August

Ananda Abeysekara, Religion and Culture, published “On Rewriting Buddhism: Or, How Not to Write a History,” Religion and Society 13.1 (2022): 39–80.

Catalina Andrango-Walker, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, was selected as a 2023–2024 Peggy Rockefeller Visiting Scholar of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) at Harvard University. She will be working on her book tentatively titled South Meets North America: Viceregal Contacts in the Hispanic World, which examines the experiences of soldiers, missionaries, and other officials of the Spanish crown who traveled between the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and particularly to La Florida, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Andrango-Walker was one of nine scholars selected for the 2023–2024 cohort of Visiting Scholars; the DRCLAS Visiting Scholars and Fellows Program seeks to strengthen ties between Harvard and other global institutions by hosting distinguished academics and professionals who conduct research on a particular topic or region of Latin America for a semester or academic year.

Apparel, Housing and Resource Management Department Head Lisa Tucker and faculty member Gregory Galford published “Sustainable Arthurdale: A Reevaluation of a 1930s Planner Community,” Journal of Appalachian Studies 29.1 (2023): 47-63, with Lou Martin.

ASPECT doctoral students June Ann Jones, Sarah Plummer, Maddie Tepper, and Şengül Yıldız- Alanbay were awarded Cunningham Fellowships from the Graduate School for Summer 2023. The $7,500 fellowship supports dissertation writing and preparation for the dissertation defense.

Elisabeth Austin, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published “On Incest and

Adaptation: The Foundational Scandal of Cecilia Valdés,” The Scandal of Adaptation, ed. Thomas Leitch, Palgrave Studies in Adaptation and Visual Culture (Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature/Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), pp. 81–98, with Elena Lahr-Vivaz.

Sociology doctoral student Tamar Ballard was awarded the 2023 David Sanjek Graduate Student Paper Prize, which recognizes the most outstanding graduate student paper presented at the annual International Association for the Study of Popular Music – US conference. The title of Ballard’s paper was “‘I Just (Really) Wanna Feel Myself/Somethin’: Queering Internet Time and the Black Spectacular.” The conference took place June 26–30 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

David Brunsma, Sociology, and David Embrick were awarded the Cox-Johnson-Frazier Award from the American Sociological Association (ASA) for their consistent and transformative work in sociology to build opportunities and structures of support, especially for marginalized and junior colleagues, through their editorial and mentorship engagements. They were recognized for their contributions to the studies of race and racism throughout their careers and especially as founders and co-editors of Sociology of Race and Ethnicity as well as founders of the book series of the same name. Brunsma and Embrick will be honored at the ASA annual meeting, which will take place August 17–21 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens awarded mini-grants to the following CLAHS faculty and graduate students who are engaged in research on the Human Dimensions of Infectious Diseases: John Aggrey, Science, Technology, and Society; Dante Fuoco, English MFA student; Julie Gerdes, English; Melanie Kiechle, History; Temitope Ojedele, Rhetoric and Writing doctoral student; and Edward Polanco, History.

ASPECT doctoral student Sean Chambers was awarded a June 2023 Write On, Door County residency at its retreat for writers in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. As poet-in-residence, Chambers performed a community engagement project during which he discussed the ways in which writing is influenced by music and especially the influence of funk music on his work.

The College is delighted to welcome the following Collegiate, tenure-track, and tenured faculty. Joining CLAHS as a Collegiate Assistant Professor are: David Delgado Lopez, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; and Hannah Shinault Deuyour, Communication. New tenure-track Assistant Professors are: John Aggrey, Science, Technology, and Society; Nataliya Brantly, Public and International Affairs; Liora Goldensher, Sociology; Monamie Haines, Science, Technology, and Society; and Paroma Wagle, Public and International Affairs. Hired as Associate Professors are Kirsten Benson, Human Development and Family Science, and Robert Perdue, Criminology. New at the rank of Professor are Jennifer Hart, History, and Paul Springer, Human Development and Family Science, who are joining the College in leadership roles; see below for details about each of them.

Roger Ekirch, University Distinguished Professor of History, published “Destroying Cultural Sites Is Not Only About Winning Wars, but About Enduring Consequences” in The Washington Post on July 12.

