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VCU graduates more than 4,000

During Spring 2009 Commencement on May 16, more than 4,000 students received professional, graduate and undergraduate degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University. The graduating class represented 41 countries and 37 of the 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. About 500 graduates participated in the ceremony.

Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, urged graduates to think big. Collins said graduates will face four major questions throughout their lives, involving work, faith, love and fun. He illustrated the importance of fun and a sense of humor with a song about the college experience that he performed on a guitar decorated with a double helix - receiving a standing ovation.

Eugene Trani, Ph.D., president of VCU for 19 years, presided over Commencement activities for the final time. Dr. Trani is retiring as president at the end of June but will remain at VCU as a distinguished professor. He thanked the students and faculty for allowing him to serve.

Watch the video. View a photo gallery.

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VCU opens Molecular Medical Research Building 

The Molecular Medicine Research Building marks the completion of a major phase of the modernization of the academic health sciences center.

The opening of the new building coincides with an increase in National Institutes of Health research awards to the VCU School of Medicine.

The facility is registered with the United States Green Building Council and anticipates LEED certification in three to six months. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the council’s leading rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy-efficient and high-performing buildings. Read more.

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Massey researcher wins lifetime achievement award 

Dr. Harry D. Bear (M.D.'75/M; Ph.D.'78/M), a leading physician-researcher with the VCU Massey Cancer Center, received the Distinguished Investigator Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project Foundation Inc., at a May ceremony held in San Diego.

He co-leads Massey’s immune mechanisms research, one of the center’s core cancer research programs. He has served as medical director of Massey’s Breast Health Center since 1993 and leads a multidisciplinary team in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. He also chairs the Division of Surgical Oncology at the VCU School of Medicine and holds the Walter J. Lawrence Jr. Distinguished Professorship in Oncology.

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Allied Health educator, alumnus honored

William J. Korzun, Ph.D.

William J. Korzun, Ph.D. (Ph.D.'88/M), associate professor in the School of Allied Health Professions' Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, received the 2009 Virginia Society for Clinical Laboratory Science Educator of the Year Award at the March 16 VSCLS Annual Meeting.

Korzun has served the profession of clinical laboratory sciences for 34 years. A native of New York, he completed his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University followed by completion of a hospital-based medical technology program in New Jersey. His master’s degree in medical technology was completed at Temple University. In 1988, he graduated from VCU with a Ph.D. in clinical chemistry from the Department of Pathology. 

After serving as assistant professor and chairman of the Department of Clinical Laboratory Science at the University of South Alabama from 1978-82, he returned to the same department in 1993 where he served as associate professor and chairman for eight years. In 2002, Korzun joined the faculty of the VCU School of Allied Health Professions' Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences as an associate professor and received tenure in 2005.

His current research includes a funded project for the evaluation of homogeneous methods for measuring HDL and LDL cholesterol and measurement of cortisol and amylase in saliva samples.  In 2003, Korzun was awarded a VCU’s Center for Teaching Excellence Grant to incorporate digital video and audio clips in his lectures. To facilitate his research endeavors, he was the recipient of the School of Allied Health Professions A.D. Williams Scholar Award in 2005.

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School of Pharmacy educators recognized

William R. Garnett (left) and David A. Holdford

Joseph L. McClay

They were two of nine pharmacists nationwide accorded this honor.

In addition, Joseph L. McClay, research assistant professor at VCU  School of Pharmacy, has been named a 2009 NARSAD Young Investigator Award winner. The national Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression is considered the world’s leading charity for mental health research.

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Food drive attracts tons of support

Virginia Commonwealth University’s three-day food drive collected the equivalent of nearly 11 tons of food for the Central Virginia Foodbank and its affiliated Meals on Wheels and Community Kitchen programs. 

The food drive took place April 14-16 at multiple locations on both the Monroe Park and MCV campuses. Enough food was raised to feed more than 20,000 people. Read more.

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Brandcenter adds team leader

Kelly O'Keefe

This past March, the VCU Brandcenter added Kelly O’Keefe to its leadership team. O'Keefe will assume the role of managing director on July 1 and will work closely with Brandcenter Director Rick Boyko.

