March 2025 Spotlight on Faculty Scholars
Suzanne C. Makarem
Associate Professor, Marketing, School of Business
Dr. Makarem is an Associate Professor of Marketing at VCU, specializing in healthcare services and transformative consumer research. Her work examines stakeholder experience journeys, emotions in consumer decision-making, and online reviews management, with publications in journals including the Journal of Service Research and Journal of Business Research. Her teaching innovations include pedagogical research on creativity in business education and on First Generation/AAPI students' success. She teaches Consumer Behavior while engaging students in real-world projects with local businesses. Her research on women's healthcare experiences and physician social media usage demonstrates her commitment to improving consumer well-being through impactful research. More about Dr. Makarem >>
Waganesh (Waggy) Zeleke
Associate Professor, Rehabilitation Counseling, College of Health Professions
Dr. Waganesh (Waggy) Zeleke, an associate professor at VCU, is a dedicated scholar and clinician committed to advancing culturally responsive mental health care. Her research explores the intersection of culture, context, and mental health, focusing on autism, trauma, and immigrant well-being. With over 35 publications and editorial roles, she contributes to the global discourse on holistic mental health and rehabilitation counseling. A Fulbright Scholar and award-winning educator, she integrates research with teaching, clinical supervision, and mentoring future clinicians. As director of VCU’s HEARTFUL Lab, she leads community-driven scholarship, shaping evidence-based practices and policies that foster healing and equitable mental health services worldwide. More about Dr. Zeleke >>
Priscilla Hwang
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Dr. Hwang’s research focuses on designing and applying 3D microtissue systems (“lab-on-a-chip”) to understand how cells interact with their environment. Her lab is investigating cell migration mechanics, a fundamental process required for development and disease progression such as cancer metastasis. Findings from her work can elucidate pathways and mechanisms that can aid in novel therapy design. Excitement for her research program has been recognized via National Science Foundation CAREER, National Institute of Health R35, VCU National/International Recognition Award, Early Career Award (Cell Biology Group at Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center), and Rising Star Junior Faculty Award (Cell and Molecular Bioengineering Conference).
Katharine Moore Tibbetts
Associate Professor, Chemistry, College of Humanities and Sciences
Dr. Tibbetts’ research group uses laser pulses that last less than one trillionth of a second to track the motions of individual molecules and produce nanomaterials that are inaccessible by other methods. Her group has watched explosive molecules fall apart and produced a copper silicate catalyst that can convert CO2 to ethylene. She teaches upper-level Physical Chemistry for majors and the general education course Chemistry and Society that introduces students to the many ways that chemistry impacts their everyday lives and includes fun projects like making slime. She is active in organizing professional conferences and peer-reviewing journal articles and grants. More about Dr. Tibbetts >>
Beth E. Bukoski
Associate Professor, Educational Leadership, School of Education
Dr. Bukoski's research and practice focuses on the impact of organizational systems on faculty, students, and staff, with a critical lens on intersectional identities like gender, race, and sexuality. As Director of the EdD in Leadership and Chair of the Council of Higher Education Programs, she emphasizes graduate student socialization and program development. With over a decade of experience, her teaching spans foundational and advanced graduate courses, including epistemologies, legal and policy issues, and qualitative methodologies. Her expertise lies in qualitative research and improvement science, contributing to a deeper understanding of leadership and administration in higher education. More about Dr. Bukoski >>
Pamela Burch
Assistant Professor, Supply Chain Management and Analytics, School of Business
Data has a story to tell and Pam Burch helps her students learn how to give that data a voice in her Statistics classes. She has been teaching in VCU’s School of Business since 2005 and seeks to be a better teacher with each semester. This year she is experimenting with physically meeting students where they are by moving her office hours out of her office and holding them instead in the common area in Snead Hall. Being more accessible to her students has been well received so far! Pam Burch also serves as the chair of VCU’s Academic Regulations Appeals Committee.
