Course: 2026 UR Osher Book Festival (OSH-BOOK1)

This year, our UR Osher Book Festival features an Osher member/UR alum and several UR professors. This not-to-be-missed half-day festival features Dr Nelson D. Lankford, UR grad and Osher member speaking on his 2025 book, 'After the Fire: Richmond in Defeat, A Nation Divided: Studies in the Civil War Era.' He'll be followed by UR faculty member Dr Kelly G. Lambert, addressing her book, 'Well-Grounded: The Neurobiology of Rational Decisions.' Then, we'll hear from UR faculty/staff members Dr. Julian M. Hayter, Dr. Thad Williamson, and Dr. Amy L. Howard, speaking to their book, 'The Making of Twenty-First-Century Richmond: Politics, Policy, and Governance, 1988-2016,' published in 2024.

Session: OSH226.BOOK1

Schedule:

Monday, March 9

Times:

08:30am - 12:30pm

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Instructors

Name

Additional Resources

John Festa

Biography: Born in New Haven, CT and moved to Richmond in 2003. Educated as an Engineer and Project Manager with advanced degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (MSM 2002). Also attained certifications in Project Management (PMP) and as a certified Instructor for Project Management Institute. Work experience was as an Engineer, Project Manager and Engineering Manager.

Thad Williamson

Biography: Dr. Thad Williamson is professor of leadership studies and philosophy, politics, economics, and law (PPEL) and a civic activist. His research focuses on the intersection of theories of social justice and public policy, particularly as applied to urban politics and economic policy. In addition to his teaching and scholarship, he has made significant contributions to local policy and governance through his work for the city of Richmond during the past decade.Following the November 2024 municipal elections, Williamson served as transition director for Richmond Mayor-elect Dr. Danny Avula. In January 2025, Mayor Avula appointed him senior policy strategist, a position in which he serves part-time while continuing to teach at the University of Richmond. Williamson and University colleagues Drs. Julian Hayter and Amy Howard co-authored The Making of 21st Century Richmond: Politics, Policy & Governance, 1988-2016, published in 2024. Currently, Williamson is engaged in a long-term research project concerning democracy and inequality in the United States, focusing on the promise of community wealth building. The first major publication to come out of this project was the 2020 book he co-edited with Melody C. Barnes and Corey D.B. Walker, Community Wealth Building and the Reconstruction of American Democracy: Can We Make American Democracy Work?As the first director of the city of Richmond's Office of Community Wealth Building (OCWB) from 2014-16, Williamson led the effort to implement a comprehensive poverty reduction initiative encompassing education, employment, housing, and transportation. From 2017-2018, he served as a senior policy advisor for Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and led the development of the RVA Education Compact. The Richmond City Council appointed him chair of the City Charter Review Commission in 2022. He currently serves on the boards of the Richmond Public Schools Education Foundation and the Richmond Health Equity Fund.Williamson has received multiple awards at the University of Richmond, including the University's Distinguished Educator Award in 2012. He served as president of the University Faculty Senate during the 2020-21 academic year.

Julian Hayter

Biography: https://directory.richmond.edu/bios/jhayter/Dr. Julian Hayter is a historian whose research focuses on modern U.S. history, American political development, African-American history, and the American civil rights movement.More specifically, his writing and research draws attention to mid-20th-century voting rights in Richmond, Virginia, and in the border South; the implementation of the Voting Rights Act; and the unintended consequences of African-American political empowerment and governance post-1965.He is the co-author of The Making of Twenty-First-Century Richmond: Politics, Policy, and Governance, 1988-2016 and the author of The Dream Is Lost: Voting Rights and the Politics of Race in Richmond, Virginia. His work has been published in the Journal of Policy History and Richmond Journal of Law and Public Interest. He also contributes to national and local media outlets and is the editor-in-chief of The Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies.In the Jepson School, he teaches courses such as Leadership and the Humanities, Justice and Civil Society, and Reimagining Richmond (an urban history of Richmond and the city's contribution to the freedom struggle). A popular and creative teacher, he was named Faculty Member of the Year in 2013-14 by the Richmond College Student Government Association and received the University's Distinguished Teacher Award in 2018.

Kelly Lambert

Biography: https://directory.richmond.edu/bios/klambert/ Kelly Lambert is a behavioral neuroscientist interested in experience-based neuroplasticity. She enjoys teaching courses such as Behavioral Neuroscience, Clinical Neuroscience, and Neuroplasticity Seminar. She and her students are interested in using preclinical animal models to learn more about the neurobiology of stress, resilience, depression, parenting, and natural enrichment. In addition to publishing more than 70 research articles, Dr. Lambert has published two textbooks (Biological Psychology and Clinical Neuroscience) and three mainstream books (Lifting Depression: A neuroscientist's hands-on approach to activating your brain's healing power, The Lab Rat Chronicles: A neuroscientist reveals life lessons from the planet's most successful mammals and, most recently, Well-Grounded: The neurobiology of rational decisions. Her work has been featured on several news outlets such as National Geographic Radio Show, Big Picture Science, To the Best of our Knowledge, WIRED, and CBS Sunday Morning. Her behaviorceutical research was recently described in her 2019 TEDx Bermuda talk. She has received multiple teaching awards including the Virginia Professor of the Year, VFIC Hiter Harris Memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the State Council of Higher Education Outstanding Professor Award; additionally, she is the recipient of the 2018 International Behavioral Neuroscience Society Career Achievement Award.

Nelson Lankford

Biography: Nelson D. Lankford is the former editor of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography and the author of Richmond Burning: The Last Days of the Confederate Capital.

Facility Detail

Jepson Alumni Center

JAC, Robins Pavilion 151

442 Westhampton Way

Richmond, VA 23173