Dr. Richard's doctorate in Communication is from the Florida State University and her M.A. in Art is from California State University, Los Angeles. Her research interests are in film history, computer animation and African American art.
Currently Dr. Richard is completing a biography on New York artist Alvin Hollingsworth for Associated University Presses. She is also writing and producing a documentary film on the SPIRAL Group (a group of African American artists who formed in the 1960's to explore avenues to support the Civil Rights movement).
In both the summer of 1995 and summer of 1996 Dr. Richard served as the Faculty in Residence for FSU's "Study in Russia" program which was based in St. Petersburg. During those visits she was able to establish an internship arrangement with Lenfilm film students.
During the spring of 1998, she was on sabbatical to conduct research for a documentary film on the Church of the Resurrection in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In 2006 she traveled to the Peruvian Amazon to both co-direct and co-produce a documentary on folktales told by the people of the Amazon. Entitled "The Trees Have a Mother", it premiered in the spring of 2007. Dr. Richard also completed a second documentary in 2007 as Co-Producer and Co-Director of "Breaking the Silence; Torture Victims Speak Out"; a film documenting the testaments of torture survivors from Africa, the Philippines, South America, the Middle East and the United States.
Dr. Richard is one of the original faculty to join the Film School in 1989. The focus of her teaching is screenwriting, film history, professional development and documentary filmmaking.