School of
Public & International Affairs
School of Public and International Affairs • 112 Architecture Annex
Good News from the director...
June 24, 2010
Gerry Kearns
1. Casey Dawkins
Great news for Casey but a big
loss for us. Casey Dawkins has
verbally accepted an offer to join
the University of Maryland fac-
ulty beginning January 2011. He
will be jointly appointed as an
Casey Dawkins
Associate of the National Cen- UAP
ter for Smart Growth Research and Education
and an Associate Professor in the Urban Stud-
ies and Planning Program. The National Center
for Smart Growth Research and Education is a
non-partisan center for research and leadership
training on smart growth and related land use is-
sues in Maryland, in metropolitan regions around
the nation, and in Asia and Europe. The Center
was founded in 2000 as a cooperative venture of
four University of Maryland schools: Architecture,
Planning and Preservation, Public Policy, Agri-
culture and Natural Resources, and Engineering.
Casey tells me that he has “truly enjoyed my time
at Virginia Tech and will miss being among Hok-
ies. Although I will be on the other side of the
Potomac, I plan to continue working with my col-
leagues at Virginia Tech to pursue new research
opportunities.” We will hold you to that promise
Casey and we will miss you.
Good luck and thank you Casey
2. Emily Barry
Emily Barry is being honored in very many ways
and is clearly an outstanding student. Emily is a
Global Dialogue Scholar and a Masters student in
the Masters in Public and International Affairs.
Emily was awarded a grant from the College of
Liberal Arts and Human Sciences’ Undergraduate
• Ph 540/231-2291 • Fax 540/231-3367 • www.spia.vt.edu
• College of Architecture and Urban Studies
Research Institute to lead a community develop-
ment partnership with El Porvenir, Honduras, that
focused on health, gardening, water sanitation,
and youth empowerment. She has also worked
with Habitat for Humanity and has won numer-
ous other awards including a Jimmy Carter and
Rosalyn Foundation Social Entrepreneurship
Grant for a project proposal she developed for the
Appalachian region. In 2009, she was presented
the Hulick Endowed Scholarship for Leadership,
Friendship, and Service which aids undergradu-
ate students in the college who exhibit extraordi-
nary characteristics of leadership, friendship, and
service to others. She has just been awarded the
Jean B. Duerr Memorial Scholarship by the Chap-
ter AU, Blacksburg Virginia, of the Philanthropic
Educational Organization. The PEO is a organiza-
tion of and for college women. Jean Duerr was a
member of this society and as the wife of William
Duerr, professor in the School of Forestry and
Wildlife Resources at Virginia Tech, she was very
much involved with the welfare of students. She
died in 1991 and her husband established the
Scholarship in her honor. Emily is a very worthy
winner of this award.
Just recently, Emily has also been named
to one of the USA Today All-USA College Aca-
demic Teams. She was also just award a David
L. Boren Fellowship from the National Security
Education Program. Boren Fellows are awarded
to motivated individuals who develop indepen-
dent overseas projects that combine language
and culture study with professional practical
experiences. http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.
php?relyear=2010&itemno=485
Very many congratulations Emily we are very
proud of all your success.
3. Larkin Dudley
I heard recently that the Board of
Visitors of the university has con-
ferred emeritus status upon Larkin.
Congratulations Larkin
Larkin Dudley
CPAP
4. Tom Sanchez
I heard recently that the Board of
Visitors of the university has ap-
proved the title of Professor for Tom
Sanchez.
Tom Sanchez
Congratulations Tom UAP
5. Annual Report
I am currently preparing the Annual Report and
will post it on our website but I want first to con-
gratulate faculty on our achievements this year.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty taught over 100
courses to over 1700 students. We published
five books, 31 book chapters and 62 articles. We
gave 108 presentations to professional meet-
ings and we are working on 42 grant-supported
projects. Taking last year with this, we can say
that on average faculty publish a book every four
years and two articles and a book chapter each
year. On average faculty give three professional
papers a year and most are working on research
sponsored by at least one grant.
Congratulations to everyone.
6. Shelley Mastran
Shelley tells me of a recent article: ‘Tysons Cor-
ner, Virginia: Planning for the Urban Retrofitting
of a Suburban Edge City,’ Real Estate Review,
Spring 2010 (a Thomson Reuters publication).
Congratulations Shelley
7. Gerard Toal
Gerard Toal’s research on national
identity in Abkhazia is featured on
the Virginia Tech News website:
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.
php?relyear=2010&itemno=472
Gerard Toal
Well done Gerard GIA
www.spia.vt.edu good news from the director...
8. Joel Peters
Joel has just published an article that
argues that Palestinians should be
compensated for property taken from
them when the state of Israel was
created but that they would not get an
automatic right of return to Israel itself Joel Peters
were a two-state solution produced: GIA
Joel Peters and Orit Gal, ‘Israel,
UNRWA, and the Palestinian refugee issue,’ Ref-
ugee Survey Quarterly 28:2&3 (2010) 588-606.
Congratulations Joel
9. Jesse Richardson
Jesse has been named to
the National Cave and Karst
Research Institute Board of
Directors. The Institute was
formed by an act of the United
Jesse Richardson States Congress in order to,
UAP among other things, advance
the science of speleology and
to “promote and develop environmentally sound
and sustainable resource management practices’
for cave and karst areas. Jesse is recognized of
rhis writing and research on regulatory and non-
regulatory approaches to land use in karst areas.
Congratulations Jesse
10. Max Stephenson
Max tells me of the many publish-
ing ventures coming from meet-
ings organized by the Institute
for Policy and Governance: “Our
Davos symposium participant
articles will [...] appear as a theme Max Stephenson
issue of the Journal of Emergency
UAP
Management. This is the third journal issue to
arise from a VTIPG symposium in our not quite
four years of existence. Another theme issue
(the “Walls” issue for JAPR) is under review and
a book is forthcoming from MIT Press, edited by
Bruce Goldstein, that resulted from our resilience
symposium. [...] I will be editing a theme issue of
European Security with Laura Zanotti and Yannis
Stivachtis this fall.”
