News and Events

Every two weeks, Highlander Highlights shares with readers some of the extraordinary research happening on campus through the tireless work and curiosity of our students and faculty. This week, we have stories of students who are keeping AM radio alive, winning People’s Choice awards in cybersecurity and earning honors for work on the soccer field and in the classroom.

This week in Highlanders in the News: Junior Brittiany Rorrer and seniors Valerie Ray and Emily Woods win acclaim for their graphic design work; Brenell Thomas will soon have to balance her graduate work with heading up her local chamber of commerce; and Assistant Professor of Accounting Robert Warren drills down on the dollars and cents in his recent report on a very specific type of financial crime.  

This week in Highlanders in the News: Professor Emeritus Justin Askins, Ph.D., reflects on his youthful quest for a Walden Pond all his own; the town of Vinton, Virginia, salutes paramedic and RUC student Logan Klepal; and professors of criminal justice Rachel Santos and Roberto Santos, both Ph.D., help police to reduce domestic incidents in Danville, Virginia.

This week in Highlanders in the News: Bidding farewell to Radford Highlanders men’s basketball star Cameron “Cam” Jones ’16; Chakita Patterson, M.S.W. ’15, walks the walk and talks the talk in Nashville, Tennessee; and Egan Green, Ph.D., chair of Radford’s Department of Criminal Justice, provides insight for a community more than 2,000 miles to the west. 

In a crowded mock courtroom on Friday, Feb. 3, the large contingent gathered there signaled by their presence that they were unanimously in favor of naming the academic space in which they sat – an early training ground for up-and-coming legal scholars – in honor of Radford University alumnus Chris Huther ’88, an attorney whom President Bret Danilowicz, Ph.D., called that day a champion for Radford.

This week in Highlanders in the News: Roanoke County’s longtime assistant police chief Chuck Mason, ’99, M.S. ’09, brings a half-century of law enforcement experience to his role as an adjunct professor of criminal justice; Robert Miller, M.S. ’06, opens the doors of his music center to help those affected by tragedy; and a campus recreation magazine drops in on Radford’s Esports Center.

Two Radford University student veterans will appear on an upcoming segment of “Military Makeover with Montel.” The episode airs on the Lifetime network at 7:30 a.m. EST on Friday, Jan. 13, and Thursday, Jan. 19. 

This week in Highlanders in the News: Emmie Dean ’13 is out on patrol in Fauquier County, and all signs are good that The Highlander Hotel Radford will blossom in the spring. 

Radford University’s Center for Police Practice, Policy and Research presented its 2021 Excellence in Policing Award to Walton County, Florida, Sheriff Michael Adkinson Jr. during a ceremony held in the university’s Hemphill Hall on April 7, 2022. 

Criminal Justice instructor Todd Jones ‘88, M.S. ’94 teaches students enrolled in his spring semester fire and arson investigation course about what to look for when investigating a fire. His students put those skills to practical use recently inside a mobile burn trailer owned by the Virginia Department of Fire Programs.