University of Richmond has appointed Rob Blandford as chief investment officer of its investment affiliate, Spider Management Co. LLC, effective immediately.

Twenty-four Virginia independent colleges will welcome prospective students and their parents to their campuses July 30 – Aug. 4, to demonstrate how private colleges can be affordable choices.

Athletic Director Jim Miller, who guided the University of Richmond’s unprecedented athletic and academic success throughout a 12-year tenure, will transition from his current role to the newly established role of assistant to the president for athletic advancement.

The University of Richmond’s Heilman Dining Center won the Loyal E. Horton Bronze Award for Residential Dining Special Event from the National Association of College and University Food Services.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute has awarded a $1.4 million, four-year grant to the University of Richmond to build upon its successful Integrated Quantitative Science course and develop a new program to promote diversity in math and science.  It is the third HHMI grant awarded to Richmond in the past eight years.

Shannon Mann, a University of Richmond senior from Abingdon, Va., has won a $20,000 Boren Scholarship, given to undergraduate students for study abroad in areas critical to U.S. interests and traditionally underrepresented in study abroad.

Andrew Lyell, a University of Richmond senior from Chantilly, Va., has received his third Critical Language Scholarship to study the Bengali language in Bangladesh.

Bloomberg Businessweek has ranked the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond No. 1 in international business education in its rankings of top undergraduate business schools by specialty for the second consecutive year.

Jane Geaney, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Richmond, has received a $6,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Summer Stipend Program.

When the University of Richmond graduates 1,073 bachelor’s, master’s and law students May 5-6, among them will be a computer science and business major who turned two internships with Google into a full-time job; twin sisters from Bulgaria, who have triple majors and will study comparative politics in graduate school; and a student with a passionate interest in human rights who will work for the Rwandan Supreme Court before joining the Peace Corps.