President Kennedy (who had been elected with the support of old-line, segregationist Democrats in the South) moved toward supporting a law that would grant blacks equal opportunity in public accommodations, jobs, etc. But not many months after he made a dramatic speech on June 11, 1963 at the University of Virginia, Kennedy was assassinated.
There has been much debate on whether empathy is learned or innate. A recent University of Virginia study measured brain activity on fMRI scans of students exposed to the threat of mild electrical shocks to themselves or to a friend or a stranger. The brain showed little activity to the threat of shock to a stranger but lit up at the threat to a friend, virtually identically to the activity it displayed to a personal threat.
Every student in the class of 2014 has a story: a struggle, a moment of victory; a parent or friend they’d like to thank; an exam they’d like to forget, and a wish fulfilled. As part of our annual "Nightly News" commencement tradition, we canvassed the country in search of those stories, capturing footage and special moments from more than 40 colleges. (Includes clips from U.Va.’s graduation weekend.)
Teresa A. Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, was quoted in a 2011 article, “There was a time in our history when corporations and major industrial labs, such as Bell Labs, conducted basic research. But gradually over the years corporations have pulled back from basic research and focused on development. …This has left the ‘R’ to universities.”
Longtime University of Virginia faculty member Elizabeth K. Meyer will lead the university’s School of Architecture for a two-year term on July 15. Meyer replaces Kim Tanzer, who will return to teaching full-time after completing a five-year term as dean of the school.
The UVa Children's Hospital is opening an exhibit in the Virginia Discovery Museum in Charlottesville. The exhibit is a replica of one of the clinic rooms in the Battle Building at UVa Children's Hospital.
As the University of Virginia's Rotunda begins its extensive renovation, the East Range Rooms will also receive new roofs. "The framing, sheathing and most of the slate date to the original installation period in the 1830s," said James D. W. Zehmer, UVA historic preservation project manager.
Professors with the University of Virginia also stepped in this year to help out with the students projects. "When they get to experience that they've built the cars on their own, they can test the cars, they've been able to see the impact of different types of weight, different types of design, different types of force, on how far the car travels, that is a tremendous learning moment," says Susan Donohue, UVa. engineering lecturer.
Award winning television and screen actor, Sean Patrick Thomas said a disciplined Guyanese upbringing definitely moulded him into the person he is today. Now on Broadway in the role of Asagai in a “A Raisin in the Sun,” this is the same play that got Thomas noticed at the University of Virginia, his alma mater where he was encouraged to take up acting by his drama teacher.
Rita Dove, a University of Virginia professor and former U.S. poet laureate, said in a statement that while she doesn’t count herself as among the most ardent fans of Angelou’s poetry, she does count herself as a friend of “a phenomenal woman” whose poetry has been a balm to many.
Rita Dove, an Akron native and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, offered the following statement about Maya Angelou, the poet and author who died Wednesday at the age of 86. Dove’s tribute: “Maya Angelou was indeed a phenomenal woman ...
“It’s actually fairly uncommon for incumbents to be denied renomination,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor for Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. “In the postwar era, just 2 percent of House incumbents have lost renomination.
“We can speak of Maya Angelou as fulfilling a need for various niches or constituencies in society, and that makes for a legendary human being,” said English professor Deborah McDowell.
AHMEDABAD: A city girl has won the Double Hoo Research Grant from the University of Virginia. Juhi Ranjan, a computer engineer from Gandhinagar, has been given a $5,000 grant which she will utilize for her project, along with a research partner, Rahim Islam, a 4th year undergraduate. She will have to develop a sensing technology that will detect the occupancy of rooms in a commercial building by tracking the number of people entering and exiting.
The move of Fermata Energy LLC, a Charlottesville-based company, to Danville is being headed up by David Slutzky, a former Albemarle County supervisor. Fermata, which is developing technology that would allow energy stored in electric vehicle batteries to be released to the nationwide energy grid, is moving operations to Southside thanks to a $2 million Tobacco Commission grant, announced last week.
Inside the Beltway, that is Alexandria, Arlington and parts of Fairfax, 32 percent of children are living in poverty or near poverty. In Fairfax County, 26 percent of children live in or near poverty. This is according to the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.
U.Va. is again being asked to disclose a faculty member’s email correspondence and other personal records -- this time by a gay rights advocacy group that says it’s concerned that the work of renowned Constitutional law professor Douglas Laycock is being used to support anti-gay and pro-life legislation. ... As in the Mann case, Laycock said he would leave the legal battle over the request to the university.
Agree or disagree with him, University of Virginia law school professor Douglas Laycock has had a lengthy and distinguished academic career. … Law professors need to be held as accountable for their controversial stances as anyone else, and they should certainly be invited into real-world dialogue with political activists. Dialogue is generally a great thing. But we should be careful about throwing around disingenuous terms like “dialogue” and “transparency” and “conversation” when we are really attempting to lecture and embarrass and chill. The conse...
Two University of Virginia students have filed a Freedom of Information Act request for Professor Douglas Laycock's e-mails and other correspondence. The intent does not seem to be to actually gain information, but rather to punish the law professor for supporting legal causes that they view as inimical to gay rights. Presumably it has occurred to them that this could have a chilling effect on other professors who might be tempted to give aid and comfort to the enemy. ...