O'Keefe is an original Brandcenter board member, professor and director of the Brandcenter executive education program. He will now take on the management of day-to-day operations, which allows Boyko to focus more on industry outreach, development and recruitment.

O'Keefe is a branding entrepreneur and highly regarded in the new-media industry. He recently served as president of O’Keefe Brands, a brand-strategy firm that works with ESPN, Hamilton Beach, Sesame Street and the NAB. Read more. 

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VCU helps Virginia 'go green'

The VCU Rice Center is located on the James River in Charles City County.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s Walter L. Rice Education Building at the VCU Rice Center is the first building in Virginia to be awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED platinum certification, the highest sustainability rating possible.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the council’s leading rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient and high-performing buildings. Read more. 

View a video about the Rice Center.

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Rams win eighth CAA golf crown

The VCU golf team won the 2009 CAA championship.

On April 19, the VCU golf team rallied from 12 strokes down in the final round to defeat Georgia State University on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association men’s golf championship, marking VCU's eighth CAA golf crown win. Read more.  

In addition, junior Lanto Griffin, of Blacksburg, Va., was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Men’s Golfer of the Year in a vote of the league’s head coaches.

VCU’s Matt Ball and James Madison’s Jeff Forbes were also honored as CAA Co-Coaches of the Year. Read more. 

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Alumni in the News

Alumna nominated for Obama administration post

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Chief ME takes post at medical school

Dr. Leah L. E. Bush is the chief medical examiner for the state.

Dr. Leah L.E. Bush (M.S.'80/H&S; M.D.'84/M), chief medical examiner for the commonwealth of Virginia, has been appointed chair of the Department of Legal Medicine in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. She succeeds Dr. Marcello Fierro.

Bush, a School of Medicine alumna, completed a forensic pathology fellowship at the Medical Examiner’s Office in Richmond. She has been a medical examiner for the commonwealth since 1986, and has been chief medical examiner since 2008. 

She also serves on the Board of Directors of the VCU Alumni Association.  

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Alumnus named Fulbright Scholar

John D. Matthews, Ph.D. (Ph.D.'04/SW) has been named a Fulbright Scholar by the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. 

Matthews will depart in early December 2009 for Windhoek, Namibia (Sub-Saharan Africa), where he will lecture in social work and community development for one year at the University of Namibia while also conducting a research project that explores risk and resilience among orphans and other vulnerable children, with a particular focus on children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS.

Matthews is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work and Human Services at Eastern Washington University. He holds a Ph.D. from the VCU School of Social Work

and a master's of social work from Radford University. Read more.

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Alumna awarded research associateship

Kristen Lewis was a scholarship winner at VCU.

Kristen E. Lewis (M.S. '05/FS) was recently awarded a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associateship to work at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

She will work in the Applied Genetics Group to develop a standardized genetic and statistical approach to identify relatives in immigration cases. Lewis hopes to finish her Ph.D. in Genome Sciences at the University of Washington by the end of 2009 and is excited to move back to the Maryland-Northern Virginia area to postdoc at NIST. 

At VCU, Lewis was the 2004–05 recipient of the Emily R. Murphy Scholarship Award. She and her fiance, Kerry O'Connor, will be married in Richmond, Va., in June 2010.  

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Richmond magazine recognizes top docs

Dr. Erika Blanton was honored by Richmond magazine as women's health pioneer.

The latest rankings of Richmond's Top Docs in Women's Health appear in the April 2009 issue of Richmond magazine. 

The top vote-getter in 42 of the 50 categories is a physician who is either on faculty in the School of Medicine or who did a portion of their training at VCU's medical school.

In addition, house staff alumnae Dr. Erika Blanton and longtime faculty member Dr. Wendy Klein were featured as special honorees: women's health pioneer and physician advocate, respectively.

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Alumnus wins volunteerism award

The American Medical Association's Jack B. McConnell, M.D. Award for Excellence in Volunteerism honors a senior (older than 55) physician’s commitment to volunteer medical care provided to those without access to healthcare in the United States.

