From examining the genes in the monkey flower, to exploring the Rev. Martin Luther King’s political, social and theological beliefs, to epilepsy therapies, to sustainable tourism, 38 University of Virginia undergraduates will pursue 36 grant-funded research projects this summer. Thirty-five of the proposals received Harrison Undergraduate Research Awards and another student has had his research underwritten by the Stull family of Dallas. This marks the 16th year of the program, which helps further a key component of the U.Va. student experience: hands-on research.
The disparity between the percentage of women students at American colleges and universities and the percentage of women in senior leadership roles at these institutions has been noted many times in recent years. Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia, today's UVa-Wise, was a two-year institution from its start in 1954 until 1976. Its original mission was to serve first-generation students in rural Southwest Virginia, and while the four-year campus -- led today by a woman Chancellor -- has grown to enroll over 2000 students, the focus on this historically underserved popu...
(By George Martin, the University of Virginia’s rector, and President Teresa Sullivan) We are pleased to announce the University of Virginia’s new Affordable Excellence program, which will offer many benefits to Virginia residents who attend U.Va.Affordable Excellence provides a sustainable model for addressing strategic investments in the quality of the U.Va. educational experience, continuing to offer more enrollment opportunities for in-state students at below-cost tuition rates, and reducing the student loan debt burden on low- and middle-income Virginia families.
For all the recent cutbacks in state funding of higher education, and the tuition increases that followed, in-state tuition at a flagship institution such as the University of Maryland or the University of Virginia remains one of the few bargains available to students and their families. There’s only one problem, and it’s not a minor one, even though most states don’t like to discuss it: The benefits of this bargain accrue disproportionately to upper-income families.
For someone who started his career in the computer business, William H. Goodwin Jr. has done some important business deals the really old-fashioned way: scribbled on a napkin. Goodwin, who got an engineering degree from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, started his career selling computer systems for IBM in the 1960s. The Goodwins also have been generous philanthropists, donating tens of millions to support education and health care. They promised $150 million to help build a free-standing, independent children’s hospital in the R...
November’s Rolling Stone article about sexual assault at the University of Virginia took another hit last week as Charlottesville police announced there was no evidence to support the gang rape described in graphic detail by writer Sabrina Ruben Erdely. But the debate over how to deal with sexual misconduct at UVa is still very much alive. The administration under President Teresa Sullivan has commissioned working groups — composed of students, staff, faculty and alumni — to find ways to better deal with the problem at every level.
On grounds at the University of Virginia, the Native American Student Union held its first ever Pow Wow. They are Native American people's way of meeting together to join in dancing and singing and renew Native American culture and to preserve the rich heritage of American Indians. As people watched on grounds, they recognized veterans of all ethnicity.
Independent investigation by Charlottesville police found no “substantive basis” to support the Rolling Stone account of an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia. That announcement by Police Chief Timothy J. Longo pretty much completes the debunking of the already discredited article; still to come is a postmortem commissioned by the magazine and perhaps a lawsuit from a fraternity unfairly maligned in the article.
The Environmental Protection Agency has refined its interpretation of a problematic amendment added to the Clean Air Act in 1990 as it prepares to defend the proposed Clean Power Plan from a coal company lawsuit seeking to block the rule before it is finalized. There are many, many ways to interpret a statute. At the end of the day, what's going to really ultimately matter is whether a court is going to take an all-things-considered view of what the agency has done here,” Michael Livermore, an associate law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, told Bloomberg BNA.
In 1995 America had the highest graduation rate in the OECD. Now it lags behind seven other countries. President Barack Obama has set a target for his country to return to the top of the graduation league by 2020, but it is unlikely to be met. Young American graduates are below the OECD average in numeracy (see chart 5) and literacy, and are doing relatively worse than older ones. Some of the explanation lies with the poor performance of America’s schools, but the most expensive tertiary-education system in the OECD might be expected to help students catch up.Recent work by American acad...
U.S. President Barack Obama has nominated Atul Keshap, a former Indian-American official at its Embassy in New Delhi, as the next US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives. Obama on Thursday announced the nomination of Atul Keshap, a career foreign service official, as the next U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives. Keshap, a graduate of University of Virginia, studied economics, international relations, diplomacy, and religious studies, as well as French.
Scientists working in a little-known branch of psychology called perceptual learning have shown that it is possible to fast-forward a person’s gut instincts both in physical fields, like flying an airplane, and more academic ones, like deciphering advanced chemical notation. The idea is to train specific visual skills, usually with computer-game-like modules that require split-second decisions. In a recent experiment at the University of Virginia, researchers used a perceptual-learning module to train medical students about gallbladder removal. In the past, doctors removed gallbladders b...
Newport News, York County, Isle of Wight, James City County and Gloucester are growing, while Hampton, Williamsburg, Poquoson and Mathews are stable or shrinking, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.Hampton lost 69 residents, shrinking by 0.05 percent to total 136,879.Population estimates can vary, though, depending on methodology. The University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service estimates Hampton's July 1, 2014 population higher than the Census Bureau did, at 138,545, said Hampton spokeswoman Robin McCormick.
A residence hall that will house 200 first-year University of Virginia students this fall will bear the name of two former slaves who went on to become prominent members of the Charlottesville community. The Board of Visitors voted to name the five-story hall Gibbons House, after William and Isabella Gibbons. The dorm is scheduled for completion this summer.
For Virginians in financial need, leaders of the state’s flagship university just approved what amounts to a cut of up to $10,000 in the price of a bachelor’s degree. To engineer this feat, the University of Virginia will raise annual tuition an extra $1,000 for in-state students beginning at Charlottesville this year. For the incoming class the following year, in fall 2016, this extra charge — beyond regular tuition growth — will grow to $2,000.
A new sexual assault prevention program called Green Dot just kicked off at the University of Virginia. As a result hundreds of people are walking around Charlottesville wearing green dots. Organizers for the kickoff event include several people mentioned in the now-discredited Rolling Stone article alleging a culture of rape at UVA.
(By Robert M. O’Neil) As one of two living former presidents of the University of Virginia, I take exception to the headlines on Petula Dvorak’s March 24 Metro column, “A new ‘Charlottesville Curse’ that’s getting worse each day.” I have never been a victim of the “Charlottesville Curse.” I lament the charge that such a condition is “getting worse each day.” I deplore the university being called “an epicenter for scandal,” as the headline on the column’s continuation put it. I am puzzled by Ms. Dvorak’s d...
Larry J. Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, agreed. “The Clinton scandal-rama continues, as it has for decades,” he said. “The unanswered question is whether voters have already factored in scandal when judging Hillary. Is it possible to alter dramatically a long-fixed image? We’ll all find out.”
Veteran Middle East scholar William B. Quandt, a former member of the National Security Council, agrees that more Palestinians, especially younger ones, are open to seeking democratic rights within Israel. But he calls the idea more of a "thought experiment" than a clearly thought-out policy, noting there has been a relatively small amount of effort put into figuring out how Israelis and Palestinians would co-exist in a binational state.
Claire Cameron from the Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia confirms that “kindergarten-age girls have far better self-regulation than boys.”