“Academic Accomplishment” Class Notes
Amy Rector (Col ’00 CM)
Amy Rector (Col ’00 CM) and her colleagues from the Ledi-Geraru Research Project in northeastern Ethiopia have discovered what could be a new species of Australopithecus, an early hominin species that lived alongside the early human ancestors of the Homo genus two to three million years ago. Rector, a paleontologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the other team members discovered and studied a large number of ancient fossilized teeth at the Ledi-Geraru research area, with their findings supporting a view of human evolution as a “tangled-up bush,” rather than a linear timeline. The Ledi-Geraru Research Project and their findings were featured in an article in the Washington Post.
Laura DeLuca (Col ’85 CM)
Laura DeLuca (Col ’85 CM) was named the director of the University of Colorado, Boulder’s study abroad program, Global Seminar: Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship in Bali, Indonesia, for 2025 and 2026. Students in the program will learn about Bali’s native plants and their uses in traditional medicine and food; visit Tirta Empul, a Hindu temple; tour Mai Organic Farm, a community-led movement to preserve traditional agricultural village life; hear a presentation on coral reef growth from the Biorock Indonesia coral restoration project; and visit with social entrepreneurs at the Makadaya Social Impact Centre, a group that develops sustainable solutions to social and environmental challenges in Indonesia.
Sara Nair James (Grad ’94 CM)
Sara Nair James (Grad ’94 CM) published her book, The Cult of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Italy: Art, Devotion, and Liturgy in Orvieto, with Cambridge University Press. The book explores the stained glass window narrative cycles in Orvieto Cathedral in central Italy and their nuanced depictions of the Virgin Mary. James looks at the influence that the scenes of the basilica of S. Maria Maggiore — as well as Dominican and Franciscan texts — had on the art of the Orvieto Cathedral and links features of the art to the city’s history and principal religious feasts.
James is a professor of art history emerita at Mary Baldwin University.
Kenneth Holland (Col ’71)
Kenneth Malcolm Holland (Grad ’71) was awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program grant by the U.S. Department of State. He will travel to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in fall 2025 to complete a four-week project at the Institute for Advanced International Studies, an institution that trains diplomats, supports curriculum development in American studies and fosters institutional partnerships. Holland is an adjunct professor of political science at the University of Utah and previously served as president of the American University of Afghanistan. He had previous Fulbright Awards in Japan and Burma (Myanmar).
Patrick Melmer (Col ’12, Med ’17 CM)
Patrick D. Melmer (Col ’12, Med ’17 CM), was promoted to associate program director of the General Surgery Residency at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is an assistant professor in the Division of Acute Care Surgical Services and also serves as the director of Surgical Simulation for VCU’s Center for Human Simulation and Patient Safety.
Rachel Boate (Col ’09 CM)
Rachel Boate (Col ’09 CM) was hired as an assistant professor of art history in the department of art at Colgate University. She researches and offers courses on transatlantic modernisms.
Mary Wayne Watson (Grad ’83 CM)
Mary Wayne Watson (Grad ’83 CM) gave a presentation entitled “John Charles McNeill: Poet Laureate’s Home Songs” on Feb. 23, 2025, at the Scottish Heritage Center at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, North Carolina. McNeill was the first recognized Poet Laureate in North Carolina and received the prestigious Patterson Cup for literature from President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. McNeill was Dr. Watson’s great uncle. The presentation can be found on YouTube.
William Cyrus Roger Clemo (Col ’14 CM)
William Cyrus Roger Clemo (Col ’14 CM) earned a Ph.D. in marine sciences on Dec. 15, 2024 from the University of South Alabama. Clemo is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory at the John C. Stennis Space Center, Mississippi.
Patrick Wheaton (Col ’86 CM)
Patrick George Wheaton (Col ’86 CM) recently planned the 95th annual convention of the Southern States Communication Association, to be held in Norfolk, Virginia April 2-6. Faculty, students and professional scholars from across the south will present their research at the conference.
Wheaton is 1st Vice president of the association. He holds a doctorate in speech communication from the University of Georgia and has been a professor of communication studies at Georgia Southern University since 1998.
Eric Kalkhurst (Col ’68 CM)
Eric Kalkhurst (Col ’68 CM) has been accepted into the M.A./Ph.D. psychology, religion and consciousness program of Pacifica Graduate Institute for fall 2025.
