April Faculty Features

Faculty Features is a column that recognizes the accomplishments, honors and efforts of VCU faculty and staff. Please send information regarding an individual's activities and accomplishments to vcunews@vcu.edu.

David Latane, Ph.D., Department of English
The Victorians Institute Journal, co-edited by Latane recently published its 30th volume. It features articles on the Jamaican slave rebellion of 1865, Victorian geology and a poem about Virginia written in 1865 by a visitor from Scotland. The journal also includes a section in which contemporary poets respond informally to Victorian poems.

Jurgen Venitz, M.D., Ph.D., and Yuxin Men, M.D., Department of Pharmaceutics
Venitz and Men participated in the Alzheimer's and Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF) with their study entitled, "Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Modeling of the Interaction of IV Scopolamine and Physostigmine in Healthy Elderly Volunteers." Their research concluded that the first medication, Scopolamine, produced temporary clinical symptoms in elderly volunteers that mimicked Alzheimer's Disease. Likewise, Venitz and Men found that the other medication, Physostigmine, reversed the side effects of Scopolamine by improving the patients' cognitive functions, including short-term memory and attention span. Venitz and Men are now using computer software to model their data.

Janet H. Watts, Ph.D., and Jodi L. Teitelman, Ph.D., Department of Occupational Therapy
Watts and Teitelman participated in the Alzheimer's and Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF) with their study entitled, "Alzheimer's Disease Caregiver Occupational Performance, Respite as a Mental Break, and Program Implications." Their project produced a working model of how caregivers of persons with the disease get a mental break. Their model addressed associated factors such as social support, traditional respite, relief enhancing conditions and techniques for momentary stress reduction. Watts and Teitelman will use further analyses from their study to develop a specific psycho educational intervention for assisting caregivers in identifying opportunities for and achieving mental breaks from their care giving responsibilities.

David C. Wojahn, M.F.A., Department of English
Wojahn, senior poet and professor of English, has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for a period of twelve months. Recently appointed to the faculty of the VCU's Department of English, Wojahn is the author of six books of poetry and a collection of essays on contemporary verse, as well as two edited books. He plans to use the Guggenheim fellowship to complete his seventh collection of poetry, a volume of selected poems that will include a substantial section of new work.