University of Richmond Magazine

I knocked on hundreds of doors last summer. Here’s what I learned.

Interning with a campaign gave senior Sophia Demerath practical experience with listening and finding common ground.

A photo of Ally Sweeney high-fiving a member of the women's basketball staff.

Spider Basketball

Spider women’s basketball has one of the nation’s elite scorers, one of the top three-point attacks, and a panoply of other not-so-secret weapons. But there’s one intangible that might be staying under the radar.

A group of students walk through a forest.

Experiential Learning

A group of Spiders dug into Maine’s soil to solve a mystery. Instead, they deepened it.

Junior Ava Jenks tells the story of a trip to New England led by religion and American studies professor Doug Winiarksi to uncover a long-lost, sacred Shaker religious artifact.

Madonna performs during halftime show of New York Giants vs New England Patriots game at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Music

Meet the professor studying Super Bowl halftime shows

Music professor Joanna Love has built a career studying how pop music, mass culture, and branding overlap, harmonize, and sometimes collide.

Spiders Near and Far

Spider Network

How do Spiders connect? Step 1: They show up.

Gwynne McCue, ’97, and Drew Poffel, ’99, never met during their overlapping student years. But after a chance meeting at an alumni event, she redesigned the interior of his Manhattan home.

Fashion

Spider fashion designer explores new creative avenues in Greece

“There were no preconceived notions of who or what I was supposed to be,” said Kadeem Alphanso Fyffe, ’13.

A photo of the African landscape as the sun sets with photos of Mark and Dave as college students and more recently as adults.

SPIDER FAMILY

A long walk together

A longtime friendship formed at Richmond led to a remarkable reunion far from Virginia.

World Music

UR’s radio station kicked off this alum’s world music career

Gene De Souza, ’97, began a career in world music as a student DJ for UR's radio station, WDCE. Now, he's general manager at WDNA.

“For me, being civically engaged is about treating whatever community you’re in like home and the people who inhabit it like family.”

—Devin Morgan, ’26, UR’s newest Newman Civic Fellow

Eye

Around Campus

An illustration depicting abstracted rivers, landscapes, and map textures from the Amazon, as well as Virginia. They surround an image of Boatwright tower, and cropped portraits of the university's partners in the Amazon and elsewhere.

Community Engagement

An exchange of ideas

Long-standing community connections built by faculty are often at the heart of amazing opportunities for students.

A photo of Cesar Madarang, B’87, and Elizabeth “Beth” Hallman Madarang, B’88

Philanthropy

Support for mental health on campus

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the importance of mental health to the forefront of one family's thoughts, resulting in a new scholarship for deserving students.

View of the remains of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece

Travelogue

Ancient pathways: Richmond students go to Greece

The “wow” moments kept coming when a dozen students went to Greece with faculty to study ancient history, archaeology, and language — and experience modern Greek culture.

Martha Merritt in front of the Center for Global Engagement

International Education

A look at UR’s Center for Global Engagement

UR’s home for study abroad, international students, and related initiatives has a new name: the Center for Global Engagement. We checked in with Dean Martha Merritt.

“We must continue to ask, ‘What role could [AI] technologies play at Richmond?’ and ‘What else might our students need to learn to succeed and flourish?’”

—Kevin F. Hallock, UR president

Sports

A promo photo of Maggie Doogan in her Spiders jersey.

Spider Basketball

The making of Richmond Spider Maggie Doogan

No one knows Maggie Doogan’s story like Chrissie Doogan. Maggie’s mother, youth coach, and biggest fan tells the story of her daughter’s rise — and Richmond’s — to national prominence in women’s college basketball.

Athletics director John Hardt, with members of the football team, holding their CAA championship and Capital Cup trophies

Q&A

Spider athletics navigates a shifting college sports landscape

“It’s changed how our programs build their rosters,” says John Hardt of Spider athletics, “but it hasn’t impacted our ability to field winning teams.”

Spider Questionnaire

Spider Questionnaire

‘No one else can live out my goals for me’

Kadeem Alphanso Fyffe, ’13, talks about the power of self-belief, learning not to worry about others’ opinions, and his commitment to living boldly and authentically.

Gwynne McCue, ’97, climbing in the mountains of Nepal

Spider Questionnaire

‘Believe in yourself, even when you don’t’

Gwynne McCue, ’97, knows mindset matters, wishes we could all find more common ground, and talks about what being a Spider means to her.

