The University of Virginia Investment Management Company has hired a new leader. Robert Durden, currently chief investment officer for Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, will take over as UVIMCO’s chief investment officer and chief executive officer in April, according to an announcement published late Friday.
Jack Ross began programming smartphone apps at age 15. A year later, his apps had received more than half a million downloads and generated enough revenue to allow him to attend UVA. Ross graduated with honors in May 2017 with a degree in computer engineering and quickly founded Beanstalk Inc. with his brother Michael.
The CVille Biohub, a Charlottesville group organized to promote biotechnology companies, has counted more than 50 life sciences startups with more than 1,800 employees in the city and surrounding counties. UVA has an office devoted to supporting faculty ideas and innovations. Established in the late ’70s as the Patent Foundation, it’s now called the Licensing and Ventures Group, or “New Ventures.”
When strength and conditioning coach Mike Curtis introduced a new series of exercises prior to the start of the season, members of the UVA basketball team were somewhat befuddled. The Cavaliers followed Curtis’ instructions with blind faith. The results speak for themselves. To this point in the season, there haven’t been any major injuries for No. 1 Cavaliers.
The No. 1 Virginia men’s basketball team cleaned up in the ACC basketball awards that were announced on Sunday afternoon. Head coach Tony Bennett was named the ACC’s Coach of the Year, senior forward Isaiah Wilkins was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and De’Andre Hunter was named the ACC Sixth Man of the Year. Sophomore guard Kyle Guy was named to the All-ACC first team.
A couple of UVA undergraduate students were able to fabricate an automated hydroponic micro-farm with help from Tinkersmiths. The students had no problem designing the electric circuit boards to automate the watering, fertilizing and heating. But the success of the system would depend on two pieces of printable plastic: a custom-fit corner bracket and a plug with holes sized to allow water to drain at just the right rate.
UVA professor Catherine Bradshaw specializes in school-based prevention techniques. She says more attention needs to be paid to early aggressive behavior in kids, things that might normally be overlooked or easily dismissed. “That can lead to patterns of kids acting up to get out of the classroom or get out of homework; they can also go on to get rejected by their peers because they’re not fun to play with and interact with,” she said.
UVA sociologist Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project, pointed out in 2013 that nearly every U.S. school shooting to that point involved a young man whose parents had never married or were divorced. “As the nation seeks to make sense of these senseless shootings, we must also face the uncomfortable truth that turmoil at home all too often accounts for the turmoil we end up seeing spill onto our streets and schools,” he wrote.
In a country that prides itself for being a meritocracy, Barbara Perry, of UVA’s Miller Center thinks it’s wrong for elected officials to hire family members when they should be looking for the best staffers. Perry sees an undemocratic element to political dynasties, established or in the making.
In a country that prides itself for being a meritocracy, Barbara Perry, of UVA’s Miller Center thinks it’s wrong for elected officials to hire family members when they should be looking for the best staffers. Perry sees an undemocratic element to political dynasties, established or in the making.
UVA’s Board of Visitors on Friday approved $30 million in initiatives aimed at responses to August’s white supremacist rallies, though some efforts will need to go through procedural funding hurdles.
One hundred fifty-three years have passed since slaves were officially liberated in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. A celebration of that milestone included a weekend march from the UVA Grounds to the city’s Starr Hill neighborhood. The speakers included UVA President Teresa Sullivan, and Dr. Marcus Martin, UVA’s vice president for diversity and equity.
(Commentary) From the first game of the regular season, when there were no expectations, to the last game of the season when there, seemingly, was nothing at stake, the Virginia Cavaliers played the same. And now, 30 games into the 2017-18 season, the Cavaliers have risen from a team almost completely off the radar of basketball’s experts to the No. 1 ranking in the country, the regular-season ACC championship, the No. 1 seed in the ACC tournament and the likely No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.
UVA and the Charlottesville community are celebrating the day slavery ended in the city and Albemarle County. On Saturday, people commemorated Liberation and Freedom Day with a brief service at the UVA Rotunda, followed by a march.
A little over two years after UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science announced an initiative to build a lab that brought together researchers and faculty from across the school to work on projects involving both the cyber and physical realms, the University has opened its $4.8 million, 17,000-square-foot facility.
These teeth were quite possibly purchased at cut-rate prices from slaves or, in the very best case, from desperately poor people, said Kathryn Gehred, a UVA research specialist. "George Washington probably gave his inaugural speech with teeth that were from people who were enslaved," she said.
UVA has selected a new site for its softball program. Architect Alice Raucher says the preferred future home for softball would be near Klockner Stadium on the North Grounds.
No. 1 Virginia trailed Louisville by about seven with just over eight minutes to play when Michael Pittman fired off his Tweet. “If they find a way in this one I’m committing $5,000.00 to @UVA_VAF,” wrote Pittman, a Glen Allen native and UVA sports blogger who tweets from the handle @WahooBasketball. That was at 9:54 p.m. Eighteen minutes later, De’Andre Hunter banked in a long, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to give the Cavaliers a 67-66 win over the stunned Cardinals at the KFC Yum Center.
Professor Jalane Schmidt from UVA’s Department of Religious Studies talks about a big celebration going on Saturday: Freedom and Liberation Day of Charlottesville.
Charlottesville City Schools plans to host a community forum on school safety at 7 p.m. March 15 in Charlottesville High School’s B Commons. Speakers will include Dewey Cornell, a professor at UVA’s Curry School of Education and director of the Virginia Youth Violence Project. Cornell designed the Virginia Threat Assessment Guidelines to help school administrators, school psychologists, counselors and teachers address small threats emerging from bullying and teasing by students before they escalate into a more dangerous situation.