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Dr. Susan Larkin Named VWU Vice President
Veteran administrator, scholar, faculty member will assume office January 1
University News | December 23, 2022
Dr. Susan Larkin has been named acting vice president for academic affairs at Virginia Wesleyan University effective January 1, according to Dr. Scott D. Miller, President of the University.
Dr. Larkin currently serves as associate vice president for academic affairs, a role she has held for the past three years. She has been a member of the VWU faculty since 2008.
Dr. Larkin received her B.A. in English Literature from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in English Studies and a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies from Illinois State University. Her research is interdisciplinary and interweaves children’s and adolescent literature, women’s and gender studies, and cultural studies. She has published on Judy Blume, Harry Potter, Mr. Rogers, Walt Disney, Laura Ingalls Wilder, women’s memoir, and empowerment, identity, and gender in adolescent literature. She also teaches a variety of English, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Wesleyan Seminars at VWU.
Dr. Larkin succeeds Dr. Maynard Schaus who will return to the faculty as professor of biology and environmental studies. He stepped in for a three-year term as the University’s chief academic officer in 2018 upon the retirement of Dr. Timothy O’Rourke.
"His term was a time of unprecedented challenge, as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted academic life at Virginia Wesleyan and in every teaching and learning community in the world," Dr. Miller said. “Dr. Schaus, like virtually every faculty and staff member here, worked tirelessly to get VWU through the uncharted waters of COVID-19.”
Dr. Schaus has served on the faculty of VWU since 2008.
“I am sure that you will join me in wishing both Drs. Larkin and Schaus well in their new roles,” said Dr. Miller. “I want to say again how fortunate VWU is for the extra miles you have all gone during this pandemic, and how grateful I am to be your fellow traveler.”
A search for the permanent chief academic officer will begin in January 2023.