Highlanders in the News: Week of June 3, 2024

Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. Here, we’ll highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we’ll feature their stories.

• Turtle facts! Did you know Virginia is home to 25 species and subspecies of the common reptiles? They’ve also inhabited the earth for approximately 220 million years and, across that span, have remained largely unchanged. Those are just some of the points that emerged during a May 15 online presentation by Associate Professor of Biology Matt Close, who’s also the treasurer of the Virginia Herpetological Society. Close’s lecture was covered in a May 23 story by the Mount Vernon Gazette.
• Radford University Professor of Communication Bill Kovarik has previously written about toxic chemicals, often related to the fuel industry, and late last month, he weighed in on a related subject in a May 24 story for CNN about the once-celebrated inventor Thomas Midgley, whose work spawned destructive legacies the world continues to reckon with today. The story was also carried by such outlets as WAAY (Huntsville, Alabama); Fox 40-WICZ (Binghamton, New York); WKBT Newschannel 8 (Lacrosse, Wisconsin); Crossroads Today; WFFT (Fort Wayne, Indiana); KXLY 4 (Spokane, Washington); and KION Channels 5/46 (Salinas, California), among many others.
• Robert Warren, a Radford University assistant professor of accounting and retired IRS investigator, is also an expert on financial crimes involving members of the clergy. In this story by The Pillar, Warren offers insights regarding an ongoing case in which a Pennsylvania priest is accused of embezzling more than $40,000 in parish funds that reportedly went to play cellphone games, specifically Candy Crush. (Warren is such a busy source these days that, while we were writing this item, he contributed to another piece in The Pillar on a similar subject in this May 29 story.)
• As of June 1, Deputy Chief Derek Weeks ‘96 has been named interim police chief for Salem, Virginia. Weeks – whose promotion was covered by The Roanoke Times, WFXR-TV, and WDBJ7  – has been with the force since 2001. Here’s the full news release issued by the City of Salem.
• In the wake of his latest book, “Borne by the River,” Radford University Professor Rick Van Noy has found himself at the center of numerous media profiles – here’s the latest one, via Mercer Me-Hopewell Valley Connected.
• This Roanoke Times article on the reduction of gun violence in Roanoke due to a change in police department policy includes comments from Radford University Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Roberto Santos.