China Scherz is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Virginia, and the author of “Having People, Having Heart: Charity, Sustainable Development, and Problems of Dependence in Central Uganda,”University of Chicago Press, 2014, an analysis of nongovernmental organizations working with AIDS orphans and children with disabilities in Uganda. In it, she challenges current international development norms and standards, suggesting that Ugandans see those norms as suspect refusals to redistribute wealth. Scherz answers some questions about her book.
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's taunt of "sad" rival Jeb Bush -- "he was supposed to win, and he just doesn't have the energy" -- speaks volumes about the billionaire's propensity to go for the jugular. One reason Bush may not be resonating like Trump, argued veteran political observer Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, is that Bush is among the status-quo politicians who are seen as "human tape recorders," who regurgitate consultant-approved soundbites.
A crucial number may lie at the heart of the escalating slap fight between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. That number is 40: the percentage of Florida’s Hispanic vote that the Republican presidential nominee may need to win the state in the general election. Behind that calculus lie cold political numbers. At the presidential level, the Democrats have a blue state base of 247 electoral votes, according to political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. The Republicans have 206 red state votes.
Gov. Bobby Jindal believes a Kentucky clerk who is headed to jail for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples would be legally protected in Louisiana. "State law, including Gov. Jindal's executive order, is no defense ... It is irrelevant," said Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia.
While college students have been touring Europe, saving rainforests, or interning at high-powered government offices, college faculty and administrators have been preparing for the upcoming school year and the biggest problem that afflicts our institutions of higher learning: microaggressions. A fellow University of Virginia sociologist, Donald Black, elaborates: moral cultures are products of social conditions, and “acts of social dominance — such as belittling someone with insults,” are “more offensive in places or relationships where people are relatively equal.
“Digital enticements are displacing the pleasures of driving,” says Matt Crawford, a political philosopher at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture who also fabricates components for custom motorcycles. “So that whole sense of getting in the car and finding out what’s beyond the next town is less powerful.” Maybe car culture is waning, he suggests, because “parents are less authoritarian and want to be your friend.” In other words, the need to rebel isn’t what it used to be.
Kylie Doniak recalled that some of those closest to her weren't sure how she would react to watching soccer again. A four-year starter in the midfield for the University of Texas, she would testify that one of her games was the last clear memory she had before the night of Feb. 3, 2012, when a drunk driver struck her as she walked and nearly killed her. But eight months after the accident, eight months into what would truthfully be years of recovery, she sat in the stands in Austin and looked out over the same field on which she had played so many times. It wasn't difficult to be remin...
(By William Guildford, associate professor of biomedical engineering and undergraduate program director, University of Virginia) The explosive growth of online education has ignited a long-overdue conversation about the virtues of brick-and-mortar colleges. All of us in higher education have been forced to confront fundamental questions of our purpose. What do our students really get out of college? Are lectures and grades all students really need? Are we more than just credentialing organizations?
(Coauthored by W. Bradford Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia) When it comes to understanding what’s happening with marriage in America, the “real issue that we need to be concerned about is economics,” not the contrasts between “Democrats versus Republicans, liberals versus conservatives, [in other words,] those quick to embrace new modes of life versus those who celebrate tradition.” Family scholars Naomi Cahn and June Carbone recently wrote these words in Time, responding to our research showing that Republicans tend...
For years focused ultrasound has been used to treat cancers, but for the first time in the U.S. it is being used it in a clinical trial to treat symptoms of Parkinson's Disease. A clinical trial is under weigh at the University of Virginia Medical center that may change the face of treatment options for patients of the disease.
Leaders in charge of patient care at the University of Virginia Medical Center say the quality of care is better than ever thanks to the new accreditation. On Thursday, a subcommittee from the UVA Board of Visitors discussed how the hospital should maintain staff and patient safety. The center was recently recertified for three more years as a level one trauma center mainly because of strict safety precautions, the board members say.
It's a question parents have long had to answer: Should they send their child to kindergarten at age 5, or wait a year until they believe their child is ready? "Greater variation in age and ability within a classroom may have important consequences for children's learning opportunities if it affects the pedagogical approach a teacher takes or the overall classroom climate," research from professors at Stanford and the University of Virginia warn. "We leave the investigation of how parental decisions and cohort composition shape instructional practices and collective outc...
The first few weeks at college can be filled with fun, like meeting new friends, late night parties, and football Saturdays. Of course, there's more to school than that. Tim Davis, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at the University of Virginia says the whole idea that the early part of college is fun-filled and stress-free is a complete misnomer.
A University of Virginia fourth-year student has died after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. Twenty-one-year-old Margaret Lowe of Nashville, Tennessee passed away Tuesday evening at the UVa Health System.
The University of Virginia, the commonwealth’s flagship institution of higher learning, has been in crosshairs of the media more in the past five years than at any time in the school’s modern history. That spotlight has drawn attention to issues at UVa that are both specific to the university and indicative of changes and issues sweeping through higher education in the United States.
The 2015 Chamber of Commerce Jobs Report is out, and it looks like good news for the Charlottesville area. The report shows retail is part of the largest employment category, and, as always, the University of Virginia helps make Albemarle County this region's top job engine.
It has been almost one year since University of Virginia student Hannah Graham was abducted and murdered. Since her death, her friends have decided to fulfill one of Graham's dreams, not only as a tribute to her, but also to spread an important message.
Starting freshman year of college is an incredibly stressful time for most people, said Tim Davis, director of counseling and psychological services at the University of Virginia. From the outside, college looks so carefree, he said, “sitting under a tree reading a book, throwing Frisbees, all that stuff.”
Wired magazine published a story showing maps of the racial segregation of America -- and Detroit is "among the most segregated cities in America," the magazine notes. The map is the work of Dustin Cable of the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, and draws from 2010 census data. Accounting for all levels of zoom, Wired notes, the map includes more than 1.2 million PNG files, a total of some 7 gigabytes of visual data.
An ocean of ink has already been spilled on Donald Trump and his meteoric rise in American politics, so much so that you would be forgiven for thinking there was nothing left to be said about the outspoken, controversial billionaire who is the front-runner in the race to be the Republican presidential nominee. But, swirling in the ether of social media, a University of Virginia professor brings us something rather novel. On Monday, Bruce Holsinger, a medievalist and professor of English, came up with the Twitter hashtag #BeowulfTrumpand proceeded to embark on a series ...