Outstanding professors set for honors at VCU Faculty Convocation

By Tom Gresham

Four distinguished faculty members will be honored on Sept. 25 during Virginia Commonwealth University's 25th Opening Faculty Address and Convocation.

Held annually since 1982, the convocation serves as the formal opening of the academic year and celebrates the quality and excellence of VCU faculty. This year's event will be held at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 922 Park Ave., at 4 p.m. A reception precedes the ceremony at 3 p.m.

Faculty members are honored at the convocation for excellence in teaching, scholarship and service and for overall excellence. Honorees this year include Marcel Cornis-Pope, Ph.D., University Award for Excellence; Faye Z. Belgrave, Ph.D., University Distinguished Teaching Award; Aradhana A. Sood, M.D., FAACAP, University Distinguished Service Award; and Sarah Spiegel, Ph.D., University Distinguished Scholarship Award.

Cornis-Pope, professor of English and director of the interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Media, Art and Text, has taught courses in literary theory, narratology, modern/postmodern American literature and British Victorian and 20th-century literature since joining the VCU faculty in 1988. Cornis-Pope served as chair of the Department of English from 2000-2006. He has authored five scholarly monographs and more than 200 articles and book chapters, translated and introduced eight volumes of poetry and prose and edited five book-length projects.

Belgrave, professor of psychology and director of the social psychology program, focuses her research on applied social psychology, particularly aimed at HIV and substance abuse prevention among African-Americans. Belgrave founded the community-based Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention in 2001, and she has received more than $5 million in grants to implement and examine the effectiveness of prevention programs in the Richmond community. She has worked with local schools, health clinics and community- and faith-based organizations.

Sood, professor and chair of the Division of Child Psychiatry and medical director of the Virginia Treatment Center for Children (VTCC), is recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on psychiatric disorders in children. She has served on a number of committees at the national level, including as co-chair of the Clinical Practice Committee of the Society of Professors of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and as a representative to the National Psychiatry Residency Review Committee. She was also appointed to a panel that reviewed the Virginia Tech shootings and investigated Virginia's mental health system.

Spiegel, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, is internationally recognized for her pioneering work on new lipid mediators that regulate cell growth and cell death. Spiegel, who is also the program co-leader of the Cancer Cell Biology Program at VCU Massey Cancer Center, has received multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health to continuously fund her research for nearly 20 years, and she recently received a renewal of her NIH MERIT award, which is given to investigators who have demonstrated superior competence and productivity.