VCU Arts Dean and Disney expert Carmenita Higginbotham (Photo by Steven Casanova courtesy VCU Arts)
Listening Spaces
Carmenita Higginbotham is named the new dean of VCU Arts
Following 2019 student protests calling for a more diverse faculty and mandatory diversity training for staff and faculty, Carmenita Higginbotham says she plans to listen to student concerns when she becomes dean of VCU Arts in September.
“Students need to have a space to communicate with administrators,” Higginbotham says. “It has to be productive, and it has to be honest.”
Last year’s protests came after VCU officials suspended Associate Professor Javier Tapia, who called security on a visiting Black professor who was sitting in a faculty lounge in late 2018. Protestors objected to Tapia’s potential return to VCU and rallied for changes to make the school more inclusive.
To ensure student voices are heard, Higginbotham says she wants to provide town halls, interact with student groups or offer another platform for students to reach the dean’s office.
Higginbotham, 48, last served as department chair of the McIntire Department of Art at the University of Virginia and taught courses on art film and African American art as an associate professor. She also has taught courses on Disney’s impact on popular culture. She appeared in PBS’s 2015 American Experience documentary “Walt Disney” and says discussing Disney lets her explore a part of American culture that influences “the way we see the world.”
Douglas Fordham, a professor of art history at UVA, worked with Higginbotham in the art department for 14 years and says she’s casual and expressive when communicating with students.
“She’s always very aware of who her audience is,” Fordham says. “I think she’s looking for ways to meet students where they are.”
Higginbotham says she’s most excited to speak with the artists who call VCU home and wants to further a sense of school pride.
“Being a graduate of VCU Arts means you have entered a group of creative individuals who go on to change the world,” Higginbotham says. —Anika Mittu
Javicia Leslie (Photo by Lauralaelbart via Creative Commons)
Hampton Grad Lands ‘Batwoman’ Title Role
Actress Javicia Leslie joins the CW series next year as a vigilante
Javicia Leslie, an alumna of Hampton University, is the new Batwoman. Leslie will replace actor Ruby Rose when the CW series returns in 2021, the network announced this summer. Leslie acted in various performances at the historically Black university, including “Seven Guitars,” “For Colored Girls ...” and “Chicago.” During her time at Hampton University, she was crowned Miss Hampton at the university’s annual pageant.
Leslie was born in Germany and grew up in Maryland. She played Ali Finer in CBS’ “God Friended Me,” which ended its two-season run in April. Leslie is the first Black woman to play Batwoman, and her character, Ryan Wilder, an original addition to the DC Comics world, is described as “likeable, messy, a little goofy and untamed.”
After the announcement of her casting, Leslie posted on her Instagram, “For all of the little Black girls dreaming to be a superhero one day ... it’s possible!” —Katharine DeRosa
Hampden-Sydney College Receives Donation for New Science Center
Hampden-Sydney College received the largest gift in the school’s history last September, coming in at $30 million. The donation will be used to build the Pauley Science Center, named after donor Stanley F. Pauley, complete with laboratories, equipment and interactive workspaces. According to a Hampden-Sydney College press release, the project will cost $40 million. The facility is expected to open in 2021.
“The Pauley Science Center will even better prepare our science students to be highly successful — competitive for the best job opportunities and the finest medical, engineering and other graduate programs,” Hampden-Sydney President Larry Stimpert stated in the release.
Hampden-Sydney is a private college for men just south of Farmville that has focused on the sciences since its founding in 1775. —KD
Artist's interpretation of planet AU Mic b [Image by Chris Smith courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (USRA)]
GMU Team Discovers Far-out Planet
A team that included a George Mason University professor and four of his students discovered a planet roughly the size of Neptune. Named AU Mic b, the planet is around 20 million to 30 million years old and about 32 light years away. The team used NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in combination with the Spitzer Space Telescope to locate AU Mic b. Because of the planet’s age, the scientists hope to study its surroundings and how they play into the development of young planets.
Two of the research team’s members, Peter Plavachan, director of the Mason Observatory, and Bryson Cale, a doctoral student, collaborated on a study about the discovery published in the journal “Nature.” —Felix Hedberg
Photo courtesy University of Richmond
UR’s North Court Earns Renovation Award
North Court, an academic and residential building at the University of Richmond, received the 2020 Historical Renovation Award from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Virginia chapter. The building was renovated in 2017, and 93% of the construction and demolition materials were diverted from landfills, according to Benjamin Gillie, assistant director of construction management and design for the project. North Court was built in 1914 and originally served as the home of Westhampton College, the women’s school at the University of Richmond. The building was recognized at the USGBC’s Community Award Leader ceremony and was Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certified in 2019. —KD
