University of Richmond Magazine
I knocked on hundreds of doors last summer. Here’s what I learned.
Interning with a campaign gave senior Sophia Demerath practical experience with listening and finding common ground.
School of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Annual Report
2024-25 Now Available!
2025-2026 Tucker Boatwright Festival of Literature & the Arts
Reconstruction
Hosted by the Department of Art & Art History in partnership with The Harnett Museum.
The 2025–2026 Tucker-Boatwright festival dissects and expands the idea of Reconstruction to highlight the complex relationship to ongoing cultural movements and revolutions that we study, experience, and manifest through the visual arts. Reconstruction considers the many social, environmental, and political crises that we are experiencing today, and encourages us to look back at the histories that frame the urgent questions of our present for answers towards our future.
The Department of Art & Art History in partnership with The Harnett Museum, has invited two world renowned artists to campus, Cauleen Smith and Abigail DeVille, to interpret this theme through two new immersive installations that engage with local histories to create a space for community dialogue.
Meet the 2025-26 Beckman Scholars
A&S students Brice Di Carlo, ’27, and Eric Zhou, ’27, 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 28 Beckman Scholars since 2006.
Chemistry major Brice Di Carlo is studying chemical bonding using various computational methods. This work of studying chemical structures and reactions has implications in developing new medicines and improving existing ones. His faculty mentor is chemistry professor Kelling Donald. Di Carlo plans to pursue a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and aspires to research drug development, including treatments for cardiovascular disease.
Eric Zhou is majoring in chemistry and minoring in physics. Under the mentorship of chemistry professor Wade Downey, he is studying organic chemistry — specifically indole synthesis, which has implications in the pharmaceutical industry. Zhou aspires to become a physician-scientist at an academic institution and hopes to open a lab researching targeted drug treatments for cancer.
Faculty & Staff Research Mini Symposia
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.
The 2025-2026 academic year will feature the Mini Symposia on the following dates:
- Friday, September 26, 2025
- Friday, November 7, 2025
- Friday, January 30, 2026
- Friday, February 20, 2026
A&S Honors Convocation
Friday, April 17, 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Camp Concert Hall, Booker Hall of Music
Each year, the A&S community comes together to celebrate the academic accomplishments of our students at Honors Convocation.
All A&S faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend this special celebration.
Faculty, staff, students, and guests are invited to lunch in the Heilman Dining Center following Convocation.
A&S Student Symposium
FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1 TO 5:30 P.M.
Modlin Center for the Arts & Campus Buildings
7:30 p.m., Nevermore – The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, Department of Theatre & Dance performance
Each April, we celebrate our diverse community of learners at the A&S Student Symposium, a showcase of student-led research projects from nearly 30 disciplines in the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Student researchers share their scholarly work with the campus community and the public through oral presentations, poster sessions, performances, and art exhibits.
This year’s symposium includes the Department of Theatre & Dance’s production of Nevermore – The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe on Friday, April 17, at 7:30 p.m. Free tickets are available at modlin.richmond.edu.
A&S Feature Stories
UR Now: University News
University of Richmond takes a top spot among study abroad programs — again
UR is ranked No. 1 among peer institutions for the second consecutive year.
UR Now: University News
Artists-in-residence share their expertise with the University of Richmond
Spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, along with other creatives, offers fresh perspectives and involves students in high-level commissions and public performances.
University of Richmond seniors study and practice leadership
Two Spider besties hone their leadership and communications skills through their involvement in their campus community.
A&S Faculty in the News
Raccoons break into liquor stores, scale skyscrapers and pick locks–studying their clever brains can clarify human intelligence, too
Behavioral neuroscience professor Kelly Lambert authored this piece about raccoon intelligence, originally published in The Conversation.
What can raccoons teach us about our own intelligence?
Neuroscience professor Kelly Lambert is interviewed.
Raccoons break into liquor stores, scale skyscrapers and pick locks – studying their clever brains can clarify human intelligence, too
Neuroscience professor Kelly Lambert authored this piece.
For 15 years, a neuroscientist has studied raccoon intelligence in Central Virginia. Then a drunk one passed out in a nearby liquor store
Behavioral neuroscience professor Kelly Lambert authored this piece, originally published in The Conversation.
Events
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
Feldman’s translation of award-winning play premiers at Theater for the New City
Sharon G. Feldman, William Judson Gaines Chair in Modern Foreign Languages and professor of Spanish and Catalan Studies, translated Liberto, from the original Catalan Llibert, an award-winning play by Barcelona playwright Gemma Brió. The new work is premiering at Theatre for the New City.
Pettis publishes review of book on the struggle for democratic social media
Ben Pettis, assistant professor of rhetoric and communication studies, published a book review of Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, the Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies.
Wong Medina presents at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Classical Studies
Jorge A. Wong Medina, assistant professor of classical studies, presented “Homeric ὑπόδρα ἰδών” at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Classical Studies.
Blondino publishes on using community input to guide opioid and substance use and treatment strategies
Courtney Blondino, assistant professor of health studies, published "A Community Conversation Process to Establish Resident and Service Provider Perspectives on Needs Related to Use and Treatment of Opioids and Substances" in Frontiers in Public Health.
