VCU news

Virginia Commonwealth University will recognize six faculty members for outstanding teaching, scholarship and service at the 42nd annual Faculty Convocation. The ceremony will be held on Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts and will be livestreamed on this VCU News article page.

Fotis Sotiropoulos, Ph.D., VCU provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, will welcome guests, and VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., will deliver opening remarks.

A glance at the 2024 honorees:

University Award of Excellence

William L. Dewey, Ph.D., School of Medicine

Dewey has been with VCU for more than 50 years, joining the university in 1972. He currently serves as the Louis S. and Ruth S. Harris Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the School of Medicine. He is most known for his pharmacological research on the acute and chronic effects of opioids.

Dewey also was an early architect of the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, now called the VA Bio+Tech Park, which was established in 1993 to propel scientific and technological discovery that could promote economic development.

Dewey has earned numerous honors for teaching, research and service, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, VCU’s Presidential Medallion and the University Award of Excellence.

Distinguished Scholarship Award

Yan Zhang, Ph.D., School of Pharmacy

A professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry in the School of Pharmacy, Zhang has worked at VCU for 20 years, focusing his research on the design, synthesis

and development of small-molecule modulators of neurological disorders, exploring their applications in treating substance use disorders.

Zhang leads a team of VCU researchers from multiple departments in two large National Institute on Drug Abuse grants, which aim to put forward molecules for understanding the role of the mu opioid receptor. Zhang has 10 patents filed, 10 patents pending and numerous invention disclosures.

Zhang has taught and/or coordinated 10 medicinal chemistry graduate program courses and 11 courses for the Doctor of Pharmacy professional program.

Distinguished Teaching Award

Shelli Fowler, Ph.D., College of Humanities and Sciences

An associate professor in the Department of English in the College of Humanities and

Sciences, Fowler creates new courses, mentors graduate students and colleagues, and adapts to the technological changes that shape teaching – while remaining committed to equity in the classroom and to the success of her students.

Fowler promotes humanities-based interdisciplinary curricular experiences as an important part of 21st-century literacies and competencies for students. Her teaching is aligned with the tenets of Quest 2028, VCU’s strategic plan to prepare students to thrive in and beyond the university. She also co-created and co-facilitates a monthly pedagogy colloquium to address teaching strategies and to build community among students in Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts programs.

Distinguished Service Award

Charlene D. Crawley, Ph.D., College of Humanities and Sciences

For more than 25 years, Crawley has dedicated herself to VCU and its students through her teaching, research and advising roles as associate professor in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Humanities and Sciences. For the past two decades, she has held key departmental roles as director of the B.S. in Interdisciplinary Sciences program and coordinator of the Emerging Scholars program.

As an alum herself, Crawley plays a critical role in advancing diversity and equity throughout the College of Humanities and Sciences and in STEM disciplines. Her leadership on the college’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee resulted in the development of sustainable initiatives that strengthened the college’s commitment to equity and inclusion.

Crawley has won numerous local and national awards, with her VCU honors including the Presidential Award for Community Multicultural Enrichment in 2017 along with that year’s Riese-Melton capstone award designation

Outstanding Early Career Faculty Award

Xuewei Wang, Ph.D., College of Humanities and Sciences

Within his first five years at VCU, Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry in the College of Humanities and Sciences, has established an interdisciplinary research program that is recognized globally for groundbreaking science that could improve human health.

He is a leader in the field of portable, wearable, implantable and microfluidic chemical sensors for monitoring health and diagnosing illness. He is also an expert in designing nitric-oxide-releasing nanocarriers and bioimplants, especially 3D-printed patient-specific stents, urinary catheters and intravascular catheters. He and his team of students, postdoctoral scholars and technicians apply chemistry systems in ways that allow testing the tiniest blood droplets at patients’ homes or monitoring critical care chemicals in hospitals.

Outstanding Term Faculty Award

Marcie S. Wright, Ph.D. School of Public Health

Wright, an associate professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health, has earned a national reputation among the community of health disparity researchers and contributed to fostering and expanding VCU’s learning environment. She specializes in coalition building and capacity building for research through Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approaches.

Wright has propelled the success of VCU’s Center on Health Disparities as associate director and has developed interdisciplinary relationships across the Monroe Park and MCV campuses and the larger Richmond community. She has overseen the development and submission of over 100 grant applications that have generated over $45 million in funding and an extensive research training portfolio that includes programs for underrepresented faculty and students.

In addition, she is vested in the success of the Center’s MATCH program – Mobilizing Assets to Transform Community Health. MATCH enhances VCU’s relationship with at-risk communities to build long-lasting partnerships and reduce health disparities.