center’s ability to fight one of the country’s leading killers has grown exponentially, says Massey Director Gordon D. Ginder, M.D., Lipman Chair in Oncology and professor of internal medicine.

The space has had a significant impact on Massey’s ability to conduct innovative research and move findings forward to cutting-edge clinical trials, Ginder says, which has led to a growing number of peer-reviewed projects and national-level grant funding in spite of shrinking federal support for cancer research overall.

The open architecture of the building also has fostered greater collaboration among researchers, and the modular labs have enhanced the center’s adaptability in accommodating the unique and evolving research needs of individual investigators.

“The state-of-the-art space has been vital to the recruitment of several high-profile faculty members with highly productive research activities,” Ginder adds. “In fact, the Goodwin Research Laboratory has proven to be such an asset that, as Massey continues to expand its research teams and further develop its programs, additional research space is already needed.”

Just a few blocks away, the School of Nursing also found itself in a new home through campaign contributions, which has allowed it to attract a greater number of high-caliber nursing

At a glance: Campaign for VCU When Virginia Commonwealth University began the Campaign for VCU in 1999, it sought input from every unit across the university, establishing a set of needs, visions and priorities. From there, it set about lining up the support to address them, and by the time VCU publicly launched the campaign in 2004, those visions had evolved into eight major initiatives: 1. Fight the war on cancer 2. Relieve the national nursing shortage 3. Provide our businesses with well-trained and motivated engineers and business executives who have great technical and business skills 4. Grant greater access to the fulfillment of the American dream through scholarships 5. Improve patient care 6. Establish Central Virginia as a national leader in the life sciences 7. Attract bright and ambitious students and faculty to our community 8. Enhance our area’s cultural and artistic atmosphere Through the dedication and leadership of campaign Co-chairs Charlotte and Jim Roberts and Vickie (B.S. ’76/B) and Thomas G. (B.S. ’76/B) Snead Jr. and honorary campaign Chair Dick Robertson (B.S. ’67/MC), the Campaign for VCU raised $410,341,216 by its close on June 30, 2007.

The rewards of such generosity are still being felt across the university, the commonwealth of Virginia and beyond.

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“Co-chairing the Campaign for VCU to raise $400 million was an honor and wonderful experience. Over the course of the campaign, many alumni were reconnected with the university, and relationships with existing friends of VCU were strengthened. We were all willing to give time, talents and resources and found no gift to be too small. The campaign provided essential funding for new facilities (the new business school building was near and dear to our hearts), research, scholarships and endowments. The campaign donors had faith and trust that the resources would be used to help VCU become a leading urban university on a national level, and today, we are on our way.”

– Vickie Snead (B.S. ’76/B), Campaign for VCU co-chair

Black & Gold Loyalty Society While the Campaign for VCU attracted a sizable number of major gifts, classified as those greater than $25,000, from private, corporate and foundation sources, every donation counts, and in the world of philanthropy “smaller” doesn’t mean “lesser.”

In fact, alumni donors who have given to VCU consecutively for five years or more have collectively donated more than $11.3 million over the years.

As a thanks, VCU has established the Black & Gold Loyalty Society to honor those who give on a consecutive yearly basis, regardless of the size of the donation or where the funds are directed, starting with a fiveyear pin and culminating in an on-campus celebration for those who reach 25 years of consecutive giving.

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students (with sustained enrollment of more than 900) and bring in more faculty, especially top researchers seeking bench laboratories to support their innovative projects, says Jean Giddens, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, dean and professor in the VCU School of Nursing.

“This building has brought our school to the forefront of nursing education and research,” Giddens says. “Our school is well-prepared to address 21st-century teaching, research and learning demands.”

With the building’s state-of-the-science clinical research laboratory, faculty have continued to garner significant research grant awards, solidifying the school’s reputation among the top destinations for biobehavioral research. The advanced facilities have also made it possible for students to take a more active role in faculty research projects. Additionally, the school’s Clinical Learning Center is one of the most advanced patient simulation nursing facilities on the East Coast, providing a learning environment that facilitates interdisciplinary education and allows students the opportunity to navigate complex hospital settings and patient scenarios. This means VCU nursing students can hit the ground running with a bank of hands-on experience at their disposal and make immediate differences in the lives of the patients they encounter after graduation.

Producing graduates who can quickly impact their field also was a driving force behind the major expansion of VCU’s Monroe Park Campus, which saw the completion of the joint home for the schools of Engineering and Business east of Belvidere Street and marked a significant step forward in providing area businesses with graduates who could step seamlessly into a competitive economic climate.

School of Engineering Senior Design Expo

Naturally, that had been part of both schools’ DNA before the building was dedicated in 2008.

Through the shared space — with enhanced technology in the classroom and in the Capital Markets Center (which looks and functions as its own trading room), breakout rooms for student teams and plenty of open space for interaction among faculty members — both schools have seen an uptick in the caliber of students they’re attracting to campus.

Since 2007, the high school GPA for incoming engineering and business students has risen steadily, and local employers are taking notice.

As Mary Doswell, Dominion’s senior vice president of retail and alternative energy solutions and president of the School of Engineering Foundation’s board, contends, when area business leaders or prospective entrepreneurs visit and observe the collaborative nature of the education they see a dynamic environment that produces the type of professionals they need to take their businesses to new heights. That collaboration is not just between business and engineering, but with the School of the Arts, School of Medicine and other academic units across the university through the VCU Brandcenter, da Vinci Center and national student competitions.

“When you bring a VCU graduate on board, you know you’re getting someone who can immediately step into a team and make it stronger,” Doswell says.

That’s one of the main reasons Forbes magazine labeled Richmond one of the top 10 up-and-coming cities for entrepreneurs in 2013.

And while the health of the commonwealth’s business environment has certainly been improved thanks to the efforts stemming from the Campaign for VCU, the health of one of its most cherished natural resources has also taken

“Virginia Commonwealth University has become a premier urban, public research university in our nation because of the commitment of so many people. That includes many who have invested in and catalyzed our mission. Their wisdom and generosity have helped empower us to transform lives in the commonwealth and beyond. As we enter the final three years of our Quest for Distinction strategic plan, the game-changing investments of our friends and supporters will continue to accelerate our progress on the national stage.”

– Michael Rao, Ph.D., president, VCU and VCU Health System center stage through the Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences.

Located on 494 acres along the James River in Charles City County, Virginia, and initially spearheaded by a campaign donation in 2000, the VCU Rice Rivers Center has helped establish VCU Life Sciences as a national leader in largerivers ecology research and remains a feather in the cap of the university’s sustainability efforts.

The Walter L. Rice Education Building, located on-site, was the first platinum-level LEEDcertified building in the commonwealth.

Since its inception, coinciding with the campaign, VCU Life Sciences has worked to build the infrastructure and academic framework that has allowed the university to develop life sciences education and research across the full spectrum, from the molecular level to whole systems. Interdisciplinary education and research has reached unprecedented levels.

In fact, according to the Center for Measuring University Performance’s most recent annual report, more than 77 percent of research conducted at VCU incorporates life sciences (which is greater than any other state institution with more than $40 million in federally funded research). Through expansive projects such as the Vaginal Microbiome Project, a four-year initiative started in 2009 that brought nearly 40 researchers from across the university to examine how microorganisms found in the vagina influence health and disease in women as part of the National Institutes of Health’s Human Microbiome Project, VCU Life Sciences continues to showcase its unique framework that promotes large-scale, widespread collaboration.

Ultimately, these efforts exist to promote a better understanding of life and, from that understanding, to develop ways to enhance

human health, which has always been central to VCU’s mission and core to the campaign’s initiative to improve patient care.

Through the Pauley Heart Center, which was renamed as such thanks to a major campaign contribution from the Pauley Family Foundation led by Dorothy A. Pauley (B.A. ’74/H&S) and Stanley F. Pauley, VCU Medical Center has taken great strides in providing cutting-edge cardiovascular research and care aimed at treating the nation’s leading cause of death.

As Jerome F. Strauss III, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the School of Medicine and executive vice president for medical affairs at VCU Health System, said upon the campaign’s completion in 2007, “Increased funding provides new opportunities for our doctors, allowing them to take innovations uncovered in the lab and apply them at a patient’s bedside.”

Of course, when U.S. News & World Report ranks you as the No. 1 hospital in the metro Richmond area four years in a row, the care you provide speaks for itself, but improving patient care also stems from the cadre of aspiring physicians who come to VCU to pursue their medical training. So, while not tied directly to campaign contributions, the change in philanthropy at VCU noted by Burke at the outset has allowed for projects such as the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Medical Education Center to take shape. The center has helped the medical school establish a more innovative and interdisciplinary curriculum that can have long-lasting impacts on patient care throughout the commonwealth and beyond.

Similarly, private money raised since the campaign’s completion has accounted for nearly all of the funding for what will become a crown jewel

Rice Rivers Center

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VCU Dance

What’s next?

Pay enough attention to higher education, and you’ll notice that capital campaigns come around with regularity — every 10 years or so. That’s by design. “Universities live on annual giving,” explains Marti K.S. Heil, VCU’s vice president for development and alumni relations. “They grow on capital giving.”

A capital campaign is a call to action, a rallying cry for all alumni and friends to come together within a set time frame to support ongoing university needs, such as enhancing faculty support, increasing student scholarships at all levels, promoting outreach and supporting research and community engagement. It also allows the university the opportunity to prioritize new initiatives, to whittle down the overflow of inspiring ideas to key focus areas that will benefit the university as a whole.

By Andy Bates

A capital campaign is not simply raising money. It’s broadening the giving base, so that more and more alumni and friends engage with and support VCU — during the campaign and in the years to follow, Heil says. It also gives donors the chance to bring their big ideas to life at VCU and turn their passion into a lasting legacy.

Currently, VCU is actively planning for the next campaign, which will be the largest in university history, Heil says. That planning includes aligning the pillars of the university’s strategic plan, Quest for Distinction, with private philanthropy goals in order to make real progress on VCU’s key priorities.

Heil hopes all alumni will see the upcoming campaign as an opportunity to get involved.

Stay tuned for more details.

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in Richmond’s cultural scene, the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art. This spring, ground was broken for the ICA, which serves as just the latest example of how the university expands and strengthens the city’s reputation as an artist’s haven.

Ranked by U.S. News & World Report as the No. 1 graduate public arts school in the nation, VCU’s School of the Arts attracts students, faculty and visitors who enhance the fabric of the city, but as Joseph Seipel, dean of the School of the Arts, suggests, contributions made during the campaign have had a lasting impact on the kinds of experiences students, and the greater community, encounter.

Facilities such as the James W. Black Music Center and improvements to the Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, Seipel says, have allowed for state-of-the-art rehearsal space, which makes a huge difference in what the school offers its students. Additionally, private funds generated during the campaign were also used to establish a residency program for the Department of Dance and Choreography, which brings visiting companies to VCU to teach students, conduct community workshops and perform.

“That allows our students to work with some of the most talented dancers in the world, which is really the opportunity of a lifetime for them,” Seipel says. “In turn, it also showcases Richmond’s cultural fabric to a broader audience.”

And a stronger, more vibrant fabric for the city, university and world around us is what the Campaign for VCU’s legacy is ultimately all about, Burke says. It’s not just a product of building stronger facilities that can attract faculty and students and encourage groundbreaking research; it’s also in raising the funds to support them.

By the end of the campaign, VCU had increased its number of endowed scholarships from 151 to 250, and that number has continued to climb to

787 today. Additionally, the number of endowed chairs and professorships grew from 28 to 60 during the campaign and now tops off at 214.

However, some of those gains were in jeopardy from the start, Burke says, because of the recession that began to take hold the following year, decreasing the market value of those endowed funds.

“What was amazing was that we wrote to our donors and told them about this, and they started sending in additional gifts just to keep those endowments going,” Burke says. “They felt that level of responsibility.”

While endowed scholarships certainly enhance VCU’s ability to attract and provide opportunities for students, they’re only part of the package. Between fiscal year 2008 and 2012, state support for Virginia students at VCU was reduced by $63.5 million, about 31 percent, which was the largest reduction among four-year institutions in Virginia, despite the fact that VCU serves the largest number of in-state students in the commonwealth.

So, what does that mean for VCU moving forward? It means doing what VCU has always done — finding innovative ways to teach, building collaborations that can maximize the talents of the students, staff, faculty and researchers who call VCU home and tapping into those resources that can help VCU thrive regardless of state and federal support, just as it did during the Campaign for VCU. “I’ve been around for every major campaign we’ve had, but that one really put us on the map,” Burke says. “We had a vision for what VCU could be moving forward, and we knew what we needed in order to get there, but you can have a lot of great ideas that stay just that — ideas — if you don’t have the people to support them. We do.”

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

Lifestyle education.

“I opened a DJ lifestyle boutique as a freshman using a business plan I put together in retail management class. In the mornings, I studied fashion merchandising. In the afternoon, I was at my store on Broad Street, tweaking my spring lineup. What started as a class project is my real-life project.”

– JOANNA OREMLAND (B.A. ’07 /A)

More moments at makeitreal.vcu.edu an equal opportunity, affirmative action university

RIVER

by Dan Carr, Brian Daugherity, Ph.D., Joey Parent and James Vonesh, Ph.D.

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to explore these questions. The group lived outdoors and traveled more than 200 miles by foot, canoe, kayak, raft and bateau, tracing the path of a raindrop from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Tidewater and examining the intersection of human and natural history along the way. Here are some snapshots from the journey.

Expedition Day 1: Departing Ancarrow’s Landing We launched sea kayaks from Ancarrow’s Landing in Richmond, Virginia. Joey Parent, director of the VCU Outdoor Adventure Program, and student trip leader Amelia Kirby demonstrated kayaking skills before the group set off. OAP, which provides outdoor education and recreation

opportunities for VCU students, partnered with biology and history faculty to develop the course and provided staff, equipment and supplies.

By midmorning we were paddling past Rocketts Landing with the outgoing tide.

Floating down river, assistant professor of history, Brian Daugherity, frequently called us to raft our boats together so he could lecture about important landmarks: the Port of Richmond, Confederate fortifications at Drewery’s Bluff and the City of Henricus. Bald eagles and osprey were common sightings, complemented by heron rookeries, and VCU biology faculty Dan Carr and James Vonesh introduced links between the aquatic and terrestrial systems, a recurring theme throughout the course.

“I am confident that I did so well because of the environment I’m learning in. I can truly say I’m picking up information faster than I have in a long time. It’s like a childlike fascination instead of bland textbook data retrieval.”

– HANNAH ZAINO, MASS COMMUNICATIONS, 2015

Photo Allen Jones

(Top) The group surveys a reconstructed home site at Henricus Historical Park.

(Right) Wildlife proves abundant on the expedition.

(Below) Students Luke Murray (left) and Maya Walters prepare to leave Powhatan State Park by bateau.

Chris Puzan (B.S. ’12/LS) (left), alternative transportation coordinator with VCU Parking and Transportation; Ryan Levering, an environmental studies major; Lelia Overton (B.A. ’14/H&S); and biology instructor Dan Carr navigate Richmond’s Hollywood Rapids.

Photo Allen Jones

A

uthor Bob Deans called the James River “the river where America began.” This idea, and questions related to it, intrigued Virginia Commonwealth University faculty Dan Carr (B.A. ’98/H&S; B.S. ’07/H&S; M.S. ’10/H&S), Brian Daugherity, Ph.D., and James Vonesh, Ph.D. What natural characteristics make this river unique? How has this shaped the cultures that grew up on its banks? How did they, in turn, shape the river, and how is the relationship between the river and society likely to change in the future? This past summer, nine students in a newly created VCU course, Footprints on the James, joined these faculty, other scholars and outdoor recreation experts on a four-week expedition through the James River watershed

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The group backpacks from Montibello State Fish Hatchery to Spy Rock.

Not all of Footprints on the James was on the James River. The class backpacked and camped out along the way as well.

Students and faculty set out from Rocketts Landing on sea kayaks.

Student Paige Bedwell, who coordinated logistics for the trip, checks the group’s location on a hike to Spy Rock.

Students get a firsthand look at an ovenbird while at Rice Rivers Center.

Photos Allen Jones

Expedition Day 3: “Fish Friday” at Rice Rivers Center After a three-day journey from Richmond, the group camped for a week at VCU’s Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences in Charles City County. From there, we mounted day trips by van to neighboring Shirley Plantation, Jamestown, Williamsburg, Surry Nuclear Power Plant and Hopewell, among others. Taking advantage of the center’s facilities, we also hosted more than a dozen guest speakers, who addressed topics such as the role of religion in Virginia history, the use of archaeology to study the past, pollution in the James River, and the natural history of the plants, insects, birds and mammals native to the watershed.

