November
Janet Abbate, Science, Technology, and Society, published “‘I Wrote My First Piece of Code at Seven’: Women Share Highs and Lows in Computer Science for Ada Lovelace Day,” Nature 622 (10 October 2023): 238–41, with Shobhana Narasimhan et al. Abbate also provided a Congressional Briefing on Historical Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence as part of the American Historical Association’s Congressional Briefings series on October 20 at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.; she discussed how AI lacks moral reasoning and social intelligence, what it means for AI to replace or become equivalent to a human being, and what it means for AI to solve a problem.
Sharrika Adams, Education, published “Caring in the Community: Advocacy for ESL Students Through Social Constructivism and Case Management Practices,” Journal of Applied Research in Community Colleges 30.2 (2023): 117–30, with Sydney D. Richardson.
The College notes with sadness the death of Michael Van Cleave Alexander, Associate Professor Emeritus of History, who joined the Virginia Tech community in 1967 and retired in 2001. He made significant contributions in research on Tudor–Stuart England, authoring four books and providing hundreds of entries for the History Dictionary of Tudor England, 1485– 1603. Alexander was a dedicated and popular teacher who also served on numerous department and college committees. Additional information can be found in the funeral home obituary.
Barbara Allen, Science, Technology, and Society, published “Fos EPSEAL: Une étude participative en Santé Environnement dans la zone de l’Étang de Berre, quand science et les préoccupations citoyennes se rencontrent” (Fos EPSEAL: A participatory study in environmental health in the Étang de Berre – when science and citizens meet), Vivre et lutter dans un monde toxique, ed. Renaud Bécot and Gwenola Le Naour (Paris, France: Éditions du Seuil, 2023), pp. 275–302, with Johanna Lees, Yolaine Ferrier, and Maxime Jeanjean.
ASPECT doctoral student Sam Beckenhauer presented “Obsolescent Thought: The Politics of Conspiracy Theory and Cybernetic Governmentality” as part of the workshop titled “The Stubborn Afterlives of the Prometheus Myth,” which took place October 5 at Virginia Tech.
A series of entries by Trudy Harrington Becker, History, was published posthumously in The Tacitus Encyclopedia, ed. Victoria Emma Pagán, two volumes (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2023); the entries are: “Aedui,” 10; “Alps,” 47; “Cornelius Sisenna,” 298; “Helvetii,” 506–07; “Lugdunum,” 655–56; “Raetia,” 874; “Rhodanus (Rhone),” 917; and “Verona,” 1139. Becker passed away August 26, 2022.
Brian Britt, Religion and Culture and Director of ASPECT, published “Gewohnheiten der Texte: Religion und Literatur in den Vereinigten Staaten” (Habits of the Text: Religion and Literature in the United States) in Literatur und Religion: Paradigmen der Forschung, ed. Andreas Mauz and Daniel Weidner (Berlin, Germany: J.B. Metzler, 2023), pp. 177–190, and translated, with Steve Britt, “Instruction and Life” from Das Judenthum in seinen Grundzügen und nach seinen geschichtlichen Grundlagen dargestellt (Judaism in its Essentials and According to its Historical Foundations) by Moritz Güdemann, which was published in Modern Jewish Theology: The First One Hundred Years, 1835-1935, ed. Samuel J. Kessler and George Y. Kohler (New York, New York: Jewish Publication Society, 2023), pp. 225–31.
Katie Carmichael, English, published “‘Our Southern is Different Than Southern’: Geographic Perceptions of Southern and Northern US English Dialect Features in New Orleans English,” University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics (Selected Papers from New Ways of Analyzing Variation, NWAV, 50) 29.2(2023): 31–40, with Annette D’Onofrio; and
“Locating Place in Variationist Sociolinguistics: Making the Case for Ethnographically Informed Multidimensional Place Orientation Metrics,” Journal of Linguistic Geography 11.2 (2023): 65– 77.
