Experts Guide

Dr. Abrash's research is in Chemical Dynamics, the field of chemistry which attempts to understand how chemical reactions work. The specific area on which this research is currently focussed is to ask the related questions of how the proximity of rea...

Dr. Azizah Y. al-Hibri is a Professor, Emeritus at the T. C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond where she taught for twenty years. She is the first Muslim woman to become tenured in an American law school. Dr. al-Hibri is a former profe...

Scott Allison is Professor of Psychology at the University of Richmond.  He received his B.A. in Psychology at the University of California, San Diego, in 1981, and his Ph.D. in Social Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 19...

Anderson is the author of a number of articles about early jazz and the analysis of wind music and is a member of the editorial board for Monographs and Bibliographies in American Music.  His book, The Original Hot Five Recordings of Louis Armstrong...

Bacigal teaches criminal law, criminal procedure and evidence. In addition to his teaching, he serves as reporter of criminal decisions for the Virginia Court of Appeals. He holds a B.S. from Concord College and an LL.B. from Washington & Lee Univers...

The atomic nucleus lies at the heart of matter and at the core of stars. Making up 99.9% of the known mass of the universe the nucleus is a unique strongly-interacting quantum-mechanical mesoscopic system. Consisting of between a few and a few hundre...


Coordinator of piano studies at the University of Richmond, Richard Becker is a pianist, composer, and chamber musician whose playing has been acclaimed in Europe and America. Playing on college campuses, he has frequently toured the eastern Unite...

Covalent structure of biologically active molecules such as proteins and enzymes is readily available from enterprises such as genome sequencing projects. Likewise 3-dimensional structures are available for many proteins. This information however rep...

Dr. Kristin M. S. Bezio integrates the study of literature into the leadership studies curriculum. Her areas of specialization include leadership in literature and film, leadership in performance, and cultural and political history in Early Modern En...

David Brandenberger has written on Stalin-era propaganda, ideology and nationalism in journals like Russian Review, Kritika, Nationality Papers, Europe-Asia Studies, Jahrbuecher fuer Geschichte Osteuropas and Voprosy istorii. His first book, National...

Benjamin Broening's acoustic and electroacoustic music has been recorded on the Centaur, Equilibrium, MIT Press, Everglade and SEAMUS labels.  Broening is founder and artistic director of Third Practice, an annual festival of electroacoustic music a...

Dr. Brown has published and presented nationally and internationally on the topics of early education, reading recovery, teacher education and global awareness.

My work is in the field of cosmology, the study of the structure, origin, and evolution of the universe on the very largest scales. My students and I analyze and interpret measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is a re...

Jennifer Cable has performed throughout the United States and Europe in solo repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to works of our time. In addition to opera and oratorio, Cable has sung with many chamber music ensembles, including Tragicomedia, Mu...

Dr. Cheever’s research focuses on the film and literature of the United States from the years immediately following World War II to the end of the twentieth century. Her first book, Real Phonies: Cultures of Authenticity in Post World War II Americ...

One of the founding faculty members of the Jepson School, Dr. Joanne B. Ciulla teaches courses on ethics, critical thinking, conflict resolution, and leadership in international contexts. A demanding and creative teacher, she was honored in 2007 wit...

Stephanie Cobb teaches New Testament and early Christianity. Her current research interests focus on the interrelationship among paganism, Judaism and Christianity in the first and second centuries C.E. In particular, she works on martyrdom and perse...

Cotropia received a B.S. degree in both electrical engineering and computer engineering from Northwestern University. He received a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law, where he graduated Order of the Coif and served as editor of the Texa...

Myra Daleng has been the director of dance at the University of Richmond for 26 years. This position includes teaching dance technique classes in ballet, jazz, tap and modern. Ms. Daleng also teaches choreography, dance history and kinetics--the scie...

My research focuses on the design of fluorescent protein biosensors. Nature has provided a vast array of proteins which bind efficiently to molecules which my research group is interested in detecting. One of the goals of my group is to design a bios...

Distinguished trumpeter Dr. Michael Davison is a legendary performer, respected professor, published composer, and ethnomusicologist. Davison’s love of music has shaped his life and career. He is in demand across the country as a classical and jazz...

Research projects are focussed in two principal areas: 1) The electron and energy transfer properties of Re(a,a'-diimine) complexes, particularly with respect to solar energy conversion and the development of molecular electronic devices. 2) Modern N...

