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By Mark Owczarski

Ellington Graves

BLACKSBURG, Va., May 7, 2009 -- Ellington Graves, assistant professor of sociology in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, recently received the university's 2009 Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholars Award.

Sponsored by the Virginia Tech Academy of Teaching Excellence, the Diggs Teaching Scholars Award was established in 1992 and is presented annually to three Virginia Tech faculty members to recognize exceptional contributions to the teaching program and learning environment. A cash award is given to each recipient and their academic department. Diggs Teaching Scholars are invited to lead the Diggs Roundtable -- a series of presentations and a discussion of their innovative teaching -- a year after receiving the award.

The award is supported by an endowed fund from an estate gift by the late Edward S. and Hattie Wilson Diggs. Mr. Diggs was a 1914 graduate of Virginia Tech.

Graves is assistant director of the Center for Africana Studies and Race and Social Policy Research. He teaches in the Department of Sociology, offering courses on race and ethnicity, social inequality, the sociology of education and religion, and, on occasion, introductory sociology and sociological theory. His research interests include investigations of the role of residential segregation in racial disparities, theories of race and racism, and the dynamics of racial identity.

The working title for his Diggs presentation will be "Ideology, Subversion, and the Teaching Moment."

He received bachelor’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University, a master’s degree from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Read related stories on other 2009 Diggs award winners.

• Mitzi Vernon received Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholars Award
• Tom Walker received Edward S. Diggs Teaching Scholars Award

Contact Mark Owczarski at maowczar@vt.edu or (540) 231-5223.

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