Academic News (News2Note)

News2Note, the academic newsletter of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, is published monthly during the academic year by Debra Stoudt, associate dean for policy and faculty affairs. Academic news can be submitted to her directly at dstoudt@vt.edu.

Kenneth Akers, Digital Communications Manager in CLAHS Marketing Communications, was appointed to the Digital Collegium Technical Committee as a WordPress Programmer. Digital Collegium, formerly known as HigherEdWeb, brings together higher education professionals working across web development, digital communications, design, content strategy, accessibility, analytics, and emerging technologies. It provides opportunities for professionals to share knowledge and develop digital practices that support the evolving needs of colleges and universities. Akers will serve on the Technical Committee through December 31, 2027, with an option for renewal, contributing his experience in web development, digital communications, and higher education web management.

Sociology doctoral student Emaediong Akpan published “Attribution Post ‘Aura’ Loss: A Qualitative Discourse Analysis of the Nigerian Scam Label and Fraud Attribution,” International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime 9.2 (2026), Article 3.

Jumana Al-Ahmad, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published “Islamic Jurisprudence, Qur’ānic Hermeneutics, and Human Rights: Zahia Jouirou’s Feminist Contribution,” Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies 11.1 (2026): 48–81.

Amy Allen, Education, published “‘Doing the Thing Works a Lot Better’: Critical Features of Professional Development in Practice,” Midwest Journal of Education 3.2 (2026): 17–33.

Catalina Andrango-Walker, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, coedited “New World Poetics: Translating Indigenous Traditions in Colonial Latin America,” an issue of Calíope, Journal of the Society for Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic Poetry 31.1 (2026), with Caroline Egan and Iris Montero Sobrevilla. She coauthored the introduction, pp. v–viii, with the coeditors. Her individual contribution to the issue was “Andeanizing Mary: Evangelization and Quechua Devotional Poetry from Early Colonial Peru,” pp. 82–108.

Ralph Buehler, Public and International Affairs, published “Bicycling in an Autonomous Vehicle Future?” in Transportation Research Today 1 (2026), Article 100010; and “More Walking in German Cities, 2018–2023: A Socioeconomic Analysis of Daily Travel Before and After COVID,” Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 38 (July 2026), Article 102060, with John Pucher et al.

María del Carmen Caña Jiménez, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published Argentina en la pequeña pantalla. Reescrituras de la nación en la ficción televisiva (Argentina on the Small Screen: Rewriting the Nation in Television Fiction) (Madrid, Spain: Iberoamericana, 2026).

Katie Carmichael, English, published “What Do You Do With a Southerner Who Doesn't Sound Southern?: Conflicting Sociolinguistic Cues In Geographical Classification,” Journal of Linguistic Geography 13.2 (2026): 144–55, with Annette D’Onofrio.

Chase Catalano, Education, published “Why Does Allyship Matter? Toward a Conceptual Framework of Liberatory Allyship,” Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Education 5 (2026): 1–11.

ASPECT doctoral student Sean Chambers presented “Value Proposition: Rethinking ‘Soft’ and ‘Hard’ Skills in STEM College-to-Career Pathways” with Sociology faculty member Sarah Ovink and Ocqua G. Murrell at the 2026 American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, which took place August 7–11 in New York, New York.

CLAHS faculty Matthew Fullen, Education, Julie Gerdes, English, Tina Savla, Human Development and Family Science, and Paul Springer, Professor and Head of the Department Human Development and Family Science, published “Whole Health, Whole Communities: Dialogues to Reduce Rural Health Disparities,” New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery 7.s2 (2026), with Karen Roberto, retired University Distinguished Professor of Human Development and Family Science, et al.

School of Education faculty members Amy Allen and David Hicks published Teaching History with Chatty Geeps: A Technocurious Approach to Using Generative AI in the Classroom (Blacksburg, Virginia: Virginia Tech Press, 2026). It can be download free from the Virginia Tech Publishing website. Allen and Hicks also published “The QFT in the Age of Generative AI,” Right Question Institute, and “Defining and Developing Students’ Critical AI Literacy” as well as “Faculty Must Embrace the ‘Messy Middle’ to Guide AI Proficiency,” Times Higher Education, May 27 and June 1, 2026, respectively.

School of Education faculty members Brenda Brand and Lezly Taylor, along with Curriculum and Instruction doctoral student Shikhar Kashyap, published “Stability by Design: How STEM Ecosystems Support Pathways for Underrepresented Youth,” Youth 6.2 (2026), Article 45.

School of Education faculty member Matthew Fullen and Counselor Education doctoral student Alexis Isaac published “Preparation of Medicare-Enrolled Mental Health Counselors: Descriptions of Training Experiences and Predictors of Attitudes and Competencies,” Counselor Education and Supervision 65.2 (2026): 129–40, with Counselor Education alumna Jordan B. Westcott, Anna Moncada et al.