What interactions determine the shapes of molecules? Why is one unexpected isomer more stable relative to more ‘logical' and aesthetically pleasing alternatives? These questions remain interesting, as new molecules are made and assumptions about li...

John Douglass is Professor of Law at the University of Richmond, where he has taught Criminal Law, Evidence, Criminal Procedure, litigation skills and trial advocacy. He also served as dean of the law school from 2008-11. His principal academic publi...

We are interested in the development of one-pot and tandem reactions that reduce the need for expensive and time-consuming purification processes. We approach this goal through two fronts: 1) Our silylation-driven chemistry employs TMSOTf as both a s...

I'm currently working on a book project, The Construction of Mediterranean Identity:  the Kingdom of Southern Italy and Sicily, c. 1000-1300.  I examine the various cultural and ethnic pieces that comprised the medieval multicultural Kingdom of sou...

Professor Joel Eisen focuses his teaching and scholarship on the Smart Grid, renewable energy, and energy and climate change in China. His article, Residential Renewable Energy: By Whom?, was honored as one of the top four environmental law articles ...

Professor Jessica M. Erickson teaches Corporations and Civil Procedure at the University of Richmond School of Law. Her research focuses on issues relating to corporate governance and securities regulation. Prior to joining the faculty in 2007, Profe...

Dr. Essid directs the university's Writing Center and Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program. He's a Richmond native who earned a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Indiana University. He studies changing patterns of liter...

Linda Fairtile is the liaison librarian for music, theatre, dance, and Italian studies, as well as a musicologist who specializes in Italian opera. She is the co-director of the American Institute for Verdi Studies at New York University and has appe...

Sharon G. Feldman is professor of Spanish and Catalan studies and chair of the Department of Latin American and Iberian Studies at the University of Richmond. Before arriving at Richmond in 2000, she was Cramer Associate Professor of Spanish at the U...

My research focuses on calculations performed under different model frameworks: particle rotor, total routhian surface, cranking shell, tilted axis cranking, and interacting boson models. The amount of available experimental data has increased dramat...

From 1976 through mid-2002, with the exception of a little over a year at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., Bill Fisher litigated complex commercial cases as an associate and then a partner at the firm of Pillsbury Madison & Sutro (now P...

The heart of Dr. Forsyth's work is to build knowledge about why people feel, think, and act as they do. His research focuses on ethics, with a specific concentration on individual, group, and cultural differences in degree of idealism and relativism....

In general, what I am most fascinated by is protein structure. More specifically, how that structure dictates function and biomolecular recognition, and what happens when that structure is altered in diseased states. The techniques that my group uses...

Professor Gibson’s teaching and research focuses on intellectual property law and new technologies. His scholarship has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the Virginia Law Review, the UCLA Law Review, and elsewhere. He is founder and director of the...

My research is focused on the experimental program at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory to explore the quark nature of matter with a recent excursion into nuclear arms policy. I have also developed inquiry-based laboratories for in...

Social psychologist George R. Goethals joined the Jepson School faculty in 2006. Before joining the Jepson faculty as holder of the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professorship in Leadership Studies, he held academic and administrative appointment...

Currently Dr. Goldman is studying the synthesis and mechanisms of organometallic reactions. Part of the study of organometallic chemistry involves trying to understand how metals catalyze reactions. Her main focus is on investigating how silicon subs...

Dr. Gruner teaches children's and young adult literature and Victorian literature, as well as Creative Nonfiction Writing. Her current research is on children's fantasy literature, especially as it relates to gender, education, and religion. She also...

Dr. Gupton's primary research interests involve developing new organic reactions that can be applied to the synthesis of bioactive compounds in agriculture and medicine. More specifically, he has studied for some time the preparation and reactions of...

I use synthetic and physical organic chemistry to address specific biological questions. Currently, my work focuses on 8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine (OdG), an abundant DNA lesion that can cause genome mutation and is thought to play a major role in several...

Mimi Hanaoka teaches Islam and Islamic history. Her current research interests center on the formation and articulation of Muslim identity in early Islamic Persia. More specifically, she studies local histories, dream theory, traditions of the Prophe...