On our first day at Rice Rivers Center, Greg Garman, Ph.D., director of the VCU Center for Environmental Studies, spoke about fish. He

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made the case that, as a result of habitat alteration, dam construction, species introductions and harvesting, the fish community of the James River has likely changed more in the past 200 years than in the previous 11,000 years. Afterward, fishery biologists Steve McIninch, Ph.D., and Dave Hoppler loaded the class into boats to demonstrate sampling techniques used to study fish on large rivers.

We caught and observed 10 species, four of which were non-native. The invasive blue catfish were by far the most common and largest fish we saw.

Expedition Day 15: On the trail high in the watershed After an intense week at the Rice Rivers Center culminated in written exams, students earned a weekend off at home. The following Monday, we convened at OAP, loaded into vans and headed

west on I-64. Guided again by fish biologists McIninch and Hoppler, we spent the morning near Crabtree Falls comparing the fish we’d observed in the Tidewater James with those of the Tye River, a tributary of the James. We observed eight species, none of which overlapped with the lower James, and all of which were native.

After lunch we shouldered backpacks and hiked to Spy Rock. Over the next several days, the class traversed along ridgetops while learning about mountain flora and fauna, the former residents of the area, and the history of American conservation. We backpacked through a designated wilderness area to the summit of The Priest, which rises above the Tye River. From here we followed the path of our raindrop from the ridge, down the valley, though streams to the confluence with the James River, and down the James back home.

Photo Allen Jones

Biology instructor Dan Carr (left) and Katie Spencer inspect insects parasitizing a tree.

Photo Allen Jones

Assistant professor of history Brian Daugherity, Ph.D., and student Maya Walters study the invasive blue catfish.

“It has been wonderful sharing this incredible experience with the new friends I’ve made in my classmates and teachers. What a great group of positive people who love learning and can appreciate the beauty in the world around them.”

Canoes dot the bank of an island just below Lynchburg.

Photo Allen Jones

– KATIE SPENCER, BIOLOGY, 2015 While camping at Rice Rivers Center, the class tours the nearby Harrison Lake National Fish Hatchery.

Expedition Day 24: Bateau from Seven Islands to West View At James River State Park in Buckingham County, the bateau Mary Marshall joined us for a few days. She is a replica of a bateau, a common form of river transport in the 18th and early 19th centuries. On this section, the students learned about the history of transportation on the James, human settlement and its impact on the river and its inhabitants. Boating by day, with lessons en route, and camping at night under the stars became routine. One day, we poled the bateau a half a mile up the Hardware River, a tributary of the James, to investigate one of the aqueducts that allowed the James River and Kanawha Canal to pass over the tributaries. This impressive structure was built to transport water and boats and is still used today to support railroad tracks.

Journey’s end: Looking back, looking ahead At our first meeting, we challenged the students to use the course syllabus as a foundation on which to build their own experience, beyond the vision of the instructors. Looking back, they succeeded, by embracing the hands-on, interdisciplinary nature of the course. Ryan Levering, a junior environmental studies major, wrote in his class journal, “Being able to apply knowledge and make connections between topics immediately after learning it made the material much more memorable and useful.” Another key to the students’ success was how they came together as a team. Senior Wes Owens, a biology major, wrote, “The more time we spent together, the more comfortable everyone got. It reminded me a lot of

FOOTPRINTS 2015

The inaugural course was supported by a mix of internal and external sources, including the VCU Center for Teaching Excellence, the Rivers to Sea Partnership, the VCU biology department, Rice Rivers Center and the Office of the Dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences. If you’d like to support next year’s expedition, please contact Bethanie Constant, director of development and alumni relations, College of the Humanities and Sciences, at (804) 828-4543 or constantb@vcu.edu.

the kind of relationships I built during basic training. … [This course] is something I will tell my kids about one day.”

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Protests in pictures VCU Libraries crowdsources information on images from civil rights demonstrations in Farmville, Virginia

By Brian McNeill

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acqueline Webb was watching the evening news in her Glen Allen, Virginia, home this past spring when she caught a glimpse of herself. There she was, at age 12, in a black-andwhite photograph taken during a 1963 civil rights protest in nearby Farmville.

“It was on the 6 o’clock news, and I saw myself in the picture. I recognized my sister Vonita and that got my attention, and then I saw myself,” she says. “My husband and I went on the website and started looking at the pictures and remembering.”

The photo is part of a Virginia Commonwealth University exhibit of 277 photographs taken during nonviolent protests in Farmville at the height of the civil rights movement in the summer of 1963.

In April, VCU Libraries posted the images to the photo-sharing website Flickr to launch the Freedom Now Project, a group of 13 photo sets that offer a close-up look at the protests.

The protests were fueled in large part by Prince Edward County’s move to close its public school system in 1959 to avoid integration. The schools remained closed through 1964.

As part of the project, VCU Libraries invited the public to participate in the exhibit by sharing information about people and locations shown in the photos and contributing personal remembrances about these historic events. The goal is to provide insight into the experience of nonviolent civil dissent and the response of a Virginia town to these demonstrations.

“The photographs in the Freedom Now Project make a significant contribution to our understanding of a very important event in the history of Virginia and the nation,” says Alice Campbell, a VCU Libraries digital initiatives archivist who is overseeing the project.

“By sharing them on Flickr, we hope to reach a broad audience, which could be anyone from primary school students to researchers, citizens of Farmville, the commonwealth of Virginia or anywhere in the world.”

The photographs, which were taken by a photographer hired by the Farmville Police Department for possible use as evidence in the case of arrests, are the largest collection of images from the Farmville protests ever made publicly available online.

“We hope that by opening the collection up to comments, we can learn more about the people and events depicted, thereby increasing the collection’s value for future research and preserving a record of Americans whose persistence and bravery helped move the nation closer to the promise of justice for all,” Campbell says.

‘This story should be told’

Jacqueline Webb and her husband, John Webb, contacted VCU Libraries and identified themselves in the photos, as well as Jacqueline’s sister Vonita White Foster, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’88/E), and late sister Darwyn Dix and John’s brother Roy Webb.

At the time of the protests, Jacqueline Webb was 12 and John Webb was 14. Both had been affected by the school system shutdown. She was sent to live with a family member in Baltimore for three years while his parents drove him to a school in adjoining Lunenburg County.

“We missed one year when they first closed the schools but after that I guess my parents said, ‘Well, this is not going away anytime soon,’ so they made arrangements for us to go to the next county,” John Webb says.

The Webbs decided to contribute to the Freedom Now Project because they don’t want the story of Prince Edward County to be forgotten.

“It’s time this story should be told,” Jacqueline Webb says. “There’s so many people out there who still don’t believe or realize that this happened, but so many people didn’t get an opportunity to go to school and get an education. A lot of people’s lives were ruined because they did not want to integrate schools in Prince Edward County.”

“Even today, we talk to people who have lived in Virginia all their lives and we ask them, ‘Have you ever heard of Prince Edward County and what

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“The summer of 1963 represents the zenith of the civil rights movement in Virginia.”

– Brian Daugherity, Ph.D., VCU Department of History happened back in 1959?’ And they’ve never heard of it,” John Webb adds. “It’s still surprising that people who are our own age and live right here in Virginia but never heard of Prince Edward County.”

So far, roughly 60 people — primarily protesters but also several police officers — shown in the photographs have been identified, thanks to contributors such as the Webbs.

Additionally, Campbell and others with VCU Libraries have mapped out locations where each protest took place, a task that required a bit of detective work because most of the businesses in the photographs no longer exist.

“I believe the Freedom Now Project has been a great success,” Campbell says. “While we didn’t fully anticipate how much of the work would be carried out in person instead of online, we have made significant progress to recording the names of the people who took part.”

‘Exercise in historic preservation’

The Farmville protests were held in the middle of a defining year for the civil rights movement in Virginia and the rest of the country. In April, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”; in June, peaceful protests in Danville, Virginia, were met with violent opposition; the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place Aug. 28; and the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, was bombed in September.

“In terms of marches, picketing and nonviolent direct action, the summer of 1963 represents the zenith of the civil rights movement in Virginia,” says Brian Daugherity, Ph.D., a VCU history professor and expert on the civil rights movement.

“Inspired by protests in Birmingham, Alabama, that spring and summer, African-Americans throughout Virginia took to the streets to press for the desegregation of public spaces, job opportunities and school integration.”

The Freedom Now Project could help shed light on a pivotal moment in the civil rights struggle, Daugherity says.

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“VCU’s effort to identify the participants, to expand our understanding of the context of the protests and to revive and preserve the memories of those involved is an important, cutting-edge exercise in historic preservation that will benefit a wide variety of researchers and individuals interested in this era,” he says.

Edward Thornton, a Richmond accountant who grew up in Farmville, helped identify several protesters, including Edward Robinson and Gregory Hicks.

“At the time, I was a little bit younger than the protesters, but I did recognize a few of them,” he says.

Thornton knew Hicks even though he was a few years older, he says, as they eventually became classmates once they began attending school again.

“I was 12 years old when the Free School started,” Thornton says. “I was in the sixth grade. And then in January, they put me in the seventh grade. And in June they put me in the ninth grade. They skipped me, so I ended up being classmates with older people.”

Thornton is a co-founder of the Lest We Forget Foundation, which is composed of former Farmville students who were denied a public education during “massive resistance” and which provides college scholarship funds to a Prince Edward County senior.

He wanted to participate in the Freedom Now Project, he says, so people better appreciate the struggles his generation faced.

“There’s no question that these pictures tell a story that should be out there,” Thornton says.

“And maybe these pictures can inspire some of the school-age people today, to show them some of the struggles that people back then went through to obtain an education.”

‘See the events unfolding in time’ The photos show a variety of protests, led by the Rev. L. Francis Griffin, pastor of First Baptist Church, that were part of a “Program of Action” undertaken by the African-American community to decry the discriminatory

“The real story … is about the people and relationships that are captured by the camera.”

– Alice Campbell, VCU Libraries practices at local businesses and churches and Prince Edward County’s four-year closure of public schools in defiance of court-ordered desegregation.

Protesters attempted sit-ins at several lunch counters but were not always seated. On one occasion, protesters were seated at the J.J. Newberry’s counter and served coffee, which they discovered was filled with salt.

In another set of the photos, the protesters demonstrate outside of the whites-only State Theater. Under a marquee advertising movies such as “The Young Racers,” “Call Me Bwana” and “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” a circle of AfricanAmerican protesters approach the window, one by one, ask to buy a ticket, are refused, and then the next person tries. They would repeat the cycle over and over.

In the State Theater photos, several protesters can be seen wearing white buttons advertising the March on Washington that would be held in less than two weeks on Aug. 28, 1963.

A number of photos show a protest outside of Farmville’s Safeway and Grants department store, businesses that would not hire African-Americans.

“It wasn’t that African-Americans couldn’t go in, it was that they couldn’t work there. And so all the money that the community earned was spent at stores where they couldn’t work,” Campbell says. “At the department stores, if you were African-American, you couldn’t try on clothes before you bought them, and you couldn’t return them if they didn’t fit. And so they had at least one event where they had a ‘try-in,’ in which they went inside and tried on clothes.”

In many of the photos, the protesters are picketing outside the Prince Edward County courthouse. In several others, the protesters are lined up outside the College Shoppe lunch counter after being refused entry.

“They’re seated outside, and if you look, you can see all the people inside looking out [at the protesters],” Campbell says.

The Freedom Now Project not only tells an important story of the civil rights movement, she adds, but it also conveys what it feels like to stand up against authority in the face of injustice.

“As we move through the photographs we see the events unfolding in time, but the real story — to my eye anyway — is about the people and relationships that are captured by the camera: the relationships among the demonstrators; their relationships with onlookers and shoppers, business owners and employees; and above all, protesters’ relationship to the camera,” she says.

After interviewing a number of people who have come forward to identify people in the photos and to share their stories, Campbell says she has found that the story of Prince Edward County is richer and more complicated than she’d realized.

“I didn’t realize how young many of the Farmville protesters were until I studied these photographs. Now I see these young people, so determined and full of promise, and I can’t imagine how anyone could take away their chance to go to school.”

– Brian McNeill is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

View photos from the collection Explore more than 250 images from the Freedom Now Project on Flickr with links to maps, videos and documents to see how events unfolded that summer. flickr.com/photos/freedom_now _project/sets

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A clean start

Rams in Recovery helps VCU students stay sober and find success as they recover from drug and alcohol addiction

By Katherine Schutt

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Rams in Recovery offers outdoor adventure trips, such as camping, to help students realize that sobriety can be fun and life-affirming.

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ank Moran started drinking and using VCU parents and local alcohol and drug coundrugs when he was 15. By the time he selors started laying the groundwork for VCU to went to college in Milwaukee, using join the growing national movement to support had become a daily practice. His poor grades had students in recovery. Other Virginia colleges him teetering on the edge of expulsion and he also following this path include University of found himself getting into trouble, eventually Virginia and Longwood University. winding up in jail. Moran dropped out of col“There have always been recovering college lege, moved home to Northern Virginia and got students on campus, but now we are trying to serious about getting clean. develop a formal structure to support them,” says Now closing in on two years of sobriety, Moran Linda Hancock, Ph.D. (M.S. ’85/N; Ph.D. is pursuing his undergraduate degree at Virginia ’01/E), director of VCU’s Wellness Resource Commonwealth University, having successfully Center, which assists the organization. “When completed his junior year at VCU with a 3.8 GPA. universities provide support, they help the stuHe’s not sure he could report such an impresdents, but they also strengthen the institution sive turnaround without Rams in Recovery, because students in recovery are some of the best, a year-old student-run most-focused students.” organization offering Rosalind and John “For people in recovery, it can be personal and social supWatkins are such believport to VCU students ers in the concept that difficult to find new friends who in recovery. they donated $3,000 are also in recovery and interested “I attribute a lot of through the JHW my success as a sober Foundation to get Rams in doing things while staying sober. individual to being in Recovery started and This is an opportunity to help involved in Rams in an additional $20,000 people find each other.”

Recovery,” says Moran, this fall to establish an English major. “To endowment and schol– KRISTEN DONOVAN, go there every Friday arship funds to assist WELLNESS RESOURCE CENTER and see smiling faces the organization and and get free food, somethe students it serves. times talk about serious things, sometimes mess The couple helped found the JHW Foundation around — sometimes that’s what you need when in honor of their son, Henry, who died in 2010 of you’re trying to get through this thing. It defian accidental overdose while a student at VCU. nitely gave me strength.”

Kevin F. Meyer, a friend of Henry’s, and his father, That’s just what the project team behind the Bernard G. Meyer Jr., also were instrumental in organization had in mind when they dreamed up the foundation’s startup.

Rams in Recovery in spring 2013. Inspired by the “Henry’s story was fairly typical in that when highly successful collegiate recovery community someone who is struggling with addiction sucat Texas Tech, a group of university staff, former cessfully gets into recovery and goes back to the

college environment, they are not able to sustain that,” says Rosalind Watkins, a human resources manager at Troutman Sanders in Richmond.

“Most colleges are not able to support them.

Young adults feel like ‘I have to choose recovery, or I have to choose college.’”

Hopefully not anymore. With the JHW Foundation’s donation and a $10,000 grant from the Stacie Mathewson Foundation, Rams in Recovery launched last fall with an ice cream social. Since then, students have taken over the group, creating a university-sponsored student organization that hosts weekly meetings and a monthly speaker series and started a 12-step meeting on campus.

“The American college experience is stereotypically steeped in alcohol,” says Kristen Donovan, assistant director for substance abuse prevention for the Wellness Resource Center. “For people in recovery, it can be difficult to find new friends who are also in recovery and interested in doing things while staying sober. This is an opportunity to help people find each other.”

Thomas Bannard, who is pursuing an M.B.A. at VCU, knows firsthand the importance of a supportive peer group to a college student in recovery. He battled drug and alcohol addiction while a student at the University of Virginia, dropped out for a year to get sober, then joined a collegiate recovery community at the recommendation of a professor when he returned to school.

“That served as the base network of people who helped me to navigate the rest of my college experience without picking up a drink,” says Bannard, 30, a member of the Rams in Recovery project team. “It makes a huge difference to have safe places and people available when most of your peers just don’t get it.”

Twenty students participated in Rams in Recovery in its first year, with six core members attending regularly, Donovan says. Weekly Friday meetings supplement the recovery support students receive outside the university, giving them a forum in which to discuss the challenges of staying sober and coping strategies that work for them.

“Of all the people that were active in Rams in Recovery, nobody relapsed last year, which frankly is a miracle,” says Moran, who serves as a student representative on the project team.

