Department of Focused Inquiry

College of Humanities and Sciences

A woman wearing a dark blue blazer and teal blouse with glasses and a becklace

Katy Hanggi

Chair

A woman wearing a bown earth tone jacket with a gray shirt and necklace

Elizabeth Fagan

Associate Chair

and Associate Professor

ancient history and archaeology

material culture

narratives

A man wearing a brow suit jacket, blue shirt and gold tie

Michael Abelson

Professor

and Faculty Development Coordinator

Melissa Allen wearing a pink blouse in front of a brick wall

Melissa Allen

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow

Media and identity construction

college student development theory

identity development of LGBTQ+ college students

A woman wearing a dark brown turtle neck with black-rimmed glasses

Bonnie Boaz

Associate Professor

Service Learning

Multimodal Composition

Digital Media

A woman with short brunette hair standing in front of a beige wall

Tara Bray

Associate Professor

Rachel Brown wearing a gold jacket with glasses

Rachel Brown

Graduate Teaching Assistant

literature as physical artifacts

A woman standing in front of a bookcase wearing a navy blue blouse and necklace

Tara Shea Burke

Assistant Professor

Ungrading

Multimodal and Multigenre Writing

Queer Lit and Contemporary Poetry

A man with a white goatee and a blue and white flannel shirt

Joe Cates

Assistant Professor

A man wearing a blue and pink button-up shirt in front of a large bookcase

Frank Cha

Associate Professor

multiethnic communities in the US South

Asian American studies

racial equity in higher education

A man wearing a white button-up shirt with thin-rimmed glasses

Jason Coats

Assistant Professor

Anglo-American modernist literature

poetry

literary theory

A woman with brunette hair standing in front of a beige wall

Leslie Cohen-Gee

Assistant Professor

A man wearing a black polo shirt standing in front of a bookcase

Jason Corner

Associate Professor

A woman with brown hard and glasses

Meriah Crawford

Professor

A woman with brown har standing in a natural setting

Michaux Dempster

Assistant Professor

and Common Book Coordinator

Ywonie Edwards Ingram wearing a light blue and pink shirts standing next to tulips.

Ywone Edwards-Ingram

Assistant Professor

A woman wearing a teal blue and black dress stadning in front of a large bookcase

Jennifer Selman Flanagan

Associate Professor

A man with read hair and a goatee wearing a plaid shirt

Jamie Fueglein

Assistant Professor

A man wearing a black suit jacket and white button-up shirt

Joshua Galligan

Assistant Professor

A woman wearing black rimmed glasses with a black blazer and light colored blouse

Julianne Guillard

Associate Professor

and Curriculum Coordinator

critical pedagogy

childhood studies

feminist research methods

A woman wearing a black blouse posing in front of a painting of a woman in light and dark blue

Mary Lou Hall

Associate Professor

Power Dynamics and Learning in the American Classroom/ Race

Class and Ethnicity in American Higher Ed

A photo of VCU signage on campus

Blayne Harcey

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow

Material Culture

Asian Religions and Cultures

Cultural Heritage and International Development

A man wearing a light brown and white plaid shirt

Christian Horlick

Associate Professor

A man with gray hair wearing a dark blue polo shirt

Christopher Jackson

Associate Professor

A woman with shory gray hair wearing glasses and a black blouse

Joan Kalyan

Assistant Professor

A man with black hair wearing a blue flannel shirt

Jake Khoury

Assistant Professor

A man wearing an insulated jacket with a plaid shirt

Jason Kirby

Assistant Professor

American Roots Music

Popular Music in Media

Film Soundtracks

A man wearing a light blue dress shit lecturing at a pdium

Jo-Jo Koo

Assistant Professor

critical thinking

ethics

philosophy

A woman wearing a dark blue button up shirt with white polka dots on it

Beth Kreydatus

Professor

Environmental justice

community and socially engaged teaching

U.S. history

A woman wearing a dark blue blouse with gold earrings

Sara Laws

Assistant Professor

20th-century

American Poetry

Transpacific Poetry

A woman wearing a brown sweater with gold earrings

Deidra Lee

Assistant Professor

A woman wearing a gold top with earrings standing in front of a painted white brick wall

Kiara Lee

Assistant Professor

A woman wearing a denim blue shirt with earrings stadning in front of a brick wall

Hilary Levinson

Assistant Professor

and Coordinator, UTA Program

Memory and Monuments

Latin American and Latinx Literature

Translation

A photo of VCU signage on campus

José Peña Loyola

Post Doctoral Teaching Fellow

Creative writing

Eco-criticism

Contemporary Latin American literature and art

A man wearing a hat with a light brown jacket with a snowy background

Troy A. Martin

Associate Professor

social and cultural foundations of education

social theory

sociology of education

A man with dark-rimmed glasses wearing a white dress shirt standing in front of a large bookcase

Chris Martiniano

Instructor

A man wearing a plaid shirt

Andrew Marx

Associate Professor

Legal Studies

Critical Thinking

Ethics

A photo of VCU signage on campus

Julianne McCobin

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow

20th and 21st Century American literature

cultural studies

gender studies

A man with glasses wearing a dark-colord button up

Mark Meier

Instructor

A man wearing glasses and a patterned polo shirt

Jeffrey Murray

Professor

and Textbook Coordinator

Metacognition

Peer Mentoring

Habits of Mind

A woman with black hair wearing a black blouse with a blue background

Brandi Neal

Assistant Professor

semiotics

music

sampling

A man wearing glasses with a plaid button up shirt

Thomas J. Nelson

Associate Professor

A man wearing thin rimmed glassed and a gray shirt stadnding in front of a large bookcase

William Notter

Associate Professor

A woman with gray hair and glasses wearing a dark blue blouse and cardigan

Vicki Pallo

Professor

Composition &

Multimodal Communication

Eighteenth- &

Ayden Parish resized

Ayden Parish

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow

Neurodiversity

Critical Disability Studies

Semiotics

Kristin Reed

Kristin Reed

Professor

Public Education Policy

Advocacy-Oriented Pedagogy

Interdisciplinary Arts Education

A man with a dark goatee and mustache

Kirk Richardson

Associate Professor

A woman wearing an orange dress with a necklace and earrings

Stephanie Rizzi

Affiliate Faculty Member

A woman wearing a light brown blazer with a white blouse in front of a red/orange wall

Courtney Sviatko

Instructor

A person wearing a black long sleeve shirt in front of a gray background

Harry Szabo

Assistant Professor

Composition Studies, Rhetoric

Children's Literature

19th and 20th Century American Literature

A woman with brown hair wearing a colorful button-up shirt stadning in front of a bookshelf

Allison Tharp

Assistant Professor

Alternative Grading

Rhetoric

Protest Movements

A woman with blonde hair wearing a dark blue top and necklace

Judy Topich

Assistant Professor

A woman with blind hair wearing a blue navy shirt standing otuside in front of green shurbs

Virginia Wray Totaro

Associate Professor

and Assessment Coordinator

Student Learning

Outcomes Assessment

A woman with blonde haor wearing a colorful scarf

Amy Tudor

Assistant Professor

A man stadning against a brick wall painted with a black and golad mural wearing a blue and plaid shirt

Matthew James Vechinski

Coordinator of Academic Programming, University College

and Associate Professor

experiential learning

design thinking

collecting/curation

A woman wearing a pink and white scarf with glasses and a white shirt

Anne "Carver" Weakley

Assistant Professor

A man wearing a dark blue button up shirt

Larry Williams

Assistant Professor

A man with dark hair wearing glasses and a black T-shirt

Paul Yoon

Associate Professor