My interests ultimate relate to the human capacity for action, which means I study power, culture, and practice. Why do we do what we do, and do we act from compulsion or autonomous desire? How do social practices persist and change? This leads me to...

Brian Henry has published nine books of poetry, two edited collections, and two translated books. He has written about contemporary poetry for such publications as The New York Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement, Virginia Quarterly Revi...

Patricia Herrera's teaching and research focus on 20th century performance of the Americas with an emphasis on social justice, identity politics, and transnationalism. She is the Secretary for the Latino Focus Group of the Association for Theatre in ...

Dr. Hickman's career has involved both administrative and academic appointments. Her expertise is in management, with an underpinning of organizational behavior and human resource management. As an inaugural faculty member of the Jepson School, Dr. H...

Dr. Douglas A. Hicks is professor of leadership studies and religion. He was the founding leader for the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement at the University of Richmond. He served for five years as director and then executive director before returni...

A cell constantly alters the expression of its genes (and thus the proteins it makes) in order to respond to its environment or change its function. Gene expression can be modulated at many levels, from the birth of a messenger RNA (mRNA) to its dest...

Professor Hodges’ teaching and research interests focus on labor and employment law, feminist legal theory and nonprofit organizations. Her recent scholarly publications explore public sector labor and employment law, the intersections of labor and...

Dorothy Holland is associate professor of theatre and associate professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies. Dr. Holland is also chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, where she teaches a range of courses: Production Studies, Theatre His...

As a social psychologist, Crystal L. Hoyt brings a psychological perspective to the study and teaching of leadership. Her research reflects a commitment to conducting both basic and applied investigations. Her primary research interests include women...

In addition to teaching at Richmond, Professor Jones has been a consultant to the World Bank, a visiting scholar at the CIA, and a legal advisor to Albania. He has written about collisions at sea, ship interdiction, treasure salvage, oil spills, admi...

Development and implementation of interactive computer based educational materials for biology, chemistry and physics. Part of this is reflected in the C-MoR project.

Dr. Peter I. Kaufman taught for 29 years and was a professor of history and of religious studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before joining the Jepson faculty in 2008. The recipient of numerous teaching awards, Dr. Kaufman spec...

My research interests examine the impact of the Civil War, particularly on the American South.  I presently am working on a biography of Elizabeth Louisa Knights Harris (1823-1894), a British-born Civil War widow who resided most of her adult life i...

The neurobiology and neurochemistry underlying social behaviors in animals, particularly the effects of reproductive experience (pregnancy, lactation and exposure to offspring) on the maternal and paternal brain.

David Kitchen earned a B.Sc and PhD in Geology from Queens University Belfast. After working for two years as a petroleum geologist in the North Sea, he started teaching Earth Sciences as lecturer at the Ulster Polytechnic and then as tenured faculty...

Dr. Laura Knouse is a clinical psychologist whose research and clinical expertise focus on the nature, assessment, and treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in adults. One line of ongoing research is aimed at understanding the cogniti...

Recognized as an artist of exceptional versatility, pianist and harpsichordist Joanne Kong has received critical praise for her "great finesse and flexibility" (The Washington Post), "superb" playing (The Boston Globe), "utmost keyboard sensitivity a...

Professor Lain teaches a variety of courses emanating from her experience as a former prosecutor, including criminal procedure, evidence, children and the law, and a domestic violence seminar. She also teaches the first-year civil procedure course. A...

David Leary has been University Professor at the University of Richmond since 2002. For the previous 13 years, he was Dean of Arts and Sciences at Richmond, and before that he was Professor of Psychology, History, and the Humanities at the University...

Bioanalytical materials and biosensor development. Study of interactions between proteins and synthetic nanomaterials.

Lázaro Lima is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in the Liberal Arts and professor of Latin American and Iberian Studies and American Studies. His publications include The Latino Body: Crisis Identities in American Literary and Cultural Me...

Biology is still an uncharted territory from a quantitative point of view and thus opens to new fundamental discoveries. Before Newton, the phenomena of mechanical motion were not understood in their simple fundamental form. Likewise in Molecular Bio...

Stephen Long's research focuses on the causes of war, international rivalries, and victory and defeat in war. He is also interested the formation and perception of national reputations and the sociology of war.

I am currently working on a book manuscript which examines Okinawa's relationship with mainland Japan through the rubric of cultural heritage and its preservation. I suggest that the production “Okinawan cultural heritage” by the prewar Japanese ...