“Some of the other students have become some of my best friends. We all kept coming regardless

of what was going on in our lives. That shows something about this organization — this cause is bigger than ourselves.”

VCU hosted a Collegiate Recovery Conference in March 2014, establishing its role as a leader of the movement among Virginia schools. Future goals for Rams in Recovery include a dedicated space with 24/7 access and, ultimately, residential housing.

“I know tons of young people in recovery in Richmond who are looking to go to school at some point because that’s a natural next step: ‘Now that I’m sober, what am I going to do with my life?’” Moran says.

With the addition of Rams in Recovery, Bannard, who is an addictions counselor and program manager at CARITAS, the largest homeless service provider in Richmond, believes VCU can be an ideal place for a student in recovery.

“VCU’s desire to ‘make it real’ really resonates with young people in recovery, as many of us have had it a lot more ‘real’ than we would have liked,” Bannard says. “I have found VCU very comfortable and have never felt any pressure to hide my past mistakes. Instead, I have been able to use them for what they are, my biggest assets in supporting people struggling with addiction.”

– Katherine Schutt is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

A national movement Between 1970 and 1985, a few universities began developing comprehensive campus-based safe havens to provide college students recovering from addiction with the social, personal and academic support needed to stay sober and achieve academic success.

Results proved promising, with students in collegiate recovery communities boasting higher grades and graduation rates than their peers.

Texas Tech University’s Center for the Study of

Addiction and Recovery, considered the gold standard of campus recovery programs, eventually created a best-practices model that is being replicated nationwide.

The national movement is gaining momentum.

Between 2000 and 2011, the number of collegiate recovery communities increased fivefold, and in June, the University of Texas made the groundbreaking decision to extend collegiate recovery to all nine of its academic institutions.

Support Rams in Recovery If you’d like to make a gift to support Rams in Recovery, visit support.vcu.edu/give, select “Other” from the dropdown menu and type in Rams in Recovery.

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Your support

Rebecca Johnston, Class of 2015 Lettie Pate Whitehead Scholarship MCV Hospital Auxiliary Scholarship

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VCU Alumni

Anne Masich, Class of 2016 William Garnett Scholarship

Jessica Mancuso, Class of 2015 The Frank and Pat Baskind Gift-Giving Fund for Students with Special Needs

t, our future

A helping hand Travis Henschel, Class of 2015 Supervalu-Albertsons Scholarship

Bri Hughes, Class of 2015 Ukrop’s Pharmacy Scholarship

Contributions to Virginia Commonwealth University’s scholarship funds are a crucial driver of student success. Your donations help students cover tuition, so they can afford everyday expenses. It opens doors to professional development opportunities. It helps students attend full time instead of part time, so they can graduate — and give back — sooner.

Your support makes a big difference.

From us and all of the student lives you’ve touched — thank you.

Make a donation or create your own scholarship fund at support.vcu.edu.

Jennifer Robinson, Class of 2015 Cindy Gouldin Memorial Scholarship in Physical Therapy

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G N I P P I T R D A RO for the It How sharing a highway led to sharing an alma mater

By Eric Peters

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VCU Alumni

takes one hour and 43 minutes (on a good day) to drive the 108 miles across Virginia from Staunton to Richmond.

In the late 1990s when Jim Williams (B.S. ’84/WS; M.S. ’96/WS), a police officer from Staunton, bought season tickets to Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball games, it was this drive as much as it was the games themselves that influenced his purchase.

“My oldest son was in middle school and I thought, ‘You know, if I get him in a car and make him drive to Richmond with me, he’ll have to talk to me for about an hour and a half each way,’” Jim says. “So I got two season tickets, and I alternated between my two boys, taking them to games.”

Jim’s younger son, David (B.S. ’14/B), was about 6 years old at the time. In the early years, he would fall asleep in his dad’s lap before ever getting out of Richmond after most of the night games, and he loved Colonial Athletic Association newcomer “Dweezel” (Drexel) because of their dragon mascot.

Jonathan (B.S. ’10/H&S), Jim’s older son, was about 11 years old. He remembers talking to his dad about everything from how their days had been to the current game’s starting lineups and the types of shoes certain players would wear.

Wins weren’t always in abundance over the years — “the lean years” is how Jim describes that stretch in the late ’90s — but that didn’t matter most of the time.

“That was something that we always had in common,” says Jim, who is now chief of police in

Staunton and president-elect of VCU Alumni.

“We could always talk about sports, and we could always talk about VCU basketball.”

Jim knew those road trips and games over the years would lead to a connection centered on sports that many fathers share with their sons, but he didn’t recognize at the time that those experiences would also lead to an even deeper connection: a family alma mater.

A path to VC U

Jim came to VCU from Highland County, Virginia, and a graduating high school class of about 25.

“It was a bit of a culture shock, but it was something I wanted to do,” he says. “Being in the melting pot that is Richmond and seeing all different cultures definitely was helpful in my career, and I’m comfortable in my career thanks to all of my education. It has served me well everywhere I’ve gone.”

Jim graduated in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and returned to earn a master’s degree in criminal justice in 1996. Being a two-time alumnus and a huge VCU basketball fan, it would have been easy to pressure his sons into going to VCU, but he didn’t need to.

“As far back as I can remember, it’s the only school I ever wanted to come to,” David says.

“My first memory is of my dad’s master’s degree graduation at the (Richmond) Coliseum in ’96, and my next memory after that is a VCU basketball game.”

Jonathan was equally resolute in his VCU aspirations as he grew up. He graduated with

a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2010 and now works as a records specialist at Middle River Regional Jail in Staunton.

David graduated in May with a major in information systems and a minor in economics. He began working in June at Freddie Mac in Washington, D.C., as a technology analyst.

“The interactions with professors were my best experiences at VCU,” David says.

“The relationship and guidance I got from my research mentor and all of my professors helped me a ton. I feel like you can go talk to any one of them that you’ve had and they’ll give you the time of day even if there are 200 people in the class.”

Jonathan and David both say that during their time as students, VCU became more to them than a basketball team, just as it has always been for their dad. It is a place where they all were able to learn more about the world outside of western Virginia, and a place where they all received an education that will guide them through their careers and lives.

A family of Rams fans

The matriarch of the Williams family, Becky, is also a VCU grad of sorts. She underwent two bone marrow transplants — one in 2008 and one in 2014 — at VCU Massey Cancer Center to treat multiple myeloma.

Her successful treatment experiences solidified VCU as a connecting force for the Williams family — a part of the family’s fiber as Jim explains it.

“VC U means everything. It saved my mom’s life, it educated all three of us. it means more than words.”

– David Williams (B.S. ’14/B) “VCU means everything. It saved my mom’s life, it educated all three of us,” David says. “It means more than words. … I know what it’s done for me and that makes me proud.”

Jim has purchased a third season ticket so he can now see VCU games with both sons, and the entire family goes to games when they can: Jim, Becky, Jonathan, David and 8-yearold sister, Erin.

When asked if Erin has developed the same interest in the Rams as her brothers did more than a decade ago, Jim says, “Not yet, but there’s still time. Class of 2028?”

– Eric Peters (B.S. ’08/MC) is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

Clockwise from top left: Jonathan and David rock their Rams apparel; the Williamses gather for a family photo; and David (center) with his dad, Jim, and older brother, Jonathan, graduates from VCU.

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ALUMNICONNECTIONS

News, highlights and event photos from VCU Alumni

VCU Alumni Month

T

the “Sneaky Pie Brown” mysteries and her latest title, “The Litter of the Law.” The event raised funds to support the Monroe Scholars Book Award, which provides $1,000 scholarships to award winners who enroll at VCU. The second annual VCU Alumni Winery Tour, held April 5, took alumni and friends by motor coach to three Virginia wineries and a brewery.

Segway tours, held April 10 and 11, took alumni to see many of Richmond’s

well-known landmarks, including The John Marshall House, The Wickham House, Valentine Richmond History Museum, St. Paul’s Church, James River Flood Wall, Brown’s Island and The American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar.

On April 26, cyclists rode in the sixth annual VCU Alumni and Community Bike Ride. The 22-mile ride began at the University Student Commons and traveled along Route 5 through Varina to the Osborne Boat Landing before returning to campus.

Photo Mitchell Moore (B.S. ’07/MC; M.S. ’08/E))

Photo Gregory Wise (B.S. ’14/MC)

hroughout the month of April, thousands of alumni ventured 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, participants were treated to various outings to enjoy their time back in the city.

The fourth annual Monroe Scholars Book and Author Luncheon, held April 1, featured Emmy-nominated screenwriter, poet and activist Rita Mae Brown, bestselling author of the “Sister Jane” novels,

Alumni chat at the Monroe Scholars Book and Author Luncheon, which featured Rita Mae Brown’s latest title, “The Litter of the Law.”

Segways transport alumni on a guided tour of the city’s top landmarks.

A Virginia winery hosts alumni who toured several state vineyards for the second annual VCU Alumni Winery Tour.

Photo Pigeon Lige Lu

Riders gather outside the University Student Commons ahead of the 22-mile VCU Alumni and Community Bike Ride.

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VCU Alumni

ALUMNICONNECTIONS

Photo Doug Buerlein Photography

Reunion Weekend April 11-13, 2014

Members of the Class of 1964 enjoy the 50-Year Grand Alumni Society Induction Brunch, where they received their 50-year medallions.

Reunion Weekend – MCV Campus Reunion Alumni returned to campus to connect, celebrate and reflect.

Along with general events such as city Segway tours and an antique car show, individual schools filled out the weekend with a variety of activities for their respective alumni.

1 The School of Pharmacy Class of 2004 meets up at a local restaurant to reminisce.

2 Alumni chat at a reception for graduates of the St. Philip School of Nursing.

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3 Members of the School of Dentistry’s Class of 2009 return to campus to reconnect.

4 School of Medicine alumni gather for a party in honor of the Class of 1974.

Save the date!

Reunion Weekend 2015 April 17-19 Photo credits: 1 Rob Burnham, Burnham Photography; 2,3 Doug Buerlein Photography; 4 Skip Rowland Photography

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Reunion Weekend

ALUMNICONNECTIONS

Photos Jay Paul

Above: RPI alumni reconnect at the welcome-back-to-campus reception held at VCU’s Scott House. Right: Alumni learn about Richmond’s fascinating history through a narrated cruise of the James River and Kanawha Canal along the city’s Canal Walk. Below: Richmond’s historic Hippodrome Theater plays host to the AAAC’s annual Reunion Weekend Dance, where alumni spent the evening socializing.

Photo Pigeon Lige Lu

Reunion Weekend – RPI Reunion Richmond Professional Institute alumni returned to campus for the annual RPI Reunion, which included a historic canal cruise, a showing of Theatre VCU’s production of “Arabian Nights,” a cross-campus tour, a meet-and-greet luncheon with various VCU coaches and student-athletes and the annual reunion dinner where members of the Class of 1964 were honored with their 50-year pins.

Reunion Weekend – AAAC Reunion The annual reunion for VCU Alumni’s African-American Alumni Council attracted alumni and guests to various activities held throughout the weekend, including a Friday morning golf outing and a Saturday afternoon picnic followed by a night of dancing. The weekend also featured the inaugural Distinguished Scholars Lecture Series, sponsored by the VCU Department of AfricanAmerican Studies and featuring William A. “Sandy” Darity Jr., Ph.D., the Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies and Economics and director of the Duke Consortium on Social Equity at Duke University.

Photos Doug Buerlein Photography

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VCU Alumni

ALUMNICONNECTIONS

Reunion Weekend

Reunion Weekend – MCVAA Awards Each year during Reunion Weekend, the MCV Alumni Association presents awards to alumni who have made outstanding contributions of their time and talents to the university or to their community. Congratulations to this year’s recipients.

1 Harry Lyons Outstanding Alumnus Award recipient John C. Doswell II, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’79/D) (left), James H. Revere Jr. Outstanding Alumnus Service Award winner Meera A. Gokli, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’84/D; H.S. ’92/D), David C. Sarrett, D.M.D., dean of the School of Dentistry, and Outstanding D.D.S. Graduate of the Last Decade Award recipient Stephanie C. Voth, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’09/D; M.S.D. ’13/D) 2 VCU Dental Hygiene Program Outstanding Young Alumnus Award recipient Heather M. Herrera (B.S. ’11/D) (left) and associate professor Tammy Swecker (B.S. ’93/D; M.Ed. ’05/E)

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3 Dr. Franci Stavropoulos Outstanding Dental Hygiene Alumnus Award winner Rita Atwell Phillips, Ph.D. (B.S. ’89/D) (left), and associate professor Tammy Swecker (B.S. ’93/D; M.Ed. ’05/E) 7

4 Tana Kaefer, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’04/P), vice president, Pharmacy, MCV Alumni Association; Pharmacy Alumnus Service Award winner William R. Garnett, Pharm.D. (B.S. ’69/P); and Victor Yanchick, Ph.D., former dean of the School of Pharmacy 5 Jim Doyle, recipient of the VCU Dental Hygiene Program Honorary Alumnus Award for his many years of enthusiastic dedication and distinguished service to the Dental Hygiene Program

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6 Victor Yanchick, Ph.D., former dean of the School of Pharmacy, and Distinguished Pharmacy Alumnus Award winner Del. M. Keith Hodges (B.S. ’89/P) 7 Jean Giddens, Ph.D., R.N., FAAN, dean of the School of Nursing (left), Outstanding Nurse Practice Award winner Denise Lynch (B.S. ’89/N), Outstanding Nurse Alumna Award winner Margaret Lewis (B.S. ’88/N), Outstanding Nurse Service Award winner Mary Jo Ellis Kahn (B.S. ’71/N; M.S. ’74/N), and Jim Jenkins (B.S. ’07/N), vice president, Nursing, MCV Alumni Association 8 Outstanding Medical Alumnus Award winner Leah L.E. Bush, M.D. (M.S. ’79/H&S; M.D. ’84/M; H.S. ’89/M), and Caravati Service Award winner A.W. “Gus” Lewis III, M.D. (M.D. ’69/M)

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Photo credits: 1, 7 Doug Buerlein Photography; 2-3 Ruth Compton; 4, 6 Rob Burnham, Burnham Photography; 8 Skip Rowland Photography

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Reunion Weekend

ALUMNICONNECTIONS Stay connected!

Keep up with VCU Alumni and check out event photos online at vcualumni.org.

Golden anniversaries

Photo Doug Buerlein Photography

Photo Doug Buerlein Photography

Classes of 1964 marked their 50-year milestones during Reunion Weekend.

Celebrating 50 years

School of Medicine

Reach out to more than 160,000 VCU Alumni with a business membership!

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VCU Alumni

School of Nursing Photo Rob Burnham, Burnham Photography

Photo Skip Rowland Photography

School of Dentistry

School of Pharmacy

The following businesses support VCU Alumni: Bull & Bear Club CCHASM Kaplan Test Prep Nationwide Insurance The Right Move Real Estate Inc. UPS

A business membership can provide excellent exposure opportunities for your company in an arena full of people you are trying to reach who are looking for your services. Learn more at vcualumni.org/businessmembers.

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ALUMNICONNECTIONS

Chapter tool kit: VCU Alumni equip regional groups for success

Photo Marsha Polier Grossman (B.F.A. ’72/A)

VCU Alumni launched last year with a single charge: Allow alumni to stay connected with their alma mater by engaging in ways that mean the most to them.

The result? Thirteen new chapters sprouted up across the country, offering alumni in those cities a chance to connect with fellow Rams and Virginia Commonwealth University. One of those chapters took root in Denver, where Virginia native Terry Scanlon (B.S. ’97/MC) relocated in 2005.

“Our local chapter allows us to come together with other alumni who have moved out West,” says Scanlon, public affairs manager for the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. “There’s a desire to connect with other Virginians and VCU alumni who live in Colorado.”

The success of VCU’s men’s basketball team helps a lot, he adds. The chapter’s first event was on the day of what he calls one of the biggest wins in VCU history — a stunning upset over the University of Virginia in November 2013.

Todd Nieber (B.S. ’07/MC), who co-founded the chapter with Scanlon and Jaime Small, says, “Ever since my wife and I moved to Denver in 2010, we were wishing we could watch the games with fellow VCU alum and couldn’t believe there wasn’t a formal chapter established.”

Since basketball turned out to be a shared interest among alumni, watch parties became a regular event for the startup chapter. The group held half a dozen watch parties during the 2013-14 season with as many as 25 alumni in attendance. “We found we all have this common interest: We love our school, and we like watching basketball. But the next step is, how do we move this forward?” Scanlon asks.

To answer that question, VCU Alumni has developed a chapter tool kit. “Chapters provide a critical vehicle for alumni throughout the country to meet and engage one another and with VCU,” says Mary Ann Steiner (B.S. ’98/B), chair of VCU Alumni’s Outreach and Engagement Committee. “We developed this tool kit to support and ensure their success.”