François Debrix, Political Science and ASPECT Core faculty, published “Beyond Verticality and Horizontality: Arcological Thinking and the Neoliberal Subject,” Fast Capitalism: An Interdisciplinary Journal 20.1 (2023): 38–55.
School of Education doctoral students Zeynep Ambarkutuk and Hande Fenerci as well as faculty member Brett Jones and alumna Xiao Zhu presented “Relationships Between Course Motivational Climate and Students’ Computer Science Beliefs and Goals” with Margaret Ellis at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, which was held August 3–5 in Washington, D.C. In addition, Fenerci, Jones, and School of Education faculty member Jesse
“Jay” Wilkins presented “A Complex Dynamic Systems Perspective on Motivational Climate in an Educational Psychology Course” at the conference.
School of Education faculty members Jodie Brinkmann and Carol Cash, both based at the Virginia Tech Richmond Center, were co-recipients of the 2023 Virginia Education Research Association Charles Clear Research Award. The award is given annually to an individual, group, or organization that has made a sustained contribution to educational research or evaluation in the Commonwealth of Virginia or the nation. Brinkmann and Cash were recognized for their research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on PK-12 school divisions in Virginia, which they began in March 2020. The award was announced during the association’s annual conference, which was held virtually on September 22.
School of Education faculty member Donna Fortune and Associate Professor Emerita Mary Alice Barksdale published Mindful Listening Instruction in the Elementary Classroom: Authentic Strategies Using Picturebooks (Hershey, Pennsylvania: IGI Global, 2023).
School of Education doctoral student Jenni Gallagher and faculty member Brett Jones presented “Improving Student Motivation: Using Data to Evaluate Student Engagement and to Create an Equitable Motivational Climate” at the Association for General and Liberal Studies Annual Constitute, which took place September 21–23 in Austin, Texas.
School of Education faculty members David Hicks and Brett Jones published “Charting the Course: Incorporating AI into Assignments to Foster Self-regulation” on the Civics of Technology blog on May 28.
School of Education faculty members Brett Jones and Jay Wilkins published “Validating a Measure of Motivational Climate in Health Science Courses,” BMC Medical Education 23 (2023): Article 548, with Education alumna Ásta Schram et al.
Department of English faculty members Cana Itchuaqiyaq and Chris Lindgren published “Decolonizing Community-Engaged Research: Designing CER with Cultural Humility as a Foundational Value,” Communication Design Quarterly 11.3 (2023): 12–20, with Corina Qaaġraq Kramer.
ASPECT doctoral student Armin Firouzi published “Historic Urban Landscape and Development Issues in Iran,” Journal of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment 2.1 (2023): 8–13.
Lillian Frost, Political Science, received Honorable Mention for the 2023 Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society (SERMEISS) Article or Book Chapter Award for “Security Threats or Citizens? Fifth-Column Rhetoric in Jordan,” Enemies Within: The Global Politics of Fifth Columns, ed. Harris Mylonas and Scott Radnitz (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2022), pp. 175–201.
Michael Gawrys, Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management, received the 2023 Tessie Agan Award from the Housing Education and Research Association (HERA). The award recognizes outstanding graduate research presented at the HERA conference. Gawrys was recognized for his paper, “A Study of Adolescent Housing Awareness, Satisfaction, and Preferences,” which he submitted while he was a graduate student at the University of Georgia. He presented the paper and received the award at the HERA annual conference, which took place October 8–11 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
University Distinguished Professor Emerita of English Nikki Giovanni received an honorary Patron of Letters degree from the Library of Virginia at its 26th Annual Virginia Literary Awards Celebration. The Patron of Letters degree is the agency’s highest honor; it recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the fields of history, library science, the literary arts or archival science. Giovanni was one of four Virginia authors to be honored at the celebration, which took place October 14 at the Library of Virginia in Richmond.
