In recent years, marginalia left by ordinary readers has become a subject of large-scale data collection efforts. At the University of Virginia, English professor Andrew Stauffer leads a team that has made a book’s annotations, inscriptions and insertions discoverable as part of UVA’s online library catalog. Any user will be able to find such markings through a simple online search.

Fortunately, other institutions have recognized — and sought to compensate for — academic history’s failures. Schools of international affairs, public policy, business, and law, and even political science departments, have hired leading historians working on political, military and diplomatic issues. Scholars working in think tanks and interdisciplinary centers — such as the Brookings Institution and the University of Virginia’s Miller Center for Public Affairs — have produced outstanding works of history that have reached a broader popular audience.

J.H. Verkerke, director of the program for employment and labor law studies at the UVA School of Law, said the First Amendment in a situation like this, while protective of a person’s hateful speech, doesn’t necessarily protect that person’s job. Racist comments about patients, Verkerke said, would give both public and private medical employers a “pretty strong argument that those statements signal problems with care” and “reveal attitudes that are inconsistent with his duty of caring for patients properly.” 

(Commentary by UVA psychologist Daniel T. Willingham) A few years ago, when people heard I was a reading researcher, they might ask about their child’s dyslexia or how to get their teenager to read more. But today the question I get most often is, “Is it cheating if I listen to an audiobook for my book club?” Examining how we read and how we listen shows that each is best suited to different purposes, and neither is superior.

(Commentary by Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at UVA’s Center for Politics) When newly elected Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia switched parties from Democratic to Republican in 2017, the Democratic Party held just 15 of the 50 state governorships. But after picking up New Jersey in 2017, Democrats netted seven more governorships in 2018.

A new state report suggesting ways to curb the soaring cost of health care for Virginia’s prison inmates offers ideas worth considering – and even expanding. Another suggestion is to work more closely with state health systems at Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Virginia.

Are you between the ages of 30 and 35? You really are making the most rapid salary gains in your career, if you’re like most Americans. The ideal income is $95,000 a year for individuals to reach peak life satisfaction, according to researchers at Purdue University and the University of Virginia.

The 18th annual Lighting of the Lawn drew hundreds to the University of Virginia on Thursday evening. This year's theme is Brighter Together. There was entertainment provided by local schools and groups, followed by a light show where the Rotunda was engulfed in lights. 

UVA released its Happy Holidays video on Thursday, which featured cameos from several Cavalier student-athletes.