“By the end of this year, we will become a $4 billion company,” Smith, the president and CFO of K-VA-T Food Stores, told the crowd at the April 4 event in Kyle Hall. In the face of such success, however, he maintains a humble designation for himself: “I'm a second-generation grocer."

This week in Highlanders in the News: Professor of Physics Rhett Herman marks 18 years of student research trips to Utqiagvik, Alaska, some 300 miles above the Arctic Circle; three of the Traylor-Walker siblings – Ashlyn, Pa’Shence and Adelyn – give a roundtable interview about playing Highlander basketball as a set of sisters; and Assistant Professor of Management Zachary Collier has tips on chips.

The research project, spearheaded by Richard Gruss of the Davis College of Business and Economics, examines some of the elements that make one sales pitch succeed over another. Gruss recently drafted four acting students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts to present fictional pitches, which were used to help gather data. 

Following their role in the Federal Reserve’s academic competition last year, Radford students on Feb. 9 joined others from about two dozen schools for a “post-game” open house. They got tips from judges, networked with Federal Reserve system staff and officials, economic experts and other participants, learned more about employment prospects in the field and met Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Meredith Page, a member of the Radford University women’s volleyball team, testified before members of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., during the “NIL Playbook: Proposal to Protect Student Athletes’ Dealmaking Rights” hearing of the House Innovation, Data and Commerce Subcommittee on Jan. 18, 2024.

Every two weeks, Highlander Highlights shares with readers some of the extraordinary research and accomplishments happening on and off campus through the tireless work and curiosity of our students and faculty.

This week in Highlanders in the News: Find out which six Radford alums were chosen for spots this year on The Roanoker magazine’s “40 Under 40” list of outstanding young local professionals; and longtime lawmen Robby Richardson ’06 and Mark Embrey ’99 now wear the sheriff’s stars in their respective counties.

Every two weeks, Highlander Highlights shares with readers some of the extraordinary research and accomplishments happening on and off campus through the tireless work and curiosity of our students and faculty.

This week in Highlanders in the News: Self-starter Stacey Price ’99, M.S. ’01, adds another link to her growing entrepreneurial chain; and Roanoke social worker Danielle Austin-Johnson, ’13, M.S. ’18, lends her profile to a local work of art.