Judi Crenshaw
Assistant Professor, Richard T. Robertson School of Communication, College of Humanities and Sciences
Judi’s initiation to VCU was creating its first course on social media, albeit in less complicated times! In years since, she has served as PR Sequence Coordinator, taught a long list of courses in the Mass Comm major, and is a sought-after mentor. As part of VCU's Leaders for Inclusive Learning, Judi was inspired to write a teaching guide “Tools and Resources for Inclusive Learning: An EID Toolkit for Teaching.” She created (and still holds) the position of Coordinator of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity at Robertson School, one of the few units with this designated leadership position. Judi leverages her years of professional experience to help prepare graduate and undergraduate students for real-world success, teaching classes such as "Career Minded" and "Ethical Problems in Mass Media." She is Past President and DEI Chair of PRSA Richmond, and leads accessibility and inclusion efforts for several community projects. More about Judi Crenshaw >>
Jill C. Bettinger
Professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology, School of Medicine
Dr. Jill Bettinger is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and is the Scientific Director of the VCU Alcohol Research Center. Her research uses genetic and molecular approaches in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans to understand how alcohol affects nervous system function, with a focus on understanding how tolerance to alcohol develops. She has been continuously funded by NIH since 2007. She mentors undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees in her laboratory. Dr. Bettinger teaches Pharmacology and Genetics in the College of Humanities and Sciences, the Graduate School, and the Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, and Allied Health. More about Dr. Bettinger >>
Elizabeth White Baker
Associate Professor, Information Systems, School of Business
Elizabeth White Baker researches system safety and security in human-computer collaboration within healthcare. Her work spans from developing mobile apps for patient-caregiver-centered care in underserved diseases in her undergraduate lab to studying the US Navy’s safety management systems and leadership impact on sailors’ harmful behaviors. She and her students seek impactful solutions to improve community health in these research efforts. Current projects include EGID Tracker, an app for managing eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and other gastrointestinal diseases, and 321Connect, a personal healthcare record for pediatric Down syndrome patients. More about Dr. Baker >>
Elizabeth Byland
Assistant Professor, Theatre, School of the Arts
Elizabeth Byland is the fearless and fun-loving Director of Improv at VCU’s Department of Theatre, where she teaches and oversees four improv performance teams, creating a space where students can laugh, grow, and build an unshakable sense of togetherness on campus. Offstage, she spreads the joy of improv beyond the classroom, working with veterans experiencing homelessness at Liberation Veteran Services, using laughter and storytelling to spark connection and resilience. At her core, she believes improv isn’t just a skill—it’s a superpower that builds empathy, deepens humanity, and brings people closer, one joyful “yes, and” at a time. More about Elizabeth Byland >>
Radha Dalal
Director of Art History and Associate Professor, VCUarts Qatar
Radha Dalal is Associate Professor and Director of Art History at VCUarts Qatar. She researches visual cultures of mobility and urbanism with a focus on the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Her research has been supported by VCUarts Qatar, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Qatar National Research Fund. Dalal co-chairs the Hamad bin Khalifa Symposia on Islamic Art and has co-edited two of its proceedings The Seas and the Mobility of Islamic Art (2021) and The Environment and Ecology in Islamic Art and Culture (2023), both published by Yale University Press. She serves on the College Art Association’s Board of Directors and as Vice-President of the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies.
SJ Sindu
Assistant Professor, Creative Writing, College of Humanities & Sciences
SJ Sindu is a Tamil diaspora author of two literary novels (Marriage of a Thousand Lies, which won the Publishing Triangle Edmund White Award; and Blue-Skinned Gods, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award), two graphic novels (Shakti and Tall Water), one collection of short stories (The Goth House Experiment, which won The Story Prize Spotlight Award), and two award-winning hybrid chapbooks (I Once Met You But You Were Dead and Dominant Genes). Sindu is a co-editor for Zero Street, a literary fiction series featuring LGBTQ+ books published by the University of Nebraska Press. Sindu is an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, where they teach classes in fiction writing, writing for comics, and literature.
Shraddha Mainali
Associate Professor, Neurology, School of Medicine
Dr. Shraddha Mainali, Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of Clinical Research for Stroke and Neurocritical Care at VCU, is a clinician-scientist dedicated to advancing stroke and neurocritical care through research, education, and clinical innovation. She established the stroke and neurocritical care research program, now encompassing NIH-funded, industry-sponsored, and investigator-initiated studies. A committed educator, she mentors trainees and junior faculty while contributing to global neurocritical care education. She serves in leadership roles within the American Academy of Neurology and Neurocritical Care Society. Her research spans AI applications in medicine, neuroprognostication, and acute brain injury, contributing to international guideline development and protocol writing.
Sara Wilson McKay
Associate Professor, Art Education, School of the Arts
Sara Wilson McKay, PhD is an Associate Professor of Art Education, previously serving as Department Chair. Working with students at all levels, she values community in learning and directs the Marshall-Hunter Integrated Arts Research Fund to cultivate transdisciplinary learning through art. Since 2012, Dr. Wilson McKay has worked at the intersection of art and healthcare, co-founding “VCU Art of Nursing,” co-developing an Arts in Medicine course, researching creative aging and health equity for people with disabilities, and leading the VCUarts Arts & Health Lab. She was elected to and served a 6-year term as Associate Chair, Chair, and Past-Chair of the National Art Education Research Commission.
Thea Abad Pepperl
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Thea Abad Pepperl is a term faculty member who incorporates real-world projects and human-centered design into her biomedical engineering courses. Her students collaborate with patients and healthcare providers from a range of disciplines, including occupational therapy, emergency medicine, and surgery, to identify how medical technology can be improved. Dr. Pepperl’s research mission is to improve access and apply equitable design principles; this philosophy informs her work in healthcare design for low-resource and international settings as well as engineering education.