Christopher Strain (Col ’93)
Christopher Strain (Col ’93) has published his fifth book, Driving Lessons: A Road Trip Through American Travel Literature, with University of Alabama Press. The book is part memoir, part travelogue, part academic analysis and not only recounts the author’s own cross-country odyssey in a 1972 Volkswagen Bus but also delves into other travel narratives, exploring the enduring power of the road trip in American culture. Strain is professor of history and American Studies at the Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University.
Nia Zalamea-Ducklo (Col ’98 CM)
Nia Zalamea-Ducklo (Col ’98 CM) serves as an assistant professor of surgery and director of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) Global Surgery Institute. In 2021 she was appointed assistant dean in the Office of Student Affairs at the UTHSC College of Medicine. She also maintains a global practice and serves as board chair, vice president and general surgeon with the Memphis Mission of Mercy, an NGO founded by her parents that provides medical and surgical care to the poor through annual or biannual trips to the Philippines. She is the mother of two boys, Thomas (5) and Noli (3). Her husband, Matt Ducklo, is founder and gallerist of TOPS Gallery in Memphis, Tennessee.
Nicole Andersen (Col ’18 CM)
Nicole Andersen (Col ’18 CM) received her Master of Public Health degree from Vanderbilt University with a concentration in epidemiology on May 10, 2024. Andersen’s thesis research involved “Exploring Neonatal Weight Loss Among Opioid-Exposed Infants with Prenatal Polysubstance Exposure,” and she completed her practicum with the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH). Anderson will work with TDH as a child fatality review program director, leading a team investigating child deaths to raise awareness and promote necessary safety measures for Tennessee families.
Emma Radcliff (Col ’22)
Emma Radcliff (Col ’22) will be pursuing a Masters of Philosophy in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at University of Cambridge, UK, starting October, 2024, after having completed an immersive working gap year in Iceland in 2023-2024 (which included singing as a member of the Reykjavik choir Söngsveitin Fílharmónía). Before departing for Cambridge, she is spending the summer as a program assistant at Ravinia Steans Music Institute in Highland, Illinois, North America’s longest-running not-for-profit music festival.
Richard McDorman (Col ’94, Educ ’24 CM)
Richard E. McDorman (Col ’94, Educ ’24 CM)) was awarded the degree of Education Specialist (Ed.S.) in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in English as a Second Language from the UVA School of Education and Human Development on May 19, almost 30 years to the day after his first degree from the University, a B.A. in Linguistics, with Highest Distinction, awarded in May 1994. The Ed.S. is McDorman’s fourth academic degree, along with an M.A. in Linguistics (University of Chicago) and an M.L.S. in Ancient Studies (University of Miami) in addition to graduate certificates in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (Penn State), Spanish to English Translation (New York University), and General Translation (New York University).
McDorman serves as the chief academic officer of Language On Schools, a position he has held since 2016. He also works as a specialized contractor for the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation and is an independent translator, certified by the American Translators Association for translation from Spanish into English. Originally from Beckley, West Virginia, McDorman has lived in Miami since 1999.
Elizabeth Larus (Grad ’89)
Elizabeth Larus (Grad ’89, ’94), Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs at the University of Mary Washington, has been named Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Global China Hub.
T. Kelly (Col ’82 CM)
Mills Kelly (Col ’82 CM) will be a Fulbright Scholar at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany during 2024. He is currently a visiting scholar at the Luxembourg Center for Contemporary and Digital History.
Joe Essid (Col ’83)
Joe Essid (Col ’83) published “Writing Centers & the Dark Warehouse University: Generative AI, Three Human Advantages,” in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies: Vol. 2, 2023.
Jason Lovvorn (Grad ’96)
Jason F. Lovvorn (Grad ‘96) was promoted to professor of English at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee. Lovvorn has served as assistant director of the Teaching Center and as Writing Program director and currently serves as the English Department’s internship coordinator.
Michael Trimble (Col ’04 CM)
Lt. Col. Michael Trimble (Col ’04 CM) has earned a Ph.D. in military strategy from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, the U.S. Air Force’s graduate-level strategy school. His dissertation focused on security cooperation and air advisers in the war on terror.
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