University of Richmond senior receives scholarship to Oxford master’s program
A belief in academia’s role in promoting the common good leads Jepson Scholar Daniel Polonia to pursue a master’s in higher education at the University of Oxford.
School of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Annual Report
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.
2026 Recipients
DAVID C. EVANS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING SCHOLARSHIP
Sasha Hanson and Charles Sheppard
DAVID C. EVANS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC & CREATIVE WORK
Toby Tate
A&S STUDENT SYMPOSIUM AWARDS
Paper Competition
Samuel Chanenson, Joshua Walker, and Jason Yoo
Art Competition
Sarah Wirth
Outstanding Mentor
Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias, associate professor of physics, and Heather M. Russell, associate professor of mathematics
A&S Symposium Sustainability Awards
Oral Presentation
Marcela Pizzato
Poster Presentation
Charlie Fisher and Owen Hoover
A&S OUTSTANDING SENIOR AWARD
Denis Velazquez-Mondragon and Charlotte Nofsinger
John R. Rilling Award for First-Year Seminar Writing
Rylan Arata and Emma Contursi
A&S Commencement Reception
SATURDAY, MAY 9, 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.
Senior First Destination Survey
Seniors, let us know what’s next for you! Landed your first job? Still deciding? Let us know your post-grad plans by completing the First Destination Survey. Complete the survey by May 1 and you will be entered to win a diploma frame from the Spider Shop (a $350 value).
Faculty & Staff Research Symposium
September 18, 2026
The Faculty & Staff Research Symposium brings together colleagues from multiple disciplines, programs, and all five schools to present their research, work, and creative projects. All faculty and staff are invited to present their current work as part of interdisciplinary panels, roundtables, short-format sessions, or poster presentations.
A&S Feature Stories
Trailblazing student makes University of Richmond history
Senior Emma McCauley became the first woman to serve as a senator in the historically male Richmond College Student Government Association.
UR Now: UNIVERSITY NEWS
University of Richmond student embraces roles as patient, advocate, and researcher
Senior Paxton Mills receives prestigious Susan Skinner Scholarship for spotlighting bleeding disorders like her own.
UR Now: STUDENT EXPERIENCE
The beat continues at University of Richmond’s student-run radio station
Creativity rules at WDCE, where DJs offer shows ranging from alternative to jazz to an all-CD show.
A&S Faculty in the News
Bluesky set out to fix social media. Now it’s running into familiar problems
Rhetoric and communications studies professor Ben Pettis, an expert on social media, is quoted.
How to get over your fear of being a burden and actually ask for help
Clinical psychologist and psychology professor Janelle Peifer is quoted.
‘Moderate steps’: Expert weighs in on Virginia’s new data center laws
Geography, sustainability, and environment professor Mary Finley-Brook is quoted.
How Gender Shapes the Way We Take Up Space—and What It Says About All of Us
Psychology professor Adam Stanaland is quoted.
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
Xu publishes on new way to spot hidden symmetry patterns
Tianyuan Xu, assistant professor of mathematics & statistics, published "Branching rules of minuscule representations via a new partial order" in Combinatorial Theory.
James recognized for student mentorship and engagement with Africa
Nigel James, assistant professor of health studies, received the 2026 Global Engagement Award. This annual award is given by the Center for Global Engagement and recognizes students, staff, faculty, and alumni who perform exemplary acts of internationalization to benefit the University of Richmond and communities beyond.
Bozzato awarded fellowship for archival research at Portugal’s national library
Daria Bozzato, visiting assistant professor in Italian studies, received a research fellowship from the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD) in partnership with the Biblioteca Nacional de Portugal (BNP), to fund her research project "Domesticating the Deviant: Photography, Honor, and the Surgical Policing of Women in the Luso-Italian-American Asylum." The project investigates how psychosurgery and psychiatric photography functioned as tools for the "surgical domestication" of women across Portugal, Italy, and the United States.
Treonis publishes on life in extreme Namib Desert environments
Amy Treonis, associate professor of biology, published “Briny Biology: Nematodes From the Hypersaline Springs of the Central Namib Desert” in Ecology & Evolution.
