Gates Cambridge Scholarship Faculty Advisor

Maj. Christopher M. Blunda, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of History
blundacm@vmi.edu

Maj. Blunda teaches advanced courses on the history of the ancient Mediterranean and the two-semester World History course. Before joining the History Department at VMI, he received a bachelor’s degree in Classics from Cornell University, a master’s degree in the History of Christianity from Harvard Divinity School, and a doctorate in History from the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the cultural and intellectual history of the late Roman Empire, particularly asceticism in southern Gaul during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries A.D.

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Marshall Scholarship Faculty Advisor

Lt. Col. Patrick Eichholz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies
eichholzpj@vmi.edu

Lt. Col. Eichholz graduated with a BA in English from the University of Dallas in 2006.  He worked five years as a Firefighter/EMT-Paramedic in Corsicana, Texas, before enrolling in the doctorate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  After earning his Ph.D., he joined the VMI faculty in 2018.  His areas of specialization are modernism, aesthetics, and literary theory.  He has directed a wide variety of independent research projects over the years and encourages cadets to contact him with their ideas for senior capstones, honors projects, or independent studies.

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Goldwater Scholarship Faculty Advisor

Col. David Feinauer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
feinauerdm@vmi.edu

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Truman Scholarship Faculty Advisor

Vera Heuer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of International Studies and Political Science
heuerv@vmi.edu

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Fulbright Scholarship Faculty Advisor

Col. Jeff Kendrick, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Global Education
Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Cultures
kendrickjw@vmi.edu

Col. Kendrick is Professor of French,where he enjoys teaching French language and culture classes. He initiated and, since 2014, has co-directed the VMI in Paris summer study abroad program. Col. Kendrick has also worked with cadets on Summer Undergraduate Research projects. His primary research interests include polemic and violence in the French Wars of Religion, gender in sixteenth-century French devotional poetry, and the integration of classroom technology with language learning. He has published and presented on Marguerite de Navarre, Joachim DuBellay, polemic and politics in the French Wars of Religion, using sitcoms in the French classroom, student-centered learning, and flipping the language classroom.

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Rhodes Scholarship Faculty Advisor

Col. Steven E. Knepper, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies
knepperse@vmi.edu

A recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award and holder of the Bruce C. Gottwald, Jr. ’81 Chair for Academic Excellence, Col. Knepper teaches a wide range of courses, including American Literary Traditions, Ways of Reading, the ERHS capstone sequence, and a seminar on Moby-Dick. He has directed capstone projects, SURI projects, independent studies, and honors theses on a variety of topics, from the poetry of Langston Hughes to the philosophy of Simone Weil, from Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic conventions to Byzantine iconography. Col. Knepper is the faculty advisor of VMI’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society, and helps organize an annual trip for cadets to the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia.

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Pre-Professional Program Advisor: Health Professions

Maj. Alison K. Burke, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology
burkeak@vmi.edu

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Pre-Professional Program Advisor: Law

Maj. Timothy Passmore, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of International Studies and Political Science
passmoretj@vmi.edu

Maj. Passmore specializes in international law and organizations, civil conflict management, and U.S. foreign policy. His current research addresses the role of UN peacekeeping in reducing civil war violence and promoting military reform and democratic stability.