Five longtime professors will be awarded emeritus status during the University of Mary Washington’s graduate and undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7.

Friday’s graduate ceremony starts at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.  Saturday’s undergraduate ceremony begins at 9 a.m. on Ball Circle on the university’s Fredericksburg campus. Gail Brooks will be named Professor Emerita of Management Information Systems; Joe DiBella will be named Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art; James Goehring will be named Professor Emeritus of Religion; Chris Kilmartin will be named Professor Emeritus of Psychology; and Werner Wieland will be named Professor Emeritus of Biology.

The title of emeritus is bestowed on faculty members who have served the university for at least 15 years and who have attained the rank of professor or associate professor.

Gail Brooks, professor of management information systems, came to Mary Washington in 1990 as an adjunct professor and joined the faculty in 1999. Brooks, who has taught a wide variety of computer science and business classes, was awarded the University’s Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award in 2007.

She received a Ph.D. in education from George Mason University, where she specialized in assistive and instructional technology.

 

Joe DiBella has taught art at UMW since 1977. In recognition of his dedication to his students, he was awarded the Grellet C. Simpson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1983. DiBella served as the first director of the University Galleries and was instrumental in the establishment of the Ridderhof Martin Gallery.  In addition, he has been chair of the Department of Art and Art History, and co-director of the University’s summer program in Urbino, Italy.

DiBella, who has served on the UMW Galleries advisory committee since 2001, is an expert in color theory, painting, drawing and issues in contemporary art. A signature member of the National Watercolor Society, he has shown in work in local, regional, national and international exhibitions. He received a master of fine arts in painting from Northern Illinois University.

 

James Goehring, professor of religion, joined the faculty at Mary Washington in 1985. In 1989, Goehring was honored with the Alumni Association Outstanding Young Faculty Award and later was recognized as a Jepson Fellow. An expert in late antique and early Christian studies, he has taught such courses as Religion in America, Hebrew Bible and Coptic Reading.

Author of numerous articles and books, Goehring was named an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the Göttingen, Germany Academy of Sciences, in 1989. In addition, he worked with an American team to edit and translate the Nag Hammadi Codices and participated in the archaeological excavations of an early monastic site in Upper Egypt. He received a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate College in early Christian studies.

 

Chris Kilmartin joined the Mary Washington faculty in 1989. A licensed clinical psychologist, he received the 2015 Waple Faculty Professional Achievement Award for accomplishments earned while at the University.  An international expert on gender issues and violence prevention, Kilmartin has shared his expertise with the military. He has taught courses at the Air Force Academy, consulted with the U.S. Naval Academy to institute a new sexual assault prevention curriculum and worked the U.S. Army to develop a sexual assault prevention training film.

Author of numerous books on gender and masculinity, Kilmartin has performed his one-man play, Crimes Against Nature at more than 200 campuses and other venues. He received a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.

 

Werner Wieland has been a professor of biology at UMW since 1983.  He was honored with the Mary Pinschmidt Award in 2000 by the graduating class, whose members selected him as the faculty member they felt would have the greatest impact on their lives.

An expert in aquatic biology, he has been a principal investigator for research of ecosystems in the Rappahannock and York river basins. Wieland worked with students to identify and catalog turtles to determine their viability. He received a Ph.D. from Auburn University in zoology and fisheries.