Five professors receive Distinguished Educator awards

October 4, 2011

The University of Richmond has named five recipients of 2011 Distinguished Educator Awards.

The awards went to L. Elizabeth Crawford of Richmond, associate professor of psychology; Brian Henry of Chesterfield, professor of English; Yvonne H. Howell of Richmond, professor of Russian and international studies; Shari Motro of Richmond, professor of law; and J. Thomas Wren of Henrico, professor of leadership studies.

Distinguished Educator Awards recognize full-time faculty for a consistent record of outstanding contributions to education. Recipients have successfully integrated teaching and scholarship and have a significant record of research or creativity with students.

Crawford is the author of numerous journal articles based on her research about cognition, emotion, spatial categorization and memory.

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 Review and The Kenyon Review. He also co-edits the international journal Verse.

Howell chairs the Department of Modern Literatures and Cultures. She is the author of a book on Soviet science fiction and has published several articles on scientific culture in Russia. She also has published articles and reviews on Czech literature, and she directs a summer study abroad program in Prague. 


Motro has published numerous articles on the intersection of money, intimacy and the law. She also writes about Israeli-Palestinian relations.


Wren has written and lectured extensively about James Madison, the Virginia courts and the historical roots of leadership. He has chaired the scholarship and program committees of the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. This is his second Distinguished Educator Award.

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