Dr. Mariela Méndez, Associate Professor of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies discusses her new book, Crónicas Travestis: The Transgressive Journalism of Alfonsina Storni, Clarice Lispector and María Moreno, published recently by Beatriz Viterbo Editora. In this book, Dr. Méndez illuminates the ingenious and calculated “transvestite” strategies deployed in the journalism and cultural activity of Storni, Lispector, and Moreno to expose and challenge the sexual gender norms of their times.

Dr. Della Dumbaugh, Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Coordinator at the University of Richmond, and Basel Arafat, a senior studying mathematics, computer science and cognitive science, discuss a recent co-authored article entitled, “The Genesis of Americanmathematics.org: A Global Classroom Experience” in the August/September 2019 issue of MAA (Mathematical Association of America) Focus. The article describes the development of American mathematics.org, a website dedicated to American mathematics.

Dr. Ashley Austin, Assistant Professor of Accounting, discusses a recent article in Contemporary Accounting Research, entitled “Improving Auditors’ Consideration of Evidence Contradicting Management’s Estimate Assumptions.” Dr. Austin’s research interests involve using experimental methods to understand and improve auditors’ judgments and decision making, with a focus on how to motivate auditors to exercise professional skepticism and be alert to fraud throughout the audit.

Dr. Elisabeth Gruner, Associate Professor of English, discusses her new book, Constructing the Adolescent Reader in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction, published recently by Palgrave Macmillan. The book considers a range of contemporary titles in order to explore the types of reading sparked through various forms of adolescent fiction.

Dr. Julie Pollock, Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences, discusses “Synthesis and characterization of hydrogen peroxide activated estrogen receptor beta ligands,” an article that she and her students recently published in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry.  Dr. Pollock’s lab utilizes chemical biology techniques, biochemical methods, and organic synthesis to understand breast cancer and lung cancer development and progression. In particular, they are interested in nuclear receptor function, phosphorylation signaling pathways, and the link between cancer and inflammation.

Dr. Holly Blake, Director of the WILL* program and Associate Dean for Outreach Education and Development, and Dr. Melissa Ooten, Associate Director of the WILL* Program and gender research specialist, discuss their new book, Audacious Voices : Profiles in Intersectional Feminism, published recently by She Writes Press. The book is a collection of twelve stories from WILL* alums. WILL* is a nationally recognized program for students interested in exploring gender through an intersectional lens, both in and out of the classroom. Students strengthen their leadership skills as they actively work to create a more equitable world.

Dr. Kevin Cruz, Assistant Professor of Management in the Robins School of Business, discusses his recent article, “Perceptions of psychological contract breach and perceptions of co-worker exclusion: The moderating effects of collectivism and individualism,” in Occupational Health Science. Dr. Cruz’s research interests focus on employee – employer relationships, employee – team relationships and employee – co-worker relationships.

Dr. Wade Downey, Professor of Chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences, and his student lab group study the ability of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf) to mediate new reactivity or increase the efficiency of known reactions. The most likely downstream application of this new chemistry is in the fields of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and herbicides. In 2018 he co-authored two articles, along with his students, in both the Journal of Organic Chemistry and Tetrahedron Letters.

Dr. Bob Spires, Assistant Professor of Education in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, discusses a recent article in Youth Voice Journal, entitled “Hong Kong Youth Identity and Self-presentation in the New Territories: A Qualitative Study on Letters from Youth and Teachers to an NGO Internship Program.” Dr. Spires’ research interests include international non-formal education through charities, non-profits and NGOs, as well as social justice-related issues impacting teacher training.

Dr. Lauren Tilton, Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of Rhetoric & Communication Studies discusses her work with Photogrammar, a web-based platform for organizing, searching and visualizing the 170,000 photographs from 1935 – 1945 by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. Dr. Tilton also serves as co-director of Photogrammer. .

Dr. Allison Archer, Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies, discusses her recent article in the Journal of Politics, entitled “Political Advantage, Disadvantage, and the Demand for Partisan News.” Dr. Archer’s research interests include political communication, political psychology, and experimental methods. As a former journalist, she is largely interested in questions that are related to the media and politics.

Dr. Karen Kochel, Assistant Professor of Psychology, discusses a special issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, entitled Applying symptoms-driven models of depression to the investigation of peer relationship adversity: Mediating and moderating mechanisms. Dr. Kochel served as the guest editor for the special issue as well as the author for one of the articles. Her research interests span multiple domains of childhood and adolescent social development and emphasize the interplay between peer relationships, psychological adaptation, and gender as it applies to adjustment in school.

Dr. Thomas Bonfiglio, Professor of Literature and Linguistics and the William Judson Gaines Chair in Modern Foreign Languages, discusses his new book, The Psychopathology of American Capitalism, published recently by Palgrave Macmillan. The book synthesizes psychoanalytic and Marxist techniques in order to account for the suppression of leftist politics in America, the protectionist discourses of anomalous American capitalism, and the rise of neoliberalism.

Dr. Edward L. Ayers, University Professor and President Emeritus at the University of Richmond, discusses his new book, The Thin Light of Freedom: The Civil War and Emancipation in the Heart of America, published recently by W.W. Norton. The book conveys the final years of the Civil War in the Great Valley between the Blue Ridge and Appalachian Mountains by focusing on average, resilient people trying to survive the devastation around them.

Dr. Laura Knouse, Associate Professor of Psychology, discusses her recent article, “Meta-Analysis of Cognitive-Behaviorial Treatments for Adult ADHD,” in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association. The publication focuses on analyzing studies and data of cognitive-based treatments for adult ADHD. Dr. Knouse is a clinical psychologist whose research and clinical expertise focus on the nature, assessment, and treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in adults.

Dr. Julian Hayter, Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies, discusses The Dream Is Lost: Voting Rights and the Politics of Race in Richmond, Virginia, published recently by the University Press of Kentucky. The book describes more than three decades of national and local racial politics in Richmond and illuminates the unintended consequences of civil rights legislation.

Professor Shahan Mufti, Assistant Professor of Journalism, is the author of The Faithful Scribe: A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family, and War, published in 2013 by Other Press. “The Faithful Scribe” is deeply relevant to the world and our campus today and the book has been chosen as the 2017-2018 “One Book” for the university campus. Faculty, staff and students are currently reading the book and the One Book Committee will host discussions and programs throughout the 2017-2018 academic year to explore issues and themes within the book.

Dr. Aleksandra Sznajder Lee, Associate Professor of Political Science, discusses her new book, Transnational Capitalism in East Central Europe’s Heavy Industry, published recently by the University of Michigan Press. Focusing on the steel industry during the post-communist transition from 1989 through 2009, Dr. Sznajder Lee traces the transformation of flagship state enterprises in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia into the subsidiaries of large, international corporations.

Dr. Kasongo Kapanga, Professor of French, discusses his new book, The Writing of the Nation: Expressing Identity through Congolese Literary Texts and Films, published recently by the Africa World Press. The book is the study of literary texts and films seen as the manifestations of the Congolese consciousness and a response to the colonial discourse of denial, deletion and co-optation.

Dr. Daryl Cumber Dance, Professor of English Emerita, discusses her new book, In Search of Annie Drew: Jamaica Kincaid’s Mother and Muse, published recently by the University of Virginia Press. In this provocative new book, Daryl Dance argues that everything Jamaica Kincaid has written, regardless of its apparent theme, actually relates to Kincaid’s efforts to free herself from her mother, whether her subject is ostensibly other family members, her home nation, a precolonial world, or even Kincaid herself.