In the 2024-2025 academic year, several Hollins faculty and administrators have received honors in recognition of their leadership and accomplishments.

In September 2024, President Mary Dana Hinton was named chair of the board of directors of The Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV), representing nonprofit Virginia colleges and universities. “I look forward to working with my colleagues at member CICV institutions to strengthen the impact of independent higher education, maintain our affordability, increase access to opportunity, and advocate for the resources and policies that will allow our colleges and universities to thrive,” says Hinton.

Alison Ridley, Ph.D., professor of Spanish and the Hollins University Berry Professor, was recognized in November by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) with the 2024 Libby and Hiter Harris Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. This national honor highlights Ridley’s exceptional teaching and mentoring for Hollins students studying all levels of the Spanish language and courses on Hispanic cultures and literature. She is the third Hollins professor in as many years to be honored with a Harris Award. Morgan Wilson, Ph.D., Paula Pimlott Brownlee Professor and professor of biology, environmental studies/ environmental science, pre-vet, public health, received the same award in 2023; Mary Jane Carmichael, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology, environmental studies/environmental science, pre-vet, public health, received the Harris Rising Star Award in 2022.

Genevieve Hendricks, Ph.D., associate professor of art history and art department chair, received a prestigious HERS-Mellon Fellowship to participate in the national HERS Leadership Institute at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana, this July. The HERS Leadership Institute, a transformational leadership development program for higher education professionals who hold mid- to senior-level positions, focuses on women and people who are gender diverse. Hendricks is one of eight 2025 HERS Leadership Institute participants from the humanities to receive a competitive, $10,000 HERS- Mellon Leader Fellowship award, funded by the Mellon Foundation.

Professor of gender and women’s studies and anthropology LeeRay Costa, Ph.D., was named executive director of leadership studies and the Batten Leadership Institute last September. Costa’s impressive Hollins tenure includes 23 years in the classroom, numerous teaching awards, and multiple leadership roles, most recently as the university’s director of faculty development. In her new role, she is developing several initiatives to reinvigorate and redefine leadership around current programmatic and curricular needs and research for women of all ages and intersectional identities. Her recent work in the Roanoke community underscores her passion and purpose for inspiring female leaders. For six years, she was cofounder, executive director, and board chair of Girls Rock Roanoke, a nonprofit organization that seeks to empower girls, femme identified, and nonbinary youth through music, creative expression, and collaboration.

Professor and chair of film Amy Gerber-Stroh was honored as Filmmaker of the Month for August 2024 by the Office of Cable, Television, Film, Music, and Entertainment (OCTFME) in Washington, D.C. The award recognizes Gerber-Stroh’s impact as a producer, director, and educator working in the D.C. and Virginia region and beyond over the past 25 years. A renowned filmmaker with acclaim at national and international film festivals, Gerber-Stroh has produced and directed a diverse range of thought-provoking independent films and served as a casting associate for 12 major motion pictures in the 1990s. Her latest film, Hope of Escape, represents a significant chapter in Black history, aiming to inspire further research, storytelling, and teaching about the historical lives of Black people in America. To that end, she is creating an online film research/scholar archive called the Hope of Escape Research Archive (HERA) for filmmakers and scholars interested in 19th-century Black history to access the materials accumulated when producing Hope of Escape.