The 2009 recipient is Dr. Richard N. Baylor (M.D.'46/M), a retired physician from Kilmarnock, Va.

He recently stepped down as medical director from the Northern Neck Free Health Clinic, which he founded more than 15 years ago, but he continues to have a daily presence at the clinic. The clinic has provided $26 million in healthcare to the working poor, serving 4,500 patients and providing more than 58,000 patient visits.  

The 2009 AMA Foundation Excellence in Medicine Awards dinner was held March 9 in Washington before the AMA National Advocacy Conference. These awards recognize those who exemplify the highest values of altruism, compassion, leadership and dedication to patient care.

Watch a video about Baylor. 

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Pharmacy grad earns fellowship

Satjit “Satti” Brar is adjusting to life as a fellow for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

After graduating last May from the VCU School of Pharmacy, Satjit “Satti” Brar (Pharm.D.'08/P; Ph.D.'08/D) took some time off to get married and gear up for his next project. 

This past December, he went to work on a critical path initiative at the United States Food and Drug Administration's Office of Clinical Pharmacology, where he was offered a two-year, research-based fellowship position. 

"I'm still pretty new to the position, but it's going well and I'm learning a lot," Brar said. "It's a complete learning curve with the science, the regulatory nature and the environment. I'm getting great experience."

His area of research involves pulmonary arterial hypertension in  adults and pediatrics. Brar uses quantitative clinical pharmacology techniques to design clinical trials for pediatric patients with pulmonary hypertension. This research will help pharmaceutical industries and academia optimize clinical trial design to eventually maximize benefit and minimize risk in therapies given to patients with this disease state. 

Brar will eventually present his findings to experts in the field at the FDA and NIH.

"I am making progress," he said. "I do see myself coming up with an optimal clinical trial design for pediatric patients."

None of his successes would be possible without his education at VCU School of Pharmacy, he said, adding that he misses VCU and hopes to one day return as a professor.   

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Alumnus tapped to lead newspaper

Edward Moss

Veteran media executive Edward Moss (B.S. ‘76/MC) is the new president and publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Moss most recently served as president and CEO of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, publisher. Moss previously worked in San Diego County from 1980 to 1986 as advertising director of the Times Advocate in Escondido. His media career spans 32 years.

“There's a terrific opportunity here to create value with a highly differentiated product that delivers real value to readers and advertisers," he told the newspaper. "I believe that my biggest challenge will be to grow a business that has been shrinking for some time.”   

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Alumna part of inaugural class of Influential Women of Virginia

Héloise B. "Ginger" Levit

Virginia Lawyers Weekly, included alumna Héloise B. "Ginger" Levit (M.A.‘98/A) to represent Virginia’s art community for the 2009 inaugural class of Influential Women of Virginia. The award recognizes outstanding efforts of women in the commonwealth in all fields who are making notable contributions.

Levit is an art dealer of fine French paintings. She formed her first gallery, Fine Arts America, in 1984 with former director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Peter Mooz.

“We sold only the finest paintings - nationally and internationally,” she said.

Two years later, she enrolled in VCU’s art history graduate studies program.

“I wanted to sell high-quality paintings in a knowledgeable way,” she said. 

After receiving her master’s degree, she realized that she loved the art of writing. Levit now writes prize-winning articles for magazines such as Fine Art Connoisseur and Antique Week. She opened her own gallery in 1990, selling art by invitation and appointment only.

"People who are really ready to buy fine art will find me,” she said. 

Levit leaves for Paris on May 21 for a month-long excursion to meet with dealers and scout for fine art. “I know where to go to find good paintings,” she said.

All of the Influential Women of Virginia honorees were celebrated at a gala luncheon May 14 at the Jefferson Hotel. They were profiled in a special publication distributed at the event and inserted into Virginia Lawyers Weekly.  

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Reader's Digest names VCU alumna as president

Alumna Eva Dillon has held many magazine positions before landing at Reader's Digest.