Kaye Graham, retired Senior Instructor in the Department of English, published The Swan Song (Niwot, Colorado: Owl Canyon Press, 2023).
ASPECT doctoral student Shreya Hari Nurani presented “The Temples of Kerala’s Tamil Agrahāram: An Element of Continuity and Change. A Case Study of the Nurani Village in Palakkad, Kerala, India” at the the Annual South Asian Conference, which took place October 18–21 at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. In addition, Hari curated the exhibition “Evam Vadati Pustakam” (Manuscripts Tell Their Stories), which presents a selection of digitized South Asian manuscripts from national and international repositories, highlighting the rich history, traditions, narratives, and most importantly the knowledge production and dissemination in the Indian subcontinent. The exhibition, inaugurated by Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Minister for External Affairs of India, was displayed September 13–28 at the India International Center in New Delhi, India.
Anthony Kwame Harrison, Edward S. Diggs Professor in Humanities and Professor of Sociology, published “Sleeping in Kwame’s Room: Crocodile Dreams of Freedom from a Summer Return to Kumasi,” The Arrow 10.2 (2023): 11–31.
The following CLAHS faculty have been named Humanities Associates by the Center for Humanities: John Aggrey, Science, Technology, and Society; Candace Buckner, Religion and Culture; Kevin Cheng, Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management; Megan Duncan, Communication; Benjamin Katz, Human Development and Family Science; Eric Malczewski, Public and International Affairs; Deborah Milly, Political Science; Edward Polanco, History; Geovani Ramírez, English; Patrick Ridge, Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures; Jeff Stilley, Sociology; and Rohan Sud, Philosophy. Humanities Associates are featured in the Center’s “Vox Humanities” livestream program; more information about them is available here.
An Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology SEAD Grant was awarded to CLAHS faculty members Elizabeth McLain, Academy of Transdisciplinary Studies and School of Performing Arts, and Ashley Shew, Science, Technology, and Society, along with Virginia Tech partners Christopher Campo-Bowen and Alice Rogers; all serve as Principal Investigators on the project titled “Open the Gates Gaming: Access, Equity, and Community Engagement in Tabletop Roleplaying Games.” Their external partners on the project are Jeff Edelstein, Scott Hanenberg, and Caitlin Martinkus.
Two CLAHS faculty members were among six individuals selected by the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment for the second cohort of awardees for its Preparing Your Research for an Extramural Proposal (PREP) Program. The faculty members and their topics are: Sweta Baniya, English, “Compounding Crisis and Communication: Strengthening Transnational Disaster Response and Community Resilience via Social Justice Oriented Crisis Communication,” and Rachelle Kuehl, Education and Center for Rural Education, “Teaching Race in Rural Places: Investigating Contextualized Challenges, Successes, and Solutions in Contentious Times.” The program provides up to $10,000 in financial support as well as mentoring to faculty members in the social sciences who are new to preparing proposals for extramural funding or who have had limited success in the role of principal investigator.
Cana Itchuaqiyaq, English, published the symposium introduction, “To Community with Care: Enacting Positive Barriers to Access as Good Relations,” and conclusion, “Remembering Forward,” Community Literacy Journal 17.1 (October 2022), 94–96 and 112–16 respectively, with Caroline Gottschalk Druschke, Lauren Cagle, and Rachel Bloom-Pojar, along with her individual contribution, “No, I won’t introduce you to my mama: Boundary Spanners, Access, and Accountability to Indigenous Communities,” pp. 97–99. These articles and additional ones by each of the three coauthors comprise the entire symposium, which was recognized with the 2023 Conference on Community Writing Outstanding Article Award.
Marcus Johnson, Education, presented the keynoted address titled “Finding, Applying, and Building Motivation into Your Teaching” at the DePaul University Forum on Teaching and Learning, which took place October 20 in Chicago, Illinois.
