Highlanders in the News: Week of Sept. 26, 2025

Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. In this column, 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.

Leveling up

Here at the central headquarters for Highlanders in the News, we always enjoy finding Highlanders who are in the news. It’s just what we do. But for this particular item, the news is that there are now officially even more Highlanders, all coming to campus and learning online in greater numbers.

It’s a fact: Earlier this month, it was announced that Radford University’s student enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year has surpassed the previous year’s figures, up from 7,812 in 2024 to 7,837 today. That marks an increase of 1% for undergraduates and an 8% rise for graduate students, representing a second year of record enrollment increases.

Meanwhile, the College of Nursing just welcomed its largest undergraduate class ever, with 1,295 students, including 700 new students at the main campus, and the Honors College rose from 386 last fall to 425 this semester, a gain of more than 10%, just as New Honors enrollment increased 156 incoming students, for a 13% growth.

That data was so widely reported that it’s entirely possible that you have already seen it elsewhere. Local outlets that picked it up include:

In a release about the upward swing, Radford Vice President for Enrollment Management and Strategic Communication Dannette Gomez Beane said the rise is a sign of the university’s planning and civic cooperation.

“We are encouraged to see continued growth across both our undergraduate and graduate programs,” Beane said.

“These results demonstrate the power of Radford’s transparent admissions approach and our commitment to accessibility.”

Risk management

Assistant Professor of Management Zach Collier has contributed some helpful advice to the September issue of Valley Business Front.

In the piece, Collier considers some of the risks businesses can face – human-caused threats, such as cyberattacks, but also natural disasters like fires and floods – and he presents the four basic strategies that can provide solutions: avoidance, mitigation, transfer and acceptance.

You can see his full breakdown of each component in the online version of the story.

"With a little bit of creativity, businesses can withstand, and maybe even capitalize on, any risks that come their way," Collier writes.

Community connections

The Pulaski County Patriot recently covered Radford City Council’s Sept. 8 work session with the school board, a gathering that included a report by Radford University Vice President for Economic Development and Corporate Education Angela Joyner.

In her address to both groups, the Sept. 11 article said, Joyner discussed the university’s planetarium, which frequently hosts local student groups; the amenities offered to local businesses by the HUB at Radford; and the prospect of a collaborative effort by the city and the university toward building a local amphitheater.

Radford council members Kelly Artrip and Jesse Foster expressed enthusiasm for the idea of an open-air venue to be used for hosting music and theatrical presentations, the story said.

Joyner also pointed to the recently held Radford Community Fest, a partnership between the school and the city, the second installment of which took place Aug. 23 on Main Street downtown.

“At meeting’s end, each city councilor had something positive to say about the event,” the Patriot reported.

Joyner’s discussion underscored the ongoing work of local economic development and told both groups, “Our office is here to connect the community to the university and the university to the community.”

Here is a link to that work session’s meeting agenda.

‘A reasonable, rational and respectful place’

Chapman Rackaway, chair of the Department of Political Science, is frequently consulted by media outlets regarding the issues of the day.

He currently teaches classes on state and local governments and campaign management, but before he came to Radford, Rackaway was active in politics and academia and was a director in the Department of Civic Engagement and Public Service at the University of West Georgia (UWG). He’s also the author of “Civic Failure and Its Threat to American Democracy: Operator Error”, among other books.

Over the past few months, Rackaway has weighed in on the House of Delegates race in Virginia’s 41st District for WFIR, explained presidential executive orders on WDBJ-7 and offered thoughts on the implications of National Guard deployments in cities around the United States.

For a Sept. 11 story on recent attacks against domestic politicians and political figures, WFXR (Roanoke, Virginia) reached out to Rackaway for his interpretation.

“Democracy by its nature is supposed to be this place where no matter how deep our divisions are, we come together in a reasonable, rational and respectful place,” Rackaway told the station.

“What you hope for at this point is that we continue to have plenty of political speech, but that maybe the tone of the rhetoric cools down just a little bit,” he added.

With state elections a little over a month away, Rackaway said, Virginia’s candidates have an opportunity to set positive examples for civil discourse.

“If they’re respectful with each other, if they shake hands at the end and we’re left with a peaceful resolution, those [actions] are guideposts along the way.”