In March, Eva Dillon (B.M.'82/A) was named president and group publisher of Reader's Digest magazine. She will be responsible for Reader's Digest, RD Large Print Edition and Selecciones magazine.

Reader's Digest began restructuring months after it made the industry shift from public to private in February. President and CEO of the Reader's Digest Association Inc. Mary Berner plucked Dillon along with others from Conde Nast, where she once headed the Fairchild Publications division. Dillon will work in the New York office and report directly to Berner.
   

"I couldn't be happier to be joining Reader's Digest, especially at this exciting time in the 85-year history of America's favorite magazine," Dillon told PR Newswire. "I look forward to working with Mary Berner and the entire Reader's Digest team."

Dillon's previous positions include associate publisher at Glamour magazine and New York regional manager of TV Guide. She also held positions at YM, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and the New Yorker magazines. More recently, Dilllon was vice president and publisher of Jane magazine at Fairchild Publications, which later became part of Conde Nast Publications. During Dillon's tenure, Jane magazine doubled its revenues and was listed among the Adweek Top Ten Hottest magazines for three years.

She was named "Woman to Watch" in an annual special report on women in business. In 2005, she was the launch-publisher of Cookie, positioning it as the first family lifestyle magazine to bridge luxury and mass advertising. 

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Alumna named employee of the year

VAHC President Lisa Sprinkel congratulates Etta V. Butler.

Etta V. Butler (M.S.W.'87/SW) is this year's winner of the Employee of the Year Award from the Virginia Association of Home Care and Hospice.

Her nomination application reveals a story about her dedication to patient advocacy and desire to help others. She is described as an angel on Earth. 

In a recent case, an elderly patient was referred to Bon Secours Richmond Home Care for wound care. The patient lived in a home so full of debris that she couldn't open her refrigerator door. She had not eaten in several days and couldn't get her walker down the hall to make it to the bathroom. Adult Protective Services deemed her capable of handling her own affairs, and she refused to relocate or let anyone come in to clean. 

Within 24 hours, Butler located a family member to clean up and persuaded a Medicaid personal care agency to resume care so that home care nurses could provide the wound care she needed.

Butler has worked at Bon Secours Richmond Home Care for 10 years.  

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Alumna wins Rising Star in marketing world

Alumna LaTonya M. Whitaker as won an industry honor.

LaTonya M. Whitaker (B.S.'05/MC) was presented the 2008 Rising Star Award from the Virginia Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services at the association’s annual conference in February in Charlottesville.

This award goes to a marketing professional with fewer than five years experience in the architect-engineering-construction industry, who has a demonstrated commitment to the field and industry and has shown an aptitude for leadership through their intense involvement and contributions.

Whitaker has been a marketing coordinator at the Richmond office of Hankins & Anderson for two years. Since joining the firm in April 2007, she assumed several responsibilities both at the firm and in SMPSVA, including serving as coordinator for chapter region meetings in Richmond. As public relations director for SMPSVA, Whitaker revamped chapter materials and program fliers, thereby initiating the organization’s foray into social media. 

“Our chapter is fortunate to benefit from the energy of many of our younger members. Competition for the Rising Star Award was tough this year,” said SMPSVA immediate past president Cindy Allen of DJG Inc. “Among them, LaTonya is a definite standout. Her firm and our chapter are lucky to have her talent, and I predict she can rise as far as she likes in the AEC industry.”

SMPS Virginia is the definitive resource for marketing and sales of professional architecture, engineering and construction services for the built and natural environment in the commonwealth. The chapter has more than 100 members from firms from Roanoke, Charlottesville and Virginia Beach.

Alumnus sets record on 'Fallon'

Todd Lamb has studied comedy writing at The Second City in Chicago.

On March 20, Todd Lamb (M.S.'00/MC)  was featured on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" for setting the record for Most Whoopee Cushions Sat On In 30 Seconds While Keeping A Straight Face.  

As Lamb's assistant, Fallon's job was to place each whoopee cushion on Lamb's chair as fast as Lamb could sit on and completely deflate each one. With Fallon's help, Lamb deflated 16 without cracking up. There was a moment when he smiled faintly but quickly regained his composure and continued the flatulent oratory until the buzzer sounded. 

Fallon congratulated him and asked how he could commit such an act without laughing. Lamb replied, "I didn't find it a bit funny." 

Lamb's achievement has been recorded in the Universal Record Database.  Watch the video.

Lamb is a New York City-based writer, director and self-proclaimed "maker of good things." He began making skateboarding videos, with humorous skits in-between the skating, when he was 10 years old.

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Giving News

VCU gathers for fifth annual walk-a-thon

The annual walk-a-thon raises scholarship money.

Members from the VCU and Richmond communities gathered for the fifth annual Staff Senate walk-a-thon to benefit the Virginia’s Caring University Scholarship.

 

This year 300 people attended the event and raised more than $9,000, making it the most successful walk-a-thon to date. Read more.

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Foundation supports new Parkinson's center

School of Medicine Dean Dr. Jerome Strauss (left) thanks FitzGerald and Margaret Bemiss and their son Samuel. 

The Tilghman Family Foundation made a $75,000 pledge supporting the new Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine. The center is envisioned as a world-class leader in the study of these debilitating diseases and will be a statewide resource, with world-class clinicians and researchers in age-associated neurological diseases, as well as physical medicine and rehabilitation already on staff.

A generous gift from FitzGerald and Margaret Page (B.S.'78/H&S) Bemiss of $1 million allowed the dean of the medical school, Dr. Jerome Strauss, to recruit an experienced researcher who will be the center's founding director. Dr. Jim Bennett, one of the nation's premier researchers in this area, will take the helm of the center.

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H&S student callers raise $20,000

Ashley White (right), Yetunde Akinola, Brandon Smith, Mary Haug and Deanna Mackey have worked four semesters as student callers for the College of Humanities and Sciences. Sarah Rodriguez and Leslie Lampton (not pictured) also work as callers.

From late January to mid-April, a group of about seven students from the College of Humanities and Sciences gathered to call alumni, asking them to make a gift to the Annual Fund. Four nights a week, the team of student callers reached out to more than 5,000 alumni in the Richmond metropolitan area.
 
The students secured more than $20,000 through 650 pledges. Of those pledges, 550 came from new donors.

The Annual Fund in the College of Humanities and Sciences provides unrestricted funds for the college's most pressing needs at the time, such as scholarships, faculty support and more.
 
These calls also serve as the primary venue for updating alumni information.
 
"Gifts to the Annual Fund – no matter the amount - are a vital resource for the college, its students and its faculty," said Michael P. Andrews, assistant director of development for annual giving for the College of Humanities and Sciences.
 
For more information about the College of Humanities and Sciences' Annual Fund, contact Michael P. Andrews at 804-827-1351.

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Donors receive a warm thank you

Nate Snelson is giving back to his alma mater.

Alumnus Nate Snelson (B.S.'95/MC) recently donated 500 blankets to the School of Mass Communications to be used in fundraising appeals for the school.

Snelson is co-owner of Convergence Direct, a direct-marketing and fundraising firm in Bethesda, Md.

The school is using the blankets as a premium gift to School of Mass Communications alumni who have supported the school financially in the past. They are not for sale. The blankets are yellow fleece with an embroidered, circular VCU logo.

Snelson said his intent was for his gift to have a multiplicative effect for the school.

"If effective, these blankets could help the school realize a net of anywhere from five to ten times the amount of the value of my gift," he said. "I don’t think the school has ever done anything like this, so there will be some learning for all of us. Who knows, if successful, maybe it can be rolled out across other programs at VCU."

Founded in 2006, Convergence Direct provides regional, national and international direct-mail services to support fundraising programs for clients ranging from animal welfare and humanitarian relief to veterans organizations. The company is currently mailing for clients in the United Kingdom and France and will be expanding into Italy, Germany and Hong Kong later this year.

Snelson lives in Potomac, Md., with his wife and two daughters. He received his M.B.A. from American University in May of 2008.  

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