President Scott D. Miller serves as executive editor (along with Dr. Marylouise Fennell) of the presidential thought-leadership series President to President. The 2021-2022 Series Foreword, from Dr. Majorie Haas, and Chapter 1: TOWN and GOWN Partnerships to TOWN and GOWN Membership, from Deborah F. Stanley, J.D., are now available online. This is the 18th year President Miller and Dr. Fennell have served as an executive editors of this series.

President Miller's opinion piece reflecting on the 60th anniversary of Virginia Wesleyan University was recently featured in The Virginian-Pilot.

President Miller's daily blog, Dialogue, can be found at prezscottmiller.blogspot.com.

The student-centered instructional activity “Stoichiometry” authored by Joyce Easter, and class tested by Deb Otis and Maury Howard, has been peer reviewed and will be published in POGIL Activity Clearinghouse Journal, Volume 2, Issue 2 (2021).

College Media Review published it's 2021 Research Annual, which compiles a print version of the past year's peer-reviewed research for the flagship journal of the College Media Association. Lisa Lyon Payne has served as editor of CMR since 2018. The digital version of CMR can be found here.

Steven Emmanuel's book Philosophy's Big Questions: Comparing Buddhist and Western Approaches was published by Columbia University Press. The work features striking and generative comparisons of Buddhist and Western thought, and challenges our thinking in fundamental ways, offering readers new conceptual tools, methods, and insights for the pursuit of a good and happy life. The newly released book is divided into eight chapters written by Emmanuel and seven other scholars.

Cascade Books published Terry Lindvall's Souls for Sale: Rupert Hughes and the Novel Hollywood Religion, which is a quirky centennial history of a witty and modernist 1920s atheist (and uncle of Howard Hughes), who turned an abysmal book into an even worse movie, but one that satirized both Hollywood and religion in the Jazz Age.

Sara Sewell published "Surveillance on the assembly line: Communist resistance to modern production at the Stollwerck Chocolate Factory, 1924-1930," in Histories of Surveillance from Antiquity to the Digital Era: The Eyes and Ears of Power, edited by Andreas Marklund and Laura Skouvig, Routledge, (2021).

Dan Margolies published “Community Music Making, Improvisation and Social Technologies in Música Huasteca,” which he co-authored with J.A. Strub in a special issue: Social Convergence in Times of Spatial Distancing: The Role of Music During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Frontiers in Psychology in Cultural Psychology (31 May 2021). 

Joyce Easter was lead facilitator for the four-day 2021 POGIL Classroom Facilitation Virtual Workshop.

Joyce Easter co-facilitated a workshop on Improving POGIL Facilitation Skills at the 19th Annual POGIL National Meeting and chaired the working group breakout sessions to advance the POGIL Project Strategic Plan. Easter will continue to serve as chair of the Strategic Collaborations working group for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Joyce Easter served on the conference planning committee, co-presented Developing Questions to Facilitate and Provide Evidence of Student Process Skill, participated in the Author Coaching workshops, and moderated several sessions at the 2021 National Conference for Advancing POGIL Practice.

Michelle Albert Vachris presented “Entrepreneurship and Governance in the Scotch Whisky Knowledge Commons” at the International Association for the Study of the Commons Virtual Conference.

Lydia Kennedy gave a talk entitled "Using the card game SET in a General Education math class" at the Mathematical Association of America's MathFest conference held virtually.

Steven Emmanuel was selected to participate in a national CIC Institute on New Currents in Teaching Philosophy. Led by Harvard professor Ned Hall, the institute was an intensive workshop-style seminar on pedagogy and program development. Each participant is eligible to receive an implementation grant to support activities that promote the study of philosophy.

Taryn Myers presented a paper titled "Does being a feminist matter? Examining the role of feminist attitudes and identification in the relationship between sociocultural pressures and appearance concerns" at the virtual Appearance Matters conference, originally scheduled for Bath, England, U.K. This presentation can be viewed here.

Taryn Myers presented a poster entitled "Internalized homophobia and outness as predictors of disordered eating and muscle dysmorphia in LGBQ+ individuals" at the virtual conference of the International Conference on Eating Disorders. This poster was selected to be presented live in the "Top Posters" session as one of the top 8 rated posters at the conference.

Kathy Merlock Jackson did a presentation titled "The Films of Steven Spielberg" for the Institute of Learning in Retirement in Virginia Beach.

At the virtual conference of the Popular Culture Association, Kathy Merlock Jackson presented a paper titled "Jaws, Quint's Tale, and the Scars of World War II" and participated in a roundtable on the history of the association's journals. President of the association, she also introduced keynote speaker Susan Faludi and gave the presidential address to the governing board.

Mandy Reinig presented "Advocacy for All" during NAFSA Region VIII's Virtual Programming Series.

Dan Margolies presented “Maldito Coronavirus! Mapping the Musical Responses to the Covid Pandemic Across Latin America” with J.A. Strub, as part of the "Quarrantine Boogie: Music in a Time of Pandemic" panel at the Pop Convergence (PopCon2021), held online due to Covid restrictions.

Dan Margolies presented “Mapping the Transcultural Sonic Topography of Música de Coronavirus” with J.A. Strub at the International Council for Traditional Music, Sichuan Conservatory of Music, Chengdu, China, held online due to Covid restrictions.

Kathy Stolley was a featured presenter at the Popular Culture Association Virtual Conference. Her presentation was titled "Puppy Love: Animals in Family Rituals, Weddings, and More."

President Miller joined a June episode of “Leaders on Leadership with Jay Lemons.” The podcast has been developed by Academic Search and the American Academic Leadership Institute who together support colleges and universities during times of transition and through leadership development activities that serve current and future generations of institutional leaders. He also joined an August episode of "The Future of Higher Education" hosted by David Finegold, President of Chatham University. In the episode, they discussed a wide variety of topics, including Dr. Miller's path to college leadership, recent growth at Virginia Wesleyan, and higher education’s role in addressing climate change. 

Mindy Gumpert, President of the Virginia Council for Learning Disabilities (VCLD), accepted the disAbility Impact Award from the disAbility Law Center of Virginia. VCLD pivoted during the pandemic and offered five free webinars to over 700 educators throughout the state in lieu of an in-person symposium. This year's symposium is planned for May 21, 2022 at VWU.

Joyce Easter served on a panel to review a General Chemistry activity collection submitted for endorsement and publication by the POGIL Project.

Phil Guilfoyle received an Honorable Mention in the Virginia Beach Art Center Juried Exhibition "From the Earth." The exhibition was juried by artist and ODU Professor of Art Rick Nickel.

Doug Kennedy, as one of the leaders of the Tort Claimants Committee in the Boy Scouts Bankruptcy appointed by the US Department of Justice was interviewed and quoted widely including USA Today, BBC World News, and the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, he wrote legal notices appearing on the Court Docket and participated in mediation meetings in Chicago and New York City.

Benjamin Dobrin worked with the Coral Restoration Foundation in Tavernier Florida to help rehabilitate and rebuild the fragile coral reef system.

Benjamin Dobrin taught Swiftwater Rescue for the Virginia Rescue College in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Benjamin Dobrin worked with the Coral Restoration Foundation in Tavernier Florida to help rehabilitate and rebuild the fragile coral reef system.

Taryn Myers was quoted in a Vogue Business article entitled "Perfection is passé: Brands redefine beauty marketing." 

Taryn Myers was quoted in an article for Mic discussing neopronouns and how they honor identity.  As a result of this article, she was interviewed about neopronouns on "Let's Go There," a radio show on CHANNEL Q, the nation’s first and largest nationally-syndicated LGBTQ+ talk radio network.

Taryn Myers was quoted in an article on Mic entitled "The pandemic is not an excuse to misgender me." 

Taryn Myers was quoted in the article "How will higher ed work?" for the online publication Volt. 

Mandy Reinig was elected to the Virginia International Educator's Board. She is looking forward to supporting the state's international education efforts. 

Benjamin Haller was interviewed while doing research for his book project "Homer and all that Jazz" at the Library of Congress, where he was fortunate to be one of the first researchers through the doors as they reopened. His remarks were quoted in the June 11, 2021 edition of the Library of Congress "Gazette."

Mindy Gumpert volunteered at Western Bayside Community Day for REACH, Inc., a nonprofit organization that promotes literacy for children throughout Coastal Virginia through access and ownership of books. Over 500 new, free books were given to children at the event. Brian Kurisky and Keith Moore also visited the REACH tent. REACH has a Big Free Bookstore in Military Circle Mall.

Students in Mindy Gumpert's EDUC 535 summer course completed a one-hour classroom observation at Chesapeake Bay Academy. One student used the telepresence robot, or Kubi, to attend the classroom observation. She controlled the Kubi from her device at her home in Maryland, and was able to have a 360 degree classroom view and interact with the students.

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