The 2023 Virginia Tech Ethics Bowl was held in April, with eight teams of undergraduate competitors participating in a three-round tournament, leading up to the final round. The winner was Anti-Kant Nation: John Hunter, Philosophy and Psychology; Ari Liverpool, Applied Economic Management; Josie O’Brien, Mechanical Engineering; and Sean Scott, Philosophy and Computer Science. First- and second-place winning teams earned scholarships in recognition of their success. Justin Horn, Philosophy, serves as the faculty sponsor of the Ethics Bowl Club, which hosts the competition.

Gregory Galford, Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management, received the 2023 Kenneth Tremblay Early Career Housing Award from the Housing Education and Research Association (HERA). The award recognizes housing professionals in the first six years of their career who demonstrate outstanding efforts in the field of housing through research, teaching, and/or outreach. Galford will be recognized at the HERA annual conference which will take place October 8–11 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

History master’s student Katie Gibson, who graduated in May, published “The American Murderer: Hookworm Eradication Among ‘Our Native Born Whites’” on the Nursing Clio blog on June 28.

University Distinguished Professor Emerita of English Nikki Giovanni received the Ut Prosim Scholar Award, the university’s top honor for faculty, which recognizes “singular instances of the application of scholarship in truly extraordinary service to humanity.” At its March meeting the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors passed a resolution to honor her as the fifth recipient of the award since it was established in 2016. Giovanni was recognized for her service to the university community and society as an advocate of inclusion and equality, a prominent figure in the Black Arts Movement, and a strong proponent of the liberal arts as well as for the use of her creative talents to help the university in times of tragedy. The Giovanni-Steger poetry prize, which she founded in 2006 with late Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger, offers students the opportunity to share their love of poetry and provides the largest-known monetary prize of any undergraduate poetry competition in the Western Hemisphere. Giovanni reflects on how she has followed the university motto, Ut Prosim, in this video.

ASPECT doctoral student Hannah Glasson attended the Duke Summer Institute at the Center for the History of Political Economy, where she presented “Reconsidering Hayek’s Environmental Views.” The institute took place June 19–22 at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Aarnes Gudmestad, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, published “The Variable Use of First-Person-Singular Subject Forms During an Academic Year Abroad,” Study Abroad and the Second Language Acquisition of Sociolinguistic Variation in Spanish, ed. Sara L. Zahler, Avizia

Y. Long, and Bret Linford (Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins, 2023), pp. 266–90, with Amanda Edmonds.

Jennifer Hart was appointed Chair of the Department of History. She previously served as a faculty member in the Department of History at Wayne State University, where she created a digital humanities minor and directed the general education program for three years. Hart is a historian of technology, infrastructure, mobility, and urban space in Africa, with a focus on 20^th- century Ghana. She is also a senior scholar with the American Association of Colleges and Universities Office of Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation, where she helps develop general education programs. Hart earned her bachelor’s degree from Denison University and her master’s and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University Bloomington.

Erin Hopkins, Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management, was selected as a 2023 GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum Woman of Influence. The Forum recognizes commercial real estate female professionals for their achievements, with awards presented in a number of categories that span the entire commercial real estate spectrum. Hopkins, who was nominated in the Consultant/Advisor/Independent Professional category, was recognized at the awards dinner, which took place July 25 at Lake Tahoe, California.

Caroline Hornburg, Human Development and Family Science, published “Earlier Understanding of Mathematical Equivalence in Elementary School Predicts Greater Algebra Readiness in Middle School,” Journal of Educational Psychology 114.3 (2022): 540–59, with Brianna Devlin and Nicole McNeil.

The following faculty in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences were selected for the 2023 Juneteenth Scholars Program: Catalina Andrango-Walker, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; Priya Dixit, Political Science; Dennis Halpin, History; Marcus Johnson, Education; Desirée Poets, Political Science and ASPECT Core faculty; Geovani Ramírez, English; Philip Yaure, Philosophy; and Laura Zanotti, Political Science. Each faculty member receives summer salary support as well as funding to hire an undergraduate research assistant. The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences launched its Juneteenth Scholars Program in June 2020 in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. The program supports faculty members who are involved in research topics such as emancipatory movements, structures of oppression, institutional silences about violence, the courage of activists, and the need for systemic structural change, in the United States and globally.

