December
Saif Tarek Abdelrasol, a doctoral student in the Center for Public Administration, presented the poster “Generation Z Is Changing the Game: A Study of Youth Turnout in the US 2022 Midterm Elections and Potential Effects on Policies and Future Elections” at the 2023 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management Fall Research Conference, which took place November 9–11 in Atlanta, Georgia. The poster was recognized with the third place award; more than 100 posters were presented.
The 20th anniversary of the publication of Counter-Colonial Criminology by Biko Agozino, Sociology, was recognized with a panel discussion at the Social Science History Association annual conference, which took place November 16–19 in Washington, D.C. Agozino served as the discussant.
Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management faculty members Eunju Hwang and Dina Smith-Glaviana won first place for the 2023 Nancy Rutherford Teaching Innovation Award from the International Textile and Apparel Association. The award encourages the development and dissemination of innovative teaching strategies that address emerging issues in the apparel and textile fields; this year’s theme was Strengthening Global and Intercultural Competencies in the Classroom. Hwang and Smith-Glaviana were recognized for their paper titled “Using an Object-Based Learning Approach to Strengthen Intercultural and Global Awareness and Openness to Diversity,” which they presented at the association’s annual conference, which took place November 8–11 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Department of Apparel, Housing, and Resource Management faculty member Dina Smith- Glaviana and Delaney Shields, a Fashion Merchandising and Design student who graduated in May 2023, won the 2023 Paper of Distinction Award Culture Track from the International Textile and Apparel Association. Smith-Glaviana and Shields were recognized for their paper titled “Fashion Countdown to Halloween: A Study of Dress Practices within Halloween Consumer Culture,” which they presented at the association’s annual conference, which took place November 8–11 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The following ASPECT doctoral students presented papers at the International Studies Association Northeast Conference: Elhom Gosink, “Land Theft and the Modern University: The University’s Financialization of Land; Luther McPherson, “On Organic State Identity: The Romantic State Before Realpolitik”; Michael Senters, “The Aesthetics of Nostalgia: Theory and International Relations Through Rose-Tinted Glasses”; Aline de Souza, “Art, Aesthetics, Anesthetics, Politics and Social Life In Early Twentieth-Century Germany: Analysis of Two Artworks”" and “Emotions, Aesthetics, Perception and Politics Through the Film Persepolis”; and Maddie Tepper, “(Un)Desirable Bodies of Work: Mapping Transnational Capital-Space- Time Power Assemblages Through Queer Embodiments and Affectivities.” The conference took place November 3–4 in Providence, Rhode Island.
ASPECT doctoral students Cory Higgs and Hannah Steinhauer presented “The Digital Witch Hunt” as part of VT Humanities Week on October 27, with fellow ASPECT doctoral student Rebekah Mui making a special appearance dressed as a colonial-era “witch.”
ASPECT doctoral student Casey Anne Brimmer, presented “time Outside of Time: Chrononormativity and the Marginalized and Minoritized Amongst Us” at the National Women’s Studies Association annual conference, which took place October 26–29 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Sam Cook, History, is serving as a Co-Principal Investigator in a regional consortium that was awarded a five-year $18 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture to enable minority-serving institutions to build and sustain the next generation of the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences workforce. The NEXTGeneration Inclusion Consortium for Building the Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human Sciences Pipeline, led by Tennessee State University, engages partners at Alcorn State University, Chief Dull Knife College, Fort Valley State University, the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences organization, Middle Tennessee State University, University of Houston, University of Tennessee–Martin, Vanderbilt University, and Virginia Tech. Cook’s primary role is to link the consortium with tribal leadership in Virginia and beyond. Of the 33 awarded projects across 24 states, only five were awarded in Tier 3, which encompasses projects up to $20 million and includes at least three institutions across two states.
Five School of Education doctoral students participated in the National Rural Education Association’s National Forum to Advance Rural Education, which took place November 16–17 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Kristina Bell and Michael Coleman presented the poster titled “‘I Don't Know That We’ve Given Them an Opportunity’: A Rural Case Study of the Bridge Between Community and Induction.” Karin Kaerwer, Josh Thompson, and Clint Whitten co- authored the presentation “Exploring Queer-Related Policies on Rural English Language Arts
Teachers’ Practices,” and Thompson and Whitten co-authored the paper “Implementing Queer Affirming Curriculum in K–12 Rural Schools.”
School of Education doctoral students Karin Kaerwer, Josh Thompson, and Clint Whitten presented “Anti-Queer Educational Policy Influences on Rural English Language Arts Classroom Spaces” at the American Educational Studies Association annual conference, which took place November 8–12 in Louisville, Kentucky.
School of Education doctoral students Josh Thompson and Clint Whitten co-authored “Here and Queerly Connected: Rural English Teachers’ Experiences Supporting LGBTQ+ Students in Appalachia,” which was presented at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Convention, which took place November 19–21 in Columbus, Ohio.
