Cornell West to Kick Off Humanities Center Speaker Series
 The Humanities Research Center will host a series of public events this fall to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery and to recognize the nation’s ongoing journey toward racial justice. The series will begin with featured guest speaker Cornel West on September 3 at the Siegel Center. The series will also feature a film screening of Django Unchained and a panel discussion including Oliver Speck, assistant professor in the School of World Studies. Read more about the fall lineup at VCU News. The complete schedule is on the Humanities Research Center website. |
New Chemistry Department Chair
 Dr. Samy El-Shall has accepted the position of Chair of the Department of Chemistry beginning July 1, 2015. Samy is an internationally renowned and award-winning researcher in the field of nanomaterials, and an extraordinary asset to the College and VCU. Congratulations Samy! Outgoing chair, Scott Gronert, will be traveling to France to work on a project using mass spectrometry to find biomarkers for cancerous cells. |
New VCU Policy Website
VCU Policy Program has a new and improved website, with enhanced features and the most recent and up-to-date versions of all universitywide policies. The new site includes all text word search which displays search results of all policies that contain the keywords entered, policies categorized by governance and administrative operational types, alphabetical policy listing, as well as policy resources that assist with policy drafting and the "Policy Points" publication. Visit the new website. |
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Dr. Briones wins award from AEJMC
 Dr. Rowena Briones, assistant professor in the Robertson School, has won 2nd place for the Promising Professor Award from the Mass Communication and Society Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, one of the largest professional organizations in the communications field. Rowena also recently received a $16,000 community engagement grant for the Red Flag Campaign to raise bystander awareness on sexual violence, dating violence and stalking. Read more here. Congratulations Rowena! |
Dean's Fellow Selected for APA Leadership Institute for Women
 The American Psychological Association has selected Dr. Linda Zyzniewski as a participant in their Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology. Linda is the VCU Psychology Department's Director of Undergraduate Programs and a Dean's Fellow in the College. She will join a select group of exceptional women from across the country in workshops aimed at preparing, supporting and empowering women psychologists as leaders. Congratulations Linda! |
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SCHEV Awards Call for Nominations
 The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) has issued its annual call for nominations for the 2016 Virginia Outstanding Faculty Awards program. Nominations are due to the Dean's office no later than Monday, July 27. These awards recognize superior accomplishments in teaching, research and public service. Instructions and criteria for the awards can be found here. |
VCU Bulletin Redesign Update
The new VCU Bulletin is expected to launch in July. The new bulletin will use CourseLeaf software with a custom design featuring VCU's branding. The migration began in April and is now complete. Other Universities using CourseLeaf include UC Berkeley. To follow VCU's progress, visit the Bulletin blog here. |
NEH Summer Stipends Competition
 The 2016 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) summer stipend awards are now available for internal application. VCU is limited to two candidates for this annual highly competitive fellowship. Therefore, please submit complete proposals by email to Rob Tombes at rtombes@vcu.edu no later than Friday, August 28th. Proposals will be reviewed by an internal panel and the top two candidates will be notified by Tuesday, September 8. At that time, constructive feedback will be provided by the review panel, so that those candidates can revise and submit their applications to NEH by October 1st. |
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Host Families Needed for Exchange Program (IYLEP)
 The Global Education Office seeks host families during the weekend of July 11-12, to host Iraqi university students for an overnight stay and to help introduce the students to the Greater Richmond community. While here, IYLEP students will participate in a social media campaigns course sponsored by the Robertson School and GEO. If interested, fill out this brief online survey. For more information, contact Michelle Webb at mwebb@vcu.edu or (804) 828-2551. |
Latino HS Students Visit VCU
Students from the Latino Education Advancement Program, a summer program of The Steward School, visited VCU for a tour of campus and fun physics lessons given by Ulises Reveles, assistant professor of physics, and Robert Gowdy, chair of the Department of Physics. A four-week program, LEAP offers full summer scholarships sponsored by several organizations and is targeted to rising eighth through twelfth-grade Latino students. VCU News has more. |
Do You Have News to Share?
If you have news to share this is a great place to do it! Please submit news and events to Denise Johnson at johnsonda6@vcu.edu. We will submit your news and events to the VCU Calendar, Telegram, this newsletter and our social media outlets. Keep your colleagues informed by keeping us informed! |
Ryan K. Smith, a professor in the Department of History, recently discussed his book, Robert Morris’s Folly: The Architectural and Financial Failures of an American Founder and what brought him to VCU with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "I have found a tremendous amount of freedom here; I get to teach the classes I want and write what I want, and the students are energizing." 
Bethanie Constant, who was recently named Senior Director of Development for the College, joined VCU in February 2012. During Bethanie’s tenure, philanthropic giving to the College has increased over 118 percent, and a number of new development and stewardship programs have been implemented. “I am inspired by our alumni and friends who generously support VCU, not out of obligation, but because they are dedicated to the success of the University..." 
After leaving VCU, 
