People

Olha Nimko
Visiting Research Scholar

Olha Nimko holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Law and serves as a research assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Virginia Tech. She is affiliated with the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies as the visiting research scholar from Ukraine.

During the academic year 2022-2023, Dr. Nimko held the position of Professor for Environmental Policy at ETH Zürich in Switzerland, within the Institute for Environmental Decisions and Environmental Policy Lab. From 2015 to 2022, she served as an Assistant Professor, and from 2010 to 2015, she was the Head of the Department of Law at Polissya National University, Ukraine. Dr. Nimko has supervised scientific research on topics such as "Legal Liability for Violation of Natural Resources Law of Ukraine" and "Problematic Aspects and Improvement of Legal Regulations of Biotechnologies, Biosafety, Prevention of Terrorism, and Counter-Terrorism." Her contributions to these fields include a monograph, several books, and numerous scientific papers published in well-known international journals, providing valuable recommendations on law and politics.

Olha has won many grants and fellowship including: The Project Scholars at Risk, The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), Environmental Policy Lab, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland; CEU/HESP Research Excellence Fellowship program at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary. The Center for Ethics and Law in Biomedicine (CELAB); Project: FEED-UKRAINE: The politics of food security in Ukraine from the Russian invasion;

Contact: onimko@vt.edu

Deirdre Hand
Community Engagement Specialist

Deirdre Hand is the Community Engagement Specialist for the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies and the Center for Rural Education. She is a two-time graduate from Virginia Tech and is an educator with a Master’s in Education, Curriculum, and Instruction, with a concentration in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages).  Deirdre has more than 14 years of experience teaching English to speakers of other languages around the world, with highlights including serving as an English Language Fellow through the U.S. State Department in Indonesia, an ESL teacher in Washington D.C. Public Schools, a teaching and research instructor at Virginia Tech, an EFL teacher in the Czech Republic and Ireland, serving as Lead Teacher of a Scholarship Program in Rwanda, working as the English Department Coordinator of a non-profit school in Guatemala, and most recently co-founding Elimisha Kakuma, a university-access program in Kakuma Refugee Camp, in Kenya.  Her passion is promoting educational access to all, especially immigrants, refugees, and other forcibly displaced people.

Contact: dhand08@vt.edu

Zuleka Woods
Graduate Research Assistant

Zuleka Randell Woods serves as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies (CRMDS).  She is a Ph.D. candidate in Planning, Governance, and Globalization at Virginia Tech. She has a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration on Black maternal health and culturally responsive evaluation and a Master in Education with concentration in diversity, equity and inclusion.  Her current research centers on centers on race, power structures and representations in international programs. Before CRMDS, Zuleka worked for the VT Graduate school diversity equity and inclusion office creating programs for graduate students and served as the President of the African Graduate Student Org (AGSO). In her free time, she’s a storyteller countering the too often voiced narrative of a “helpless” Africa. She was the co-editor of the Center’s digital series, Roots & Resettlement, a collection of art and other composition about place and belonging at Virginia Tech. Zuleka is the author of  Ba-Ya (Play Cook), an anthology of short stories highlighting gender-based violence in her home country Liberia.

Contact: rdauda@vt.edu

Marianne Hawthorne
Office Administrator

Marianne Hawthorne is the Office Administrator for the Center for Rural Education and the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies. She has worked at Virginia Tech in Fiscal Operations since 2001. She spent 17 years with the Center for Power Electronic Systems as Fiscal Tech and Administrative Assistant to the Center Director and five years at the National Security Institute and Hume Center as a Senior Fiscal Tech. She received her BS in Business from Radford University. Marianne came to the New River Valley for college and has stayed in the area ever since. 

Contact: mhawthor@vt.edu

Laura Belmonte, a professor of history, is also dean of the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Guru Ghosh is vice president for outreach and international affairs at Virginia Tech.

Karen Roberto is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science and the director of the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment at Virginia Tech.

Michele Deramo is the assistant provost for diversity education at Virginia Tech.

Saul Halfon is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech.

Farida Jalalzai, a professor of political science, is also the associate dean for global initiatives and engagement in the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

Max Stephenson is a professor of urban affairs and planning and the director of the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance.

Rebecca Weaver-Hightower is a professor of English and chair of the Department of English at Virginia Tech.