Slated for release in January 2015, the online tool kit will serve as a comprehensive guide and resource for alumni who want to start and sustain their own chapter or group within the VCU Alumni organization. “As part of rolling out the new VCU Alumni model, we received a lot of questions from alumni about how they can get engaged,” says Ramin Mirshah (B.A. ’01/H&S), senior director of outreach and engagement for VCU Alumni. “The tool kit will answer questions about how to build, manage and grow an organization.”

new chapters!

It also provides guidance on developing a leadership committee so that the chapter isn’t reliant on a single person. Nieber, a graphic designer with Faction Media, says the commitment of the Denver chapter’s three founding partners has led to the group’s initial success. Now they’re using word of mouth and Facebook to continue growing — but they’re also focused on maintaining a sustainable pace.

“I want to see the chapter grow at a reasonable and measurable speed and, long term, see the chapter become an asset to the university,” Scanlon says. “We certainly can get to that point. Our chapter can thrive out here, there’s no doubt about that.”

Mirshah agrees: “Denver is a prime example of what a few Rams can do when they work together.”

Want to start a chapter or connect with one in your area? Contact Ramin Mirshah at (804) 828-1671 or rmirshah@vcu.edu.

Celebrating alumni leaders VCU Alumni President W. Baxter Perkinson Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’70/D), welcomed current and emeriti directors of the alumni boards to his home for a reception and alumni update. He presented Ken Thomas (B.S. ’91/B) and Paula B. Saxby, Ph.D. (M.S. ’85/N; Ph.D. ’92/N), each with an original painting for their services as past-presidents of the VCU Alumni Association and the MCV Alumni Association of VCU, respectively.

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THEWORLD THE

brought to you by VCU Alumni

2015 TRAVEL DESTINATIONS Jan. 14-Jan. 24 Polynesian Paradise Cruise (Papeete to Papeete) Jan. 22-March 2 Gauchos, Tangos and Tapas Cruise (Buenos Aires to Rio de Janeiro) Feb. 27-March 8 Amazon River Expedition (Cruising aboard La Amatista Expedition Vessel)

March 17-28 The Pride of South Africa Botswana Namibia Zimbabwe (Chobe River Safari)

April 20-28 River Life Along the Waterways of Holland and Belgium

April 23-May 9 Pathway Through Panama (Miami to San Francisco) April 24-May 3 Mediterranean Coastal Hideaways Cruise (Barcelona to Rome)

May 4-16 Transatlantic Voyage May 13-21 Tuscany

June 4-13 Changing Tides of History Cruising the Baltic Sea

July 18-26 Passage of Lewis and Clark Expedition–American Empress (Clarkston to Portland)

Aug. 19-27 Baltic Marvels Cruise (Stockholm to Copenhagen)

Aug. 26-Sept. 3 Scotland (featuring the Edinburgh Military Tattoo)

Sept. 2-16 Black Sea Odyssey (Istanbul to Istanbul)

Sept. 16-Oct. 2 Lands and Islands of Mystery (Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea, Russia’s Far East, Japan’s Northern Islands)

Oct. 2-11 Swiss Alps and Italian Lakes

Dec. 1-12 Holiday Markets (featuring Paris)

For more information, including travel details and discount information, call (804) 828-2586 or visit vcualumni.org/travel.

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VCU Alumni

ALUMNISUPPORT

Endowed scholarship honors former provost’s dedication to student scholars

By Nan Johnson

As

a teenager growing up in Charlotte, North Carolina, Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., FACSM, was certain she would become a teacher — against the advice of her high school guidance counselor. Later, she would say that she couldn’t remember wanting to be anything else.

Her high school experience as a physical education teaching assistant proved to be the foundation of an exemplary academic career built on a passion for learning.

After 14 years of service to Virginia Commonwealth University in a variety of leadership roles from professor to provost, Warren stepped down as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the end of May to assume a new post as the 12th president of Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.

Before she left, Warren’s VCU colleagues and friends honored her with a scholarship fund in her name.

“Once she announced she was going to accept the [Kent State] presidency, the seed for the fund was planted,” says Michael D. Davis, Ph.D., interim vice provost for academic and faculty affairs.

A small group of Warren’s colleagues was assembled to raise funds to support the idea, and Davis served as co-chair along with Nancy Langston, Ph.D., former dean of the VCU School of Nursing. The two were among more than 100 donors who made contributions to the fund almost immediately after its creation.

“The message that resounds with this scholarship endowment is that this was a chance for us to pay back someone who operated as senior leadership should operate. Bev was always dedicated to student scholars. She’s been about students who may have to work while at school and those who are the first generation in their families to attend a university,” Davis says.

“She knew that every student had a story to tell and some may have to work through multiple hardships to get through. Bev saw our student body as 32,000 students versus one large mass.”

The Beverly Warren Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships for students from any discipline within the university and will honor her commitment to accessibility and affordability in education.

“Bev accomplished an awful lot for VCU. She was an advocate of the student experience,” says Thomas G. Snead Jr. (B.S. ’76/B; H.L.D. ’12), former rector of the VCU Board of Visitors and a founding trustee of the VCU School of Business Foundation. “I consider her to be a very good friend. We worked together long before she became provost when I was chair of the academic affairs committee of the Board of Visitors. I really enjoyed her straightforwardness and ‘get things done’ attitude, and I was delighted when she became provost.”

That attitude, Snead explains, continued throughout her service as provost.

“The world of academics, where things don’t move very fast, is quite different from the world of business,” he says. “I have tremendous respect and appreciation for her moving the ball forward.”

Warren arrived at VCU in 2000 and served first as a professor and head of the Division of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and then later as dean of the School of Education. VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., named her interim provost in April 2010. After a national search, she was appointed provost in 2011.

The scholarship fund currently stands at more than $120,000 in gifts and pledges, raised primarily from donations from current and retired VCU faculty and staff.

“My gift was a small token of appreciation and recognition of what Bev has done for us and the effect that her work will have on the lives of students who don’t even know it yet,” Snead says. “The scholarships will provide some assistance for those who have needs, and in this day and time, the need is huge. I’m happy this was done in her honor. We’re all better off for it.”

– Nan Johnson is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

Beverly J. Warren, Ed.D., Ph.D., FACSM

To learn more about the Beverly Warren Scholarship Fund, contact Jamie M. Stillman (B.S. ’85/MC; M.B.A. ’12/B), director of external relations and development, Office of the Provost, at (804) 828-1205 or jmstillm@vcu.edu.

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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

Bremo Pharmacy and the VCU School of Pharmacy has resulted in a service that targets at-risk seniors.

1940s

Nancy A. Powell, M.D. (B.S.W. ’77/SW; M.S.W. ’78/SW; M.D. ’88/M; H.S. ’91/M), owner of River’s Way Healthcare of Virginia, received a certificate of recognition from the American Board of Family Medicine for Setting the Standard in Family Medicine.

Powell, a board-certified primary care physician, provides traditional and alternative approaches to support the body’s ability to heal itself.

Edna R. Oppenheim (B.S. ’44/N) attended her School of Nursing Class of 1944 reunion in April. She and her husband, Lewyn, celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary in February. Her grandson, Kyle (B.S. ’14/GPA), graduated from VCU in May. M

1960s Carol H. Ellis, M.D. (M.D. ’67/M), retired to Montana to be near her grandchildren. She plans to volunteer, performing camp physicals for the Boy Scouts. M Anne Newkirk (B.S. ’66/B), sales associate with Long & Foster Real Estate’s Stony Point office, was named Central Virginia’s Certified Residential Specialist Member of the Year. Presented by members of the Council of Residential Specialists, an affiliate of the National Association of Realtors, the award recognizes Newkirk’s dedication and loyalty to the Richmond Chapter, of which she was the 2013 president. M Al Schalow (B.S. ’61/P) had five acrylic paintings and a selection of prints on display and up for auction during the February Virginia Pharmacists Association 2014 Midyear Conference in Williamsburg, Va. L John Jay Schwartz (B.S. ’69/B), the voice of VCU women’s basketball and the first VCU Ultimate Ram, was elected chair of the Henrico County Board of Real Estate Review and Equalization for 2014. L

1970s Jack Ende, M.D. (M.D. ’73/M), serves as assistant vice president for the University of Pennsylvania Health System and assistant dean for advanced medical practice in the Perelman School of Medicine. Additionally, Ende serves as executive medical director for patient signature programs and maintains his existing faculty appointment and endowed chair in the school’s Department of Medicine.

Mike Harris (B.S. ’78/MC) was named the D.C. Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association in February while he was sports editor of The Washington Times. Harris, currently a senior editor at Sports Illustrated/SI.com, was recognized for his distinctive work as a columnist in addition to his daily job supervising the newspaper’s sports coverage.

Keith Kittinger (B.S. ’72/P), vice president of Bremo Pharmacy in Richmond, Va., was interviewed by WRIC-ABC 8 News for a report highlighting the need for seniors to check and double-check drug adherence and potential interactions. A new partnership between

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VCU Alumni

Bob Quarles, M.D. (B.S. ’79/P), co-founder of the Richmond, Va.-based British invasion band English Channel with his wife, Julie, was interviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance on the “Ed Sullivan Show.”

G. Robert “Bob” Quisenberry (M.S. ’72/B) received the William H. Ruffner Medal, Virginia Tech’s highest honor presented annually to individuals who have performed notable and distinguished service to the university.

1980s Julie Adams-Buchanan (B.S. ’88/H&S; M.S. ’97/H&S) was named executive director of The Shepherd’s Center of Richmond, a nonprofit service and education organization for people older than 50.

She had previously served as the center’s coordinator of volunteer services, interviewing prospective clients and overseeing the hundreds of volunteers who provide transportation and other help for seniors.

Barry L. Carter, Pharm.D., FCCP, FAHA, FASH (Pharm.D. ’80/P), a panel member appointed to the Eighth Joint National Committee, co-authored “2014 Evidence-Based Guideline for the Management of High Blood Pressure in Adults,” published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. On April 17, he led the VCU Department of Internal Medicine’s Grand Rounds. Carter is the Patrick E. Keefe Professor at the University of Iowa’s Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science in the College of Pharmacy and a professor in the Department of Family Medicine in the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.

Robert C. Dabrow, M.D. (M.D. ’84/M; H.S. ’85/M), is the associate program director for the pediatric residency program at Florida Hospital for Children in Orlando, Fla. The program began in July 2013. M James H. Dudley (B.S. ’87/B) was named president of Fortress Wood Products in Martinsville, Va. L David Elliott, M.D. (M.D. ’83/M), received a call in December 2013 from Doctors Without Borders telling him there was an urgent need for surgeons. It led him to work as a general surgeon in a freestanding hospital in a rural South Sudan village. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported the full story in January.

James Genus (B.M. ’87/A) performed in a rendition of “Watermelon Man” at the 36th Annual Kennedy Center Honors tribute to medal-recipient Herbie Hancock in December 2013.

David N. Greenberg, M.D. (M.D. ’88/M), joined the neonatology faculty at VCU and is the medical director of the NICU at Chippenham and Johnston-Willis hospitals.

Ronnie Greene (B.S. ’86/MC), a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist, served as project editor on “Breathless and Burdened,” a series of articles for the Center for Public Integrity that received the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting. The investigative series, by reporter Chris Hamby, revealed “how some lawyers and doctors rigged a system to deny benefits to coal miners stricken with black lung disease, resulting in remedial legislative efforts,” according to the Pulitzer citation.

James E. Harris Jr. (M.P.A. ’81/GPA) received Honorable Mention for Autobiographies/Biographies from the Great Southeast Book Festival in March 2013 for “Flight of a White Dinosaur.” In his book, Harris reveals the subtle and flagrant reverse discrimination in government, while relating his own adventures and experiences.

Martin L. Johnson, M.D. (H.S. ’80/M), and Olinda Young (B.S. ’75/E; M.P.A. ’81/GPA) donated a Sefer Torah to VCU that will be held and safeguarded by VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives. The couple avidly collects global art, antiques and artifacts.

The Torah scroll was composed in Romania about 1750 and was confiscated by the Nazis during World War II. It is considered to be in excellent condition and is believed to be from an area of Transnistria, known as the Romanian Auschwitz. L Del. S. Chris Jones (B.S. ’82/P), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, was featured in a Richmond Times-Dispatch story about his active political career as a Virginia legislator.

Rhoda Mahoney, M.D. (H.S. ’83/M; H.S. ’85/M), of Pediatric Associates of Richmond, in Virginia, was appointed to the Richmond Academy of Medicine board of trustees.

Cade Martin (B.G.S. ’89/H&S), a photographer, recently completed campaigns for J.C. Penny and Zurich Insurance Group. Martin also shot a film noir project for Genlux Magazine in Los Angeles.

Marie Smith, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’80/P), Henry Palmer Professor and assistant dean at the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy, published “Pharmacists Belong in Accountable Care Organizations and Integrated Care Teams” in the November 2013 issue of Health Affairs.

Robby Smith (B.M. ’89/A) released a new EP with his group, Lazer Cake, available for download on itunes.com.

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

CLASSNOTES

Jesse Vaughan (B.S. ’80/MC), 21-time Emmy Award winner and a 2013 VCU Alumni Star, spoke during Black History Month at the VCU Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture. As the school celebrated its newly created course, MASC 474 Diversity in the Media, Vaughan examined the present and future diversity issues in the fields of advertising, journalism and public relations. He spoke with students on challenges he’s faced and overcome as a minority in the media and offered advice on how to break stereotypes and move the industry forward.

Margaret B. Wilson, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’81/D), associate dean for student affairs and clinical professor at East Carolina University’s School of Dental Medicine, was named vice dean of the school Feb. 1. Wilson, who joined the school in 2009, also coordinates the ethics curriculum for the Doctor of Dental Medicine program.

Peter A. Zedler, M.D. (H.S. ’84/M), a partner at Virginia Women’s Center in Richmond, Va., became the 117th president of the Richmond Academy of Medicine. L Peter J. Zucker, Ph.D. (M.S. ’81/H&S; Ph.D. ’84/H&S), serves as president and CEO of Stars Behavioral Health Group, a community-based behavioral health, child welfare, education and training company in California. L

1990s Karmalita Bawar (B.M. ’90/A) was appointed to the VCU Alumni board to represent the Music Alumni Association. Members of the volunteer board serve renewable two-year terms.

Mary Boyes (M.F.A. ’98/H&S), assistant professor in the VCU Department of English, and Melanie Lamaga (M.F.A. ’98/H&S), co-founded Metaphysical Circus Press, a Richmond, Va.-based publishing house that focuses on literary novels with a metaphysical slant.

Stephen L. DeBiasi, FACHE, CMPE (M.H.A. ’95/ AHP), CEO of OrthoWilmington, was appointed to the North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council by Gov. Pat McCrory. He will serve a two-year term as an at-large member of the SHCC, which directs the development of the annual state medical facilities plan.

Carolyn Eggleston, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’90/E), professor of education at California State University, San Bernardino, was chosen by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline honor society, as the 2014-16 Phi Kappa Phi Scholar for her achievements in research, training, service and leadership.

Frazier W. Frantz, M.D. (H.S. ’95/M), pediatric surgeon with the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Va., was appointed to the Virginia Board of Medicine.

M Member of the alumni association

Susanna Klein (B.M. ’93/A), coordinator of strings and assistant professor in the VCU Department of Music, received a VCU School of the Arts Faculty Exploratory Research Grant. She will collaborate with Doug Richards, professor in the Department of Music, to rehearse and record his unique transformation of Claude Debussy’s piano prelude, “La fille aux cheveux de line,” for his jazz/classical clarinet and string quartet.

Héloïse B. “Ginger” Levit (M.A. ’98/A) loaned her collection of etchings made by Impressionist artist Edgar Degas to VCU Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives. The monotypes, many of which were done by hand, were reduced and reproduced by the photogravure process in 1938 and comprise the illustrations for a valuable, limited-edition rare book.

Only 350 copies exist and rarely surface at auction or in rare book shops.

Mirta Martin, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’97/GPA), was chosen by the Kansas State Board of Regents as the ninth president of Fort Hays State University. Martin has served as dean of the Reginald F. Lewis School of Business at Virginia State University since 2009 and has held various higher-education leadership positions throughout her career. M Ernest C. McLeod Jr. (M.S. ’98/B) joined the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport Commission as director of finance. He is responsible for accounting, financial planning and analysis, and budgeting for the commission and all airport operations.

