Faculty Excellence

This week in Highlanders in the News: Local media rings the front desk bell at the newly opened Highlander Hotel Radford; Professor of Sociology Aysha Bodenhamer addresses modern coal mining following a new CDC report on the trade; writer and Communication Professor Bill Kovarik offers historical context on Russia’s recent detainment of an American journalist; and transport manager Chad Kennedy ’00 takes up a podcast mic to talk supply chain issues.

Over the past three years, more than 65 of the university’s authors have published work. A new event was held on March 27 to bring them together for an afternoon and to recognize their accomplishments. 

The forum, a collaboration between Radford and five other universities, focused on research, networking and ideas and featured 66 presentations on a wide array of topics.

The inaugural edition of Highlander Highlights focuses on students participating in the “Experiential Learning on Display” program, as well as students who learned from media moguls in New York and those who planted trees in Eastern Kentucky to help with replenishing the forest on mining sites. 

This week in Highlanders in the News: The director of the School of Computing and Information Sciences, Art Carter, takes to TV to talk TikTok; Thomas “Ty” Dobbs ’05, M.S. ’10, sees his career expand as his school system follows suit; and Assistant Professor of Music Matthew Cataldi gives Chopin a pop update.

Radford University professor and Department of History chair Sharon Roger Hepburn, Ph.D., and senior history major Demiah Smith are uncovering the lives and stories of a group of Black Civil War soldiers.

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: Women’s basketball guard Ashlyn Traylor hits some Big South highs and welcomes the sight of a familiar, familial face; also Eminent Professor of Anthropological Sciences Donna Boyd, Ph.D., and senior anthropological sciences major Tori Pate, unveiled some research on a dark topic in the sunny climes of Florida.