Faculty
Virginia Commonwealth University boasts faculty from all over the world, many of whom are nationally and internationally recognized for their research. However, there is another side to our faculty, one outside of the classroom. Take a moment to get to know what drives these faculty members, besides teaching.
Don Abraham
Passion and perseverance: two personal attributes necessary to achieve success. Don Abraham realized their importance at the beginning of his career in medicinal chemistry and, since then, he has been passing along his secret to many of his students and colleagues. He attributes many of his achievements, including the start of a company on Wall Street and the honor of 1999 Virginia Scientist of the Year, to taking a personal approach to his work. Early on, he found a love for chemistry — a sort of vocation — and he turned this love into a personal investment. It is this philosophy that has led him to success, and in his personal time has led him to the completion of three marathons.
Bonnie Brown
Teaching her students about the relevance of everyday life in environmental issues requires careful focus and consideration – two skills Bonnie Brown refines as a purple-belt tai kwon do student. It’s Brown’s philosophy to teach her students about their personal impact on the environment. Once she opens their eyes, enthusiasm overwhelms the class, including Brown. It’s this awareness and excitement that Brown hopes will make her students become socially responsible citizens.
David Leong
Work is play for David Leong, a certified fight master and choreographer for stage-combat and physical comedy scenes. For Leong, providing his audience with a fun, adventurous experience – whether martial arts or swashbuckling sword fights – drives him to create believable moments. His goal is to choreograph his students and actors in order to create the illusion of real life. Once the steps are learned, Leong strives to bring out the best in each of his students and actors – to see that they are being true to the scene. It is in this truth that Leong becomes the ”master of illusion.ldquo;
Micah McCreary
Whether over his famous spicy gumbo or during class, Micah McCreary is exchanging ideas with his students. For McCreary, teaching is more than presenting a lecture on the personality of African-Americans or child development. It’s providing an opportunity for his students to engage in healthy dialogue; it’s serving as a role model; and it’s presenting his students with multicultural experiences. McCreary believes that a creative atmosphere, like VCU’s , is the key ingredient to any successful learning environment, and it is creating this environment that allows McCreary to teach outside the ”boxldquo; and share some of his real-world experiences.
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh often says that he “knows more about rock-and-roll music than social work,” but his record shows otherwise. Still a clinical social worker, Walsh’s field experiences and research define him as a great mentor for many of his students. Able to share his first-hand knowledge – not to mention his collection of rock and roll CDs — Walsh creates an inviting atmosphere for learning. One-to-one interaction is one of the most important factors in teaching the practices of social work, and the immediate feedback Walsh provides his students is key to their professional development.