School of Education faculty members Matthew Fullen, David Kniola, and Laura Welfare published “Mental Healthcare Access Among Older Sexual Minority Women With Disabilities,” Journal of LGBTQ Issues in Counseling 20.3 (2026): 406–27, with Tameka Grimes and Counselor Education alumna Jordan B. Westcott.

Matthew Fullen, Education, published “Providing Wellness Counseling in Older Adult Living Communities: Challenges and Opportunities,” The Professional Counselor 16.2 (2026): 106–19, with School of Education alumni Paul M. Delaughter, Nick Gowen, Jordan B. Westcott, and Jonathan D. Wiley, as well as Connie C. Tomlin.

Traci Gardner, English, published “Afterword. Ten Directions for Writing and Learning in the Age of AI,” Bad Ideas about AI and Writing: Generative Practices for Teaching, Learning, and Communication, ed. Christopher Basgier et al. (Fort Collins, Colorado: The WAC Clearinghouse; Denver, Colorado: University Press of Colorado, 2026), pp. 365–71.

Alejandro Grenier, a junior National Security and Foreign Affairs major, published “Drones Are Widening the Jungle Fight” in Small Wars Journal on August 14, 2026.

Aarnes Gudmestad, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published “Interlanguage,” International Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 3^rd edition, ed. Hilary Nesi and Petar Milin, Volume 9 (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, 2026), pp. 705–08.

Anthony Kwame Harrison, Alumni Distinguished Professor of Sociology, published “Believing is Seeing: A Meditation on Ruin(ing) Their Crops on the Ground,” Southwestern Law Review 55.1 (2026): 30–62; and “Beyond Life in the United States: An Essay for My Mother,” Shuddhashar (শুদ্ধস্বর) (August 2026), Issue 48, Otherwise.

James Hawdon, Sociology and Director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, coauthored Online Hate and Extremism: Patterns of Production, Exposure, and Interventions in a Cross-National Context (Leeds, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing, 2026), with Pekka Räsänen and Matthew Costello.

Seven CLAHS faculty were among those whose projects were recognized by the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment (ISCE) for funding as part of the 2026-2027 ISCE Scholars Program. Named as one of the seven 2026–2027 ISCE Scholar Program Principal Investigators was Shalini Misra, Public and International Affairs, for “Designing AI for Judgment: Cognitive Offloading in Public Sector Crisis Decision-making. Her Co-PIs are SPIA faculty Norhan Abdelgawad and Patrick Roberts as well as Ben Katz, Human Development and Family Science. Ralph Hall, Public and International Affairs, is serving as a Co-PI for “Developing and Validating an AI-Enabled Digital Twin Framework to Enhance Efficiency and Capacity in Rural Certificate of Occupancy Permitting Systems.” Marcus Johnson, Education, is Co-PI for “BRIDGE: Boosting the Success of Students with ADHD with a Chatbot that Supports Executive Functioning.” Todd Schenk, Public and International Affairs, is Co-PI for “AI-Enabled Optimization for a Circular and Secure Economy: Transforming Value-Retention in the U.S. Through Digital Twin Simulation.” Projects developed through the Scholars Program are expected to lead to an external funding proposal to a government agency, foundation, or corporate sponsor, and each received up to $30,000 from ISCE.

Farida Jalalzai, Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean for Global Initiatives and Engagement, received the Midwest Women’s Caucus for Political Science (MWCPS) Professional Achievement Award. The award recognizes exceptional and sustained contributions to the field of political science. Jalalzai was presented with the award at the MWCPS Business Meeting, which took place during the Midwest Political Science Association Conference held April 23–26 in Chicago, Illinois.

Marcus Johnson, Education, published “Narrating ‘You’: A Second-person Writing Exercise for Trauma Processing,” American Psychological Association Division 56 Trauma Psychology News 21.1 (2026): 10–13, with Mackenzie Rose; and “Strategies for Supporting Graduate and Professional Students’ Teaching Readiness,” Faculty Focus, on May 25, 2026.

Brett Jones, Education, published “Developing the MUSIC Model of Athletic Motivation Inventory as a Measure of Motivational Climate: An Initial Investigation of Factorial Validity,” International Sport Coaching Journal (2026) 13.3: 582–94, with Educational Psychology alumnus Stephan Munz.

ASPECT doctoral student Onur Karabıçak published “The Map as Apparatus: Ontological Entanglements and the Simulacrum of Europeanization in Turkey,” Journal of International Political Theory.

Tonisha Lane, Education, published “Proactive Caring: A Model for Supporting Underserved Students in Postsecondary Education,” Youth 6.2 (2026), Article 72, with Ebony Perez and Shawna Patterson-Stephens.

Zhuofan Li, Sociology, published “Temporal Misalignment and Unequal Agency: What Terminal Cancer Patients Teach Us about Time and Inequality,” American Sociological Review 91.4 (2026): 545–71, with Daniel Dohan and Corey M. Abramson.

Barbara Lockee, Professor of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) in the School of Education and Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, published Streamlined ID: A Practical Guide to Instructional Design, 3^rd edition (Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom, and New York, New York: Routledge, 2027), with IDT alumna Miriam B. Larson.

Nneka Logan, Communication, published Public Relations and Corporate Racial Responsibility (Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom, and New York, New York: Routledge, 2026).

School of Education faculty member Charles Lowery and Educational Leadership and Policy Studies doctoral student Jessica Muniz published “Reflections on Rurally Responsive School Leadership in Appalachian Virginia: A Co-constructed Autoethnography,” American Journal of Qualitative Research 10.3 (2026): 309–29, with Educational Leadership and Policy Studies alumnae Ashley Cannon and Leanna Rippey.

Andrew McCumber, Sociology, received the Charles Horton Cooley Book Award, Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction, the Distinguished Book Award, ASA Section on Animals and Society, and Honorable Mention for the Outstanding Publication Award, ASA Section on Environmental Sociology from the American Sociological Association for Bad Nature: How Rat Control Shapes Human and Nonhuman Worlds (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 2025).

Joseph Mukuni, Education, published “Perspective Chapter: Industry 4.0’s Artificial Intelligence – A Blessing and a Nightmare for the Workforce,” Industry 4.0 – Transforming the Future Beyond Manufacturing – Volume 2, Human-Centred, Organizational and Societal Transformations, ed. Miguel Delgado-Prieto and Luis Romeral Martinez (London, United Kingdom: IntechOpen, 2026), pp. 3–20; and “The Discourse About Artificial Intelligence and Education,” Decolonizing AI Bias in Curriculum and Instructional Design, ed. Candido Mukuni (Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global, 2027), pp. 443–62.

Carol Mullen, Education, published “The Research Frontier 2030: New Questions for the Educational Leadership Field in Flux,” Research in Educational Administration & Leadership 11.2 (2026): 545–59; “Integrating 21st-century Skills Into Career and Technical Education Classrooms: A Literature Review,” Journal of Career and Technical Education 41.1 (2026), with 2026 Educational Leadership and Policy Studies alumnus Arnaz Dotivala; and “Co‑mentoring and Wellbeing Across Academic Career Stages in Educational Leadership: A Trioethnography of Growth,” International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation 21.1 (2026): 138–56, with Ellen H. Reames and Frances Kochan.

Curriculum and Instruction doctoral student Kourtney Sappenfield presented “Examining the Impact of the Community Resiliency Model on Military Cadets” at the 2026 American Psychological Association annual convention, which took place August 6–8 in Washington, D.C. Co-authors of the presentation were Curriculum and Instruction doctoral student Jon Dance, faculty members Marcus Johnson, Education, and Matthew Komelski, Human Development and Family Science, along with Erica Coates.

Richard Shryock, Mahan Professor of French, published “Gustave Kahn: Le Conte de l’or et du silence,” Octave Mirbeau : Etudes et actualités 7 (2026): 310–14; and “1898: Gustave Kahn: Le Conte de l’or et du silence,” Panorama des romans d’avant-garde de la Belle Époque (1886-1906), ed. Julien Schuh and Yosuké Goda (Paris and Tusson, France: Société des Amis d’Alfred Jarry et Du Lérot, 2026), pp. 43–46, with Samuel Kunkel.

Yannis Stivachtis, Professor of Public and International Affairs and Director of the Center for European and Transatlantic Studies, coedited Twentieth Century America in the Society of States: An Ascendant Power, Routledge Studies in U.S. Foreign Policy (Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom, and New York, New York: Routledge, 2026) with Cornelia Navari. His individual contributions to the volume were “Theory and Practice in the Society of States” with Navari and  “The United States and the Balance of Power,” pp. 1–10 and 166–81, respectively. In addition, he was reappointed as Virginia Tech’s Jean Monnet Chair for 2026 to 2029 by the European Education and Culture Executive Agency of the European Commission. Jean Monnet Chairs are teaching posts with a specialization in European Studies for professors who demonstrate excellence in the field of European Studies; they can be held by only one professor at each university whose application is selected for funding. Chairs are appointed for three years and each year must carry out at least one outreach activity in addition to teaching and research. For the same time period Stivachtis and Dimitris Tsarouhas, Political Science and Public and International Affairs, were awarded a Jean Monet Module by the same agency, whereby funding is provided to deliver short teaching programs or courses in the field of European Union Studies.

Gerard Toal, Public and International Affairs, published “Outgroup Threat, Complex Identities, and Attitudes Toward War and Peace in Ukraine,” Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 29.1 (2026): 51–77, with Karina V. Korostelina and Michael M. Sweigert; and “We Asked Ukrainians What They Think of Trump – More View Him as an Enemy Than a Friend” as well as “Amid Grinding War, Protesting Ukrainians Still Want Their Voices and Values Heard at Home,” The Conversation, July 9 and 20, 2026, respectively, both with Sarah Wilson Sokhey and John O’Loughlin.

Avery Wiscomb, English, published “Making Marx More Readable: A Minimal Computing Approach to a Community-Driven Edition of Capital Vol. 1,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 20.2 (2026), with Steven Gotzler. The edition is available here.

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