Spider Questionnaire

‘Work hard, add value’

Drew Poffel, ’99, quotes Mike Tyson, embraces optimism, and talks about why worrying is rarely the effort.

Cynthia Paces, W’92, holding her book, Prague: The Heart of Europe

Spider Questionnaire

‘Explore! Take risks!’

Cynthia Paces, W’92, talks about what makes her optimistic, what she’s held onto since college, and something she had to learn the hard way.

Faculty spotlight

A photo of professor Joe Hoyle. He is smiling at the camera and standing in his office, which is plastered with posters, postcards, art, and other mementos.

Curriculum Vitae

The professor who merges Socrates and spreadsheets

Accounting professor Joe Hoyle has spent decades refining a teaching style that’s both demanding and deeply supportive.

Voices

Hot seat: A Q&A with the Richmond professor whose statue melted in the D.C. heat

Art professor Sandy Williams IV talks about the incredible melting Lincoln statue, the memes and discussions it sparked, and the role of art.

Research

I taught rats to drive, but they taught me to enjoy the ride

A neuroscientist on lessons learned from teaching rodents to drive a mini-car.

President Kevin F. Hallock, teaching a class on the Economics of the University

Academic Excellence

Expert lessons

Kevin F. Hallock, the university’s president, is giving students a deep dive into the economics of the university in a course he is co-teaching.

Editor’s picks

An illustration of a group of men playing golf. A seeing eye dog sits amongst the group.

Spider Community

Fore sight

Blind since the age of 23, avid golfer Dave Szumowski, R’67, has developed a winning approach to the game he loves.

Illustrations depicting alumni experiences such as remarrying at 70, working in emergency medicine, and performing on broadway.

Lives Of Purpose

Yes, I've done that. Really.

Hit a World Series home run. Make a Broadway debut. Argue a case at the Supreme Court. Spiders who know talk about experiences many of us have imagined.

A photograph of Russell Nance, L'97, standing on a row of bourbon barrels, in a rickhouse full of additional bourbon barrels stacked to the ceiling. He is smiling, and wearing dark rimmed glasses, a blue t-shirt and jeans.

Lives Of Purpose

Will the real Russell Nance please stand up?

Is Russell Nance, L'97, a Manhattan attorney or a Virginia bourbon distiller? The answer to both is yes.

#SpiderLove

Love, eventually

A kiss in the gazebo between Scott Hurd, B’89, and Diane Kraynak, W’89, was 25 years in the making.

Spider expertise

Maggie Morganfield Parker, ’05, in a playroom for children

Expert

How to help children heal and grow through playtime

Professor and certified play therapist Maggie Morganfield Parker, ’05, offers tips for designing and participating in good play with children.

Expert

How to have productive dialogue across differences, both small and profound

Professor Monti Datta — an expert in the gentle art of conversation across differences — offers tips for succeeding in these conversations yourself.

Student reading in a hammock at Westhampton Lake

Wellbeing

How to be supportive

UR’s director of CAPS offers his tips for how to support the mental health needs of the college student in your life.

Expert

How to design the best room in your home

Gwynne McCue, ’97, is a Manhattan-based interior designer and “a practical magician.” She shares her tips for creating your perfect interior.

Spider nostalgia

Back Then

The Robins gong show

UR’s varsity cheerleading squad in the late ’70s hosted its very own version of The Gong Show at every football and basketball game.

Mikhail Gorbachev during his 1993 visit to the University of Richmond and the spring 1993 cover of University of Richmond Magazine

Back Then

Mr. Gorbachev, put down that ball

When Gorbachev visited UR in 1993, he made history — and mischief — by autographing an unexpected item before taking the stage.

An illustration of a large banana split on a basketball court

Back Then

Bananas for Spider spirit

In the 1970s, Spiders tried to break world records for largest indoor banana split and largest submarine sandwich. Inside the Robins Center. Really.

Back Then

When the Spiders went marching in

Facilities staff discovered a colorful relic from UR’s bygone marching band era.

More to Explore

Class of 2029

“We’re all in this together. We can learn best and do our best by being present for one another and working together,” President Kevin F. Hallock told the incoming class during fall move-in. Watch as the Spider community welcomed the Class of 2029 to campus.