November 7, 2025
Three Hampden-Sydney professors have been honored by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) with the 2025 Harris Family Faculty Awards. Hampden-Sydney is the first member college to have faculty members recognized with each of the three awards in a single awards cycle.
On November 5, during its annual fall luncheon held this year at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond, the VFIC awarded the Libby and Hiter Harris Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching to Elliot Associate Professor of Fine Arts Helena von Rueden, the Harris Rising Star Award to Hansen Assistant Professor of Biology Scott Starr, and the Harris Award for Excellence in Instructional Technology to Elliot Associate Professor of Rhetoric Jacob Euteneuer.
Created through endowments by the H. Hiter Harris III Family, the Harris Family Faculty Awards are bestowed in recognition of classroom teaching excellence in undergraduate liberal arts and sciences.
Von Rueden, who holds degrees from Harvard and the University of California, Santa Barbara, is an accomplished musical director and vocalist and chair of the Hampden-Sydney Fine Arts Department. Von Rueden also serves as director of the Hampden-Sydney Music Series, director of the Hampden-Sydney Chorus, faculty advisor to the Unity Alliance, and teaches piano, theory, music history, and conducting. During her acceptance of the award, she shared that she is most proud of the “resilience and confidence” her students develop through their study of music.
Starr, who holds advanced degrees from the University of Alabama and Texas Tech University, is recognized for his outstanding work in the environmental sciences. Starr was fundamental in the development of Hampden-Sydney College’s apiary and beekeeping program, and he spearheads the college’s involvement in the VFIC’s Heat Watch project.
Euteneuer holds advanced degrees from Kansas State University, the University of Akron, and Oklahoma State University. With a special interest in video game design and influence, Euteneuer’s work explores the potential for play to enhance academic writing. He says his “research and teaching are focused on what happens to rhetoric and composition as we move into the digital world.”
Previous Hampden-Sydney Harris Awards winners include Michael Wolyniak (2022), Erin Clabough (2018), and Alexander J. Werth (2011).