Janie L. Rhoads (B.A. ’98/H&S) was promoted to counsel by MercerTrigiani law firm in Alexandria, Va. Rhoads, who joined the firm in 2008, is a member of the Alexandria Bar Association, Virginia Bar Association, American Bar Association and the Washington Chapter of Community Associations Institute. She also serves on the board of directors for the Smithfield-Preston Foundation.

Harry J. Shaia, M.D. (M.D. ’98/M), of OrthoVirginia was appointed to the Richmond Academy of Medicine board of trustees.

2000s Brian Baird, Pharm.D. (Cert. ’01/En; Pharm.D. ’03/P), is a drug information pharmacist for VCU Health System. He also serves as president-elect of the Virginia Society for Health-System Pharmacists. L

young people in the Cedar Valley region of Iowa who are making a difference in their work and personal lives to make the area a better place. M Gabriel Craig (M.F.A. ’09/A) debuted “Ornata Industrata Americana,” a collaborative work with Amy Weiks, in the group exhibit “Current,” curated

by Nayda Collazo-Llorens at Western Michigan University’s Grand Rapids Campus. Craig and Weiks were interviewed by director Werner Herzog for a short documentary about Detroit. Craig is featured in the recently released book, “Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective,” published jointly by Art Jewelry Forum and Lark Books. Craig is one of eight featured artists interviewed in Betsy Greer’s book “Craftivism: The Art and Craft of Activism,” released in May. Grant Garmezy (B.F.A. ’09/A) exhibited at the Harding Art Show in May. That same month, he was represented by the J. Fergeson Gallery in Farmville, Va., at the prestigious Select contemporary art fair in New York. M Jason Hackett (M.F.A. ’05/A), studio manager in the VCU Department of Craft and Material Studies, curated “Out of Necessity: Contemporary Ceramic Interventions,” a group exhibit at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. He also displayed work in the 20th San Angelo National Ceramic Competition at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art in Texas.

Sarah Holden (B.F.A. ’08/A) taught a spring workshop at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina covering the basics of soldering steel, welding steel and integrating steel into jewelry designs. She coorganized an exhibit juried by Susan Ganch, associate professor in the VCU Department of Craft and Material Studies, which ran in conjunction with the 2014 SNAG exhibit in Minneapolis in April.

Katie Hudnall (M.F.A. ’05/A) taught at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina this past summer.

Jeremy Hughes (B.M. ’08/A) is transcribing two sonatas by Romantic composer Johannes Brahms for the electric slide guitar: “Sonata No. 1 in F minor for viola and piano, Op. 120” and “Sonata No. 2 in E flat major for viola and piano.”

Lucas Krost (B.F.A. ’03/A) won the NFL’s “Together We Make Football” contest. His film, featuring the story of his father, Lee Krost, was chosen as the winner by football Hall of Famer Joe Namath and landed the Krosts at the 2014 Super Bowl. M

Jackie Brown (M.F.A. ’08/A) accepted a tenure-track position in the sculpture department at Bowdoin College.

Katie Laughon, M.D. (M.D. ’00/M), serves as a researcher for the National Institutes of Health and is an obstetrician at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C. She recently offered her perspective in The New York Times article, “Study Suggests Misplaced Fears in Longer Childbirth.” L

Nate Clayberg (M.S. ’02/E), executive director of Grow Buchanan County Economic Development, was named one of Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier’s 20 Under 40 for 2013. The newspaper honors outstanding

Pamela DiSalvo Lepley (Cert. ’08/GPA; M.P.A. ’09/ GPA) was named vice president for university relations, a cabinet-level position in which she serves as chief communications officer for VCU and VCU Medical

Megan Biddle (M.F.A. ’05/A) had a solo exhibit, “Gravitational Pull,” on display at Pittsburgh Filmmakers Galleries.

L Life member of the alumni association

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CLASSNOTES

New releases

Faculty and alumni books Stats for the rest of us ED BOONE, PH.D. / ROY SABO, PH.D.

Statistician Boone, associate professor in the Department of Statistical Sciences and Operations Research, and Sabo, assistant professor in the Department of Biostatistics, co-authored “Statistical Research Methods: A Guide for Non-Statisticians.”

Dealing with a diagnosis WELDON BRADSHAW

Written by a teacher, administrator and cross-country and track coach at the Collegiate School in Richmond, Va., “My Dance with Grace: Reflections on Death and Life” centers around a promise Bradshaw made to his family when he was diagnosed with a severe autoimmune disease of the liver and the liver transplant he received at VCU Medical Center.

“When we talk about our commitment to

human health and to catalyzing the human experience, it is with people like Weldon Bradshaw in mind,” says VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. Proceeds from the book, published by Brandylane Publishers Inc., will be shared with the UNOS Foundation and the MCV Foundation.

Examining extraordinary accomplishments

CHARLES N. SMITH, PH.D.

Co-authored by Gerber, the Ruth Harris Professor of Dyslexia Studies in the VCU School of Education, “Leaders, Visionaries and Dreamers: Extraordinary People with Dyslexia and Other Learning Disabilities” looks at 12 people with learning disabilities and dyslexia whose lives are characterized by major accomplishments and contributions that they have made in their respective fields as well as on the contemporary American scene.

This book is the most recent of several by Smith (B.S. ’76/H&S; M.S. ’80/AHP), vice president of student affairs for South Carolina State University. His first was “On the Sideline or In The Game,” his second was a novel, “A Funeral, A Wedding and The Journey Between,” followed by “The Last Shall Be The First,” and his latest book, “This Morning My Father Died …

So What?,” featuring the stories of several of Smith’s VCU classmates.

Sarah Mizer (M.F.A. ’07/A) was in “Ambiguity and Interface: Art Across the Spectrum” at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va. She gave a lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in fall 2013 and presented at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid in Spain in February. Mizer also was an artist-in-residence at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft this past summer.

Samir Pandya, M.D. (M.D. ’04/M), was appointed associate program director of the general surgery residency program at New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center.

VCU Alumni

A new book by this assistant professor in the Department of English, “Feminist Narrative Ethics: Tacit Persuasion in Modernist Form” examines rhetorical techniques that encourage readers to rethink their beliefs regarding women’s rights and ethics.

The role of fathers

Jennifer Neal, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’09/P), assistant professor in the VCU School of Pharmacy, served as a panelist at the first Student Pharmacist Policy and Advocacy Forum Colloquium, a daylong event held in conjunction with the Virginia Pharmacists Association 2014 Midyear Conference in February.

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KATHERINE NASH

PAUL J. GERBER, PH.D.

Center with oversight of the offices of public affairs, university marketing, executive communications, and events and special programs. Previously, Lepley served as executive director of VCU’s Division of University Relations and as director of what was then-called the Office of Communications and Public Relations.

Rebecca Murtaugh (M.F.A. ’01/A) showed “Alluring Repulsions” and was a prizewinner of “How Simple Can You Get?” at the Hilles Gallery in New Haven, Conn.

Ethics and women’s rights

Debbie Quick (M.F.A. ’06/A), assistant chair in the VCU Department of Craft and Material Studies, showed in the Shirt Factory Gallery Small Works 2014 and in “Visual Textures” at the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts.

Desiree Raught (B.A. ’07/H&S), a 10th-grade English teacher at McKinley Tech High School in Washington,

D.C., was featured on the cover of Metro Weekly and recognized with a 2014 Next Generation Award for her leadership role in helping better D.C. public schools by fostering a safer, more inclusive environment, particularly for LGBT students.

Felix Sarfo-Kantanka Jr. (M.P.A. ’01/GPA) serves as legislative director to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, responsible for overseeing the development of the governor’s legislative agenda, coordinating the lobbying activities of the administration and negotiating many issues with the General Assembly. He previously served as assistant vice president of state government relations at McGuireWoods Consulting and is a member of the Excellence in Virginia Government Awards Steering Committee.

Nanda Soderberg (M.F.A. ’07/A) had an exhibit at Urban Glassware store in Brooklyn, N.Y. “Random

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

CLASSNOTES

Recycled Glass Magic” featured pieces made from found glass objects that were reconfigured through traditional hot and cold glass-working processes to create something new. In addition, Soderberg taught a class at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine this past summer.

Sayaka Suzuki (M.F.A. ’05/A), adjunct instructor in the VCU Department of Craft and Material Studies, taught a class at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine this past summer.

Samson Trinh (B.M. ’06/A) attracted the attention of USA Today with his ukulele-based music education.

Trinh brought his ukulele to his fourth- and fifth-grade classes at Glen Allen Elementary School in Glen Allen, Va., and taught the students 16 songs on ukulele and percussion, which they sang to with prerecorded background music.

Andrew Villamagna, M.D. (M.D. ’06/M), was elected a fellow by the American Academy of Family Medicine, one of the largest medical organizations representing more than 110,000 family physicians, family medicine residents and medical students.

Villamagna was selected for his dedication to the service of family medicine, advancement of health care and professional development through medical education and research.

Adam Welch (M.F.A. ’03/A) had a solo exhibit, “Adam Welch: Bricks,” at the Anne Reid ’72 Art Gallery in Princeton, N.J., in fall 2013. His work also was seen in “Resplendent Bond” at Nancy Dryfoos Gallery of Kean University in New Jersey. He was in the group show “Ambiguity and Interface: Art Across the Spectrum” at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Va., and in “Convergencey” at the Pelham Art Center in New York. Additionally, Welch wrote articles featured in Issue 93 of Ceramic Art and Perception: “Under the Big Top” and “Old Modern, New Problem” as well as issue 92’s “John Williams’ Reification of Power” and “Neil Tetkowski’s Earth Fragments.”

2010s Melissa Athey (M.F.A. 12/A) was one of four artists whose work was in the Urban Glass show “MFA Competition Exhibition” in Brooklyn, N.Y. Stephanie Auld (B.M. ’12/A) attended the Petri School of Music in Spartanburg, S.C., in fall 2014 to pursue her Master of Music in vocal performance.

Sarah Briland (M.F.A. ’13/A) was one of four artists whose work was in the Urban Glass show “MFA Competition Exhibition” in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was chosen for the Pilchuck Emerging Artistin-Residence Program.

Douglas-Jayd Burn (B.M. ’11/A) was accepted to the University of Arizona School of Music on full scholarship.

His studies will also include a teaching assistantship.

M Member of the alumni association

April Dauscha (M.F.A. ’12/A) had a piece from the group show “Underneath it All: Desire, Power, Memory and Lingerie” posted on the Daily Beast in September 2013. She was in a show held at the ISE Cultural Foundation in New York in fall 2013. Her work also was featured in “Innovation in Fiber Arts” at the Sebastopol Center of the Arts in California.

Emily Watkins Elliott (M.A. ’11/H&S) had an essay she wrote while at VCU accepted and published in the journal American Literary Realism. The work centered on the textual editing of a keynote address written by Louis J. Budd.

Drew Gruber (M.U.R.P. ’10/GPA), administrative specialist for Colonial Williamsburg’s Department of Public History, was named to the Virginia Board of Historic Resources.

Jessica Hairston (B.A. ’13/H&S; B.F.A. ’13/A) is the new gallery administrator/manager at the Petersburg Area Art League in Petersburg, Va. M Victor Haskins (B.M. ’13/A) became the first person to lead a jazz outreach program for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts National Symphony Orchestra. He’s taking his small ensemble into elementary schools and exposing students to jazz through performance-based presentations. Haskins’ debut CD, “The Truth,” was reviewed by All About Jazz, and he was a featured soloist with Brass of Peace at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.

Jennifer Helmke, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’10/P), pharmacist at Bremo Pharmacy in Richmond, Va., was interviewed by WRIC-ABC 8 News for a report highlighting the need for seniors to check and double-check drug adherence and potential interactions.

A new partnership between Bremo Pharmacy and the VCU School of Pharmacy has resulted in a service that targets at-risk seniors.

Melissa Lesh (B.F.A. ’13/A) was awarded first place in the inaugural RVA Environmental Film Festival Local Documentary Contest. “James River Sturgeon” focuses on VCU research and was shot at the Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences. The film follows Matt Balazik, Ph.D. (B.S. ’05/H&S; M.S. ’08/H&S; Ph.D. ’12/LS), as he discovers the sturgeon migration using acoustic transmitter tags.

Jeff MacDonald (B.S. ’10/MC; M.S. ’12/MC), creative technologist at The Martin Agency and adjunct professor at the VCU Brandcenter, was recognized on the Forbes list of 30 Under 30 for the marketing and advertising industry.

Aaron McIntosh (M.F.A. ’10/A) gave an artist talk Feb. 20 in conjunction with the group exhibit, “Queer Threads: Crafting Identity and Community,” at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York.

Charles Merritt (M.S. ’13/MC), partner of business incubator 80amps, in Richmond, Va., was recognized

L Life member of the alumni association

on the Forbes list of 30 Under 30 for the marketing and advertising industry. M Lindsey Kurland Saul, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’13/M), the VCU Department of Social and Behavioral Health’s first doctoral program graduate, accepted a position as program director of the Center of Audiology and Speech Pathology at the Walter Reed National Medical Military Center. In her new role, she oversees about 35 research protocols and assists with the translational side of research.

Nichole Savage (B.M. ’13/A) played Beth in Capitol Opera’s production of Aaron Copland’s “The Tender Land.” She serves as the minister of music at Central United Methodist Church and is the lead singer of the Richmond, Va., world/fusion band Karamazov. Savage is also a patroness member of the Richmond Alumnae Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota.

Hiromi Takizawa (M.F.A. ’10/A) had his ultraviolet light installation exhibited at the Culver Center of the Arts at the University of California in Riverside, Calif.

Paul Willson (B.M. ’11/A) released his latest CD, “Heaven Reaches,” Feb. 8. The double album was featured in RVAMag. McKenzie Woodard, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’11/D), received the 2014 New Dentist award at the South Carolina Dental Association’s Annual Session. Nominees consisted of members of the SCDA who have been in practice 10 years or fewer or who are 40 or younger.

Woodard, of Wentworth Street Dental Associates, was chosen for her demonstrated leadership qualities through service to dentistry.

Faculty and staff Gonzalo Bearman, M.D., FACP, associate hospital epidemiologist and professor of internal medicine, epidemiology and community medicine in the School of Medicine, debuted his new journal, Medical Literary Messenger. Envisioned as an artistic voice for the healing arts, the issue features the work from nearly two dozen contributors, including a number of authors and artists with ties to VCU and the School of Medicine, and contains photography, fiction, nonfiction, poetry and anatomical drawings based on the artist’s trips to the gross anatomy labs of retired anatomy professor Hugo Seibel, Ph.D. The journal will be published twice a year in an electronic format to satisfy Bearman’s desire that it be freely accessible and downloadable by all.

Claire Bourne, assistant professor in the Department of English, was awarded a Charlton B. Hinman fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., for the 2014-15 academic year. She will spend the year working on her book-in-progress, “Set Forth As It Hath Been Played: Printing the Performance in Early Modern England.” Bourne also received the 2014 J. Leeds Barroll Dissertation Prize, presented by the

Fall 2014

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ALUMNIPROFILE

How VCU’s biggest fan got his horns

T

here’s no mistaking Chris “Pav” Crowley (B.S. ’06/A) as a regular Rams fan. With his kingsized golden ram horns and Virginia Commonwealth University superhero cape, he’s one of the most recognizable figures in Rams basketball fandom today, and it all stemmed from a chance college suggestion from a former VCU track coach.

In 2000, Crowley was a junior at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Virginia, with no idea where he wanted to go to college. Subschool Principal Cliff Hardison (M.Ed. ’89/E), who coached VCU men’s track during the ’80s, suggested Crowley look into becoming a Ram. Hardison connected him with Mike Ellis, VCU’s former associate athletic director who back then was the assistant men’s basketball coach. Ellis gave Crowley a tour of the Stuart C. Siegel Center, and it was love at first sight.

Crowley enrolled at VCU and, in his first three years, became a familiar presence on the court and in the stands as student manager of the VCU men’s basketball team and occasional member of the pep band.

Although he initially pursued a degree in sports management, Crowley switched to music education halfway through his freshman year. His decision

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VCU Alumni

CLASSNOTES

amused then-coach Mack McCarthy, who declared, “You’re a big guy, you’ve got a beard, you’re a singer — you look just like [Luciano] Pavarotti!”

“Pavarotti is hard to say if you’re Southern,” Crowley explains. Thus the nickname “Pav” was born.

After stepping down as student manager in 2004 to focus on his classes, Crowley started supporting the team from the stands, joining the Rowdy Rams movement and beginning the journey toward the beloved fan figure he is today.

“Back then, there weren’t a lot of students going to the games. … You didn’t see people walking around with VCU shirts,” Crowley says. “We basically acted as a set of legs to go around and do basic marketing that hadn’t been done much before.”

