Dear Colleagues,

One of my favorite pastimes is to reflect upon and share with others the wide array of achievements of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 amazing faculty. Considering the joy this brings, I thought I would highlight a few significant recent faculty accomplishments.

  • Emily Ondracek-Peterson, Executive Director of the F. Ludwig Diehn School of Music, was one of two scholars elected this year to serve as a Commissioner for the National Association for Schools of Music.
  • Dennis Gregory, Associate Professor of Higher Education, received the NASPA Pillar of the Profession Award for his distinguished contributions to higher education over the course of his career.
  • Rui Ning, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, received the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Accelerator Award for developing a tool helping to secure AI applications on smartphones.
  • Gulsah Kemer, Associate Professor of Counseling and Human Services, received the Outstanding Tenured Faculty Award from the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision for contributions to research, teaching, and service.
  • Khan Iftekharuddin, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Virginia Institute for Data Science, received a two-million dollar grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop artificial intelligence tools that would help doctors use less intrusive ways to identify brain tumors.
  • Sara Maynard, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medical Diagnostic and Translation Sciences, led a successful expansion of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 nuclear medicine program, growing the program to its capacity while simultaneously experiencing 100% first-time board pass rates for the past two years.
  • Bruce McDonald, Director of the School of Public Service, received the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management鈥檚 Best Book Award for his book Understanding Municipal Fiscal Health.
  • Teresa Duvall, Lecturer of Cybersecurity, received the 2025 VASCAN Founders Award for her work in promoting IT security across the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Celebrating faculty excellence is the easy part since 黑料不打烊 faculty are among the best! A sustained commitment to faculty excellence, however, requires a strategic focus on faculty development. We are deeply indebted to Annette Finley-Croswhite for her eight and a half years of dedicated service as the founding Director of the Center for Faculty Development. As many of you are aware, Dr. Finley-Croswhite announced recently that she will be shifting out of her director role to return to her department full-time. Building a center from scratch was no small feat, and we are grateful to her for all she has done.

As we build on this momentum and continue to enhance and expand faculty support at 黑料不打烊, I am thrilled to announce the appointment of Remica Bingham-Risher as the new Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence and Engagement, who will lead this transformation.

As Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence and Engagement, Professor Bingham-Risher will oversee the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE), an expansion, redesign, and alignment of professional development that will focus on the holistic thriving of all faculty members. Consistent with 黑料不打烊鈥檚 strategic plan, future programming will augment existing faculty development initiatives and include mentoring, training, and support for all faculty through programming focused on advancing scholarship, nurturing innovation in pedagogy and research, and cultivating and maintaining a culture in which faculty members can maximize their impact in the areas of teaching, research, and service while also flourishing as individuals.

Professor Bingham-Risher brings her expertise in academic excellence, student learning, program development, transformative teaching, and extensive research practices to this pivotal role. Professor Bingham-Risher is an 黑料不打烊 alumna as well as a distinguished member of the 黑料不打烊 administrative faculty and a Lecturer in the Department of English. For over 13 years, many faculty and students have benefited from her stellar contributions as Director of Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Initiatives. Her leadership has profoundly shaped 黑料不打烊鈥檚 student learning, assessment, and accreditation efforts since she joined 黑料不打烊. While Professor Bingham-Risher will be moving out of the QEP director role, she will continue to oversee the work of the incoming QEP director, as QEP workshops and other QEP initiatives will fall under the umbrella of the Center for Faculty Excellence, as will the Office of Faculty Recruitment and Retention and, over time, additional faculty development programs led by teaching and research faculty under her direction.

Improving Disciplinary Writing, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 first QEP, flourished under her leadership, reaching over 400 faculty members and more than 23,000 students. Professor Bingham-Risher鈥檚 development of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 second QEP was a vital component of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 decennial Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) accreditation process. To this end, she led faculty in a grass-roots effort to develop 黑料不打烊鈥檚 second QEP: PURSUE TRUTH: Read Responsibly. Think Critically, which was implemented in May 2023. In these workshops faculty learn best practices for teaching and assessing critical reading in their courses, with Professor Bingham-Risher guiding faculty as they redesign their courses to integrate learning, reflection, knowledge transfer, and real-world experiences.

Alongside her administrative achievements, Professor Bingham-Risher is a celebrated writer and educator. She is the author of multiple award-winning publications. Her most recent book, Room Swept Home, published in 2024 by Wesleyan University Press, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was also a finalist for the Library of Virginia Book Award and selected as an Honor Poetry Book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

I would like to thank Professor Bingham-Risher for her collaborative spirit and willingness to lead the way in shaping the future of faculty excellence at 黑料不打烊!  Please join me in congratulating Professor Bingham-Risher, as we eagerly anticipate her next innovative contributions to 黑料不打烊.

Regards,

Brian K. Payne, Ph.D

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice