Faculty and Student News

SPIA related news from the Institute for Society, Culture, and Environment - ISCE announces 2008 Summer Scholars. More info...

May 2008 - Paul L. Knox receives Distinguished Scholarship Honors from the Association of American Geographers for 2008. More info...

On April 21, 2008, Robert Lang addressed several European ambassadors in Washington D.C., at the invitation of the Austrian ambassador on the subject of the U.S. presidential election. In May, Lang will travel to Paris, France, to lecture on American suburbs at the École Normale Supérieure via a Fulbright grant. More info...

John A. Rohr, professor in CPAP, will retire from the university in Summer 2008 after 29 years of service.

C. Patrick Washington, a doctoral student in CPAP, has won the Mortimer A. Dittenhofer Dissertation Research Award for his research proposal entitled, "Examining the Fiscal Implications of a 'Catch 22' Mission: The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Proliferation of Improper Payments in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."

Stephanie P. Newbold, a graduate of CPAP's public administration and policy doctoral program, won an honorable mention from the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration for her dissertation, "All but Forgotten: Thomas Jefferson's Contribution to the Development of Public Administration in the United States."

John Browder (UAP) has been named Virginia Tech's Faculty Scholar of the Week for the week of January 26, 2007. Congratulations!

Heike Mayer (UAP) has been awarded the Domestic Public Policy Junior Faculty Fellowship from the Smith Richardson Foundation for her project “Bootstrapping High-Tech: Alternative Strategies for Second Tier Regional Economies.” She will use the fellowship to write a book on the emergence of second tier high-technology regions.

Joyce Rothschild (GIA) has been invited to serve in a distinguished and endowed post at WVU, the Anne Carlson Visiting Professorship, for 2007 where she will lecture on Economy, Democracy and Society.  She continues to plan a conference for March of 2007 that will bring to Blacksburg leading scholars from all over the world who will address democratic possibilities and impediments in a market economy.

Professor Wilma Dunaway (GIA) has published three award-winning books about 19th century Appalachia, and she has received an honorary doctorate for her archival and ethnographic research strategies which are in the tradition of renowned anthropologist Joseph Campbell. Dunaway maintains websites about antebellum women and slavery that provide resources for public school teachers and researchers. She also responds to numerous inquiries annually from African-Americans who are trying to trace their family ancestry back to Virginia plantations.
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/vtpubs/mountain_slavery/index.htm
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/faculty_archives/appalachian_women/index.htm

Ilja Luciak (GIA affiliate) has written the book Unintended Consequences: Gender and Democracy in Cuba (Gainesville, FL:  University Press of Florida, 2007, forthcoming). His work for UNDP has led to the report "Conflict and a Gendered Parliamentary Response," a consultant report prepared for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Project on "Strengthening the Role of Parliaments in Crisis Prevention and Recovery" (April 2006), the report was presented at an international donors meeting sponsored by UNDP and the Belgian Government in April 2006.

Dr. Gerard Toal (GIA) was an invited speaker at a one day conference hosted by the Wilson Center on the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Accords in December 2005. The second edition of his textbook The Geopolitics Reader was published in March. Toal wrote 3 of the 5 sections in the book as well as the introduction. In June 2006, Toal spoke at the European Borders Studies conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland and in July at the International Political Science Association meeting in Fukuoka, Japan. Dr. Toal has been invited to give upcoming talks at a one day arts conference organized by the Slovenian Government and Columbia University in October and at festivities celebrating the 27th anniversary of the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Colima, Mexico.

Earthea Nance (UAP) is back from spending a year as a Martin Luther King Fellow in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. During her fellowship, Dr. Nance wrote a book, conducted a month of research in Brazil, founded the People's Environmental Center in New Orleans, and taught two international development courses.

Virginia's Governor Tim Kaine has appointed Jesse Richardson (UAP) to the Virginia Cave Board.

CPAP's Doctoral student, Jeffrey Stern, has been appointed White House Fellow by President Bush. Congratulations Jeff! More info...

John Randolph (UAP) has won the 2006 William R. and June Dale Prize for Excellence in Urban and Regional Planning from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The Dale Prize recognizes planning excellence, creates dialogue between scholars and practitioners, and enriches the education of planning students. The 2006 theme for this prize is “Crossing Boundaries: Fostering a Regional Approach to Environmental Planning.” More info...