Timothy Luke, University Distinguished Professor, Chair of the Department of Political Science, and Interim Director of the School of Public and International Affairs, published “Democracy Under Threat After 2020 National Elections in the USA: ‘Stop the Steal’ or ‘Give More to the Grifter-in-chief?’" in Educational Philosophy and Theory 55.5 (2023): 551–57.

ASPECT doctoral student Luther McPherson presented “‘The Volk Must Be Defended’: Founding the German Nation-state and Ontological Security” and participated in the roundtable panel titled “Perspectives of ‘Early Career Instructors’ in International Studies: Struggles and Opportunities for Pedagogical Futures” at the British International Studies Association conference, which took place June 21–23 in Glasgow, Scotland.

A $502,000 grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation was awarded to a team of Virginia Tech faculty, led by Ashley Shew, Science, Technology, and Society, to create local and regional programming for disability-led arts, culture, reflection, and technology guidance. The team also includes CLAHS faculty members Tyechia Thompson, English, and Elizabeth McLain, Academy of Transdisciplinary Studies, along with Kereshmeh Afsari and Alice Rogers. The three-year project, “Just Dis Tech,” will provide an education and arts outreach residency program with artists focused on disability justice; the team also will cultivate the emerging inclusive gaming community and establish a Disability Community Technology Center.

Carol Mullen, Education, published “Co-teaching Collaboration in K–12 Inclusive Classrooms: Relevance for Leadership,” Building Inclusive Education in K–12 Classrooms and Higher Education: Theories and Principles, ed. Kiyoji Koreeda et al. (Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global, 2023), pp. 147–65, with SOE alumna Jennifer J. Fleming; “Delivery Matters – or Does It? A Snapshot of Online Versus In-Person Instruction,” Essays in Education 29.2, Article 1; and “Co- mentoring Amongst Teachers and Leaders in Transnational Schooling Contexts,” Studying Teaching and Teacher Education, ed. Cheryl J. Craig, Juanjo Mena, and Ruth G. Kane (Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing, 2023), pp. 193–212, with Andrew J. Hobson.

Kelly Pender was appointed Chair of the Department of English. She served as Interim Chair since December 2022. Pender joined the Virginia Tech community in 2006 and previously served the department as the director of graduate teaching assistant education, Director of the Rhetoric and Writing Ph.D. program from 2013 to 2016 and again from 2020 to 2023, and Associate Chair from 2016 to 2022. Her research has focused on topics ranging from rhetorical theory and history to the rhetoric of health and medicine and the medical humanities. Pender earned her bachelor’s degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her master’s degree from North Carolina State University, and her doctorate from Purdue University.

The following CLAHS students published an article or poem in Volume 14 (2023) of Philologia. Virginia Tech CLAHS Undergraduate Research Journal: Claudia Budzyn, Environmental Policy and Planning and Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, “Postcolonial Influence on Environmental Education in Southern Africa”; Katie Cooper, Humanities for Public Service, “In Defense of

‘Karen’: How Generation X White Women are Misunderstood Feminists in the Modern Age of Feminism, Consumerism, and Social Media”; Anja Hemesath, Creative Writing, English, and Professional and Technical Writing, “fill my room with lovely things”; Shane Lee, Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and Political Science, “Load Shedding in South Africa: How Solar Panel Deployment Can Alleviate Race-Based Inequalities”; Zainab Shamim, English, “Of Race and Caste: Discrimination Across Cultures in Shakespeare’s Othello and Bhardwaj’s Omkara”; and Olivia Skinner, English and Spanish, “The Blindness and Consciousness of Color in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton.”

ASPECT doctoral student Sarah Plummer published “The Puppet ‘Other’: Bread and Puppet Theater’s Depiction of Racialised People in Anti-War Circuses,” In the Beginning Were Puppets: Towards a Poetics of Puppetry, ed. Sabine Coelsch-Foisner and Lisa Nais (Heidelberg, Germany: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2023), pp. 159–72.

