Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Every other week, we highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we’ll feature their stories.
Keeping score (and more)
Most people count themselves lucky if they have one interesting job.
But Rob Craig ’05 actually has a pair of intriguing occupations, and in a recent profile, he talked about both of them.
On the one hand, Craig works in game operations for University of Virginia Athletics – he manages the scoreboards and oversees timeouts for UVA, primarily during women’s basketball games but also for baseball, football, soccer and softball, among other sports.
As for his other gig, he pretends to be sick. That actually means he’s a simulation technician in UVA’s School of Nursing, role-playing as a patient for nursing students and also manipulating the vital signs of the life-size mannequins they use.
After he graduated from Radford, Craig initially worked as a sports reporter but said he found it grueling. Between his two current roles, he’s able to combine creativity and his love of the games, alternating between tallying the scores at venues like the John Paul Jones arena and lying on a hospital gurney, simulating the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal.
“It has absolutely been a dream come true,” said Craig of his nursing duties, while noting of his athletics work: “A lot of times, I would do this job for free. … Don’t get me wrong, it’s stressful. It can be very difficult at times, but it’s so much fun.”
Passing the ball
Following a career in basketball that has spanned five decades, Radford Athletics Hall of Famer Steve Robinson ’81, M.S. ’85, is retiring.
A Roanoke native, Robinson assistant-coached at Radford, Cornell University and the University of Kansas before an 18-year stretch at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 2021, he’s been assistant coach at the University of Arizona. Between 1995 and 2002, he also served as a head coach, first at the University of Tulsa and then at Florida State University.
According to a report by Arizona, he spent 42 years coaching at the Division I level, during which he coached or recruited more than 60 players who ultimately went on to play in the NBA. He saw his teams rise to the NCAA Tournament some 31 times, to the Final Four eight times and won three national championships.
While at Radford, Robinson was among the first scholarship athletes to attend. He was a two-year starter and co-captained the men’s basketball teams from 1978 to 1980.
“Robinson averaged 11.5 points and 6.8 rebounds during one of Radford's greatest seasons
ever, the 23-4 year in 1978-79, under coach Joe Davis,” according to the athletic
department, and he was inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame in 1997.
He has also served on the Governance, Administration and Athletics Committee and the
Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Visitors.
“After more than 40 years of coaching and mentoring young men from around the world,
I feel it is the right time for me to step away and spend more time with my wife,
our kids and our grandkids,” Robinson said of the milestone.
“Coaching has been my passion from the day that I started, and I want to thank each
and every former player, coach or manager for the impact they have made on my life.”
On May 1, Roanoke's WSLS-TV featured a one-on-one chat with Robinson spotlighting his thoughts on his career.
Principal focus
Two Radford alums who work in education will soon be celebrating a milestone – they’re about to become school principals.
Kenya Motley, M.S. ’17, has been appointed to lead East Salem Elementary School starting July 1.
She’ll succeed Hunter Routt, who has held the office since 2019.
A Roanoke native, Motley taught at Herman L. Horn and Round Hill elementary schools, served as assistant principal at the Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science and worked for four years in the School of Education at Virginia Tech.
“[My] heart is at its fullest when I feel like I am positively impacting outcomes for our younger schoolchildren,” Motley said in a Salem news release. "Enhancing their development and then watching them grow each day are both very rewarding to me."
Meanwhile, Shaun Sparks ’01 has been tapped to serve as head of Rockbridge County High School, beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
He’s taking over for Principal Mike Craft, who is retiring.
Sparks has been the assistant principal at the school for the past two years, according to an April 9 story in the News-Gazette, and has also held positions that include teaching and being director of career and technical education (CTE).
“We are confident that Mr. Sparks’ leadership, experience, and deep understanding of our school community will continue to move Rockbridge County High School forward,” said the district’s superintendent, Phillip Thompson.