John Freyer, Associate Professor, Department of Photography and Film 
Professor Freyer’s teaching merges social practice art with community-based learning. His projects foster collaborative, intergenerational mentorship and professional development. By integrating alumni, professionals, and global experiences, Freyer transforms academic work into real-world practice. His students not only conduct public research and curate exhibitions but also build sustainable career pathways. His pedagogy exemplifies innovation through its emphasis on collaboration, storytelling, and professional integration, making his classroom a dynamic space for experiential learning and artistic growth.

Sterling Hundley, Professor, Department of Communication Arts
Professor Hundley’s research and professional practice bridges creative industries and non-creative sectors. Hundley integrates real-world experience into the classroom, using methods drawn from video games, film, and design. His initiative, Legendeer, exemplifies this vision—combining adventure with creative workshops to foster authentic artistic expression. His global teaching experience demonstrates his commitment to impactful, experiential learning. Hundley brings visionary and entrepreneurial thinking, global engagement, and a deep passion for integrating life and creativity into education.

Emily Smith, Assistant Professor, Department of Interior Design
Professor Emily Smith has taught a broad range of interdisciplinary courses integrating community engagement, material experimentation, and study-away experiences. Her teaching emphasizes clarity, responsiveness, and the integration of real-world challenges, with students consistently highlighting her ability to cultivate a strong studio culture. Smith’s research explores sustainable design, material reuse, and cultural identity through collaborations with students and regional partners. Through leading the community-engaged design studio and international initiatives, she advances a design education that is adaptive, collaborative, and environmentally responsive.

Maurice Brown, Assistant Professor, Department of Business Essentials
Dr. Brown exemplifies pedagogical innovation through his work in business education, student mentorship, and curriculum design. He integrates real-world problem solving, student-led projects, and pedagogy to deepen engagement and learning. He mentors graduate assistants, supports DECA students, and leads professional development sessions across institutions. His commitment to learning is reflected in his adoption of open educational resources and award-winning teaching. Brown's dynamic, student-centered approach not only improves academic outcomes but also empowers students.

Michael McGarry, Assistant Professor, Department of Information Systems
Dr. McGarry has leveraged  extensive executive-level industry experience to revamp the Information Systems curricula, ensuring students are well-suited for  high-demand roles in AI, cloud services, and data analytics. McGarry has partnered with industry to give students experiential consulting opportunities through the IT Consulting Lab he established and he has supervised students on internal IT projects that promote operational efficiency. McGarry was awarded a Worley Teaching Excellence Award for his commitment to experiential learning and overall teaching excellence.

Elena Olsen, Associate Professor, Department of Information Systems
Dr. Olson led an interdisciplinary international project, Global STEMConverge, that equips STEM students with business and cross-cultural skills. In the Global STEMConverge program, students work on projects locally and abroad in small interdisciplinary teams, gaining valuable experience. In addition, Olsen hosted international exchange students, redesigned key courses, earned stellar student feedback, and improved curricular review processes as a member of UUCC. Her teaching, mentoring, and leadership reflect VCU’s commitment to innovative, inclusive education.

T'Airra Belcher, Associate Professor, Department of Counseling and Special Education
Dr. Belcher led various teaching experiences in and outside the classroom in 2024. Utilizing a qualitative research design, Belcher began collecting data focused on contemplative practices to increase counselor competency, and cultivating vertically integrated research projects with master’s and doctoral students. This initiative supported IRB, grant, and publishing opportunities for all research team members. Belcher initiated a mock counseling assignment that employed scaffolding across the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral tracks within the Counselor Education Program.

Kim Bridges, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Leadership
Dr. Bridges’s teaching is driven by three core principles about instructional innovation. Continual improvement - Innovation is change, but change is not necessarily improvement. Learning-centered - Innovation is not an end goal; it’s a mechanism for creating a better learning experience and moves students from understanding to application of  knowledge to real challenges.  Collaborative - The best ideas come from the collective intelligence of diverse learners and partners. She has embedded these principles in applied capstone projects for the Ed.D. program that support partner organizations and help students develop applied skills.