The College is pleased to announce the following promotion and tenure decisions by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors at its June 6 meeting. Promoted to Associate Professor with tenure were: Danille Christensen, Religion and Culture; Cara Daggett, Political Science; Amanda Demmer, History; Edward Gitre, History; Gil Hersch, Philosophy; Benjamin Katz, Human Development and Family Science; Natalia Mielczarek, Communication; Patrick Ridge, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; Donna Sedgwick, Sociology; Eonyou Shin, Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management; and Andrew Wadoski, English. Tenure at the currently held rank of Associate Professor was awarded to David Bieri, Public and International Affairs, and Khadijah Queen, English. Promoted to the rank of Professor were: Amy Azano, Education; Alex Dickow, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; Megan Dolbin- MacNab, Human Development and Family Science; Ralph Hall, Public and International Affairs; Marcus “Cayce” Myers, Communication; Corinne Noirot, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; and Emily Satterwhite, Religion and Culture. Promotion to Associate Professor of Practice was awarded to Nancy Bradley, Education, and Donna Fortune, Education. David Delgado Lopez, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures, and Hannah Shinault Deuyour, Communication, were promoted to Collegiate Assistant Professor. Stephanie Davis, Public and International Affairs, was promoted to Collegiate Associate Professor. Promotion to Advanced Instructor was awarded to: Claire Boor, Communication; Colleen Correll, English; Laura Fehr, English; Andrew Hobin, English; Victoria Lael, Human Development and Family Science; Amanda Marzolf, English; and Susan Stinson, Communication. Alexa Gardner, Human Development and Family Science, and Jared Gibbs, English, were promoted to Senior Instructor.

Paul Quigley, James I. Robertson, Jr., Associate Professor of Civil War Studies, received a National Endowment for the Humanities Digital Projects for the Public award for “Experiencing Civil War History through Augmented Reality: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Environment at Pamplin Historical Park.” The project will develop a prototype of an Augmented Reality application for visitors to Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg, Virginia, to share information about less familiar Civil War era topics, such as interconnections between the environment and military affairs, the war’s transformative impact on African Americans and civilians, and the benefits of reading both wartime documents and material artifacts with a historian’s eye. The prototyping grant builds on the planning grant awarded in 2021. Quigley’s Co-Principal Investigators include David Hicks, Education; Virginia Tech faculty and staff from the Department of Computer Science, the School of Visual Arts, and University Libraries; as well as a colleague at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Shakil Rabbi, English, published “Towards Decolonizing L2 Writing Pedagogy: Translingual and Transmodal Resources,” English Language Teaching Journal 77.3 (2023): 338–47. The article was selected as an Editor’s Choice.

ASPECT doctoral student Leah Ramnath presented “Careful Praxis: Cultivating an Ethic of Care in Critical Theorizing” at the Caribbean Sociological Association 3^rd Annual e-Conference, which took place virtually June 28–30.

TeKisha Rice, Human Development and Family Science, published “Echoes of Slavery: Reflections on Contemporary Racial Discrimination in Black Americans’ Romantic Relationships,” Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 40.8 (2023): 2637–59; and “Taking Stock of the Longitudinal Study of Romantic Couple Relationships: The Last 20 Years,” Personal Relationships 30.1 (2023): 174–216, with Adam Galovan et al.

Patrick Roberts, Public and International Affairs, published “Portfolio Management: A New Direction in Public Sector Strategic Management Research and Practice,” Public Administration Review 83.4 (July/August 2023): 947–59, with Lauren Hamilton Edwards.

Fernanda Rosa, Science, Technology, and Society, was one of seven individuals selected by the Social Science Research Council for the second cohort of Fellows in its Just Tech program.

Participants receive a two-year fellowship to tackle complex issues at the intersection of tech and social justice. As a participatory design researcher and expert on internet governance and social justice in Latin America, Rosa will focus on internet infrastructure and data sovereignty among Indigenous Tseltal and Zapoteco communities in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Mexico. A detailed description of her project is available here.

ASPECT doctoral student Shah Shajahan presented “Caliphate and Class Struggle: Loss, Rebellion and Translation in Twentieth-century South Asia” at the Ummatics Institute First Annual Conference: Umma Beyond the Nation-State: Imagination, Solidarity, Praxis, which took place June 13–15 in Istanbul, Turkey.

English, Creative Writing, and Professional and Technical Writing major Stephanie Sheets, who graduated in May 2023, received the John D. Wilson Essay Contest Award in the spring from the Virginia Tech chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. The prize is given annually for best analytical or interpretive composition by an undergraduate student. Sheets was recognized for her scholarly essay titled “Shakespeare’s Soft Rejection of Magic in The Tempest as Informed by Elemental Discussion and the Learned Magician Figure in Agrippa’s The Philosophy of Natural Magic.”