Brett Jones, Education, published “An Affective Assessment Intervention to Improve the Motivational Climate in Courses,” International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 35.1 (2023): 229–39, with School of Education alumna Meghan Byrnes and Harold McKenzie. In addition, Jones was a winner of the inaugural Faculty Nutshell Talks, during which faculty speakers were challenged to explain their research in 90 seconds. The event took place September 7 in the Moss Arts Center.
Theo Lazzari, a doctoral student in Science, Technology, and Society, published a book of poetry titled Ele-Mental, Volume 1 (Keene, New Hampshire: Spinning Monkey Press, 2023).
Barbara Lockee, Professor of Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) in the School of Education and Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, and IDT alumnae Rebecca Clark- Stallkamp and Alicia Johnson were the recipients of the 2023 Outstanding Publication Award from the Culture Learning and Technology Division of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) for “Exploring Dimensions of the Past: A Historiographical Analysis of Instructional Design and Technology Historical Works,” Journal of Applied Instructional Design 11.2 (2022). Lockee also was a member of the team recognized with AECT’s 2023 James W. Brown Publication Award for the co-edited volume AECT at 100: A Legacy of Leadership, ed. Christopher T. Miller et al., Leadership and Best Practices in Educational Technology Management 6 (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2023). Both awards were presented at the AECT convention, which took place October 15–19 in Orlando, Florida. In addition, Lockee published “Instructional Designers as Institutional Change Agents,” EDUCAUSE Review (October 31, 2023), with IDT alumni Samantha Blevins and Aaron Bond.
Timothy Luke, University Distinguished Professor, Chair of the Department of Political Science, and Interim Director of the School of Public and International Affairs, published “Cyberculture’s Abstract Utopia: Silicon Valley and Cleaner, Greener, Leaner Rules for a ‘New Economy,’” Fast Capitalism 20.1 (2023): 56–71.
Planning, Globalization, and Governance doctoral student Farhad Hassan Abdullah Mamshai published “Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier: Security and Communal Implications for Iraq,” Community Change 4.2 (2023), Article 1; Community Change is the online graduate student journal published by the VT Institute for Policy and Governance.
Savannah Mandel, a doctoral student in Science, Technology, and Society, presented “An Anthropologist in Outer Space” on October 5 at the University of Kentucky Bolivar Art Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky, and “How to Train for Space on Earth” on June 10 on The Interstellar Radio Show.
Jeff Mann, English, published The Sagas of Mann: Erotic Viking Tales (Maple Shade, New Jersey: Lethe Press/Unzipped Books, 2023).
Natalia Mielczarek, Communication, published The Trump Presidency in Editorial Cartoons, Lexington Studies in Political Communication (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield/ Lexington Books, 2023).
Paul Quigley, James I. Robertson, Jr., Associate Professor of Civil War Studies, published “Revisiting Slavery, the Civil War, and Reconciliation at Arlington National Cemetery and Arlington House” in the Parks Stewardship Forum special issue, Back to the Battlefields: Historians Take a Fresh Look at American Sites of Conflict, 39.3 (2023): 429–38.
The State of the College 2023 event, which recognized outstanding accomplishments of faculty and staff and served as a welcome to new faculty, took place September 27. Dean Laura Belmonte delivered opening remarks at the third-annual event, which also featured a number of speakers from among the faculty and the Office of the Dean.
More than 70 faculty members were recognized at the second annual Virginia Tech Research Excellence Awards for: earning a highly prestigious or prestigious award as identified by the National Research Council; earning awards ranging from $3 million to $9 million; pursuing proposals ranging from $8 million to $85 million; or having excelled in cultivating exceptionally creative work. Those honored from the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences were: Ralph Buehler, Public and International Affairs, 2023 Alumni Award for Research Excellence; Brittany Howell, Human Development and Family Science and Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, major sponsored award; Benjamin Jantzen, Philosophy, major sponsored proposal; Katrina Powell, English and Director of the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies, major sponsored award; and Travis Webster, English, exceptional creativity award. The event took place October 10.