Faculty and staff news
Two Richmond faculty members, Dr. Miranda Shaw and Dr. Gary McDowell, have been awarded prestigious $40,000 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships. NEH awarded fellowships to only 11 percent of applicants.
Shaw, associate professor of religion, will use the award to complete her book, Buddhist Goddesses of Tibet and Nepal. Following her previous book, Buddhist Goddesses of India, the current project traces the transformations of the pantheon as it was shaped by the cultural landscapes of the Tibetan plateau and Kathmandu Valley. Based largely on archival and field research conducted among Tibetans and Newars in Nepal, the study features Shaw’s translations from Sanskrit, Tibetan and Newar texts and her documentation of active temples, sacred sites, rituals, dances, processions and trance sessions.
McDowell, Tyler Haynes Interdisciplinary Professor of Leadership, Political Science and Law, received the award for “The Most Sacred Rule of Interpretation: The Language of Law and the Moral Foundations of Originalism.” The project is an exploration of the philosophic and political grounds of originalism as a method of constitutional interpretation, beginning with the theories of language in the works of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and ending with an analysis of the modes of interpretation in the jurisprudence of Justice Joseph Story and Chief Justice John Marshall.
The Thomas F. Jeffress and Kate Miller Jeffress Memorial Trust of Richmond recently made two new awards and four renewal awards to Richmond faculty. The grants provide summer research support for the faculty and their students.
Receiving new one-year awards were:
- Dr. Laura Runyen-Janecky, assistant professor of biology, $30,000 for “Characterization of Intracellular Adaptation Genes in the Tsetse Fly Secondary Endosymbiont Sodalis glossinidius;”
- Dr. Amy Treonis, assistant professor of biology, $26,500 for “Nematode Community Structure and Trophic Interactions in Agricultural Soils Amended with Cover Crops.”
Receiving renewal awards of $10,000 for one year were:
- Dr. Jonathan Dattelbaum, assistant professor of chemistry, for “Genetically Engineered Protein Biosensors for Glutamate: An Important Human Neurotransmitter;”
- Dr. Wade Downey, assistant professor of chemistry, for “The Development of New Stereoselective Intramolecular Pericyclic Reactions;”
- Dr. Carol Parish, associate professor of chemistry, for “Potential Anti-cancer Warhead Drugs: A Theoretical Investigation of the Electronic Nature of Enediyne Cyclization;”
- Dr. John Warrick, assistant professor of biology, for “CREB-binding Protein Modulation in a Drosophila Model of MJD and the Role of Chaperones.”
Dr. Steve Bisese, vice president for student development, has been elected president of the national Omicron Delta Kappa leadership organization. One of the organization’s recent past presidents was Dr. Ken Ruscio, former dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies.
Dr. Lisa Gentile, associate professor of chemistry, has been approved for a transfer of a four-year CAREER award from the National Science Foundation. Gentile, who joined the University in August, initially won the grant while at Western Washington University. This year’s grant and three subsequent years will bring to $504,558 the amount to be used at Richmond. Gentile will use the grant for summer research, equipment, supplies and travel to professional meetings for her and her students. In addition, several high school teachers and students will participate in the lab work. The CAREER award is one of NSF’s most prestigious teaching-research awards.
Dr. Marcia R. Gibson, assistant program director, Tidewater campus, and adjunct assistant professor in the School of Continuing Studies’ Human Resources Management program, presented a paper at the annual Interservice/Industry Training, Education & Simulation Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 7. I/ITSEC promotes cooperation among the armed services, industry, academia and various government agencies in pursuit of improved training and education programs, identification of common training issues and development of multi-service programs. Gibson’s presentation, “Learning and Knowledge Management: Story Telling for Knowledge Capture” was selected from more than 100 submissions and has been published in the 2006 I/ITSEC Proceedings.
Dr. Karen Kellison, assistant professor of instructional technology, has written a case study that is featured in the third edition of Teaching and Learning with Technology (Allyn and Bacon), expected out this spring.