Department of Sociology faculty member Thomas Dearden and doctoral student Maria Scaptura published “Can Institutional Anomie Theory Predict Victimization? An Experimental Survey Examining Institutional Anomie and Affinity Fraud,” Journal of Financial Crime 30.4 (2023): 1006–20.

Sports Media and Analytics majors Giovanni Heater and Kyle Marchak were named to the All- American list of sports broadcasters by the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America All-America program. Heater was named to the second-team All-American list, and Marchak was named a first-team All-American broadcaster. Both are beginning their junior year in the School of Communication. In the last two years they have gained experience with ACC Network Xtra, Learfield Radio, and Tech Sideline; this summer they are calling baseball games. As a first-team All-American, Marchak receives three free months of agency membership and a certificate of achievement; his recognition marks the fourth consecutive year that a Virginia Tech student has been honored as a first-team All-American. This is the second year in a row that two Hokies were included on the list.

Paul Springer was appointed Head of the Department of Human Development and Family Science. He previously served as a faculty member in the Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies and Associate Dean for Student Success at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Springer’s research focus is the improvement of mental health services in rural and underserved populations; he has partnered with communities in the U.S. and internationally to provide accessible mental health treatment according to the needs of the local population.

Springer earned his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, his master’s degree from Auburn University, and a Ph.D. from Texas Tech University.

Two College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences faculty members were honored with a 2023 Albert Lee Sturm Award from the Mu of Virginia chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Amanda Demmer, History, received the Sturm Award for Excellence in Research for her book, After Saigon’s Fall: Refugees and US–Vietnamese Relations, 1975–2000 (Cambridge, United Kingdom, and New York, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2021). Sophia Terazawa, English, was honored for her collection of poetry titled Anon (Dallas, Texas: Deep Vellum Publishing, 2022), as one of two winners of the Sturm Award for Excellence in Creative Arts and Performance. Additional information regarding the Sturm Awards, including the nomination process, is available here.

Jessica Taylor, History, was awarded $49,999 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for her project titled “Dangerous Harbor: Finding Escaped Unfree Laborers in the 17th Century Chesapeake.” Taylor serves as the project director for the Humanities Collections and Reference Resources grant from the NEH, funded partially through the agency’s special initiative, American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future; collaborators include faculty at Virginia Tech and Virginia State University. This planning project aims to make accessible documentation about escape attempts of people held in bondage in Chesapeake. Referencing court documents, researchers will create a preliminary database that will be used to chart trends in strategies, motivations, and networks of servants, and the punishment and language surrounding servitude.

Josiah Tlou, Professor Emeritus of Teaching and Learning in the School of Education, published “The Cultural Confluence of Ubuntu: A Journey from Zimbabwe to Global Education Leader in the United States,” The Power of Oral History Narratives: Lived Experiences of International Global Scholars and Artists in their Native Country and After Immigrating to the United States, ed. Toni Fuss Kirkwood-Tucker and Frans Doppen (Charlotte, North Carolina: Information Age Publishing, 2023), pp. 35–56.

Andrew Wadoski, English, published “‘But Were It Not...’: Spenser with Kwame Anthony Appiah,” Spenser Studies 37 (2023): 245–64.

LaDale Winling, History, was awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a part of the National Archives; he serves as the Principal Investigator, with Co-Principal Investigators Jonathan Petters and Kara Long, both from University Libraries. As described on the NHPRC website, the grant will “support the Chicago Covenants Project, which draws on volunteers to locate, digitize, and make available every racially restrictive covenant in the analog land records of Cook County, Illinois, in order to explore how covenants were key tools of racial segregation and how they continue to affect society.” The team currently is exploring how widespread covenants were and the role they played in creating and maintaining racial and spatial inequality in metro Chicago. University Libraries has created an interactive webmap to aid in the visualization of racial covenant locations in Chicago.

The public radio show “With Good Reason” recently featured several interviews with CLAHS faculty members. The April 28 program titled “Aging Well” included commentary by Toni Calasanti, Sociology, and Matthew Fullen, Education. Ariel Ahram, Public and International Affairs, was part of “Destroying the Soul: Yemen’s Ongoing Humanitarian Disaster” the week of June 2. “Abolishing the Death Penalty,” which aired the week of June 30, included a contribution by Peter Wallenstein, History.