University of Richmond History Professor Michelle Kahn Named a National Humanities Center Fellow
History professor Michelle Kahn has been named a National Humanities Center Fellow for 2025–26.
School of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Annual Report
2023-24 Now Available!
A&S Award Winners
Each April, the School of Arts & Sciences awards the David C. Evans Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship and Artistic & Creative Works at the A&S Honors Convocation. During the A&S Honors Convocation, department honor societies, winners of the A&S Student Symposium paper and art competitions, John R. Rilling Award for First-Year Seminar Writing, and the outstanding faculty mentor are also recognized.
2025 Recipients
DAVID C. EVANS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SCHOLARSHIP
Holly Wemple and Maya Casillas
DAVID C. EVANS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC & CREATIVE WORK
Adam Huffman
A&S STUDENT SYMPOSIUM AWARDS
Paper Competition
Maria Byrnes and Maria Zambrano Davila
Art Competition
Hannah Zaheer
Outstanding Mentor
Elena Calvillo, associate professor of art history, and Laura Knouse, professor of psychology
A&S Symposium Sustainability Awards
Oral Presentation
Sophie Tanner
Poster Presentation
Megan Montoya and Julia Norton
A&S OUTSTANDING SENIOR AWARD
Doro and Bella Stevens
John R. Rilling Award for First-Year Seminar Writing
Owen Hoover and Hallie Muniz
Bridge to Success
"Discovering the Power of Your Voice."
June 22 to July 26, 2025
The Bridge to Success (BTS) program offers an immersive summer experience tailored to facilitate your transition from high school to college. Participants in the BTS program will engage in a comprehensive academic course, fulfilling one (1 Unit) of the University’s General Education graduation requirements. These small, student-centered liberal arts courses are complemented through study sessions, community excursions, and practical workshops aimed at equipping students to embrace the academic, social, and cultural opportunities of both the University of Richmond and its neighboring community.
Students participating in the BTS program reside in one of the University’s residence halls for a duration of five weeks. During this time, they familiarize themselves with the campus, establish enduring connections with mentors, peers, and University personnel, and initiate the cultivation of essential time management competencies.
A&S Books & Roses
FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 4:30-6 p.m. | HUMANITIES COMMONS
Join the A&S Dean’s Office for the third annual Books & Roses Celebration showcasing A&S faculty and staff books published between April 20, 2024 and April 20, 2025.
Books & Roses is inspired by two annual international celebrations: 1) Saint George’s Day (“Sant Jordi”) in Catalonia, where literature and love are distinctly intertwined in a massive display and exchange of books and roses, and 2) UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day. Both are typically celebrated on April 23, which also happens to be the birthdate of Cervantes and Shakespeare.
The festivities will include cupcakes, refreshments, music, and roses.
A&S Commencement Reception
SATURDAY, MAY 10, 3-5 P.M.
Alice Haynes Room, Tyler Haynes Commons
Come mingle with A&S faculty and staff and enjoy refreshments with your classmates and their families.
Meet the 2024-25 Beckman Scholars
A&S students Marcos Hendler, of Rye, New York, and Aine MacDermott, of Lexington, Virginia, have each been awarded a prestigious Beckman Foundation Scholarship to support faculty-mentored student research in the sciences.
Beckman Scholars are selected among undergraduate biology and chemistry students based on commitment to research, strong academics, and potential to become scientific leaders. UR has had 26 Beckman Scholars since 2006.
Hendler, a chemistry major, is studying computational chemistry focused on molecules related to anticancer, which has implications in possible treatments. Hendler’s faculty mentor is chemistry professor Carol Parish. MacDermott, a biochemistry & molecular biology major, is researching ancient DNA under the mentorship of biology professor Melinda Yang. MacDermott is focused on the evolution of the alcohol metabolism gene ADH1B in present-day and ancient East Asian humans.
Humanities Center
2024-2025: How (And Why) Do We Represent Nature?
This question invites us to consider “representation” in both its political and aesthetic meaning. “Nature” is represented in paintings, poems, scripture, music, dancing, novels, laws, regulations, equations, activisms, advertising campaigns. This question asks how environments — and often their relations to human concerns — are represented across media, geographic and cultural contexts, and different historical moments.
A&S Feature Stories
Expanding digital health solutions for children
Senior receives full scholarship to study applied digital health at the University of Oxford as a Jepson Scholar.
Student Scholars
University of Richmond Junior Chloe Goode Named Truman Scholar
Goode is one of 54 award recipients out of 743 nominations selected for this prestigious, highly competitive scholarship.
At the intersection of medical practice and evaluation
Senior plans a combined career in pediatric medicine and health system evaluation and improvement.
A&S Faculty in the News
The American Historical Association w/ Sarah Weicksel & Ed Ayers
President emeritus and historian Ed Ayers is interviewed.
Show Me Hate: Decoding Missouri’s history of white nationalism and extreme misogyny
Psychology professor Adam Stanaland is quoted.
The chance of Alaska’s Spurr volcano erupting is lower — but there’s a big caveat as 268,000 Americans brace
Geology professor David Kitchen is quoted.
Tick season is here, expert gives advice on how to avoid nasty bites
Biology professor Jory Brinkerhoff is interviewed.
Faculty Expertise
Do you envision college as a place where your professor’s office hours are spent in deep conversation about topics beyond this week’s assignment? Where you can work side-by-side with a faculty member on cutting-edge research that is published in a professional journal?
In A&S, our faculty are experts on the cutting edge of their fields. While they could work in some of the top research institutions in the world, our faculty chose Richmond because they believe in educating tomorrow's leaders and are passionate about mentoring and sharing their knowledge with students.
A&S Faculty Highlights
Kahn named a National Humanities Center Fellow
Michelle Kahn, associate professor of history, has been awarded a $26,000 National Humanities Center Fellowship for 2025-26 to support writing her book tentatively titled Neo-Nazis in Germany and the United States: An Entangled History of Hate, 1945-2000. Learn more.
Miller and Jiang published on content analysis of trends in Congressional messaging
Chris Miller, visiting assistant professor of political science, and Yucong Jiang, assistant professor of computer science, published "Congressional rhetoric on Twitter and the crisis of democracy" in Communication and Democracy.
Russell published on sorting permutations using numerical runs
Heather M. Russell, associate professor of mathematics published "Runs and RSK Tableaux of Boolean Permutations" in Annals of Combinatorics.
Gao published on the great Chinese famine's impact on trust
Gengsong Gao, associate professor of Chinese studies, published "The long-term impact of the great Chinese famine experiences on trust in the current Chinese government" in the Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies.
