On the other hand, political prognosticators at UVA’s Center for Politics offered Democrats a ray of hope, shifting their assessment of the 18th from “safe Republican” to “likely Republican.” “This is a very tough district for Democrats in a region that, outside of Allegheny County, has been trending away from them for two decades,” said Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of the center’s newsletter. “However, the Republicans have had some close calls in special elections this year in House districts that are very Republican on paper.”
But some are not convinced that the Confederate statues can be considered war memorials. Jalane Schmidt, a UVA religious studies professor and historian, says McIntire originally described his donation as “works of art.”
Why are the elderly getting into protein shakes and powders? "Older Americans -- they're a population group that is losing muscle and yet they often don't have much of an appetite," said Carole Havrila, a dietitian and certified oncology specialist at the UVA Health System. "It's easier for them to drink their calories and protein."
It's not in the formal job description, but presidents, at least in the modern era, are expected to be consolers-in-chief. Perhaps it's the sheer size of the nation that creates a need for a reassuring and unifying voice during a time of crisis or tragedy. And perhaps it's been accelerated by what UVA presidential scholar Barbara Perry calls the "Oprah-ization of our culture." But when a natural disaster, terrorist attack or act of domestic violence occurs, the American public, divided on so many issues, tends to look to the occupant of the Oval Office to share the pain and find a way forward.
(Commentary By Kyle Kondik, political analyst at UVA’s Center for Politics) The U.S. Senate is a curious, unique legislative body for a lot of reasons.
More than 22,000 people are expected attend UVA’s kickoff celebration for its bicentennial on Friday night. Several performers are lined up, including Leslie Odom Jr., Andra Day and the Goo Goo Dolls, alongside hundreds of UVA faculty and student performers.
Who is the least effective Democrat in the U.S. Senate? Sen. Joe Donnelly, according to the Center for Effective Lawmaking, who said the Democrat from Indiana was the worst in his party at advancing agenda items toward becoming law during the last Congress. The nonpartisan center, run jointly by UVA and Vanderbilt University, creates effectiveness scores for each lawmaker in Congress based on 15 metrics, including how many bills a legislator sponsored and how far bills progressed toward becoming law.
Sen. Heitkamp has been named one of the most effective senators by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint initiative between the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University.
UVA’s Center for Politics and the Community Idea Stations next week will host the local premiere of a new documentary, “This is the House that Jack Built,” which is based on UVA research on John F. Kennedy.
A new UVA-led study finds that simplifying and streamlining health information for parents helps families in childhood obesity programs, regardless of the parents' ability to understand health information.
The ability to retain and recall information is central to improving memory, knowledge and learning. But do students know what works, and are they using the best strategies? In 2013, researchers from from four universities, including UVA, published a review of hundreds of studies to explore which strategies are most likely to lead to long-term learning.
As Kim Forde-Mazrui, a UVA law professor who specializes on race, told the Los Angeles Times in August, the Trump administration’s feigned interest in protecting Asian Americans is politically opportunistic. “This is primarily about conservative leaders protecting the privilege of access to society’s resources and opportunities for certain white constituents,” Forde-Mazrui said, noting that white conservatives don’t care about anti-Asian discrimination in other spaces.
The horrors of slavery can’t be scrubbed from America’s past, said Douglas Blackmon, a historian and senior fellow at UVA’s Miller Center, but it can be fully factored into the remembrances of figures like Columbus. And if doing so brings enough dishonor, Blackmon said, it’s OK to stop celebrating them.
Republican candidates for the House of Delegates are heading into the final stretch of the campaign season with a clear financial advantage – twice as much cash on hand as Democrats. Geoff Skelley at UVA’s Center for Politics says that’s because they have a bunch of candidates running for reelection. "Republicans have this big cash on hand edge because they have a bunch of incumbents.”
A report issued this week by the American Enterprise Institute noted the wide gap in marriage rates by income. About a quarter of "poor" adults aged 18 to 55 are currently married, while 39 percent of working-class adults and 56 percent of middle- and upper-class adults are married. Economic worries may be bleeding into family life in toxic ways. People with insecure jobs often say they're resigned to that insecurity, according to research by UVA sociologist Allison Pugh.
A new report shows that U.S. Rep. McSally gets more done than many of her colleagues. Craig Volden, a professor of public policy and politics at UVA’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, said that McSally "really outperformed expectations" in her first term.
MBA admissions officers say the best measure of candidates' leadership potential is whether they have consistently made a significant, positive impact on organizations where they worked. Whitney Kestner, director of admissions at UVA’s Darden School of Business, says one way she assesses applicants' leadership potential is by looking at their resumes. She likes to see evidence that they have progressively increased their level of responsibility at work.
In recognition of Robert Vaughan’s contributions to the ASC and the Commonwealth of Virginia, the American Shakespeare Center presented him the prestigious Goodfellow Award at the Annual Gala on Sept. 23. The Goodfellow Award, named after the character Robin Goodfellow (Puck) in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is given annually to a person whose contributions to the American Shakespeare Center have been fundamental to the mission of making the joys of Shakespeare accessible to all.
The Virginia Film Festival will be presenting its popular Family Day again this year. It will take place Nov. 11 on UVA’s Arts Grounds.
The Virginia Film Festival has announced details for its Family Day festivities, which will take place Nov. 11 at UVA’s Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds.