CNN
In a 2020 paper, Shigehiro Oishi, a UVA professor of psychology, proposed a new dimension for understanding a life well lived: psychological richness. That term underscores the value of variety, interest and novelty.
Sporting Kansas City and the Kansas City soccer community lost one of their own this past week as former Kansas City Wizards defender and local youth soccer coach, Scott Vermillion passed away on Christmas at the age of 44. Vermillion had joined the Wizards in 1998 as a Project 40 (the precursor to Generation Adidas) allocation out of the University of Virginia.
Author Ed Tarkington, a graduate of Furman University with advanced degrees from UVA and Florida State, teaches English at the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville. Working at one of Nashville’s oldest private schools provided him with plenty of detail, and his portrayals of quirky teachers, black tie galas and mysterious benefactors are biting and real.
While the numbers are impressive, J. Miles Coleman with the UVA Center for Politics says McAuliffe shouldn’t pop the champagne just yet. “Money definitely isn’t everything,” Coleman said.
“It wasn’t so much a surprise that we’re having a run-off in Georgia, the surprise is what the stakes are,” said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at UVA Center for Politics.
Many analysts view the Georgia races as nail-biters, and some have warned that winners might not be declared for days, as happened in the 2020 presidential contest. “This election is about as close as you can get,” wrote J. Miles Coleman and Niles Francis in a recent analysis for UVA’s Center for Politics. “It’s hard to tell who has the edge, but undoubtedly, the party that does a better job turning out the base will be the party that carries the day.”
Kyle Kondik of the UVA Center for Politics said both races were “toss-ups” but that Republicans would need “impressive day-of-election performance” to win their seats.
Perhaps, post-George Floyd, these white rappers are reading the room and realizing they need to embrace a sound that speaks more honestly to their experiences. “White anger and confidence is something rap audiences just don’t want to hear as much of any more,” says AD Carson, an author, rapper and assistant professor of hip-hop at the University of Virginia. He argues that the shift “has everything to do with the current political landscape.”
The General Assembly is not and never has been a full-time job. What if it were? Del. Sally Hudson, a Democratic lawmaker who represents Charlottesville, thinks it could be. As she enters the second year of her first term in the legislature, she considers herself fortunate to have been able to balance her position as a professor at the University of Virginia with her service to her district politically – but, she said, the part-time nature of her elected seat is not without shortfalls and can be exclusionary to others who may wish to serve. 
(Video) For Rayshawn and Josh, two students in the Class Of 2025 who are Black, their parents say they’re doing better learning at home than they were in school. This episode, we hear what things were like for Rayshawn and Josh at school, how they’re doing now, plus get some insight from two University of Virginia professors.
Dr. Bill Petri, an infectious disease professor at UVA Health, says a new variant of COVID-19 first identified in the United Kingdom is highly transmissible, but believes the COVID-19 vaccine will still work against it.
Is it even possible to charge a sitting president? The U.S. Justice Department says no. The group’s current position, dating back to a 1973 memo during Watergate, is that a sitting president cannot be indicted for a crime. UVA law professor Saikrishna Prakash is an expert in presidential power and the author of “The Living Presidency,” which argues against the persistent expansion of executive powers. Prakash pointed out that of all federal officials, the president alone enjoys this type of legal immunity. 
(By Dr. Amita Sudhir, associate professor of emergency medicine) Imagine sitting in close quarters with COVID-19 patients in the poorly ventilated interior of an ambulance multiple times a day. Now imagine transporting those patients to a hospital where all the staff have been vaccinated against COVID-19, but you have not. That is the situation that many emergency responders in my state find themselves in today.
(Commentary by Ken Hughes, research specialist at the Miller Center of Public Affairs) At least Donald Trump’s “smoking gun” tape is simpler than Richard Nixon’s. Schoolchildren can easily grasp Trump’s high crime, in contrast to the complex, Machiavellian plot immortalized on the tape that led to Nixon’s downfall. It will be harder to explain to them why congressional Republicans decided to hold Nixon accountable, but not Trump.
Researchers such as Steven Johnson, an information technology professor at UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce, have found no evidence to support GOP grievances that conservative voices are squelched​​​​​. Rather, they said, social media algorithms don’t have a political affiliation or party but favor content that elicits strong reactions from users. Studies consistently show that conservative voices and viewpoints dominate the conversation on these platforms.
Recent peer-reviewed research from three UVA professors demonstrates how dramatically the design of social platforms can affect how people behave on them. In their study, in months where conservative-leaning users visited Facebook more, they saw much more ideological content than normal, whereas in months where they visited Reddit more they “read news that was 50% more moderate than what they typically read.”
UVA Health is in the process of developing its own version of a COVID-19 vaccine. “We’re working on a vaccine here at UVA in our lab. It’s an intranasal vaccine because that’s how you get infected with this virus is inhaling it through your nose,” said Dr. Bill Petri, a physician and infectious disease professor.
University of Virginia Lifetime Learning is partnering with the Morven Farm to host an online discussion about ongoing challenges in the food system.
Community businesses can help students get hands-on experience working on projects. UVA and the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center are working together to facilitate this community project-based learning program, which is called Propel.
Falcons quarterback and former UVA star Matt Schaub will retire from the NFL after 16 seasons, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said Monday.