“The pandemic forced us to rethink the entire relationship individuals have with work,” says Joseph Harder, an associate professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “It’s not just that white collar workers are demanding flexibility … but it’s also [happening with] the entry-level positions that are essential to reopening the economy. People are not working for minimum wage the way they once were. … I don’t know what would have shifted that power without the pandemic.”
(Commentary) In “Playlist for the Apocalypse,” [UVA English professor] Rita Dove examines quite a number of serious events and subjects of our times and of hers, always with an undertone of poetic playfulness and tenderness. Usually, I don’t connect with the kind of poetry coming from a purely academic foundation and background, for I have learned that can make the soul of the poetry sterile, but in the case of Rita Dove, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her poetry and serving as a poet laureate of the United States, I enjoyed reading her poems with a lot of interest, admiration, and respect, witho...
A mini-movie premiered in Charlottesville on Monday evening, but instead of sitting in silence, the showing of the ‘Youth, Blue, and U’ project sparked much-needed and appreciated conversations. The roughly 15-minute short film showed what could and should happen when police officers pull people over in their cars. The post-premiere panel brought together the players -- including Raylaja Waller with the City of Promise; University of Virginia Police Captain Bryant Hall; and Robert Haney, a lieutenant with the Charlottesville Police Department -- first for a discussion of the film, then for a d...
Forbes ranked 1,300 companies as the best employers in their state. Here are the hospitals and health systems in each state, according to an Aug. 24 Forbes report. Forbes partnered with Statista to survey 80,000 Americans working at businesses with more than 500 employees. The respondents rated their employers on a variety of factors, such as compensation, opportunities for advancement, safety in the workplace and openness to telecommuting. [UVA Health is one of the employers listed for Virginia.]
UVA Health plans to require its nearly 2,000 unvaccinated employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 1, or face possible termination. The health system announced its new vaccine mandate last week, just days after the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval for the Pfizer vaccine and local COVID transmission levels rose from “substantial” to “high.”
The University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, a demographic research group, recently released population estimates showing upticks in most of the Roanoke area.
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business, at 41% placement in the consulting industry, is third, up from 35.5% in 2019.
(Commentary) The University of Virginia rented enslaved people from local slaveholders to save money. It was cheaper to rent the labor than to buy the people outright. Before abolition, there were between 125 and 200 enslaved people on campus at any given time. Should the university atone for that?
(Book review) Andrew Kaufman, a specialist in Slavic literature at the University of Virginia, is principally concerned with what this philosophy would mean for a woman who was not fictional. In the early years of her marriage, Anna Dostoyevskaya was called on to practice superhuman levels of selflessness and forgiveness. She lived at the mercy of the gambling addiction of her husband, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, teetering on financial ruin for years — at one point having to pawn her own underwear.
At the University of Virginia, one student organization is determined to raise awareness for the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan and help incoming refugees. The Student Veterans of America at UVA is hosting an Afghan refugee donation drive now until Sept. 10.
It soon will be a bit easier to not just start a business in Central Virginia, but to keep it going. Venture Central now has a board of directors, funding from several sources and has started to search for its first executive director. The organization is a combined effort by Charlottesville and Albemarle County, the University of Virginia and the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce.
A new club means new members. One of the most recent is University of Virginia alum and Basketball Hall-of-Famer Ralph Sampson. “I just happened to walk into the Boys and Girls club one day unannounced and say,’ how can I help?’ And now, here we are,” Sampson said. “It’s gonna be amazing, and I’m looking forward to one year from now, this place being built, and shooting the first basket when it opens.” From a big role on the court, to a big role in the club: Sampson will be a key player in the future of the organization in Albemarle. This is something he’s already been doing for years in his h...
An alum of the University of Virginia is being nationally recognized for her architectural excellence, including her work with the Memorial to Enslaved African-American Laborers at UVA. Mabel O. Wilson was just named the 2021 Vincent Scully Prize Recipient by the National Building Museum.
Area veterans organizations took over Walnut Creek Park for four hours on Sunday afternoon for the fifth annual Seas the Day event. More than 200 people registered for the event, breaking the previous crowd record for Seas the Day. On Sunday, attendees talked with friends and representatives from different organizations that serve veterans, enjoyed lunch from Mission BBQ, listened to live music and participated in other activities such as kayaking and fishing. The free family-friendly event started as the brainchild of a University of Virginia student, Grace Tuttle, who wanted to address the n...
“Ban the Taliban, save Afghanistan” was the message of the University of Virginia Afghan Student Association’s Save Afghanistan Rally on Sunday in Charlottesville.
Appropriate investors with a high capital base and adequate risk tolerance can participate in the alternative investments space with advice and guidance from a financial adviser. This point was aptly made by Rodney Sullivan, the editor of the Journal of Alternative Investments and a professor at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. According to him, alternative investments “are still perceived as a risky asset class, but the risk isn’t bad as long as that risk is diversified and offers a consistent return.”
University of Virginia political analyst and Ohio native Kyle Kondik has a new analysis of redistricting efforts in Ohio and six other Midwestern states. Kondik argues that “Ohio is a major wild card in the national redistricting picture, with a number of possibilities ranging from a maximalist 13-2 Republican gerrymander to Democrats improving on their current 12-4 deficit.” He adds that Ohio’s 13th Congressional District “is a prime candidate to be eliminated in redistricting,” as incumbent Democrat Tim Ryan is running for U.S. Senate.
If Democrats had not shifted power to independent commissions in three states — California, Colorado and Virginia — they would have controlled more districts than the GOP, according to Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
(Commentary) Justin O’Jack, chief representative for the University of Virginia’s China office and a 20-year-plus resident in China, says, “I’m reminded of three years ago, when a similar announcement made headlines among higher education circles…Clearly the 286 programs in this week’s headlines include the cumulative 234 program closures announced by the MoE in 2018. Perhaps a less sensational, but more accurate, headline would be, ‘China lists 52 more Sino-foreign programs gone dormant since 2018.’ But that wouldn’t attract many clicks, would it!”
Elliott White, Jr., a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Virginia’s environmental sciences department, said using volunteers will increase the amount of ghost forest data available to researchers, especially because scientists may struggle to access all geographical locations. He said the volunteers will help widen the geographic range of ghost forests that researchers can record and motivate volunteers to learn more about the dying trees around them.