Brandy Faulkner, a Collegiate Assistant Professor in the  Department of Political Sciencewas named Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black Studies by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors. 

The professorship, in honor of the late Gloria D. Smith, a counselor and advocate of minority students on campus before her retirement, is awarded for a period of two years to an outstanding faculty member who contributes significantly to the growth and development of minority students, student athletes, and scholarly pursuits. 

Faulkner’s research has focused on constitutional and administrative law, race and public policy, and critical organization theory, and she is active in the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations. A member of the Virginia Tech community since 2012, Faulkner is the recipient of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Teaching Excellence Award and the university’s Diggs Teaching Scholars Award. Faulkner promotes an appreciation of diversity and inclusiveness through numerous activities, among which are the open office hours in the Black Cultural Center that she provides for underrepresented students.