School of Education doctoral student Sarah Warnick and faculty member Carol Mullen published “Review of Online Teaching and Course Design Through K–12 Leaders’ Practices,” Journal of Contemporary Education Theory & Research 7.1 (2023): 22–31.
Charlene Eska, English, published “The Medieval Irish Legal Fragment Lost from British Library MS Egerton 92,” North American Journal of Celtic Studies 7 (2023): 256–65.
The Virginia Tech Ethics Bowl Team competed in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Ethics Bowl on November 11, finishing in fifth place among 20 teams. Hosted by the University of North Georgia, the event was a daylong competition for undergraduate students engaging in ethical analysis and debate. The Virginia Tech team consisted of: Meghan Flaherty, Philosophy; Holland Forsythe, Philosophy; Genevieve Martinisko, Arabic and International Relations; Christina San-Marina, Political Science; and Alisha Waddell, PPE and Sociology. The faculty coach is Justin Horn, Philosophy.
Anthony Kwame Harrison, Edward S. Diggs Professor in Humanities and Professor of Sociology, published “Exhibiting the Complexities of Black Advertising History. A Review of ‘Let’s March Forward Together,’” Advertising & Society Quarterly 24.3 (Fall 2023).
The College notes with sadness the death of JoAnn Thrash Harvill, retired Senior Instructor of English, who was a member of a member of the Virginia Tech community for 40 years, joining the department in 1980 and retiring in 2021. She was the recipient of the Joyce Gentry Smoot Award for Teaching Excellence in 1989–1990, and she was recognized for her advocacy of inclusivity and her dedication to her students, especially student athletes whom she taught.
Additional information can be found in the funeral home obituary and the Virginia Tech In Memoriam.
Tonisha Lane, Education, was selected as a member of the American College Personnel Association (ACPA) Foundation’s Diamond Honoree Class of 2024. The association is an internationally recognized leadership organization for professionals in student affairs and higher education; the Diamond Honoree Program is considered one of its highest honors and recognizes those who have demonstrated a commitment to making a difference in the lives of students and colleagues in higher education. Lane is one of 18 Diamond Honorees who will be honored at the ACPA convention, which will take place in March 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
Carol Mullen, Education, presented the keynote address, “Speaking of Allyship – It’s Time to Leap Together in Educational Leadership,” in her role as President, at the University Council for Education Administration annual convention, which took place November 16–18 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Fabian Prieto-Ñañez, Science, Technology, and Society, was selected to receive the 2023 Brooke Hindle Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). Presented to a scholar within four years of completion of the Ph.D., the award supports preparation of the dissertation for publication as articles or a monograph or development of a new project based on primary research. Prieto-Ñañez will be preparing his dissertation, “Pirates of the Caribbean Skies: Technology and Entrepreneurship in the Rise of Satellite Dishes in the Caribbean,” for publication as a monograph.
The following CLAHS graduate students were presenters at the Nutshell Games: Helen Ajao, Instructional Design and Technology, “Crafting Daily Excellence: Unveiling Routine Mastery in Instructional Design”; Sean Chambers, ASPECT, “Blessings Under Maafa's Shadow: The Sociology and Ethics of Friendship among Black Baptist Men”; Ashley Costello, Higher Education, “Lions, Pandas, and Lemurs. Oh My … (Trauma in Higher Education)”; Aline de Souza, ASPECT, “The Potential of Artistic Work to Disrupt Anti-immigration Discourses”; and Chris Heasley, Counselor Education and Supervision, “Supporting Rural Students: Why Rural Matters.” The games provide students with the opportunity to share their research with the local community; this year’s edition took place November 11 at the Moss Arts Center.
Ana Portillo, a first-year Creative Writing and Professional and Technical Writing major, was awarded the Department of English Distinguished Alumni Board Scholarship. The $2,000 award is given annually to a first-year student who has a passion for the written word.
ASPECT doctoral student Leah Ramnath presented “Caribbean Identities: Gender Expansiveness in the Caribbean” at the School for Cultural and Social Transformation’s Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Caribbean Culture workshop, which took place October 23 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Robin Reed Journalism Scholarship has been established as a one-time $1,000 award to a student enrolled in the Multimedia Journalism major. The gift is funded by Reed, who joined the School of Communication in 2018 as a Professor of Practice, and WDBJ-7, the broadcast station where he worked from 1982 to 2022 as chief meteorologist and a lead news anchor. The inaugural scholarship recipient will be announced in the spring.
Jessica Taylor, History, received a VA250 Grant from Virginia Humanities to develop programming for the Virginia250 celebration. Taylor will work with staff at cultural heritage sites across Southwest Virginia to build a single, place-based curriculum and an artistic celebration for the region’s fourth- and fifth-grade public and homeschooled students that tell more inclusive stories of the American Revolution in Appalachia.