Soon after she earned her theater degree, Lauren Faulkner ’15 headed for the West Coast to try to break into the entertainment industry. Since then, the young actor has made steady progress onstage and in shorts and recently appeared in her second feature film, “Spring Break Nightmare,” now showing on the Lifetime Movie Network.

Every two weeks, Highlander Highlights shares with readers some of the extraordinary research and work happening on campus through the tireless effort and curiosity of our students and faculty. This week, we have stories of a student selected to the Voting Honor Roll, a major endorsement for the Clinical Simulation Center and two student-athletes who have winning GPAs.

Carli Wadas ’23 says being an English major at Radford University is “pretty awesome.” If you listen to her speak about it – about the helpful and caring faculty, about the close-knit community of students, about the opportunities to learn through sharing of ideas – it’s likely you, too, will come away with the same impression.

This week in Highlanders in the News: Former faculty member Jim Minick chronicles the 1955 disaster that laid waste to a tiny Kansas town; nursing graduate Sarah Morris talks about working in medicine and then education; and Theresa Burriss, Ph.D., has been tapped to lend her expertise to a new project that examines Appalachia. 

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, which operates in part out of Kyle Hall and uses Radford student volunteers, filed returns for 777 people this year, a 94% increase over 2022. 

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.

The history and social science major died in a December traffic collision, just months before she would have graduated. A posthumous degree was presented in Wright’s name at commencement on May 6.

This week in Highlanders in the News: The 110th Spring Commencement ceremonies and its graduates hit the papers; “Mountain Stage” executive producer Adam Harris ’05 helps public radio’s venerable music show celebrate its big 4-0; Professor of Psychology Niels Christensen is a guest of “honors” on the “Alma Matters” podcast; and Jon Murrill, M.F.A. ’12, paints the town (or at least a part of Vinton, Virginia).

A small group of Radford University faculty members and students recently teamed with researchers from Brazil to begin constructing a framework for a collaborative relationship focused on cybersecurity and entrepreneurship.