Faculty Research

Theatre Professor James Ijames Awarded National Arts Club Kesselring Prize

The National Arts Club has selected James Ijames, MFA, Villanova University assistant professor of Theater, actor, director and playwright, as the recipient of the 2018 Kesselring Prize for his play, Kill Move Paradise. As a winner of this prestigious award, Ijames will receive $25,000 from the Club Kesselring Fund and the chance to have a two-week residency to develop his work at the National Arts Club’s historic clubhouse. A ceremony and reception, which will include staged readings and scenes from Ijames’ plays, will take place at the National Arts Club in New York City. More..

Departmental Faculty Research Descriptions:

Art History
Theatre

Villanova Historian's New Book Explores Capitalism as a Religion

A new book by a Villanova University historian challenges the conventional view that capitalism rejects the awe-inspiring divine for the economics of supply and demand, arguing instead that it has become a religion—with money as its deity.

In The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019), historian Eugene McCarraher, PhD, associate professor of humanities in Villanova’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, reveals how mammon ensnared us—and how we can find a more humane, sacramental way of being in the world. More...

Departmental Faculty Research Descriptions:
Cultural Studies
English
History
Humanities
IGIS
Philosophy
Romance Languages
Theology & Religious Studies

Villanova Social Justice Documentary, Sankofa, Takes Home Gold Medal at Student Academy Awards

The Villanova University student-produced social justice documentary, Sankofa, had already been announced as one of 16 Student Academy Award winners for 2019. But on Thursday night, Oct. 17, at the 46th Student Academy Awards ceremony held at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Calif., Sankofa was honored with the top prize—receiving the gold medal in the Documentary/Domestic Film Schools Category. The documentary is now eligible to compete for the 2019 Oscars in the Documentary Short Subject category.

This is the first Student Academy Award for Villanova in the University’s fourth time selected as a finalist for one of its films in the documentary category.  More...  

Departmental Faculty Research Descriptions:
Communication
Education and Counseling
Psychology
Political Science
Public Adminstration
Sociology

Four Villanova Chemistry Faculty Awarded Major Research Grants

Professors Ryan Jorn, Jared Paul, and Daniel Kraut were awarded research grants from the National Science Foundation in 2019. Dr. Jorn is developing new approaches to modeling electrochemical interfaces, important in the design and improvement of rechargeable batteries. Dr. Paul will be developing new transition metal complex light absorbers that could potentially be used to generate hydrogen from solar power. Dr. Kraut will be continuing ongoing studies on the proteosome, a cellular structure important in the breakdown and recycling of proteins. Also in 2019, Dr. Deanna Zubris was awarded funding from the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund to probe the role of ligand electronics in iron-catalyzed free radical polymerization, leading to the generation of biodegradable materials for biomedical applications. More.. 

Departmental Faculty Research Descriptions:
Biochemistry
Biology
Chemistry
Computing Science
Geography and the Environment  
Mathematics and Statistics
Physics