Nicholas H. Wolfinger, a researcher at the University of Utah, and W. Bradford Wilcox, a researcher at the University of Virginia, say that more education is needed in order to ensure that people understand marriage and the truth behind it. “Contrary to the notion that marriage is detrimental to men, it turns out that the benefits are substantial by every conceivable measure, including greater financial well-being, higher quality of sexual life, and significantly better physical and mental health outcomes,” Wilcox and Wolfinger wrote in “Men & Marriage: Debunking the Ball and Chain Myth.”
The search is on for a new University of Virginia president. The school recently announced the formation of a special committee that has been tasked with finding a replacement for President Teresa Sullivan, who announced last month that she intends to retire in July 2018, when her contract expires.
Leaders at the University of Virginia and in Albemarle County had mixed feelings about Betsy DeVos’ confirmation as Secretary of Education on Tuesday. DeVos’ inability to answer specific questions about policy at her initial hearing was extremely worrisome, said Dean Bob Pianta of UVA’s Curry School of Education. “She just didn’t know the very basics of what her department would be responsible for,” Pianta said. “And that’s just dangerous.”
A counseling program that offers support for caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease or dementia is expanding its reach. The Family Access to Memory Impairment and Loss Information, Engagement and Support program, known as F.A.M.I.L.I.E.S., will be available to caregivers in Gloucester and Mathews counties on Middle Peninsula, as well as parts of the Northern Neck and Southside. The center, located in Williamsburg, offers the program in partnership with the University of Virginia and the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services.
(Commentary by Ed Hess, a professor at UVA’s Darden School of Business) American manufacturing job losses to China and Mexico were a major theme of the presidential campaign, and President Trump has followed up on his promise to pressure manufacturers to keep jobs here rather than send them abroad. What he hasn't yet addressed — but should — is the looming technology tsunami that will hit the U.S. job market over the next five to 15 years and likely destroy tens of millions of jobs.
Salon writer David Masciotra interviewed Rita Dove about the power of poetry and the necessity of the arts, especially in times of political trouble and terror.
The marriage rate in the U.S. continues to decline and the view that marriage entails a "lack of freedom" is becoming more entrenched, particularly among younger men, according to researchers Nicholas H. Wolfinger and W. Bradford Wilcox (the latter a UVA sociologist).
Sweet Briar College named its next president Monday, picking a former UVA dean to lead the all-women liberal arts institution as it attempts to recover from a near closure two years ago. Meredith Woo will take over as president of Sweet Briar in rural Virginia after current president Phillip C. Stone retires in May. Woo was the dean of UVA’s College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 2008 to 2014.
Virginia higher education officials are trying to figure out why 1.5 percent fewer students enrolled the state's public and private colleges and universities this academic year, even though there was an increase in the pool of high school seniors who could have filled those seats. Total enrollment across Virginia's higher education sector was about 521,000, down 3.4 percent from the peak count in 2012-13.
For starters, there’s the federal hiring freeze the new president has imposed, and Trump’s executive order directing that for every new rule, federal agencies must identify two rules to eliminate. “A hiring freeze is a pretty ham-handed way to decide which [government] functions should exist,” Obama’s deputy labor secretary, Chris Lu, who is now a senior fellow at UVA’s Miller Center, said. “There’s an irony here in that these are folks that want to run government like a business, and you would never run business with a hiring freeze. It’s a nice sound bite, but it doesn’t actually do anything...
But would a judge actually hold the officials in contempt? UVA law professor Doug Laycock doubted it would come to that. “Judges are much more likely to threaten sanctions than to actually impose them,” he told Slate. Typically a judge “tries to keep ramping up the pressure, but tries to avoid reaching the point where he has no choice but to send someone to jail.”
An analysis of Medicare data showed that in 2013, nurse practitioners made more than 1 million home visits nationwide, compared with 925,000 visits a year earlier. Doctors made 1 million home visits both years, the new study finds. The findings have "implications for both house-call providers and nursing education," said lead researcher Nengliang Yao, an assistant professor in the UVA Medical School's Department of Public Health Sciences. "If we want to take care of our geriatric population, we really need more providers to do so."
Díaz, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his novel, “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” is visiting Charlottesville as the fourth Kapnick Foundation Distinguished Writer-in-Residence through Feb. 11.
Entomologists have been investigating a parasitic fungus found on the bumblebee called Nosema bombi, and the more they learn the more they’ve become concerned. It’s going to be difficult, as T'ai Roulston, a professor in UVA’s Department of Environmental Sciences, said, because “we don’t have any history at managing disease in wild insects.”
The University of Virginia is leading one of four major research efforts to develop an artificial pancreas for people with type 1 diabetes. Clinical trials are now underway at UVA Center for Diabetes Technology.
Although more students report having positive experiences by studying and living with those from different racial, religious, political, gender and ethnic groups, negative experiences are fairly common, too – and they can impair student learning and cognitive development, according to a study led by Josipa Roksa, a UVA professor of sociology and education.
Olympic medalist and current UVA swimmer Leah Smith was recognized on National Girls and Women in Sports Day and signed autographs after an NCAA college women's basketball game between Virginia and Duke on Sunday.
“So many Republicans are afraid of their own voters, and the Republican base likes Trump a whole hell of a lot more than the Republican House and Senate caucuses do,” says Kyle Kondik, managing editor of the Sabato’s Crystal Ball political newsletter at UVA’s Center for Politics. “But while Senate Republicans may not like Trump, they also recognize that they are in this together, that if he sinks then they may sink, too.”
For Timothy J. Longo, retirement does not merely mean putting his feet up or going fishing. The former Charlottesville police chief also is creating a master’s program at the University of Virginia for law enforcement leaders.
(By Christine Mahoney, UVA professor of public policy and politics) I’ve spent the past seven years conducting research in refugee camps around the world. I’ve interviewed hundreds of U.S. aid workers, humanitarian relief staff and refugees. I can tell you two things that are facts, based on actual research on the ground: These people have endured unimaginable suffering, are as terrified of terrorists as we are and, after years of displacement, deserve a chance at a new life. Our State Department and Homeland Security staff overseas, as well as our resettlement organizations at home, have been...