Lisa Cipoletti, Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning
Dr. Cipoletti demonstrates excellence in pedagogical innovation through her student-centered approach and iterative course design. In 2024, she developed a fully asynchronous online version of TEDU 386, using real-time student feedback to revise navigation, pacing, and workload. In TEDU 466, she co-developed peer observation tools and infused structured, research-based phonics methods into tutoring plans. Her work extends beyond the classroom through high-impact workshops and mentoring, and advancing literacy practices among pre-service teachers and their school-based partners.

Meera Mehtaji, Associate Professor, Department of Counseling and Special Education
Dr. Mehtaji’s exceptional pedagogical innovation is evident from her transformative teaching methods and curriculum development. Mehtaji’s shift from traditional presentation-based instruction to hands-on workshop methodology, emphasizing practical application over theoretical review, emerged in direct response to student feedback. Her implementation of flexible assignment formats that accommodate diverse learning preferences, enhanced discussion requirements for online engagement, and the application of Universal Design for Learning principles across all coursework showcase her commitment to inclusive, student-centered innovation that directly improves learning outcomes.

David Saavedra, Assistant Professor, Foundations of Education
Dr. Saavedra creates learning experiences designed to get students thinking about education. For developing scholars, he encourages intellectual rigor and offers the necessary support to get there. Saavedra brings his knowledge of relational pedagogy into practice with his students, a likely reason their nominations led to him being awarded the Charles P. Ruch Award for Excellence in Teaching in his very first semester at the VCU School of Education.

Kerry Ann Mader, Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy
Dr. Mader demonstrates pedagogical innovation through the integration of evidence-based instructional design, experiential learning, and structured debriefing to advance critical thinking. Her contributions include the development of universal assessment rubrics, interprofessional reflective frameworks, and near-peer debriefing models aligned with competency-based education. Her initiatives exemplify alignment with the Occupational Therapy Education Research Agenda’s priorities in pedagogy, instructional methods, and learner competencies.

Richard Bargdill, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology 
Dr. Bargdill embodies the model for the teacher-scholar who meaningfully integrates undergraduates into the research process, foundationally advancing our shared mission. He published three peer-reviewed papers in psychology professional journals with undergraduates, and his efforts earned him the Department of Psychology recognition of Mentor of the Year in 2024. He is advisor for the Student Ambassadors for the Society for Humanistic Psychology. Beyond these contributions, Dr. Bargdill is also a renowned scholar of psychology pedagogy.

Tara Bray, Associate Professor, Department of Focused Inquiry
Dr. Bray was instrumental in developing the co-requisite studio support model for Spring UNIV 111s. She incorporates the Wellness pedagogy into her Focused Inquiry classes. Bray introduces students to wellness practices and asks them to research/write about implementing one of those practices into their routine. This pedagogical approach not only improves the lives of students, it increases their course learning outcomes and has led to reduced and low DFW rates in her classes.

Christopher Burdett, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
Dr. Burdett demonstrates pedagogical innovation through multiple transformative teaching approaches. He has elevated online education standards by incorporating professional production techniques and personalized video feedback for asynchronous courses. Burdett’s application of the POGIL model in European Security produced remarkable results, including five student research papers published in a special edition of our American Political Science Review. His creative assignment redesigns showcase his commitment to supporting diverse learning styles while maintaining academic rigor.

Frank Faries, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Faries created and taught multiple new courses across diverse formats, reaching more than 200 students in just one year. His inventive assignments, like inverted Turing Tests and AI-themed book clubs, foster deep engagement and critical thinking. Faries also leads in continuing education and credentialing initiatives, mentoring undergraduates and contributing to university-wide programs on AI and pedagogy. His work makes cutting-edge philosophy relevant, accessible, and powerfully connected to real-world ethical concerns.

