100 People to Meet in 2024: Educators

As leaders in our K-12 and higher education workforce, these teachers, professors, deans and university administrators are passing on their knowledge to the next generation of Virginians.

William Kelly

President, Christopher Newport University
Newport News

William Kelly has built his career on public service and leadership, including serving as the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s superintendent, his job before taking the reins at Christopher Newport University in July. A rear admiral before his military retirement this year, Kelly succeeds longtime CNU President Paul S. Trible Jr.

During his 36 years in the Coast Guard, Kelly and his wife, Angie, spent three years in Newport News. Now, at CNU, he looks to shape the next generation of leaders. “We want to open doors to as many students as possible so their lives can be transformed and they, in turn, can improve the lives of people in Virginia and around the world.”

Richard Moncure

Director of S.T.R.E.A.M., St. Margaret’s School
Tappahannock

Richard Moncure grew up in a family of watermen and ran a seafood restaurant until he saw the Rappahannock River was no longer providing a large enough catch to supply the business. Moncure pivoted into conservation, first helping Zambian tilapia farmers in the Peace Corps, and later serving as the first-ever tidal river steward for Friends of the Rappahannock. Now, he is educating the next generation about the river, as head of S.T.R.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, River, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) at St. Margaret’s, an-all girls’ school serving grades 8-12. Tapped for his new post in June, Moncure developed a prototype for the S.T.R.E.A.M. program during the pandemic, creating an outdoor classroom at Aylett Country Day School to connect kids to the region’s history through the river. Now he teaches his students the challenges of restoring the watershed through experiential learning.

Enric Ruiz-Geli

Professor of practice, Virginia Tech Honors College; principal and founding architect, Cloud 9
Blacksburg

As professor of practice at Virginia Tech’s Honors College, Spanish architect Enric Ruiz-Geli instructs students in transdisciplinary and experiential learning, drawing from the lessons learned in his wide-ranging career. His Barcelona-based firm, Cloud 9, has been involved in significant sustainable architecture projects around the world, including the Media-TIC building in Barcelona, named “Best Building in the World” at the World Architecture Festival 2011. At Virginia Tech, he’s part of the Honors SuperStudio faculty that teaches four interrelated topics. Ruiz-Geli’s focus has been on building greener buildings. Now the architectural and building fields are primed, he says, to be a solution to global warming.

Bevlee A. Watford

Associate dean of equity and engagement; executive director, Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg

At age 10, Bevlee Watford was that rare child who met an engineer and discovered her life’s calling. A high school guidance counselor recommended Virginia Tech, where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in mining and industrial engineering and operations research. With few women and people of color in engineering when she began teaching at Clemson University, Watford became a role model and her office a magnet for students needing assistance to unlock their potential. She joined Virginia Tech’s faculty in 1992, and as a dean, she works to attract and retain a diverse group of students. In January, Watford was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Science Board, which advises on policy matters in science, engineering and related education. “To know I can contribute to finding new programs and discussing research to further our culture is amazing,” she says.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.