(Commentary co-written by John Morton Moore, professor emeritus of law) Greater pandemic preparedness will require improvements in infrastructure, early warning, testing, contact tracing, enhanced communication, and international cooperation, as detailed by a recent independent task force report of the Council on Foreign Relations. But simply doing better in these defensive areas of pandemic response is not sufficient for the level of threat we face.
(Commentary by Kyle Kondik, UVA Center for Politics) The Hundred Days’ mark has become a popular time to take the measure of a new president. We’re a little early – as we’re writing this on Wednesday afternoon, April 21, Biden is at his 92nd day in office – but we thought this would be a good time to check in on how the public views Biden so far and how he compares to past presidents.
(Commentary by Nicholas Sargen, lecturer at the Darden School of Business) One of the Biden administration’s top priorities is to tackle income inequality in the United States. It stems from a widely held view that the gap between rich and poor has widened steadily since the 1980s when the Reagan administration cut the highest marginal tax rate from 70% to 28%. To address this issue, President Biden is proposing tax increases for corporations and households with annual income of more than $400,000. But is this perception accurate?
(Commentary by Chad Wellmon, professor of German studies and history) What must one believe in to be willing to borrow tens of thousands of dollars in order to pursue a certification of completion – a B.A.? What would a college have to promise in order to compel someone to do that? What would a bank have to believe to extend this person credit? Or the U.S. government, to guarantee such loans en masse – now roughly $2 trillion? And what would a society have to believe to sustain the system that keeps it all going?
The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia is doing its part to follow COVID-19 restrictions. People are able to see its exhibits, but are required to have reservation, as well as limit groups to no more than eight people.
According to UVA Health, around 60% of people in Charlottesville and Albemarle County eligible for vaccination have gotten their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and about 40% are fully vaccinated.
New research suggests that selling isn’t just hard to think about; most of the time, many investors might not think about it at all. In an article published this month in the journal Nature, behavioral scientists at UVA showed that when trying to improve a situation, people don’t even consider subtracting from it. Their default solution is to try adding something instead.
(Commentary) Shirley’s email arrived at the perfect time as I had just finished reading “Choosing Courage: The Everyday Guide to Being Brave at Work,” by professor Jim Detert, who teaches leadership and organizational behavior at UVA’s Darden School of Business. If ever in our country’s history there was a time for this book, then it is now. We have seen fear in the highest places of business and government – fear to speak up – becoming its own pandemic.
A UVA scientist is working on a way to treat Alzheimer’s disease thanks to funding from the Alzheimer’s Association. John Lukens received a 2021 research grant to help identify new molecular pathways that can be targeted to treat the disease.
This year, through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, the Embassy is supporting a joint project by students from the University of Liberia and the University of Virginia who are together options for the preservation and reuse of Providence Island in Monrovia.
(Commentary) You know who racks up that kind of debt? By and large, it's people who decide not to attend a public college. Or, in many cases, people who borrow large sums to become doctors, lawyers or other high-income professions. Look up and down the U.S. News list, and you'll notice a couple of things. First, even the highest-ranked public universities – places like UCLA, the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia – charge in-state students less than $20,000 per year for tuition and fees.
A University of Virginia program aiming to help adult learners get professional skills while earning college credits is entering its second round.
Some students were chowing down on Gus Burgers from White Spot on Thursday at UVA. While that’s a seemingly everyday occurrence on Grounds, it was a bit different this time – because the students ate them with gusto at an Eat Off hosted by the University Programs Council.
(Commentary by Brian Williams, professor of public policy, and Carmen Williams, law student) The conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd represents another inflection point – an opportunity for corrective action. In our “Land of the Free,” yet another man is in the bag and another stain is on our flag, to paraphrase the song.
Increasing amounts of available vaccine and the growing number of fully inoculated residents will keep COVID-19 case counts low and society reopening, UVA Health doctors said Thursday.
Spencer Buddington and his friends Tanner Humbert, Clayton Ball and Bryce Vandergriff were shopping for college room decor in January when a general store owner approached them, pleading for help. The store owner’s friend, James Ward, who was at the store helping out, had suffered a heart attack and was unconscious. “All of us know CPR,” Buddington says. “Three of us are Eagle Scouts and the other is a lifeguard.” The 19-year-old University of Virginia freshman and Eagle Scout from Troop 222 in Abington, Va., led the way into the store, got on the ground and began administering chest compressi...
“Michael may have high name identification for all his TV appearances, yet there are many hours of taped comments that will be inconvenient in a primary campaign,” said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. “On the other hand, Larry Hogan got nominated and elected twice. So the Trump wing of the GOP in Maryland doesn’t have the stature of Godzilla,” Sabato said.
J. Miles Coleman, associate editor at the University of Virginia's Crystal Ball, defended the toss-up rating, saying the advantage of being an incumbent is still very real. "We're very reluctant to start off incumbents, like Laura Kelly in this case, as outright underdogs," he said. "Her approval numbers have generally been above water. And in these gubernatorial races, as long as they're not dying to get rid of you, you'll probably have at least a fighting chance to come up."
Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a former CNN political commentator, has "got the biggest name ID and he's got the most money to spend," said Kyle Kondik, who analyzes races at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "If a single candidate could consolidate the non-McAuliffe vote, that person might be able to catch up," he added. "But I don't know if anyone is able to do that in the time remaining before the primary."
The recent focus on funneling millions into minority-owned banks stems from an awareness by large banks of the reputation for trustworthiness those institutions have established within their communities, sometimes over decades, said Gregory Fairchild, a business professor at the University of Virginia and expert in the field of community development finance.