James Fritz, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Fritz demonstrates pedagogical innovation through contributions across teaching, curriculum development, mentorship, and public engagement. In 2024–25 he introduced new AI ethics courses, crafted instructional materials, led a philosophy summer camp for high schoolers, and mentored undergraduates and pre-college students. Fritz’s courses foster deep learning through collaborative dialogue, practical engagement with emerging technologies and scaffolded research assignments. Dr. Fritz’s work is a model of innovative pedagogy both in the university classroom and the wider community.

Rebecca Gibson, Assistant Professor, School of World Studies
Dr. Gibson is a gifted teacher-scholar whose anthropological work allows her to engage students in the classroom. She published two books in 2024, created a new course for the AI Studies in Humanities and Sciences minor, and was awarded a LIFT award. Gibson’s work is on the cutting-edge of both research and pedagogical practices. She developed the interdisciplinary global sustainable agriculture digital badge, mentored students across disciplines, and cemented her status as a wildly popular anthropology instructor.

Frankie Mastrangelo, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology 
Dr. Mastrangelo taught undergraduate vertically integrated project courses directly linked to her work as PI on a grant in 2024-2025. She built online versions of upper-level electives and served as liaison with VCU LEDstudio. She mentored undergraduate research assistants and wrote 30 recommendation letters. Mastrangelo presented at an international conference, translated a scholarly publication into a project for teaching purposes, and participated in a VIP undergraduate research mentoring panel at a VCU teaching summit.

Kamilia Rahmouni, Associate Professor, School of World Studies 
Dr. Rahmouni is an interdisciplinary teacher-scholar who successfully teaches across multiple disciplines, shows leadership in the College and University, and creates innovative learning opportunities. As a member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for Gen AI & Teaching & Learning, she also initiated a new course designed to explore the intersection of artificial intelligence and society from a linguistic perspective, joined a College working group on AI initiatives, and is a leader in the AI teaching space.

Matthew Scott, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences
Dr. Scott trains Kinesiology and Health Sciences students to be strong, effective communicators and health professionals. His pedagogical approach seeks to engage students within their learning environments while facilitating transformative educational experiences that promote professional growth and enhance career readiness. Scott designs innovative assignments that encourage students to critically reflect on their learning objectives, fostering engagement through the integration of diverse perspectives. He is an outstanding colleague and educator whose expertise enriches the student experience.

Joshua Smith, Assistant Professor, Richard T. Robertson School of Communication
Dr. Smith was instrumental in designing four new AI-focused courses in the Robertson School. In 2024–25, he launched MASC 311: AI in Mass Media, introduced scaffolded sentiment analysis projects using generative technologies, and hosted a multi-speaker industry lecture series. He regularly integrates tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Midjourney into coursework to deepen students' understanding of real-world applications. In addition to his own outstanding classroom teaching, Smith also led the College’s microcredentialing initiatives.

Robert Bradford Lehmann, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice
Dr. Lehmann is an educator whose inclusive, experiential teaching has strengthened student learning. In 2024–25, he taught more than 375 students. Students consistently praised his clarity, accessibility, and ability to inspire critical thinking and reimagine justice. He mentors extensively, leads the Criminal Justice Honor Society, and presents nationally on justice and pedagogy. Lehmann’s curriculum development and community-engaged approach reflect a deep commitment to educational equity and VCU’s mission of transformative learning.

Leigh Anne Hylton Gravatt, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science
Dr. Hylton Gravatt exemplifies excellence in teaching through innovative course design, experiential learning, and student engagement. She leads gamified instruction like the ID Olympics, integrates tools to support diverse learning styles, and effectively applies active learning to the classroom. She has led notable improvements in assisting our students to successfully obtain top fellowship and residency positions. As Vice Chair of Education, she has provided immense mentorship, support, and guidance to her colleagues.

Kimberly Davis, Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Health Nursing
Ms. Davis exemplifies a consistent pattern of success as an educator and scholar. She works to establish and maintain community clinical partners, the impact of which is evident. Davis led the development of three new courses as part of the SON’s curriculum redesign, using innovative pedagogical approaches, while continuing to teach a full load, remaining active on two HRSA grants, and maintaining a high level of service to VCU, VCUHS, SON, and state/local community partners.