Well done Max, this is indeed admirable testimo-
june 24, 2010 p2
ny to the scholarship promoted by the activities of
VTIPG.
11. Wilma Dunaway
For the week of June 7th, the
Provost’s website hosted Wilma
Dunaway as “Scholar of the Week.”
On June 10th, the History Museum
of Western Virginia (Roanoke)
Wilma Dunaway
presented Wilma with its Regional
GIA Historian of the Year Award at its
annual “Night for Notable Women.”
Wilma tells me that “since October 2009, I have
been working with the museum to make this a
fund raising event. They sold tickets at $20 per-
son and raised nearly $10,000 in much needed
revenue for needed renovations. In addition to my
presentation “The Heroic Lives of 19th Century
Appalachian Women,” I developed a CD slide
show of antebellum women images that we ran
automatically in the reception area before and
after the lecture. For the lecture, we had a full
house at Mill Mountain Theater which seats 350.”
Congratulations Wilma
12. David Bieri
One of our PGG PhD students, David
Bieri has been appointed as Assistant
Professor in the Department of Urban
and Regional Planning of the A. Alfred
Taubman College of Architecture and
Urban Planning at the University of David Bieri
PGG
Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Congratulations David
13. Damian Pitt
Damian tells me that his ‘paper, “The
Impact of Internal and External Char-
acteristics on the Adoption of Climate
Mitigation Policies by U.S. Municipali-
ties,” has been accepted for publica-
Damian Pitt
PGG tion in Environment and Planning C:
Government & Policy. This paper
focuses on the quantitative analysis component
of my dissertation. Another paper, on the qualita-
tive component of my dissertation, is in review at
the journal Local Environment. Also, I’ve been
asked to be a reviewer for the journal Environ-
www.spia.vt.edu good news from the director...
mental Science and Technology. The article that
I am reviewing heavily cites an article that John
Randolph and I published last fall (also in Envi-
ronment and Planning C).’
Congratulations Damian
14. Curt Gervich
One of our PGG students, Curt
recently defended successfully his
PhD and now he has even more
good news for he tells me that he
has “just accepted a tenure track
assistant professor position at SUNY CurtPGG
Gervich
Plattsburgh in the Center for Earth
and Environmental Science. My first semester I’ll
be teaching Environmental Law and Policy, Envi-
ronment and Society and Environmental Writing
Seminar. In the spring semester I’ll teach Sus-
tainability.”
Well done Curt
15. Houston Griffith
With many thanks for all his work for us over the
past years, we say farewell to Klayton Shaw. The
new person with computing and IT responsibilities
for SPIA at Blacksburg is Houston Griffith. Hous-
ton tells me that he is “currently a Sophomore in
the Pamplin College of Business majoring in BIT.
I am from the Richmond, Virginia area specifically
Chesterfield County where I was born and attend-
ed Chesterfield County Public Schools. I enjoy
mountain biking, yoga, and anything related to
electronics or IT. I am excited to be working here
with everyone and hope to make the most of this
position before I graduate and perhaps for some
time afterwards if I decide to pursue a graduate
degree. Please feel free to ask me if you need
help and I will do my best to help resolve what-
ever you may need help with.” Houston can be
contacted at 540.231.1490 and houston.griffith@
vt.edu.
Welcome to SPIA Houston.
16. James Fleming
From Anne Khademian I learn that James recent-
ly defended with success his PhD thesis, ‘Playing
the Bad Guy: How do Organizations Develop,
Apply, and Measure Red Teams?’. His committee
june 24, 2009 p3
was Anne Khademian and Randy Murch (co-
chairs), Jim Wolf, Matt Dull, Colleen Woodward,
and Tom Hickok.
Congratulations Dr Fleming
17. Hyungon Kim
Hyungon has just defended successfully his PhD
thesis in PAPA. The title of his dissertation was
“The Dynamics of Size, Composition, and Fiscal
Authority in Government Expenditures: Examin-
ing the Effects of Social Disturbance,” and his
committee was Sang Ok Choi and Matt Dull (co-
chairs), Anne Khademian, and Jim Wolf.
Congratulations Dr Kim
18. UAP students in Who’s Who
Jesse tells me that ‘three UAP students have
have been named to the national list of Who’s
Who Among Students in American Universities
and Colleges this year.’ The students are: Wafa
Al-Daily, a Ph.D. student in Planning, Globaliza-
tion and Governance; Angella DeSoto, a senior
majoring in environmental policy and planning
and Lindsay Hall, a senior majoring in environ-
mental policy and planning.
Well done to you all
www.spia.vt.edu good news from the director...
19. UAP students at the Virginia American
Planning Association conference
Shelley tells me that ‘three MURP students from
Alexandria presented at a panel at the VAPA
meeting in Norfolk: Orient Au-Vang, Gareth
James, and Jeremy Sewall. Their panel was on
“Placemaking: Revitalization Studios at Virginia
Tech.” They presented the process and results
of three planning studios -- on the Seven Corners
gateway into Falls Church; the Woodlawn area
of Route 1 north of Fort Belvoir; and the Shrink-
ing Cities studio on Cleveland. The students did
a terrific job, and their presentations were well-
received.’
Well done to you all
20. Gerry Kearns
I was recently in London to received the Murchi-
son Award from the Royal Geographical Society.
Apart from meeting Michael Palin, I also gave a
speech, ‘The Earth: our home in crisis,’ which will
shortly be published in the Geographical Journal.
june 24, 2009 p4