Faculty Stories David KovacsHugh H. Obear Twenty-First Century Distinguished Professor of ClassicsAncient languages captivated David Kovacs ab initio, “from the very beginning,” when he started studying Latin in the ninth grade at the Charles F. Brush High School in Lyndhurst, Ohio. more >  David R. Jones, M.D.Associate Professor of Surgery and Chief of General Thoracic SurgeryEach year, lung cancer kills more than 170,000 Americans. Despite significant treatment advances in other cancers, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer remains a dismal 15 percent. David R. Jones, M.D., chief of thoracic surgery and leader of U.Va. Cancer Center's Thoracic Oncology Program, is committed to changing that. more >  María–Inés LagosChair of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and PortugueseMaría-Inés Lagos understands what it means to straddle two cultures. She was born in Santiago, Chile, but has spent her professional life in the United States, now as chair of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Her dual perspective has taught her that the image one culture has of another is not always accurate. more >  Petra ReinkeAssociate Professor, Department of Materials Science and EngineeringJust about every assumption made about the materials of everyday life start to collapse when objects become very small. At the micron scale—one-millionth of a meter—they retain their familiar properties. But in moving to the nanoscale—dimensions measured in billionths of a meter—strange things start to happen. more >  Jonathan HaidtAssociate Professor, Department of PsychologyWhen Jonathan Haidt was deciding among several teaching opportunities in the mid-1990s, he recalls people saying things like, "Virginia is a class act," or "the psychology department is one big happy family." more >  Roseanne FordProfessor, Department of Chemical EngineeringFollowing the aroma of baking bread through city streets to locate a bakery may seem a strange topic of discussion for a chemical engineer. But that's how Roseanne Ford explains bacterial chemotaxis, a process that forms the center of her cutting-edge research to use microbes to remedy environmental contamination. more >  Rita DoveCommonwealth Professor, Department of EnglishIt's rare for a living poet to become an American household name. Rita Dove is one of those exceptions. more >  Phoebe CrismanAssistant Professor, School of ArchitectureWhen urban architecture professor Phoebe Crisman learned the Portsmouth- based environmental group the Elizabeth River Project needed a facility to teach the public about the river's health, she wondered what form it should take. more >  Sarah Farrell (Nurs '81, '83)Associate Professor, School of NursingIf anyone in the School of Nursing could be termed a technophile, it's Sarah Farrell. The U.Va. alumna, who joined the Nursing School faculty in 1991, sees advancing technology and innovative use of the Internet as keys to progressive health care. more >  Bankole JohnsonChair, Department of Psychiatric Medicine Professor, Department of NeurologyTwenty years ago a professor asked Bankole Johnson a question he couldn't answer: Why couldn't someone find an antidote to alcoholism? more > |