Emma Edmunds
Director of the Editorial and Design Group in Public Affairs and an independent researcher and former fellow at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities
DCC to celebrate Black History Month
Chatham Star Tribune | Feb. 3, 2011
Robert Fatton
A professor of politics and a Haiti expert
Popular singer `Sweet Micky' faces former first lady for presidential runoff in Haiti
Miami Herald | Feb. 3, 2011
Brandon L. Garrett
A professor of law
Man imprisoned for 27 years hopes that some evidence is enough for freedom
Washington Post | Feb. 2, 2011
Medical schools are placing a growing emphasis on the humanities, including courses in writing, art and literature. The programs aim to teach students "right-brain" insights and skills they won't learn dissecting cadavers or studying pathology slides. Schools hope the programs help to turn out a new generation of physicians better able to listen attentively to patients, show emotion and provide sensitive personal care. ... "Writing enables students and residents and faculty to get richer meaning from their experience as health-care professionals, and makes them more capable of b...
Seeking to reclaim prominence in the state, the University of Virginia coaching staff picked up some early recruits from the Tidewater area, then turned them loose on the rest of the area's talent. "Even though the coaches play a role, the players on your team and the players you've recruited play the biggest role," tight ends coach Scott Wachenheim said. "So many of our guys knew each other and were from the same area that it really worked." The result was a signing day class that featured 17 state players, the most in decades, and another six from nearby Maryland. The tot...
The country's top tennis pros struggled Down Under, with no American reaching the quarterfinals of last month's Australian Open. But down the road from Washington, a new wave of Grand Slam prospects is being cultivated at the University of Virginia, which has become a force in men's college tennis on the belief that a well-grounded young man - complete with social skills, problem-solving ability and, ideally, a diploma - is better positioned for on-court success than a ball-pummeling machine.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of high-school Regents test scores shows that a disproportionate percentage of New York City students barely got the passing score they needed to receive a diploma in the past two years, while very few received scores just below passing. ... A trio of economists—Thomas S. Dee of the University of Virginia, Brian A. Jacob of the University of Michigan and Justin McCrary of the University of California at Berkeley—conducted an independent statistical analysis of the data for the Journal and came to a similar conclusion.
By Elizabeth R. Varon, professor of history and author of "Disunion! The Coming of the American Civil War, 1789-1859."
What do women have to do with the origins of the Civil War? Growing up in Virginia in the 1970s, I often heard this answer: nothing. Much has changed since then. A new generation of scholars has rediscovered the Civil War as a drama in which women, and gender tensions, figure prominently. Thanks to new research into diaries, letters, newspapers and state and local records, we now know that women were on the front lines of the literary and rhetorical war over slavery ...
The University of Virginia is listed high again in the number of students who graduate on time and those joining the Peace Corps. UVA ranked second in the nation among public universities in the percentage of students who finish college in four years. The U.S. Naval Academy was number one and William & Mary was third. For the Peace Corps, UVA was second in the nation last year among medium size universities. George Washington University topped UVA by just one volunteer. The University of Mary Washington was first among small colleges.
I have posted before on the strikingly high graduation rates at top public universities in Virginia and Maryland. One could make a case, for example, that the University of Virginia and the College of William and Mary are the two best state universities in terms of college completion. Here's another entry in that category. Lynn O'Shaughnessy, a journalist and blogger, has compiled a list of the 25 public colleges and universities of any type with the highest four-year (not six-year) graduation rates. The list lumps the service academies together with research universities such as U-Va. and lib...
W. Mark Crowell,
executive director and associate vice president for innovation partnerships and commercialization
Tech Titans Ally With White House on Innovation Effort
E-Commerce Times / Feb. 1
Thomas S. Dee
economist
Students' Regents Test Scores Bulge at 65
The Wall Street Journal / Feb. 2
Brandon L. Garrett
law professor
Man imprisoned for 27 years hopes that some evidence is enough for freedom
The Washington Post / Feb. 2
George Overstreet
director, Center for Growth Enterprises, McIntire School
What’s The Downtown Retail ‘Tipping Point?’
Harrisonburg News / Feb. 1...
Something about a poor child's environment keeps them from realizing their genetic potential and it happens before the child is age 2, researchers say, including U.Va.’s Eric Turkheimer and David Fask. The study was published in the journal Psychological science.
In "Academically Adrift," New York University's Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa of the University of Virginia say that for many students, college adds little, beyond teaching kids to be uninformed slackers in "a college culture focused on social life and strategic management of work requirements."
The authors of Academically Adrift, co-authored by U.Va.’s Josipa Roksa, found that half of some 2,300 students surveyed don't take a single course in which they must write more than 20 pages over the course of a semester.
Quite another account of what is wrong is offered in a new book by sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. The book’s title is “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” and its thesis is that what is limited — in short supply — is learning that is academic rather than consumerist or market-driven. After two years of college, they report, students are “just slightly more proficient in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing than when they entered.”
Two University of Virginia professors will be honored this month with a state-level education award. Timothy Beatley, professor of sustainable communities, and Jim Ryan, law professor, are two of 12 recipients of an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.
The University of Virginia will host a panel discussion on recent political turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the auditorium of the South Lawn Commons Building.
Last week, Gov. Bob McDonnell wrongly said there is room in state colleges and universities for only 38 percent of Virginians seeking higher education. McDonnell made the claim at a Capitol news conference at which he laid out a plan for state colleges to issue an additional 100,000 degrees over the next 15 years.
No one can ever say for sure why applications rise (or fall) at a particular college or university in a particular year. Sometimes institutions make their own luck, deciding to blanket a high school graduating class with come-ons to apply; other times, the buzz may spread virally, taking on a life of its own.
Hundreds of U.S. college students have joined the mass departure from Egypt in recent days as a popular study-abroad spot turned potentially dangerous. The University of Virginia has four undergraduates studying at the Cairo university.
The University of Virginia has four undergraduate students studying in Egypt. Three of the students live in the dormitories and one lives in the city. All four are safe and in contact with their families, and one has gone to the airport to try to leave the country.