As the team evolved, so did Crowley’s game-time look. He obtained his most iconic piece — a plush horn hat — from a Vermont costume shop. Crowley’s cape started as a flag, until he realized it would be much easier to wear it around his shoulders than to wave it in the air. This decision led to his small but striking pièce de résistance: a cape collar made entirely of horn trinkets, painstakingly curated

by Kay Adams (B.S. ’94/MC) at Anthill Antiques in Carytown, a historic shopping district close to campus.

But for Crowley, his game-day attire is far more than just a look, it’s a passion that drives him to every game, win or lose, at the Siegel Center or at a road game hundreds of miles away. When asked why he does what he does, his answer is simple: “Honestly, I like to cheer. And If I’m able to do it in such a way that other people want to do it with me, I consider that a blessing. I’m happy I’ve gotten the opportunity to do that so far.”

Although Crowley, a Life member of VCU Alumni, graduated in 2006, his VCU connection continues to take him places. He landed his most recent job at Colonial Scientific Inc. in Richmond while at the Rams’ 2011 Sweet Sixteen appearance in San Antonio, where he met the company’s owner, Mike Rinko, who studied at VCU in the ’80s and was, coincidentally, recruited to run track by Cliff Hardison.

“It might be insane, but for me, in the stands, on a road trip, standing in 15-degree weather for tickets, that’s where you really get to know people and where you make your friends,” Crowley says. “We say ‘Ram Nation.’ That’s when it becomes ‘Ram Family.’”

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

Shakespeare Association of America, for her doctoral thesis, “A Play and No Play: Printing the Performance in Early Modern England.”

Sonya Clark, professor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, had work in the catalog traveling exhibit, “Crafting a Continuum: Rethinking Contemporary Craft.” The article, “Rhizomatic Genesis: The Art of Sonya Clark,” was in the fall 2013 issue of Fiber Art Now. She was in a group exhibit, “0 to 60,” at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery in January. Clark gave a lecture at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art as part of its Renwick Alliance Distinguished Artist Lecture Series. She had a solo show, “Black and White and Thread All Over,” at George Mason University in February.

In Richmond, Va., her collaborative, “Hair Craft Project,” exhibited at 1708 Gallery, and her solo exhibit, “Same Difference,” exhibited at the Reynolds Gallery. She also showed in “Identity Shifts” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, “Multiple Exposure: Jewelry and Photography” at the Museum of Arts and Design and “For Whom it Stands” at the Reginald Lewis Museum, which continues through Feb. 28, 2015. M Susan Cokal, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of English, received a silver medal from the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award, one of the most prestigious honors for excellence in literature aimed at young adults, for her novel, “The Kingdom of Little Wounds.”

Andrea Connell, assistant professor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, had a solo exhibit at the St. Louis Community College Meramec Contemporary Art Gallery. While in St. Louis, Connell gave a two-day workshop on her hand-building techniques. Her work also was part of the Society for Contemporary Craft’s “Transformation 9: Contemporary Works in Ceramic Arts.”

Daniel DiCaprio, adjunct instructor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, showed in “Preziosa Young Retrospective,” which ran from May through June at the Museo Nazionale di Villi Guinigi in Lucca, Italy.

Amanda Dickinson, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biology, received a $700,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant award for her research on “Pulling the Mouth Open: Coordinating orofacial tissue growth and epithelial integrity to form the embryonic mouth.”

Sammy El-Shall, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemistry, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Susan Ganch, associate professor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, had a solo show, “TIED,” April 4 along with her collaborative, “Radical

M Member of the alumni association

Jewelry Makeover,” at the Visual Arts Center in Richmond, Va. The “Radical Jewelry Makeover” exhibit also was at the Lewandowski Student Gallery in Rock Hill, S.C. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art acquired one of Ganch’s pieces.

Susan Gooden, Ph.D., professor of public policy and administration in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and executive director of The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute, received a Fulbright Specialist Award with Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates for the summer. Gooden worked with faculty and senior administrators in the College of Sustainability Sciences and Humanities at Zayed University.

Darryl Harper, chair of the Department of Music, was recognized on Ted Gioia’s Best of 2013 list for his CD “The Edenfred Files.”

Rebecca Heise, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, received a $400,000 National Science Foundation CAREER grant award. Her proposed research for the award aims to understand how mechanical forces within the lungs can cause epithelial cell injury that leads to pulmonary fibrosis, or scar tissue formation, within the lung.

Colin Hewitt, assistant professor in the Department of Sculpture and Extended Media, was named a 2014-15 winner of the Rome Prize Competition, one of the top awards available to artists in the U.S. Hewitt, who received the honor in the visual arts category, received a fellowship, including a stipend, to study in Rome from September 2014 to July 2015.

Susan Iverson, professor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, was one of nine VCU School of the Arts faculty members represented in the new installation of artwork at the U.S. Embassy in Vatican City. The works of Reni Gower, Jack Wax, Ruth Bolduan, Ronald Johnson, Matt King, Richard Roth, Javier Tapia and Hilary Wilder are also included.

The loan, coordinated by the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies Program, will remain on view in the embassy for two years. Iverson also was included in “The New Art of the Loom” at the Montcalm Gallery in Gatineau, Quebec, and traveled to Musee des Maitres at Artisans du Quebec. The show will continue to travel in North American through 2015. She also exhibited in “Continuing Conversations” at Barton Art Galleries at Barton College in Wilson, N.C., “International Fiber Biennial” at Snyderman Gallery in Philadelphia and had work featured in “Tapestry,” an article in Luxury, a Korean magazine.

Kenneth Kendler, M.D., the Rachel Brown Banks Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and professor of human genetics in the School of Medicine, received the 2013 Thomas William Salmon Award in Psychiatry from the New York Academy of Medicine.

L Life member of the alumni association

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CLASSNOTES

What’s new?

Send us your news — promotion, relocation, wedding, baby or other good news — and we’ll share it in the alumni magazine and online. Drop us a line at classnotes@vcu.edu. Or, update your information and view archived and expanded class notes from your fellow alumni at vcualumni.org/classnotes.

Delores Taylor, associate vice provost for enrollment services in the Division of Strategic Enrollment Management, retired after a nearly 35-year career at VCU. Taylor, who started as an hourly career planning and placement counselor in 1979, has held several positions, all in admissions, including director of undergraduate admissions.

Marcus Tenney, adjunct instructor in the Department of Music, released his debut CD, “As You See It,” on the 32-Bar record label run by Alan Parker (B.M. ’06/A).

Tenney’s bandmates include Andrew Randazzo (B.M. ’12/A) and Devonne Harris (B.M. ’11/A).

Karen Kester, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Biology, and Jennifer Stewart, Ph.D., director of graduate studies in the biology department, were awarded a five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to help increase transfer and graduation rates of community college students interested in biology and to ultimately increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who pursue careers in biomedical and behavioral research careers.

David Latané, professor in the Department of English, is a joint winner of the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals’ Robert and Vineta Colby Scholarly Book Prize for 2013 for “William Maginn and the British Press.” The prize is awarded to scholarly books that most advance the understanding of the 19th-century British newspaper or periodical press.

Kathryn Meier, professor in the Department of History, received the 2014 Wiley-Silver Book Prize for “Nature’s Civil War: Common Soldiers and the Environment in 1862 Virginia.” The award, given to the best debut book on the history of the Civil War, was presented by the Center for Civil War Research.

Jaydan Moore, instructor and Fountainhead Fellow in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, accepted a residency at Penland in North Carolina this summer. He exhibited at Page Bond Gallery in Richmond, Va., and two of his pieces were exhibited in the biennial exhibit “Refined VIII: Maker’s Choice” at Stephen F. Austin State University. An article, “Antitrophy,” was written about Moore in Metalsmith Magazine.

Brian Ohlinger retired from his post as associate vice president of Facilities Management after 17 years at VCU. He oversaw 3 million square feet in new construction and renovation projects that helped expand and sustain VCU’s evolution into one of the nation’s premier urban, public research universities.

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VCU Alumni

Karen Rader, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of History and director of the Science, Technology and Society Program, was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Doug Richards, professor in the Department of Music, received a VCU School of the Arts Faculty Exploratory Research Grant. He will collaborate with Susanna Klein (B.M. ’93/A), coordinator of strings and assistant professor in the VCU Department of Music, to rehearse and record his unique transformation of Claude Debussy’s piano prelude, “La fille aux cheveux de line,” for his jazz/classical clarinet and string quartet.

Rex Richardson, associate professor in the Department of Music, received a VCU School of the Arts Faculty Research Grant. He will record new takes on traditional trumpet concertos and revive the practice of improvised cadenzas.

Peyton Rowe, associate professor of advertising in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture in the College of Humanities and Sciences, received $25,000 from the VCU Quest Innovation Fund to support capacity building for the nonprofit organization CreateAthon. Out of 68 applicants, Rowe was awarded the grant to strengthen CreateAthon’s partnership with VCU and to encourage communitywide collaboration.

Ben Stout, visiting faculty in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, will have a solo exhibit at 1708 Gallery later this year and will show new work at the Cranbrook Lower Gallery in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. His work was used for the cover of Literary Materialisms, and he is partnering to help produce work for Spark Product Design and Engineering in Richmond, Va., which contacted Stout to develop ceramics for a biomedical engineering project with Johns Hopkins University.

Olivia Valentine, instructor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies and Fountainhead Fellow, had her work displayed April 4 at Page Bond Gallery in Richmond, Va. Her site-specific piece, “Panorama,” exhibited and was published in the catalog “Raising the Profile of Lace: 1st International Symposium of Young Lace Makers.” Valentine’s work also was published and exhibited in the 2013 Rijswijk Textile Biennial. Additionally, she had another site-specific installation published in the fourth issue of “Soiled.”

George W. Vetrovec, M.D., professor in the School of Medicine and director of the Adult Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at VCU Medical Center, was designated a Master of the American College of Cardiology. The award, given to no more than four people each year, acknowledges a distinguished practitioner in the field of cardiology and recognizes individuals who have consistently shown excellence in education, clinical practice, scholarship and support to the ACC. Jack Wax, professor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, was the keynote speaker at an Urban Glass Academic Symposium titled, “Issues in Glass Pedagogy.”

Richard “Dick” P. Wenzel, M.D., professor and former chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine, received the International Federation of Infection Control’s 2014 Martin S. Favero Award. Presented at the 2014 IFIC Conference in Malta, the award recognizes the lifetime achievements of individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of infection prevention and control worldwide. Wenzel’s work includes significant contributions on the epidemiology of hospital-acquired infections, especially bloodstream infections and sepsis.

Bo Yoon, assistant professor in the Department of Craft and Material Studies, was interviewed by TurnOnArt, an online space for interactive discussion about contemporary arts and culture in the global village. Yoon participated in a glass group show at Shelburne Museum in Vermont this spring. He also was interviewed for Album Covers of the Year 2013 for his artwork used on the cover of The National’s album “Trouble Will Find Me.”

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

Photo courtesy Susan Wyant

Entrepreneurial excellence

ALUMNIPROFILE

Graduate of VCU’s first Pharm.D. class turns ideas into success

Susan Wyant, Pharm.D., works with Mi Jung Lim, a VCU School of Pharmacy student who is at The Dominion Group Inc. for an elective rotation.

S

usan Wyant, Pharm.D. (B.S. ’74/P; Pharm. D. ’78/P), a member of Virginia Commonwealth University’s first Doctor of Pharmacy class, thrives on turning ideas into success stories.

Now the owner and president of The Dominion Group Inc., a pharmaceutical market research firm in Northern Virginia, her background serves as a testament to that entrepreneurial spirit.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from VCU in 1974, Wyant worked as a community pharmacist. A retail store in Springfield, Virginia, gave her the opportunity to create their pharmacy from the ground up. She did everything, from ordering inventory to creating the prescription-filling process.

In 1976, VCU embarked on its new Pharm.D. program at a time when an undergraduate degree was the only requirement to work as a pharmacist.

(Today, a Pharm.D. is a job requirement.) Wyant took a leap and enrolled, making her one of six students in a nascent program with 12 faculty members.

“The ratio was quite daunting,” she says, adding that her class benefited from being the first as faculty worked to establish a direction for the program.

“I always felt we had the most extensive, most thorough education we ever could have gotten because there was so much individual attention and focus on clinical applications,” she says.

With her Pharm.D. in hand, Wyant joined the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ National Health Service Corps with the rank of lieutenant commander and landed in Pungo, Virginia, a rural community outside of Virginia Beach.

There, she was part of a pilot Rural Health Initiative program that integrated a clinical pharmacist, nurse practitioner and physician into one office to provide patient care in a medically underserved area. The move brought with it Wyant’s second opportunity to design a pharmacy from scratch as well as a chance to engage in a collaborative practice.

She calls it the best job possible for a Pharm.D. graduate because it allowed her to put medication therapy management into practice by working directly with a physician to follow patients between visits.

Her next job took her out West where, in 1982, she was assigned to a satellite pharmacy at the University of California, Los Angeles. Wyant was on track to head up the ambulatory care pharmacy.

That’s until her ultimate calling — pharmaceutical market research — came knocking. An offer to work at Pracon, a health care consulting and communications firm in Virginia, led to a 10-year stay that included responsibility for three business units: strategic planning, market research and pharmacy education programs.

“I loved what I did,” she says. “The position involved solving lots of different problems and every project was related to a drug or health care product.”

In 1992, Wyant left Pracon and a year later launched The Dominion Group Inc., which designs research studies, analyzes market data and provides strategic direction for pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

Over the next 20 years, the business expanded, moving from Tysons Corner, Virginia, to offices in Reston, Virginia, with a full-time staff of 14. The company is constantly reinventing itself to adjust to changes in health care and market demand.

“Our clients need accurate, insightful information and expert analysis to make informed business decisions — and they want it as soon as possible,” she says.

Wyant says her roots at the VCU School of Pharmacy stay with her, in part, by her role as a guest lecturer and as a preceptor to current Pharm.D. students.

“I use my clinical background every day in terms of understanding disease states and new therapies,” she says. “My career wasn’t carefully planned out in advance. I took advantage of the knowledge, training and skill sets I had, applied them to each opportunity and built upon that.”

– Samieh Shalash is a contributing writer for the alumni magazine.

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IN MEMORIAM Robert M. Atack of Glen Allen, Va., May 7, 2014, at age 66.

Everett M. Jenkins, of Hayes, Va., Feb. 1, 2014, at age 79.

John R. Sexton, D.D.S. (H.S./D), of Denver, May 24, 2014.

1930s Frances H. Clarke (B.S. ’37/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Nov. 28, 2013, at age 97.

Willene Moore Dernehl (Cert. ’39/N), of Springfield, Mo., April 13, 2014, at age 100.

1940s John P. Bing, M.D. (M.D. ’46/M), of Stanleytown, Va., March 10, 2014, at age 92.

Charles W. Dennison, M.D. (M.D. ’48/M), of Huntington, W.Va., May 25, 2014.

Mary M. Dobbie (Cert. ’43), of New Albany, Ohio, March 11, 2014, at age 94.

Virginia M. Edwards (B.S. ’48/N), of Madison, Va., Feb. 14, 2014, at age 87.

John R. Fitzgerald, M.D. (M.D. ’46/M), of Rochester, N.Y., April 30, 2014.

E.C. Garber Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’44/M; H.S. ’45/M; H.S. ’50/M), of Fayetteville, N.C., Jan. 1, 2014, at age 94.

Roberta S. Gray (Cert. ’44/N), of Jacksonville, Texas, Feb. 23, 2014, at age 92.

Shirley Martin Howard, M.D. (M.D. ’43/M), of Naples, Fla., April 24, 2014, at age 94. L Edgar F. Jessee Sr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’45/D), of Richmond, Va., May 10, 2014.

Lockert B. Mason, M.D. (M.D. ’45/M), of Wilmington, N.C., March 11, 2014, at age 92.

Robert E. Paine Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’47/M), of Salem, Va., March 19, 2014. L Lucy N. Pierce (B.S. ’45/N), of Greenville, N.C., March 28, 2014, at age 91.

Mariella T. Provost (B.S. ’46/N), of Black Mountain, N.C., April 15, 2014, at age 91.

Howard S. Rhyne, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’43/D), of Gastonia, N.C., May 10, 2014, at age 92.

Margaret Ann P. Short (B.S. ’45/N), of Columbia, S.C., April 26, 2014, at age 90.

Want to join the more than 6,500 alumni who call themselves Rams for Life? Upgrade to Life today at vcualumni.org before the price increases.

