David Bearinger (Co-chair)

David Bearinger retired as Senior Director of Grants and Global Virginia Programs at Virginia Humanities in August 2022 and now works as an independent public humanities consultant and writer. For more than 35 years, he coordinated regional and community development efforts at Virginia Humanities and the awarding of more than 4,000 grants in excess of $10 million, reaching every city and county in the state. He continues working closely with Virginia’s state and federally recognized Native tribes and with immigrant and refugee communities from throughout Latin America, Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. In 2018, he conceived and directed “Immigration Stories,” a series of in-depth video-recorded conversations with immigrants and refugees from 29 different countries, resulting in a major exhibition (“New Virginians”) developed in partnership with the Library of Virginia. He currently serves on the Advisory Boards of The Dream Project, Prio Bangla; and as an advisor to the Columbia Pike Documentary Project in Arlington.

Carmen F. Foster

Carmen F. Foster, Ed.D. has over thirty-five years of professional experience working in local, state, and federal sectors and in private and public universities. As a proud VCU alumna and Richmond native, Dr. Foster earned her doctorate in education from the University of Virginia, master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University and has served as a Harvard Administrative Fellow. While at Harvard, she traveled extensively across the globe as a W. K. Kellogg Foundation National Leadership Fellow to explore the nexus of leadership, spirituality, and healing for women and global communities of color. She is also trained as a public historian and holds a certificate in public theology at Union Presbyterian Seminary. She has served as faculty for the Federal Executive Institute and the executive director of VCU’s Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute. She currently serves as an executive coach and leader development instructor for federal agencies and universities. Dr. Foster serves on the Family Representative Council for VCU’s East Marshall Street Well Project and the advisory board for VCU Humanities Research Center. She has been involved in community engagement and nonprofit board leadership for several decades.

John Kneebone

John T. Kneebone is associate professor emeritus of History at Virginia Commonwealth
University. There he taught the History of the American South, chaired the department,
and coordinated the Public History component of the History graduate program. He co-
authored Fulfilling the Promise, a history of VCU since its founding in 1968, published
by the University of Virginia Press in fall 2020. 

Katie Logan

Katie Logan is the Grants and Communications Specialist at the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts. Previously, she was an Associate Professor of Focused Inquiry at VCU. As a faculty member, Katie co-chaired the HRC Memory and Monuments Research Group (now the HRC Memory Studies Lab) and served on the HRC's Faculty Advisory Board. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Texas at Austin.

Larry Mills

Larry Mills is a VCU English alum with over 30 years experience in residential real estate sales throughout the Richmond area. Real estate is, and has been his only career.  It’s more than a job for Larry; it’s a way of life. He has provided hundreds of satisfied customers with exceptional service and results. Larry has been named “Salesperson of the Year” by the Richmond Sales and Marketing Council and he has continually received recognition for sales production and marketing expertise on both the local and national levels.

Larry is also actively involved in his community. He is the current president of The Daily Planet Board of Directors, member of The READ Center Board of Directors, membership chairman of the Innsbrook Rotary Club, and now a member of the VCU Humanities Research Center's Community Advisory Board. He is also Former Director of the Richmond Association of Realtors.

Aíne Norris

Aíne Norris is a doctoral candidate in the department of English at Old Dominion University with enthusiasm for using technology and digital tools to uncover and make public new information about communities, artifacts, and generational storytelling. She holds a B.A. and M.A. from the Department of English at VCU. Aíne was a 2022 Circus & Allied Arts Collection Fellow at the Milner Library Special Collections at Illinois State University, a 2023 Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Research Grant recipient, 2024 Old Dominion University Graduate Summer Award Program recipient, and winner of the Sigma Tau Delta Regent Scholarship in 2024 for the Southern Region. She was also awarded a John R. Broderick Diversity Champion Award for Old Dominion University in 2024 for her work to advance equity and diversity. Aíne has served as a member of the Circus Historical Society board of trustees, Popular Culture Association Graduate Student Advisory Committee, ODU English Graduate Organization, VCU chapter of Phi Kappa Phi executive committee, and VCU Staff Senate. 

Sam Proctor

Sam Proctor is CEO at Froehling & Robertson, Inc. He is on the the Foundation Board of Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Pocahontas Reframed Native American Film Festival, and the Richmond Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. He served as an officer in the Virginia Army National Guard and is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College.

Diane Stout-Brown

Diane Stout-Brown is a life-long resident of Chesterfield County and graduate of the VCU
School of Social Work. She began a career at VCU in 1988 working with the VCU Alumni
Association and wore many hats throughout her tenure. Her responsibilities included volunteer
leadership and board management, alumni engagement programs such as the Alumni Extern
Program and Alumni Admissions Counseling Program, numerous special events such as
Alumni Stars, Commencement Breakfast and alumni reunions. Diane retired after 30 years of
service in 2018 and returned as a part-time alumni relations specialist, supporting the African
American Alumni Council and VCU Golden Alumni. In her part-time role she collaborated with
the HRC in offering faculty led learning opportunities for Golden Alumni. Diane retired full-time
in June of 2024 and continues to live in Chesterfield. Her two adult children both graduated
from the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences. Diane holds a real estate license and
enjoys assisting clients with buying or selling their homes.

Celia Luxmoore

With a British education emphasizing the humanities, and teaching qualifications from the University of London, Celia Luxmoore taught office practice at Community College level in the UK. After moving to Virginia, she earned a bachelor's and master's degree from the Robertson School of Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her second career was in communications and fundraising, advancing secondary and higher education in Canada and the USA. She was active in professional associations, and president of the Washington DC Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and was certified in both communications and fundraising. Celia served as founding co-chair for the Humanities Research Center Community Advisory Board from 2023 to 2024.

Peter Kirkpatrick

Dr. Peter S. Kirkpatrick earned his Ph.D. in French Civilization and 20th Century Literature from the University of Virginia in 1992. Since 1987, Peter has written hundreds of articles on American and French culture, cinema, literature, politics and society in French newspapers and magazines. When he arrived at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1992, Peter applied his journalistic connections from the French cultural scene to his French courses and to his professional and academic service. That same year, Peter and his wife, Dr. Françoise Ravaux-Kirkpatrick (Professor Emerita, University of Richmond), became the co-founders and co-directors of the annual French Film Festival in Richmond, Virginia.

Peter received from the French government the distinctions of Knight in the Order of Academic Excellence (Palmes Académiques) and Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters. He is also a recipient of the Médaille Beaumarchais awarded by the French Writers Guild (SACD). Peter has served as juror in numerous film festivals, including the Prix Vulcain (Best Artist-Technician) jury at the Cannes International Film Festival.