Professor Alberto Lopez is an expert in property and wills and trusts and publishes regularly in those fields. He previously taught at Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University.  In addition to his undergraduate and law degrees,...

Rick Mayes is an associate professor in the University of Richmond’s department of political science, and a faculty research fellow at the Petris Center on Healthcare Markets and Consumer Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. He receiv...

Dr. Gary L. McDowell is a leading constitutional scholar who joined the Jepson faculty in 2003 after a distinguished career in public life and the academy. Prior to coming to the Jepson School, McDowell directed the Institute of United States Studie...

Dr. Mark McGarvie has taught history and leadership studies at the University of Richmond since 2003.  In addition to his teaching, Dr. McGarvie currently serves as the director of pre-law advising. He earned his Ph.D. in history from Indiana Univer...

Andrew Clay McGraw received his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in 2005.  Dr. McGraw has published several articles and reviews concerning gamelan and contemporary and traditional composition and performance practice in Southeast A...

My current project examines the socio-political and medical terrain in which mental illness became a public health construct and its subsequent management in Rio de Janeiro during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It examines narratives of madness a...

Work in Professor Myers' laboratory is directed towards the synthesis of interesting and novel organic compounds using metal-mediated processes. In one major effort, involving a long-standing collaboration between the Myers lab and the lab of Prof. D...

Dr. James L. Narduzzi is currently Dean and Professor in the School of Continuing Studies at the University of Richmond. From 1988 until 1994, he was Associate Academic Dean and Assistant Vice President at the University of Hartford and, prior ...

Dr. Nebel's research explores atmospheric physics and solar astronomy, with a focus on upper atmospheric physics, specifically the behavior of carbon dioxide and how it interacts with various molecules and with radiation in the mesosphere and lower t...

Dr. Neff has published and given professional presentations on factors influencing decision-making within the juvenile and adult court systems, characteristics of incarcerated juvenile offenders, comparisons of juvenile male sex offenders and non-sex...

David Niethamer began his conducting career at Lebanon Valley College, where he conducted a run of "A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and was student conductor of the college orchestra.   Appointed Principal Clarinetist of the Richmond...

Dr. Nourse studied Indonesian at Cornell University, UC Berkeley and Satya Wacana University and has conducted fieldwork in Sulawesi, Indonesia (Southeast Asia) and Bassarel, Guinea-Bissau (West Africa). In addition to numerous articles and presentat...

Dr. Obi has taught in the U.S. and abroad and has published numerous articles on the social coordinates of art, development in Africa, film and ideology, and language and literature among others.

Kristen Jakobsen Osenga teaches intellectual property courses, including Patent Law, Trademark and Unfair Competition Law, and International Intellectual Property. She joined the law school in 2006, after teaching two years as a Visiting Assistant Pr...

Research in the Parish group focuses on understanding the dynamical behavior of interesting molecular systems. The tools of quantum mechanics, conformational searching and free energy simulation are used to answer questions about the structure, energ...

Dr. Sandra J. Peart became the fourth dean of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies in 2007. A national leader in her field, she is a director of the annual Summer Institute for the Preservation of the History of Economic Thought. A distinguished ...

Whether it appears in the fire and brimstone rhetoric of Jonathan Edwards’ sermons, the doomsday paranoia of the Nuclear Age, or the season-to-season calamities of television’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the apocalypse has endured in the American ...

Dr. Terry L. Price specializes in leadership ethics and moral psychology. A philosopher with grounding in psychology, Dr. Price focuses his teaching and research interests on applied ethics. He also studied politics on a John M. Olin Fellowship at th...

Radice holds a B.A. from Wittenberg University and a Ph.D. from Yale University, where he studied cell and developmental biology. He has been a NASA research fellow and a Danforth Graduate Fellow, and was appointed a Faculty for the 21st Century, Pro...

Dr. Elizabeth Ransom's research interests are in the areas of international development and globalization, the sociology of agriculture and food, and social studies of science and technology. Her recent research focuses on the linkages between Southe...

Jeffrey Riehl is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Richmond where he has taught since 1995. At UR, he conducts the highly-acclaimed Schola Cantorum and teaches voice and courses for both music majors ...

My research looks at the impact of American political institutions on policy development and organized labor's influence on American politics and policy.