Ahmad M. Abbassy Dr. Robert Andrew Abernathy Jr. Susan J. Albert Eurvenia T. Anderson Marsha B. Andrews Dr. John A. Arledge James E. Atchison James W. Atkins Jr. Joan A. Barlow Dr. Robert F. Barnes Jr. Dr. Jay M. Bass Harold W. Beattie Jr. Elizabeth A. Belte Mary Beth Berry Jerry W. Beverly Dr. Robert W. Bigelow Carmen R. Bishop Jeanette J. Blaylock Raymond H. Blaylock Dr. Gary B. Bokinsky Sally H. Bolte Stephen Bolte Dr. Daniel C. Booker Jr. Dr. Robert E. Brabham Stephen C. Brinkley Daniel W. Brisker Reid P. Broce Richard O.I. Brown Dr. Sarah Jane Brubaker Judith A. Burneston Gregory N. Bushrod Patricia W. Button Gayle C. Bynum Dr. James W. Bynum Dr. Eleanor Sue Cantrell Mary Graham Carreras Daniel Carvajal Jr. Rachel Caitlin Casey Susan K. Chandler

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

List includes individuals who joined VCU Alumni as Life members between Jan. 1, 2014, and June 30, 2014.

Dr. Jan F. Chlebowski Dr. Robert M. Chmieleski Joseph T. Cipolla Lisa Michelle Clarke Clyde R. Clay Pauline U. Clay Kathryn E. Cluff Larry F. Cluff Jr. Dr. Lorie Coker Charles C. Conway Jr. Sandra S. Conway Gary F. Cowardin Janice S. Creedle Sherwood H. Creedle, CPA Mary-Randall A. Creighton Patrice N. Crenshaw Dr. L. Burke Crowder Christopher Curtin Jennifer R. Curtin Yvonne M. Daye James Deaton Jonathan H. Deverick Marlu Deverick Teresa Doherty Dr. Gan H. Dunnington Dr. Judith S. Dunnington Dr. Leslie M. Durr Robin S. Earley Elizabeth Carroll Eddowes Frederic C. Eddowes Jr. Heather Childress Edmonds John A. Eichler Joyce A. Eichler Davis Allen Estes Dr. Corey Ray Estoll Dr. Gloria E. Fernandez-Ward Lisa Byrnes Ford Melissa Ophelia Foublasse Dr. Tami J. Fountain-Ellis

James Robert Fox Beverley C. Franklin Patricia Y. Fraser Dr. Ann S. Fulcher Dennis S. Garnett Gwendolyn R. Garnett G. David Garrison Dr. Cloyd B. Gatrell Dr. Roberta Anne Gentry Kendra Glover Dr. Patrick G. Graham Robert M. Hanifin Robert L. Hansan Jane E. Hardell Dr. Robert G. Hayward Sharolyn B. Heatwole, R.N. Dr. Patrick E. Held Dr. Ron Hendricksen Nini A. Hicks Janae W. House Kimberly J. Howard Dr. Charles M. Huber Kenneth D. Huber Esther Katherine Hyatt Alfye Ingram Kurt Donald Iverson Sainath R. Iyer Dr. Alan H. Jaffe Dr. J. Randy James Jenee Jakira Johnson Rowena Perry Johnson Jason A. Joyce Dr. James W.H. Kao J. Natalie Kent J. Kerr Shayla L. Kimble Stephanie Kite Kristin Beran Krupp Dr. Ramesh N. Kundur

Helen R. Smith (B.S. ’44/N), of Columbia, Tenn., Jan. 31, 2013, at age 91.

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Harriett M. Stokes (B.F.A. ’42/A), of Salem, Va., May 18, 2014.

Why I became a Ram for Life

Nancy B. Tapscott (B.S. ’49/B), of Raleigh, N.C., Jan. 4, 2014, at age 88.

“VCU provided the education I needed to be a successful leader. It was important for me to give back to the university and pay it forward to a new generation of students and future alumni leaders. By becoming a Ram for Life, I can connect with alumni and students, engage in activities that support the university and serve the community.”

Joseph F. Wilson, M.D. (M.D. ’44/M), of Tucson, Ariz., Feb. 27, 2014, at age 94.

1950s

– Donna Dalton (M.Ed. ’00/E), Membership Committee chair and former president of VCU Alumni and chief academic officer for Chesterfield County Public Schools

Roopa Kundur Leslie Locella Lambert Brian N. Laughlin Amanda Patrice Lewis Racheida Lewis Dr. David B. Liebman Dr. Laurens E. Linebaugh Jr. Ellen S. Lipps Dr. Robert L. Lynch Suzanne R. Maerz Catherine C. Maffett Wayne A. Maffett Carol B. Markow Johelen A. Martin William R. Martin Jr. Justin McKissick Mary Ann D. McRainey Daniel J. Metz Whitney L. Meyerhoeffer Bobbie H. Mikeal Willis G. Miller III Shayne N. Minozzi-Gallagher Clifton Mitchell II Deborah W. Moore Justin H. Moore Dr. Edmund E. Mullins Jr. E. Thomas Murphy III Kenneth A. Myers Erin P. Nagle Dr. Abhilash P. Nambiar Linda Hawks Oistad Jane Olson Thomas M. Orange Candace H. Osdene Steven R. Owen Michael Parker

Wendy M. Parker Emily Patterson Diane A. Perkins Robert R. Perkins Eric Peters Adriene L. Peterson Kenneth C. Pope Joe Pudner Dr. Seth Quartey Dr. Nancy Radtke Otho C. Ragland Jr. Jennifer C. Rice Dr. Richard A. Rode Dr. Michael W. Rowe Bryan L. Rowland Laura A. Runge Dr. Michael L. Runge Dr. Alf H. Rydell Gull-Britt Rydell Dr. Judith L. Salzer Joanne S. Savarese Linda Carr Sawyers R. Russell Schneider Jr. Dr. David M. Schorr Aimy Sellers Anthony Ray Sellers Phyllis T. Shelton Michael Shen Eric Anthony Short Jr. Karen Short Dr. Robert L. Simons Jr. Jesse A. Sims Lashanta N. Smart Bridgette Olinger Smith Wendy Smith Jennifer Ne’Shelle Spraggins

John W. Ames Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’59/D), of Newport News, Va., March 7, 2014, at age 87. L Vivian E. Barney (B.S. ’51/N), of Lynchburg, Va., April 14, 2014, at age 86.

Michael R. Stanley Joseph R. Stemmle Linda L. Stewart Dr. Pamela L. Taylor Dr. Marvin J. Tenenbaum Brandy A. Thompson Darin A. Thompson Waltia Thompson Catherine Simmons Thrift John D. Thrift Timothy Tillman David M. Tinsley Jr. Delbert F. Tomes Jr. Dr. Gordon L. Townsend Dr. Michelle C. Tsai Nancy Tunstall Dr. Andrew P. Villamagna Jr. Lana Louise Wagner Rev. Preston E. Wagner Dr. Bonnie B. Waldrop William M. Waldrop Dr. Carmen Ward James H. Ward Jr. Dr. R. Dionne Ward Dr. Paul D. Ware Gail M. Weatherford Joyce Wei Dr. Emile E. Werk Jr. Kirsten A. Westberg Betty M. Williams Dr. Jeffrey S. Williams Rebecca R. Wilson Ann H. Winer Monique D. Wright Raymond A. Yancey Dr. Yahuza Yashe Joy E. Zeh Ted L. Zeh

William W. Beckner Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’50/M), of Falling Waters, W.Va., Jan. 12, 2014, at age 92.

Stanley M. Boyd, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’52/D), of Mount Airy, N.C., March 15, 2014. L Donald A. Brunton Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’58/D), of Conyers, Ga., Nov. 30, 2013, at age 85.

Gloria J. Cahen (A.S. ’54/AHP), of Richmond, Va., April 20, 2014, at age 79.

Rosalie Judy Campbell (B.S. ’52/N), of Harrisonburg, Va., Feb. 14, 2014, at age 85. L Beverley F. Carson (B.S. ’53/P), of Franklin, Va., March 13, 2014, at age 85.

Patrick B. Colvard, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’56/D), of Annandale, Va., Jan. 2, 2014, at age 82. L Col. Howard Colon (M.H.A. ’59/AHP), of Carmichael, Calif., Feb. 18, 2014.

Martha C. Cowan (Cert. ’56), of Greenville, S.C., Dec. 23, 2013, at age 80.

William Frederick Crutchley Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’59/M; H.S. ’66/M), of Boca Raton, Fla., Jan. 28, 2014. L Ernest G. Edwards, M.D. (M.D. ’53/M; H.S. ’61/M), of Santa Ana, Calif., March 2, 2014, at age 86.

Walter H. Flippin (B.S. ’59/B), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 5, 2014, at age 82.

Powell G. Fox Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’52/M; H.S. ’59/M), of Raleigh, N.C., Feb. 22, 2014. L Lynn E. Foy (B.S. ’50/N), of Colonial Heights, Va., May 13, 2014, at age 84.

Jean W. Frey (B.S. ’50/E), of Atlanta, April 16, 2014, at age 85.

William M. Fulgham, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’59/D), of Suffolk, Va., April 10, 2014.

Doris W. Gilbert (B.S. ’55/N), of Fairfield, Va., Dec. 7, 2013.

Joan B. Gossage (A.S. ’51/AHP; A.S. ’67/B), of Richmond, Va., March 10, 2014, at age 81.

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CLASSNOTES

Ewing R. Guthrie (B.S. ’50/AHP), of Little Rock, Ark., March 23, 2014.

Rufus O. Van Dyke Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’58/M; H.S. ’62/M), of Orlando, Fla., April 23, 2014, at age 80. L

William T. Patrick Jr. (B.S. ’61/P), of Mechanicsville, Va., Feb. 20, 2014, at age 74. L

Frank K. Harris (B.S. ’58/P), of Morgantown, W.Va., May 3, 2014, at age 88.

Joseph E. Wallace, D.D.S., (D.D.S. ’51/D), of Columbia, S.C., March 4, 2014, at age 93.

Elaine J. Payne (B.S. ’60/AHP), of Colonial Beach, Va., March 28, 2014, at age 82. L

Edgar C. Hatcher Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’55/D), of Bristol, Tenn., Feb. 13, 2014, at age 86.

Leo V. Wright (B.S. ’50/H&S; M.Ed. ’72/E), of Stony Creek, Va., Feb. 9, 2014, at age 87.

Donald F. Perkins, M.D. (M.D. ’65/M), of Collingswood, N.J., April 21, 2014. M

Mary C. Hauck (B.S. ’53/AHP), of Mount Airy, Md., June 10, 2013, at age 84.

Russell E. Herring Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’50/M; H.S. ’51/M), of Crozet, Va., Feb. 23, 2014, at age 94. L Alice K. Houchins (B.S. ’51/N), of Crewe, Va., Oct. 31, 2013, at age 85.

Rose A. Hussey (B.F.A. ’55/A), of Salem, Va., Nov. 15, 2013, at age 82.

Joseph H. James Jr. (M.H.A. ’54/AHP), of Raleigh, N.C., Feb. 28, 2014, at age 86.

Walter Stanley Jennings, M.D. (M.D. ’51/M), of Norfolk, Va., March 7, 2014, at age 87.

Hugh C. Jones Sr. (B.S. ’50/B), of Mechanicsville, Va., March 17, 2014, at age 84.

John B. Lapetina, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’56/D), of Norfolk, Va., Jan. 13, 2014, at age 89.

Robert M. Lawrence Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’58/D), of Lexington, Va., Jan. 22, 2014.

John T. Linton (B.F.A. ’53/A), of High Point, N.C., July 19, 2013, at age 80.

Ellis F. Maxey, M.D. (M.D. ’52/M), of Newport News, Va., May 25, 2014. L Averette P. Myers (B.S. ’53/P), of Alberta, Va., Feb. 14, 2014, at age 85.

Leonard O. Oden, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’54/D), of Norfolk, Va., Jan. 15, 2014, at age 89.

Preston L. Parrish Jr. (B.S. ’55/P), of Mechanicsville, Va., May 26, 2014.

Ann Ryland (B.S. ’59/N), of Atlanta, Sept. 13, 2012, at age 75.

Tremaine E.A. Sauer (B.S. ’51/B), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 23, 2014.

Grace F. Smith (B.S. ’54/H&S), of Glen Allen, Va., March 8, 2014, at age 90. L Cornelia W. Stephenson (B.S. ’54/N), of Wilson, N.C., Feb. 4, 2014, at age 81.

Thomas P. Stratford, M.D. (M.D. ’53/M; H.S. ’54/M), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 2014 L Donald C. Thompson (B.S. ’59/B), of Richmond, Va., April 29, 2014, at age 81.

Ruth E. Ullom (B.S. ’52/N), of Louisville, Ky., Sept. 16, 2013, at age 84. M

M Member of the alumni association

1960s Frederick W. Adams (B.S. ’69/B), of Mechanicsville, Va., May 11, 2013.

Sally S. Annis (B.M.E. ’61/A), of Manassas, Va., March 16, 2014, at age 75.

Richard H. Armstrong, M.D. (M.D. ’61/M; H.S. ’65/M), of Richmond, Va., March 2, 2014. L Richard B. Askew (B.F.A. ’62/A; M.F.A. ’75/A), of Hampton, Va., April 24, 2014.

Jack B. Baugh, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’60/D), of St. George, Utah, Feb. 20, 2014, at age 79.

Bobby G. Buchanan (B.F.A. ’60/A), of New York, Feb. 11, 2014, at age 77. M Roy E. Burgess II (B.S. ’61/B), of Richmond, Va., April 10, 2014. L Sarah E. Drummond (B.S. ’62/N), of Severna Park, Md., Feb. 7, 2014, at age 75. L Charles M. Ewell (B.S. ’62/B; M.H.A. ’64/AHP), of La Jolla, Calif., April 16, 2014, at age 53. L Richard A. Foltz (B.F.A. ’64/A), of New York, N.Y., Jan. 25, 2014, at age 71.

Charles L. Foster Jr. (M.H.A. ’60/AHP), of Lagrange, Ga., April 15, 2014, at age 78.

Marshall P. Gordon III, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’68/D), of Richmond, Va., May 14, 2014, at age 71.

William S.R. Guin (A.S. ’69/E), of Highland Springs, Va., Jan. 25, 2013.

Marguerite A. Hawkes (B.S. ’66/E), of Mechanicsville, Va., March 17, 2014.

Irwin B. Heinemann (M.H.A. ’61/AHP), of Roanoke, Va., April 12, 2014, at age 82.

Mary White Howie-Taylor (B.F.A. ’67/A), of Arlington, Va., Sept. 29, 2013, at age 67.

E. Raymond Hudson Jr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’60/D), of Gainesville, Fla., Dec. 14, 2013, at age 79.

Robert L. Pugh Sr., D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’62/D), of Roanoke, Va., April 29, 2014, at age 76. L Walter J. Raines (M.S. ’69/E), of Boonville, N.C., March 1, 2014, at age 81.

Terrill J. Richardson (B.S. ’68/B), of Richmond, Va., April 12, 2014, at age 79.

Lucy G. Richwine (B.S. ’67/E), of Moseley, Va., May 9, 2014. M Mary H. Ripp (B.S. ’63/B), of Richmond, Va., April 3, 2014.

Jerrell L. Sanders (B.S. ’62/H&S), of Oxford, Pa., Feb. 13, 2014, at age 89. M George D. Schare, M.D. (M.D. ’67/M; H.S. ’69), of Fairfield, Conn., April 29, 2014, at age 71.

Judith W. Stevenson (B.S. ’61/N), of Statesville, N.C., March 7, 2014, at age 75.

George H. Themides (B.S. ’61/P), of Urbanna, Va., April 26, 2014, at age 77.

Carolyn L. Tomko (B.S. ’60/AHP), of Disputanta, Va., April 18, 2014, at age 74.

Mildred R. Valz (M.Ed. ’69/E), of Richmond, Va., March 3, 2014, at age 89.

Ruby C. Walker (M.S. ’65/H&S), of Richmond, Va., March 18, 2014.

Dorothy M. Ward (Cert. ’66/AHP), of Austin, Texas, Feb. 7, 2014, at age 92.

Mary T. Wilbourne (B.S. ’68/B; M.S. ’79/B), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 15, 2014, at age 91.

Karen H. Williams (B.S. ’65/E), of Roanoke, Va., Feb. 1, 2013, at age 70.

Thomas R. Williams (B.S. ’68/P), of Williamsburg, Va., Feb. 11, 2014, at age 70.

Luther R. Wright (B.S. ’61/B), of Ashland, Va., Feb. 19, 2014, at age 78.

Anthony A. Yurko Jr., M.D. (M.D. ’61/M), of Weirton, W.Va., March 13, 2013.

Edward Y. Lovelace III, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’65/D), of Bedford, Va., March 12, 2014, at age 75. L

1970s

Lewis J. Morgan (B.S. ’63/E), of Suffolk, Va., Jan. 27, 2014, at age 74.

James J. Berny, M.D. (M.D. ’79/M), of Youngstown, Ohio, Nov. 19, 2013, at age 60.

Faye D. Parson (B.S. ’64/N), of Deltaville, Va., Jan. 1, 2014. L

Roy M. Billingsley (M.Ed. ’72/E), of Ashland, Va., May 17, 2014, at age 81.

L Life member of the alumni association

Fall 2014

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CLASSNOTES

Cornelia M. Bostian (B.A. ’71/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 20, 2014, at age 71.

Arthur Joel Forman, M.D. (M.D. ’72/M), of Tampa, Fla., March 10, 2014, at age 72.

Carol M. Stauffer (M.B.A. ’78/B), of Asheboro, N.C., Jan. 4, 2014, at age 62.

William R. Bowler (B.S. ’72/H&S), of Glen Allen, Va., May 5, 2013.

Gerald Frank (M.S.W. ’70/SW), of Springfield, Ill., May 3, 2014, at age 75.

Igor O. Taran (A.S. ’70/En), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 1, 2014, at age 65. L

Martin Boytek Jr. (B.S. ’72/AHP), of Portsmouth, Va., March 20, 2014.

A. Clinton Greene II (A.A.S. ’70/H&S; B.S. ’73/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 7, 2014, at age 69.

Gloria P. Thompson (M.Ed. ’72/E), of Henrico, Va., Feb. 1, 2014, at age 90.

Candace Hughes Catron (B.S. ’70/MC; M.S. ’73/ AHP), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 17, 2014, at age 66.

Michael J. Harris (B.S. ’75/E; M.S. ’87/AHP), of Newport News, Va., April 13, 2013.

Stephen L. Tidler (B.S. ’74/B), of Alexandria, Va., March 21, 2014. L

Agnes C. Clark (B.S. ’74/E), of Greenville, Va., Jan. 16, 2014, at age 72.

Raymond H. Herbek, Ph.D. (M.M. ’70/A), of Richmond, Va., March 2, 2014, at age 89.

L. Mark Tyree (B.S. ’75/B; M.B.A. ’76/B), of Westminster, Md., Nov. 8, 2012, at age 59.

Florence K. Cole (B.S. ’74/E), of Richmond, Va., Dec. 22, 2013, at age 90.

Ronne T. Jacobs (M.F.A. ’75/A), of Henrico, Va., April 29, 2014.

James C. Watkins (B.S. ’74/B), of Tallahassee, Fla., April 24, 2014, at age 71.

Herbert C. Covington (M.Ed. ’71/E), of Ruther Glen, Va., May 1, 2014, at age 92.

James T. Johnson (B.S. ’74/B), of Richmond, Va., April 10, 2014, at age 75.

Nancy M. Watkins (B.S. ’75/E; M.Ed. ’82/E), of Chesapeake, Va., April 27, 2014, at age 60.

Doris G. Davis (M.Ed. ’76/E), of Richmond, Va., May 15, 2014, at age 70.

Linda Lyons Landry (M.S.W. ’78/SW), of Midlothian, Va., March 30, 2014, at age 59.

Susan L. Whitfield (B.S. ’74/H&S), of Decatur, Ga., April 11, 2014.

Dorothy P. Deane (B.S. ’71/E), of Richmond, Va., April 24, 2014, at age 82.

Richard J. Medell (B.S. ’73/B; M.S. ’78/B), of Chester, Va., Dec. 28, 2012, at age 77.

Richard P. Zacharias (B.A. ’75/H&S), of Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 13, 2014, at age 65.

Carter R. Doran (’70/E), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 24, 2013, at age 64.

Louise J. Miles (B.F.A. ’71/A), of Clayton, N.C., Jan. 28, 2014, at age 64.

Beverly B. Ziegler (M.Ed. ’75/E), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 17, 2014, at age 66.

Joseph S. Dunkin (B.S. ’71/E; M.Ed. ’75/E), of Fredericksburg, Va., April 20, 2014, at age 84.

Elaine G. Pincus (M.Ed. ’71/E), of Richmond, Va., April 8, 2014, at age 93.

Kathryn A. Eppel, Ph.D., (M.S.W. ’78/SW; Ph.D. ’85/SW), of Lincoln, Neb., March 5, 2014.

James L. Smith (B.S. ’79/H&S), of Franklin, Tenn., May 1, 2014, at age 63.

Nancy B. Evans (B.S. ’77/B), of Midlothian, Va., July 25, 2013.

Thomas G. Smith, M.D. (M.D. ’71/M), of Mesa, Ariz., Jan. 15, 2014, at age 69.

1980s Zelda L. Boley (M.Ed. ’80/E), of Richmond, Va., Jan. 29, 2014, at age 83.

Harry T. Brenner (B.S. ’84/H&S), of Richmond, Va., March 30, 2014, at age 72.

ABBREVIATION KEY College and schools H&S A AHP B D E En GPA

GS LS M MC

N P St.P SW WS

College of Humanities and Sciences School of the Arts School of Allied Health Professions School of Business School of Dentistry School of Education School of Engineering L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs Graduate School VCU Life Sciences School of Medicine Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture School of Nursing School of Pharmacy St. Philip School of Nursing School of Social Work School of World Studies

Alumni are identified by degree, graduation year and college or school.

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VCU Alumni

Degrees

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.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

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.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 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

Officers of the MCV Alumni Association of VCU PRESIDENT Kenneth W. Kolb, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’82/P) PRESIDENT-ELECT AND VICE PRESIDENT, BASIC HEALTH Michelle R. Peace, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’05/M) IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Paula B. Saxby, Ph.D. (M.S. ’85/N; Ph.D. ’92/N)

MCV Alumni House An ideal location for all types of gatherings!

Are you looking for a great location to host a private party or reception? Do you need a room for your next meeting or event? Why not rent a room in the MCV Alumni House and Paul A. Gross Conference Center?

TREASURER Peter Kennedy (M.H.A. ’10/AHP)

This great facility, located at the corner of 11th and Clay streets, includes formal parlors with vintage fireplaces and chandeliers, large multipurpose meeting rooms, a formal board room and small meeting rooms.

SECRETARY Tammy K. Swecker (B.S. ’93/D; M.Ed. ’05/E) VICE PRESIDENTS Allied Health Professions Elizabeth Howell (M.S.N.A. ’04/AHP) Dentistry Ellen Byrne, D.D.S., Ph.D. (B.S. ’77/P; D.D.S. ’83/D; H.S. ’91/D; Ph.D. ’91/M) Medicine Kelsey Salley, M.D. (M.D. ’03/M; H.S. ’06/M; H.S. ’09/M) Nursing Jim Jenkins Jr. (B.S. ’07/N) Pharmacy Tana Kaefer, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’04/P)

Book your room today!

Active, dues-paying members receive a 25 percent discount on rental fees.

Call (804) 828-3900 or check out the virtual tour of the facility at vcualumni.org/about /mcvalumnihouse.

TRUSTEES Allied Health Professions Rebecca T. Perdue (B.S. ’62/AHP) Basic Health Quynh Do (B.S. ’01/H&S; M.P.H. ’05/AHP) Jenica L. Harrison, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’09/M) Diane C. McKinney, Ph.D. (Ph.D. ’00/M) Dentistry Renita W. Randolph, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’91/D) James H. Revere, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’65/D; H.S. ’89/D) J. Neil Turnage, D.D.S. (D.D.S. ’97/D) Medicine Clifford L. Deal III, M.D. (M.S. ’95/M; M.D. ’00/M; H.S. ’05/M) Robert E. Kanich, M.D. (M.D. ’62/M) Melissa Byrne Nelson, M.D. (M.D. ’98/M) Nursing Kristin Filler (B.S. ’09/N) Trula E. Minton (B.S. ’79/N; M.S. ’88/N) Pharmacy Bronwyn M. Burnham (B.A. ’89/P) Joseph E. Hopper (B.S. ’89/P) Gayle J. Slifka, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’99/P) J. Tyler Stevens, Pharm.D. (Pharm.D. ’06/P) MCV CAMPUS SGA PRESIDENT Jonathan Ramey

Fall 2014

51

CLASSNOTES

David M. Brockie (B.F.A. ’86/A), of Richmond, Va., March 23, 2014, at age 50.

William H. Daughtrey Jr., of Richmond, Va., Feb. 1, 2014, at age 81. He was a retired professor emeritus in the School of Business.

2000s

Susan L. Ciucci (B.A. ’88/H&S), of Chicago, April 21, 2014, at age 54.

Donald S. Brinkley III (B.S. ’09/En), of Virginia Beach, Va., April 7, 2014, at age 29.

Louise A. Cutshall (B.S.W. ’80/SW), of Richmond, Va., June 14, 2013, at age 72.

Jason D. Chambers (B.A. ’09/H&S), of Danville, Va., Dec. 20, 2013.

Carol J. Freemyer (B.S. ’88/B), of Bedford, Texas, Dec. 12, 2013, at age 47.

George Garrison Jr. (B.S. ’84/B), of Memphis, Tenn., Jan. 6, 2014, at age 66.

Laura Deanes Gornto (B.F.A. ’80/A), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 7, 2014, at age 62.

Susan J. Gottlieb, Ph.D. (M.S.W. ’80/SW; Ph.D. ’02/ SW), of Richmond, Va., May 13, 2013.

Linda W. Horst (B.S. ’81/B), of Glen Allen, Va., Feb. 11, 2014, at age 65.

William H. Hoy (B.S. ’83/MC), of Forest, Va., March 13, 2014.

Paul J. Huffman (B.S. ’80/P), of Roanoke, Va., Feb. 3, 2014, at age 56.

Peter T. Knapp (M.S. ’84/AHP), of Eagle River, Ark., April 19, 2014, at age 79.

Colleen McClorey (M.S. ’85/AHP), of Cincinnati, March 24, 2014, at age 54.

Patricia A. O’Neil (B.F.A. ’80/A), of Venice, Fla., Feb. 22, 2014, at age 58.

Thomas G. Schroeder (B.S. ’82/MC), of Dunnsville, Va., Feb. 17, 2014, at age 53.

Matthew L. Childrey, M.D. (B.S. ’09/H&S; M.D. ’13/M), of Glen Allen, Va., April 22, 2014, at age 27.

Clayton D. Joyner (B.I.S. ’08/H&S), of Annandale, Va., May 5, 2014, at age 29.

Pamela S. Landis (B.I.S. ’01/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 16, 2014, at age 55.

David Patrick Geary, Ph.D., of Richmond, Va., Feb. 22, 2014, at age 86. Geary, an associate professor, taught criminal justice and community relations until he retired as professor emeritus in 2003. M Glenn R. Hawkes, Ph.D., of Williamsburg, Va., Jan. 10, 2014, at age 88. Hawkes served as a psychology professor and former head of the VCU Faculty Senate.

Mary R. Johnston, of Chester, Va., Jan. 16, 2014.

Johnston served as administrative assistant to the chair of the Department of Pathology.

Deborah B. Lewis, of Richmond, Va., Feb. 21, 2014, at age 62. She worked at VCU for 43 years, including 15 years in the School of Nursing.

Richard B. McKim (B.S. ’04/N; M.S. ’10/N), of Apopka, Fla., Feb. 1, 2014, at age 58.

Crystal V. Nevers (M.B.A. ’05/B), of Glen Allen, Va., Jan. 16, 2014.

Diane P. Ward (M.S.W. ’01/SW), of Aransas Pass, Texas, Feb. 19, 2014, at age 63.

Nancy E. Parady, of Chester, Va., March 29, 2014, at age 73. Parady retired as a nurse from VCU Medical Center in 2003 after 20 years of service.

Earnest H. Parker, of Mechanicsville, Va., March 5, 2014. Parker served as a trades technician.

2010s Yoram Mwila (B.S. ’12/B), of Richmond, Va., July 9, 2012.

Faculty and staff Josephine P. Arrington, of Richmond, Va., May 14, 2014. Arrington served on the MCV Hospitals staff.

Evelyn H. Sheffer, R.N., of Palmyra, Va., Jan. 13, 2014.

Sheffer was a nurse at VCU for more than 30 years.

Jodi Wickersham, R.N., of Richmond, Va., Feb. 8, 2014, at age 53. Wickersham served as an ambulatory transplant manager at the VCU Hume-Lee Transplant Center.

Friends of VCU

Gregory B. Stolcis, Ph.D. (M.S.W. ’83/SW; Ph.D. ’02/H&S), of Richmond, Va., Feb. 1, 2014, at age 57.

Timothy J. Breen, M.D., of Richmond, Va., Sept. 29, 2013, at age 60. Breen was a former assistant professor of biostatistics.

William R. Cogar, of Richmond, Va., Feb. 4, 2014, at age 84. A retired partner in the law firm of Mays & Valentine, Cogar was the last surviving member of the original MCV Board of Visitors.

1990s

Mary M. Brittain, Ph.D., of Toano, Va., April 25, 2014, at age 83. Brittain worked in the School of Education until her retirement as professor emeritus in 1995.

Sylvia A. Costen, of Richmond, Va., May 28, 2014, at age 93. Costen was a retired People editor for The Richmond News Leader.

Edward N. Coffman, Ph.D. (B.S. ’65/B; M.S. ’67/B), of Richmond, Va., July 24, 2014, at age 72. He taught in the Department of Accounting for 46 years, five of which he served as chair. Coffman earned undergraduate and master’s degrees at VCU and then taught in the accounting department from 1966-68. He left to pursue his doctorate at George Washington University, but in 1970 returned to his teaching position at the School of Business, where he spent the rest of his career. He was a prolific author of books and journal articles and received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award of the Virginia Society of CPAs. Memorial contributions may be made to the Ed and Nell Coffman Faculty Endowment Fund in the School of Business at support.vcu.edu/give/business (select “other,” then type in “Coffman Faculty Fund”), or Community Missions, First Baptist Church at fbcrichmond.org.

Sam Kornblau, of Richmond, Va., May 14, 2014, at age 91. Kornblau, a real estate developer, established The Kornblau Institute to support real estate-related education at VCU, which moved the university to rename its real estate program in his honor. In October 2013, he gifted $1 million to advance the School of Business’ Kornblau Real Estate Program.

Judith H. Coleman (M.S. ’90/AHP), of Norfolk, Va., Feb. 23, 2014, at age 72.

James H. Jones (B.A. ’96/H&S), of North Chesterfield, Va., Jan. 21, 2014, at age 46.

David H. Kilgore (B.S. ’90/P), of Virginia Beach, Va., April 14, 2014, at age 46.

Sharon C. Leamer (M.Ed. ’95/E), of Spotsylvania, Va., Dec. 28, 2013, at age 61.

Gail L. Reed (M.I.S. ’93/H&S), of Ashland, Wis., Jan. 6, 2014, at age 61.

Alice M. Schreiner (B.G.S. ’97/H&S; M.Ed. ’98/E), of Richmond, Va., April 7, 2014, at age 91.

Wilma Whitehill (B.A. ’92/H&S), of Naples, Fla., March 31, 2014, at age 70.

52

VCU Alumni

William B. Massey Sr., of Crozier, Va., March 31, 2014, at age 83. Massey was the vice president of A.T. Massey Coal Co., a business launched by his grandfather in 1920, and a longtime Massey Cancer Center donor.

Thomas Tyler Potterfield Jr., of Richmond, Va., April 25, 2014, at age 55. Potterfield, senior planner in the Richmond Department of Planning and Development Review, was heavily engaged with VCU students and loved introducing people to “the history of the city and the promise of the city.”

M Member of the alumni association

L Life member of the alumni association

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

DATEBOOK

“Through the Looking Glass” Through Dec. 31 An exhibit at Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences illustrates the intersection of art and science through 24 microscopic images created by students, faculty and staff spanning disciplines from biomedical engineering to forensic science to pathology. “Regeneration of Wolverine” (shown here), by biomedical engineering student Kelly Hotchkiss, demonstrates how human mesenchymal stem cells present a spread pattern of attachment after being prepared on a glass surface. The exhibit is open to the public.

Fall 2014

53

Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Alumni 1016 East Clay Street P.O. Box 980156 Richmond, Virginia 23298-0156

Alumni ID number:

If you love Virginia Commonwealth University, then you will love being a Ram for Life – an active, lifetime member of VCU Alumni.

In addition to saving money and demonstrating a lifelong loyalty to VCU, Life members: • Never worry about renewing their memberships • Receive additional benefits (like the annual photo calendar and access to special discounts) Not only will you save money (over annual membership dues) but also your contribution multiplies as it eliminates the need for annual mailings and renewal notices, which allows VCU Alumni to make the best use of its resources.

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