The University of Richmond has completed more than $14 million in summer renovations and construction, including $2.5 million in library improvements, a new Student Activities Complex and a café at UR Downtown.

Reflecting increasing study and work on portable computers and other mobile devices, numerous power outlets and additional table surface space have been added throughout Boatwright Memorial Library. Added library work areas include seven group and eight individual study rooms. Renovations also have enabled all collaborative study areas to be moved to the second floor, allowing designation of the first floor for quiet study.

StateUniversity.com recently ranked J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College #4 in the state of Virginia for campus safety. The ratings are based on incidents of campus crime including assault, theft, motor vehicle theft and violent crimes. StateUniversity.com is a leading source of data and information on higher education. The site features profiles about colleges and provides tools to help prospective students narrow their choices.

The University of Richmond jumped five places into a two-way tie for No. 27 in U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of national liberal arts colleges, which hits newsstands Sept. 20.

The magazine also named Richmond to three special lists in its category — best value schools (No. 9), up-and-comers having the most promising and innovative programs (No. 3), and high school counselors’ picks (tied for No. 24).

U.S. Army Major General Gina S. Farrisee lives to serve her country.

Earlier this month, her alma mater rewarded that service.

Farrisee, a 1978 University of Richmond graduate, received an award from the university for her distinguished service during an event at UR's Camp Concert Hall as part of the school's alumni reunion weekend June 4.

An episode of “Backstory with the American History Guys,” a radio program co-hosted by University of Richmond President Ed Ayers, will be televised June 18, at 6 p.m. on C-SPAN 3.

C-SPAN videotaped the program on the Richmond campus in April. In addition to Ayers, co-hosts are Peter Onuf and Brian Balogh, history professors at the University of Virginia.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Linda Boland, associate professor of biology at University of Richmond, a three-year, $278,682 grant to research lipid modulation of potassium channels — important to the rhythm of heart muscle and the electrical activity of brain cells.

Kathleen Roberts Skerrett, associate dean and professor of religious studies at Grinnell College, has been appointed dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at University of Richmond, effective July 1.

Skerrett has been a member of Grinnell’s faculty since 1998 and became associate dean in 2007. She previously taught at McGill University in Montreal, after earning her Ph.D. in theology and the modern West from Harvard University in 1993.

Wendy Collins Perdue, an associate dean and professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, has been named the next dean of University of Richmond’s School of Law, effective July 1.

A prolific scholar of civil procedure and conflict of laws, as well as land use and public health, Perdue has served at Georgetown since 1982. Upon graduation from Duke Law School, she clerked for Anthony M. Kennedy, then a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge and now associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. She went on to practice law in Washington, D.C., before joining Georgetown’s law faculty.