Virginia Wesleyan University will become Batten University on July 1, 2026.

FACULTY AND STAFF ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND BEST PRACTICES // October 2025

Terry Lindvall’s chapter, “The Eclectic Gospel of Rocky Balboa and Sylvester Stallone: From Pelagian Pugilist to Orthodox Christian,” appeared in Kathy Merlock Jackson’s edited collection, “All I wanna do is go the distance”: Essays on the Rocky Franchise."

Caitlin Williams published "Characterization of two co-regulated response regulators in Clostridioides difficile" in the Journal of Bacteriology. VWU alum Jack Palmer '24 worked on the project and is a co-author.

Maury Howard published the article, "Development of a Safe, Scalable, Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience for Analytical Chemistry: The μCURE Project" in the ACS Journal of Chemical Education with co-authors Kimberly A Frederick, Kelly Y. Neiles, Daniel F. Scott, and Rebecca A. Hunter, in Volume 102/Issue 9. 

President Scott D. Miller serves as executive editor of President to President; Chapters 1 and 2 of the 2025-26 series, “Intentional Efforts in Belonging,” are now available. President Miller also shares daily reflections and leadership perspectives on his blog, "Dialogue."

Taryn Myers presented "Predictors of body appreciation and muscle dysmorphia in gender expansive individuals" at the first virtual Perspectives in Body Image conference. This project was funded by a previous Faculty Summer Development Grant.

Sara Sewell presented "Commanding Soundscapes through Song: The Wehrmachts Sonic Occupation of Poland, Fall 1939" at the German Studies Conference in Arlington, VA.

Alain Gabon presented a paper and participated in a book discussion at the "Race, Religion, and Secularism" symposium of the Centre for Studies of Plural Societies (CSPS), India.

Clair Berube presented a paper titled "Addressing Math Anxiety in High, Moderate, or Low Math-Anxious Preservice Teachers" at the annual national NSF NOYCE Summit Conference, Washington DC. The paper was co-authored by Bill McConnell and Rebecca John.