VCU news

Aradhana Bela Sood, M.D., chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and medical director of the VCU Virginia Treatment Center for Children
Sood, chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, has been elected councilor-at-large for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry – the leading national professional medical association committed to improving the quality of life for children, adolescents and families affected by mental, behavioral or developmental disorders.

As councilor-at-large, Sood will work alongside fellow council members to decide on policy and the direction of the national organization. The group will set ethical and professional standards of clinical practice, advocate for the mental health and public health needs of children, adolescents and families, and promote research, education and training. She will serve a three-year term.

Tom De Haven, professor of English
De Haven published his eighth novel, “It’s Superman,” which reinvents the early years of the well-known comic-book superhero. The novel traces Clark Kent’s path from rural Kansas in the 1930s to Hollywood in its golden age and then to New York. Kent meets Lois Lane and Lex Luthor during his travels and begins to come to terms with his burgeoning superpowers. De Haven, a frequent contributor to Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times, is also the author of the Derby Dugan trilogy of novels.

Melvin Urofsky, Ph.D., professor of history; Center for Public Policy (emeritus)
Urofsky produced a balanced history of ineffective campaign finance reform laws with his latest book, “Money and Free Speech: Campaign Finance Reform and the Courts,” published by University of Kansas press and released in September. Urofsky, one of the nation’s most respected legal historians, examines efforts over the years to rein in political campaign spending and the subsequent responses from the legal system. David M. O’Brien, author of “Storm Center: The Supreme Court in American Politics,” called the book “splendid, concise, lucid and highly readable.” Urofsky’s many other books include “A March of Liberty: A Constitutional History of the United States” and “The Continuity of Change: The Supreme Court and Individual Liberties, 1953-1986.”

John D. Ward. M.D., Department of Neurosurgery
Ward, vice chairman of the department of neurosurgery, has been appointed to the Edward S. and Elizabeth W. Hirschler Endowed Professorship in Neurosurgery, which was established in 1988 to attract and retain eminent scholars in the Department of Neurological Surgery. Ward is also chief of pediatric surgery and co-director of the Harold F. Young Neurosurgical Center.

Harold F. Young, M.D., Department of Neurosurgery
Young, chair of neurosurgery at VCU since 1983, has been appointed to the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Chair. The McGlothlin Chair was established in April 2004 by the McGlothlins and the United Co. Charitable Foundation with the preference that the department chair hold the position.

Judy VanSlyke Turk, Ph.D., director of the School of Mass Communications
VanSlyke Turk will receive the 2005 Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Relations at a Nov. 10 awards dinner in New York. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to scholarly research and public relations professional knowledge. VanSlyke Turk is sharing the award with Doug Newsom, Ph.D., a professor at Texas Christian University. VanSlyke Turk and Newsom are the co-authors of “This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations,” a widely used public relations textbook that is now in its eighth edition.

Faye Z. Belgrave, Ph.D., Department of Psychology
Kevin W. Allison, Ph.D., Department of Psychology
Belgrave, professor of psychology and director of social psychology, and Allison, associate professor of psychology and director of applied and outreach scholarship in the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, have co-authored a 14-chapter comprehensive textbook, “African-American Psychology.” The book emphasizes the importance of culture in understanding behavior. It also examines social issues of psychology such as family, education, community and religion along with clinical issues such as physical and mental health, substance use and crime and violence. “African-American Psychology” is designed as a course textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in psychology and in ethnic and black studies.

Samy El-Shall, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry
El-Shall, professor of physical chemistry, has been invited to serve a three-year term as a member of the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (USNC/IUPAC). The committee provides advice and input to the union and its activities on behalf of U.S. scientists. The committee also encourages cooperative international studies and activities that promote the advancement of the chemical sciences, arranges for scientific meetings in the United States in accordance with the objectives of the IUPAC, and involves U.S. researchers in international issues.

Maryanne M. Collinson, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry
Collinson, associate professor of analytical, inorganic, materials chemistry, has been invited to serve on the editorial board of the journal Chemistry of Materials, a journal of the American Chemical Society. She will serve a three-year term beginning in January 2006.