International Education Awards

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

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

KRISTINE GRAYSON

Associate Professor of Biology

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

OFFICE FOR SUSTAINABILITY

ROB ANDREJEWSKI

Director of Sustainability

DANIEL HART

Associate Director of Sustainability and Environmental Justice

KELSEY FASTABEND Sustainability Program Coordinator

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SANDRA PEART, dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, co-published the chapter “Responses to Our Commentators” in Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology: Including a Symposium on the Work of Francois Perroux (Emerald Publishing). Peart co-published “Menger and Jevons: Beliefs and Things” in The Review of Austrian Economics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Joan Saab

Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Geraldine Sullivan Chief Human Resources Officer

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

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

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

Melissa Falk Associate Vice President and Dean of Admission

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2023 Outstanding Service Award Winners

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

Clerical Support

Assistant to the Vice Presidents

Enrollment Management and Planning & Policy

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

New Hires

FACULTY

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

BIOLOGY

Kathy Ziegenfus

Visiting Instructor of Biology

CHEMISTRY

Billy Miller Postdoctoral Research Associate

MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

John Polhill

Robert Edwin Gaines Professor in Mathematics

PSYCHOLOGY

Sarah Tryon

Trawick Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology

SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Edward Abse

Visiting Lecturer of Anthropology

STAFF

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Emily Yang Lab Manager/Study Coordinator, Psychology

ROBINS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Megan Davis Administrative Coordinator, Dean’s Office

SCHOOL OF LAW

Caitlin Bradley Director of Career Development, Public Sector Careers

Tyler Levinson Digital Communications Manager

PROVOST

Ashley Buffey

Assistant Director of Operations, Institutional Equity and Inclusion

Heather Ervin Science Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library

Kyle Jenkins Social Sciences Librarian, Boatwright Memorial Library

Lauren Withrow Library Access Services Specialist, Boatwright Memorial Library

ADVANCEMENT

Melissa Joyce-Rosen

Major Gift Officer

Stephanie Street Gift Processing and Records Coordinator, Advancement Systems

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

ATHLETICS

Adam Denton Head Women’s Soccer Coach

Meghan Gill Associate Head Women’s Soccer Coach

Keelyn Harkey Assistant Director of Athletic Public Relations

Malloreigh Yingling Assistant Director of Athletic Public Relations

BUSINESS AFFAIRS CAMPUS OPERATIONS Roderick Anderson Custodial Floor Technician

Mike Brame Groundskeeper

Gina Foster SpiderShop Director

Jasper Harrison Utility Associate, Heilman Dining Center

Ricardo Hinojosa Cook II, Heilman Dining Center

Harvey Johnson Custodial Floor Technician

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

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

Asia Lee Café Associate, Tyler’s Grill

Nathan Martin Chef Production Manager, Heilman Dining Center

Haley Morse Cook I, Passport Café

Robert Moyd Custodian

Julia Musetti Café Associate, Organic Krush

Thomas Pannacci Café Associate, Tyler’s Grill

Melissa Reynolds Facilities Accounts Payable and Data Coordinator

Roselyn Timon

Utility Associate, Heilman Dining Center

CONTROLLER

Matthew Wiggins

Accounting Manager

SECURITY

David Gallagher Police Officer

COMMUNICATIONS

Rachel Dawson

Social Media Manager

ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT

Jaclyn Coates

Financial Aid Advisor

Brendan Devlin

Admission Counselor, Undergraduate Admission

Sen Duty-Stone Administrative Coordinator, Undergraduate Admission

INFORMATION SERVICES

Mirinda McCants User Services System Administrator and Team

Lead, User Services

Specialists

Will Wilkerson

Network Specialist, Network Services

PLANNING AND POLICY

Susan Breeden File Auditor

Cindy Deffenbaugh File Auditor

SPIDER MANAGEMENT

Greg Ciaverelli

Director of Operations

Tripp Taliaferro Director of Investments

STUDENT DEVELOPMENT

Britney Campbell Assistant Director, Student Center for Equity and Inclusion

LaWanda Dunn Nursing Supervisor, Student Health Center

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

Tosha Ross Medical Assistant, Student Health Center

Angela Waters Registered Nurse –Health Promotion, Student Health Center

Kerney Yu Nurse Practitioner, Student Health Center

Moves

FACULTY

SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS

Volkan Bakirdan

Visiting Instructor of Math and Computer Science

LATIN AMERICAN, LATINO, AND IBERIAN STUDIES

Montserrat TorresNogales Visiting Instructor of Spanish

STAFF

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

SCHOOL OF LAW

Leigh Deignan Director of Budgeting and Operations

ADVANCEMENT

Abby Roberts

Leadership Gift Officer, Annual Giving

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

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

ATHLETICS

Christian Gravius Associate Director of Athletic Public Relations

Mike Pagano Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations

BUSINESS AFFAIRS

Catherine Fitzgerald Senior Budget and Planning Analyst

CAMPUS OPERATIONS

Richard Bollinger

Catering Chef, Heilman Dining Center

Jaymie Cushing

Catering Sous Chef

Rachid Dadda

Catering Driver

Dusty McChristian Boiler Plant Operator –REACT

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

Adam Schumm

Senior Catering Chef

Charlie Sparks

Lead Utility Associate, Heilman Dining Center

Milestones

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

40 Years of Service

JOYCE JANTO Law Library

JERMAINE MASSENBURG University Facilities –Custodial

FRANCINE REYNOLDS One Card Services

JONATHAN WIGHT Robins School faculty (Economics)

35 Years of Service

JERRY GILFOYLE Arts & Sciences faculty (Physics)

IRIA JONES Boatwright Memorial Library

ROBIN SCOTT Tyler’s Grill

30 Years of Service HOLLY BLAKE will

RAFAEL DE SA Arts & Sciences faculty (Biology)

BRYAN GALLAGHER Telecom and Media Support Services

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

KIMMARIE MCGOLDRICK Robins School faculty (Economics)

CINDY MCGUIRE Westhampton College Dean’s Office

DANTE PARKER Mail Services

BILL ROSS Arts & Sciences faculty (Mathematics and Statistics)

ANTHONY RUSSELL Arts & Sciences faculty (English)

25 Years of Service

LAURA DIETRICK Human Resources

JANE GEANEY Arts & Sciences faculty (Religious Studies)

RICK GLASS Events, Conferences, and Support Services

KRISTINE HENDERSON University Counsel –Compliance and Title IX

TAMMY HICKS Controller’s Office

LINDA HOBGOOD Arts & Sciences faculty (Speech Center)

SOON HONG Campus Safety

BRUCE LOCKHART University Facilities –Landscape

PAUL LOZO University Facilities –Support Services

RICK NEAL One Card Services

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

LARRY RICHMOND University Facilities –Carpentry

JEFFREY RILEY Campus Safety

PETER SMALLWOOD Arts & Sciences faculty (Biology)

CHRIS WEAVER University Facilities –Boiler Plant

DOUG WEST Campus Telecommunications

ADDITIONAL HONOREES

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