Students, faculty recognized for achievements

Students walked in the Commonwealth Ballrooms and sat in the green foldout chairs, preparing to be recognized at the College of Humanities and Sciences Annual Awards Ceremony.

Stephen D. Gottfredson, dean of the college, opened the ceremony acknowledging the achievements of the students and the faculty.

“Through application of their talents, intellects and energies (the VCU students honored tonight) have emerged as leaders of the college community,” Gottfredson said, “and I have no doubt they will continue to provide leadership to society at large.”

Nine seniors, 10 juniors, nine sophomores and 12 freshmen – all ranking in the top 1 percent of their classes – walked across the stage as they were recognized for their achievements. All seniors and freshmen in the top 1 percent had 4.0 grade point averages.

John H. Borgard, associate dean for academic student advising in the college, began passing out the departmental awards by calling the names of the 87 students who walked across the stage one by one as the audience applauded loudly.

Gottfredson then moved on to acknowledge 10 faculty in the college, including William Pelfrey, Albert Farrell, Catherine Howard, Laura Browder, Gregory Plunkett, Nancy Mustafa and Philip Schwarz.

Pelfrey, a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, received the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Specializing in crime-trend analysis with a focus on drug offenses and violent crimes, Pelfrey regularly serves as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice, according to the awards program distributed at the event.

“He clearly is an outstanding classroom instructor and his talents reach well beyond the confines of his VCU classroom,” Gottfredson told the audience of faculty and staff as well as students and family. “Recently he assisted in the development of training curricula addressing weapons of mass destruction.”

Moreover, Pelfrey’s work outside the classroom doesn’t seem to diminish the quality of his classroom teaching, the dean said, pointing out that Pelfrey consistently received excellent evaluations by his students.

Howard, an associate professor of psychology and director of the Office of Community Programs, received the Distinguished Service Award.

“It’s really special when it comes from your colleagues,” she said, adding that she was “extremely honored and humbled” by the award.

“I think it’s the first time the college has sort of acknowledged community service as the primary focus for this award,” Howard said before the ceremony began. “That makes it really special because I think it focuses on service to our community.”

While Howard said she is pleased the university recognized the importance of community relations, she cautioned that in becoming primarily a research institution, VCU must be careful not to stray away from the original purpose of the university.

“I think we need to keep in mind that this university was founded by Dr. Henry Hibbs because he wanted it to be a university of the city, and he wanted our students and faculty to be on the front lines dealing with critical social issues,” she said. “I don’t want us to lose sight of that.”

Farrell, a professor in the Department of Psychology, received the Distinguished Scholar Award.

“Dr. Albert Farrell is one of the world’s leading scholars on the prevention of violence among adolescents,” Gottfredson said. “The impact of Dr. Farrell’s scholarship has won him the respect and admiration of his colleagues, and I commend him on behalf of the College of Humanities and Sciences as an outstanding and distinguished scholar.”

Laura Moriarty, the assistant dean of faculty affairs for the college and head of the awards committee, said Farrell set himself apart from the pool of candidates because of his substantial publishing record and his national reputation for working with young people and violence.

Other awards recipients were Laura Browder, an associate professor of English, and Gregory Plunkett, an assistant professor of biology, for their excellence in scholarship.

Nancy Mustafa, an instructor of foreign languages, won the Distinguished Advising Award.

Three recipients, Janet R. Newland of the humanities section, Gevork Minaskanian of the mathematics and natural sciences section and Joyce Davies of the social sciences section, received the Distinguished Adjunct Faculty awards.

The Elske v.P. Smith Distinguished Lecturer Award went to Philip J. Schwarz, a history professor. This award honors Smith, who served more than 10 years as dean of the college. She stepped down in 1992 to help develop the environmental sciences program.

In her Outstanding Alumna acceptance speech, Rosalyn Randolph Dance, the mayor of Petersburg, spent most of her time speaking about the impact of Blue Wooldridge’s teaching on her life.

“I have gained a great deal of respect and appreciation for all (Wooldridge) required of us as students,” she said, emphasizing the appreciation as her “gain.” The audience laughed kindly at her remark.

Wooldridge, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, joined the faculty in 1987.