(Audio) On day two of the Virginia Film Festival, podcaster Sean McCord spoke with Ben Nabors, director of William and the Windmill, his documentary about Willliam Kamkwamba, who as a 14 year old boy on his Malawi village, built a windmill to generate electricity for his family. Five years later, following a talk he gave at an African TED conference, William has become a media star and has to deal with the very modern problems of fame, isolation, and stress.
(By Larry J. Sabato, editor in chief, Kyle Kondik, managing editor and Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an online political newsletter and website emanating from the University of Virginia Center for Politics) A year ago, almost everyone who followed Virginia politics thought that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Republican, had the inside track to winning the governorship. After all, it was in the 1880s when Virginia last gave a party just four consecutive years in the Governor’s Mansion. And Cuccinelli held one of the two positions that have served as ...
Saundra Shorter was born to be a teacher. Everything else, she picked up along the way. Shorter, who died on Oct. 24 at the age of 71, had the skill and charisma to be anything, from a preacher to an actress to game show host, but her heart remained in education. She excelled as a student, earning an education degree from Virginia State University. From there, she became one of the first black women to receive a master's degree from the University of Virginia. She earned a doctorate in education from Virginia Tech.
(Audio) On day two of the Virginia Film Festival, podcaster Sean McCord talked with director Fredrik Bond and producer Ron Yerxa about their film, Charlie Countryman. Shia Lebouf plays the eponymous hero who finds himself abruptly orphaned and and traveling through Romania, guided by the spirit of his recently-passed mother, where he falls in love with a mysterious woman and is absorbed into the twisted maze of a criminal underground.
The Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge gave a few students from the University of Virginia the opportunity to be a 'big' for a day.
(By Dr. Roberto Fernandez-Romero, a neurologist at University of Virginia Health System specializing in memory disorders and dementia) When we talk of getting older, the word “wiser” often finds its way into the conversation — and for good reason. Our experiences and exposure to a variety of people, places and things over a lifetime typically do make us more knowledgeable as we age. However, there are some cognitive functions that don’t always withstand the test of time. Reasoning, problem solving and response time all tend to decline as our brains age.
In “The Kennedy Half-Century,” political scientist Larry J. Sabato of the University of Virginia gives readers two books. The first is a biography of Kennedy, with detailed emphasis on Nov. 22, 1963. The second book looks at Kennedy’s legacy — at how his presidency has influenced his White House successors.
The question is does using deer antler spray deliver the benefits its sellers claim? The consensus opinion from leading endocrinologists studying the substance, including Dr. Roberto Salvatori at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Dr. Alan Vogol at the University of Virginia, is that the chances of it delivering on any of these benefits are slim to none.
A new agreement gives graduates of the University of Virginia's College at Wise preferential admission to the Appalachian School of Law.
(By Mary Lou Perry, a University of Virginia diabetes educator, and Barbara H. Martin, a Martha Jefferson Hospital diabetes educator) Diabetes is a challenging disease that affects the entire family. November is National Diabetes Month, and a time when the entire country shines a spotlight on diabetes and encourages action to change the way diabetes is treated.
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said the hurdle for Republicans doesn't look any better if you count the underlying votes by citizens, not just the electoral results. "Democrats have also won the popular vote in five of the last six presidential contests," Sabato said. "The demographic shifts heading to mid century are all pro-Democratic."
Day 3 of the Virginia Film Festival began with the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War and ended with a single bullet leading to a spiral of violence. In between, there was Dame Judi Dench in a performance that has to be the biggest stone cold lock in Academy Award history, and Slavoj Žižek giving what has to be the most entertaining 135 minutes in the history of Marxist-Lacanian cultural criticism. Yes, a good film festival can make your head spin a little (before it explodes).
ROTC members at the University of Virginia will march in a 24-hour vigil to honor Veterans Day.
(Audio) On the November 10th edition of the Wake Up Call, host Rick Moore delves into post-election politics with Geoffrey Skelley, Media Relations Coordinator with the University of Virginia Center for Politics and Associate Editor for Sabato’s Crystal Ball.
Nearly 50 US universities have partnerships of one sort or another with Beida, as China’s premier seat of learning is known. Aside from Wellesley staff, only the University of Virginia has said anything at all in public about Xia’s dismissal.
Every July for the past 41 years at a campsite somewhere in the United States, a strange family has gathered to eat, drink, be merry and celebrate their common interest: custom vans. Filmmakers Nick Nummerdor and Andrew Morgan immersed themselves in the world of the vanners for their documentary “Vannin’,” which was screened Sunday as part of the Virginia Film Festival.
It's a wrap for the 26th year of the Virginia Film Festival. The four-day festival featured more than 100 films, and there were lots of eager audiences. Organizers said almost every screening has been full.
The University of Virginia is upgrading its computing core network. The network serves as a pipeline for the exchange of information between sub-networks. These sub-networks connect more than 300 buildings at the Charlottesville campus with each other and the rest of the world.
Robley Bates is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a University of Virginia history and French major, and a graduate of U.Va.’s Darden School of Business with experience in investment banking. With that kind of résumé, doesn’t it just make sense that he bought an oil change and auto maintenance shop franchise in Chesterfield County?
When Corks and Curls, the University of Virginia’s 122-year-old student yearbook, was declared dead in 2010, few students mourned its passing. Its demise saddened alumni, but the consensus on Grounds was that it was outdated and being replaced by social media websites such as Facebook. But the movement to bring it back recently has gained a foothold.