Susan Piedmont-Palladino is the new Robert L. Turner Chair in Urban Design in the School of Architecture at Virginia Tech. A member of the Virginia Tech community for the past 35 years, Professor Piedmont-Palladino has led the university’s Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center since 2016. Her scholarship centers on urbanism, design literacy, sustainability, and civic identity.
Professor Piedmont-Palladino earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and her master’s degree in architecture from Virginia Tech.
Jean Rhodes is the 2026 Roy J. Zuckerberg Endowed Leadership Chair at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The faculty designation honors individuals who demonstrate courage, conviction, and selflessness in their contributions to the university. Dr. Rhodes, the Frank L. Boyden Professor of Psychology, is the founding director of the university’s Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring. She focuses her research on youth mentoring and developmental psychology, particularly among young people in underserved communities.
A graduate of the University of Vermont, Dr. Rhodes holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from DePaul University in Chicago.
Deborah Delaney was named the Charles P. Townsend Family Professor of Pollinator Science at the University of Delaware. A member of the university’s department of entomology and wildlife ecology and the cooperative extension program, Dr. Delaney has conducted extensive research on the evolutionary biology, population genetics, and colony health of honey bees.
Dr. Delaney earned her bachelor’s degree in natural resources and her master’s degree in environmental science from Oregon State University. She holds a Ph.D. in entomology from Washington State University.