I am at present working on an economic and social history of the estate held by the abbot of St. Edmund's abbey, a major English Benedictine house, during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The history examines the abbot's response as manager of...

Professor Noah Sachs is a nationally-known expert in environmental law, and he directs the law school’s Robert R. Merhige, Jr. Center for Environmental Studies. In 2009, Professor Sachs was named the University of Richmond’s "Rising Star Professo...

My research focuses on the history of Americans abroad. I am interested in how Americans without official status (such as intellectuals, artists, journalists, and scientists) shaped the interaction between the United States and the world in the 19th ...

Walter Schoen has been a professional actor, director and stage manager for more than 25 years. During that time, his work has appeared in theaters from Broadway to Los Angeles. His work has ranged from the most contemporary plays of writers like Eri...

Professor Schwartz’ primary research interests are the life and work of John Milton and 16th and Early 17th-Century English Literature and Culture more generally, with a particular interest in the relationship between early modern imaginative liter...

Professor Siebert’s research interests focus on the late twentieth and early twenty first century American literature and culture, ethnic literary and cinematographic traditions, and Native American studies. She is completing a book on the contempo...

My research focuses on issues lying at the intersection of law, politics, and constitutional rights.

During the fall and spring semesters of 2008, Dr. Smallwood served as country director for the Wildlife Conservation Society's project in Afghanistan. He was recently featured on National Public Radio and in The Collegian for his work abroad. Dr. Sma...

Tanja Softic’s prints, drawings and paintings address factors of cultural hybridity that shape the identity and world view of an immigrant: displacement, longing, translation, and memory. A native of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, she studied at...

Dr. Stevenson is interested in the development of spectroscopic methods which can rapidly and easily characterize samples, with a minimum of sample treatment required before the analysis. Typically these methods will be based on fluorescence spectros...

Dr. Strait is a highly experienced bi-lingual faculty member with teaching expertise at the doctoral, graduate and undergraduate levels. Topics of expertise include: international human resource management, immigration, and various management topics ...

Carol Summers has published on syphilis and reproductive policy in colonial Uganda, racial ideology and segregation in colonial Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean struggles over schooling and development, and on radical politics  in late colonial Uganda. She is c...

Swisher holds a B.A. from Amherst College, an M.A. from Stanford University and a J.D. from University of California's Hastings College of Law. He has taught at University of Richmond since 1974, moving through the ranks from assistant professor to b...

My research focuses on block copolymer materials, which can spontaneously self-assemble into periodic structures of cylinders or spheres that are on the order of 10 nanometers across. I use these systems as a laboratory for nanoscale physics, studyin...

Anne Norman Van Gelder performed with Bristol Ballet and Roanoke Ballet Theatre and served as ballet mistress for Roanoke Ballet Theatre and Utah Ballet. As a dancer, she worked with Alun Jones, Conrad Ludlow, Richard Munro, Tom Pazik and Stanley Zom...

Richard Waller is executive director of University museums, including the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art and Print Study Center and the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature. He received his master of fine arts degree from Yale University af...

Hugh West is working on a study of the intellectual/cultural world of late-Eighteenth-century Europe, especially Germany, through the prism of the life of Georg Forster, 1754-94--a life embracing Catherine the Great's Russia, Cook's second voyage, va...

Dr. Wharton's research combines gender, family, and work issues. For example, she recently published a book, Framing a Domain for Work and Family: A Study of Women in Residential Real Estate Sales Work, about women who sell residential real estate, f...

Williams holds a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from Vanderbilt University, where he served on the Vanderbilt Law Review. He teaches civil procedure, conflict of laws, evidence and federal jurisdiction. In addition to teaching, he serves as as...

Dr. Thad Williamson is associate professor of leadership studies and philosophy, politics, economics and law (PPEL). A sought-after professor and civic activist, his research focuses on urban politics and sprawl, community economic development, polit...

I am currently working on "Civilizing the Nation: Prisoners of War, and Medicine in Turkey, 1914-1939," a study of how the nation was constructed. I examine two closely related groups: Ottoman prisoners of war in Russia and Egypt and the Ottoman/Turk...

I am currently completing a book titled In the Nation’s Service: Race, Government Work, and the Making of the Progressive State under contract with The University of North Carolina Press.  The book examines federal employment as a lever and obstac...