In The News

Flash mobs assemble in public spaces to dance, protest or do battle with lightsabers. And at the University of Virginia, thanks to Laura Nelson, they gather to learn. Once or twice a week, students at the state's flagship public university collect in some idle classroom or lounge for a "flash seminar," an ad hoc performance of pedagogy. The time and place, professor and students are always different. But the goal never varies: "to find learning outside the classroom," said Nelson, 22, a senior from Westwood, Mass., who is majoring in political and social thought. "To f...

University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan will be inaugurated in April with a week of activities that will include an interfaith vigil, an academic symposium and a scenic walk on the historic Grounds. The new presidents of Virginia State University, the University of Mary Washington and Longwood University plan inaugural celebrations this fall formally recognizing the turnover in leadership at four public schools last summer. Nearly two years into his presidency, no plans have been set for an inauguration of Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao. ...

Brandon Garrett Law professor Forensics Under the Microscope Newsweek / Feb. 17 Dr. Robert O'Connor Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine "They come well-equipped:" Rescue 57 faces funding crunch Eastern Iowa Government / Feb. 18 Dr. Karen Rheuban Director of the Center for Telehealth Boucher recalled as region-builder Martinsville Bulletin / Feb. 17 James E. Ryan Law professor Calvin C. Green, plaintiff in Va. desegregation case, dies at 79 Richmond Times-Dispatch / Feb. 18 Larry Sabato Politics professor and director of the Center for Politics Experts: Chris Christi...

Kal Raustiala, a professor at UCLA Law School and the UCLA International Institute, and Chris Sprigman, a professor at the University of Virginia Law School, are experts in counterfeiting and intellectual property. They have been guest-blogging for us about copyright issues. This week, they write about a recent Jeff Koons controversy.

Wisconsin is looking to Virginia as a model for restructuring its university system, and UW officials have approached Gov. Scott Walker about becoming a more entrepreneurial and independent university with more authority to raise tuition. But ironically, Virginia itself is effectively putting its own restructuring plan on a two-year hiatus to reevaluate it. A commission appointed by Virginia’s Republican governor is recommending reversing some of the plan’s most significant changes.

Going trayless is usually sold to students as an environmental move. Less water, soap and electrcity is used if there are no trays to wash, and less food is wasted. Among those that have completely ditched trays are Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, James Madison and Marymount universities and the University of Virginia.

Thomas is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the annual Federalist Society Student Symposium for legal scholars and students Feb. 26.

UVA budget leaders say a financial commitment from the state is important to getting more students on grounds, saying they need adequate resources to sustain real growth and provide resources for any new students.

The economic slump may have pushed more teens into part-time jobs, but researcher Joanna Lee Williams, assistant professor in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia is warning that too many hours of employment can spell trouble at school. 

For his forthcoming book, "Convicting the Innocent: Where Criminal Prosecutions Go Wrong" (Harvard University Press, April 2011), University of Virginia law professor Brandon Garrett examined the trial transcripts and other legal documents of the first 250 people to be exonerated by DNA in this country.

The University of Virginia has a new $1.5 million electron microscope, one of 18 such instruments at universities nationwide. The scanning-transmission microscope uses a high-energy beam of electrons to magnify samples up to about 2 million times, allowing scientists to view their structures almost to their atomic level.

Virginia will retire the No. 1 worn by Yeardley Love before its home opener on March 6 in Charlottesville. Love, the Virginia midfielder and Notre Dame Prep graduate, died last spring after she was assaulted in her off-campus apartment. Her ex-boyfriend, a Cavaliers' men's lacrosse player, has been charged with her murder. ... "I hope our fans can attend and join all of us -- our team, Yeardley's closest friends and her family -- as we remember and honor her," Virginia coach Julie Myers said in a new release. "Yeardley's presence and influence on all of us will be forever cheris...

Dr. Mary E. Jensen Radiology professor Spine Repair Effective in Cancer Patients MedPage Today / Feb. 16 Eric Patashnik Politics professor Will We Ration Health Care? The Coming Public Policy Debate Charlottesville Podcasting / Feb. 16 Larry Sabato Professor of Politics and director of the Center for Politics Public broadcasting backers fight GOP plan to gut funds Kansas City Star / Feb. 16 and South Carolina House backs move to boost state power Reuters / Feb. 16 Dr. David Schiff Neurology professor Spine Repair Effective in Cancer Patients MedPage Today / Feb. 16 Peter Sheras and Phyllis...

Every now and then I have a brief moment when I weep for my generation. While taking notes in my biology class ... I observed this student playing a game that simulates the college experience, while in a college classroom, participating in the college experience. The irony nearly toppled me over ... Professors at some Universities such as George Washington University and the University of Virginia have even combated the problem by banning laptops from lecture halls. ...

For those who wonder how college tuition costs manage to keep rising year after year, apparently defying laws of economic gravity, Sewanee, a liberal arts college in Tennessee, has an answer: they can’t.  On Wednesday, Sewanee announced that it will cut its $46,000 annual bill for students by 10 percent in the fall. The college, formally Sewanee: The University of the South, is betting that the drop in tuition — which at this point it can afford — will help it compete on two fronts: with the public universities that are siphoning off a growing share of the students it ac...

A new report by the University of Virginia shows that nearly one-quarter of all Virginians are at or near the poverty line. ...

The state Ethics Commission executive director told legislators Wednesday that her agency cannot do its job in a timely manner with its present staff and funding level. "We have one investigator trying to investigate hundreds of cases throughout the state," Director Caren Jenkins told the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. ...  In addition, Jenkins said the University of Virginia law school has been doing much of the case preparation for the commission for free. She estimated its donation at $750,000. ...

As the Emily Couric Cancer Center is set to open, a new book chronicles the progression of cancer care at the University of Virginia over the last century. "A History of Cancer Care at UVA" takes readers back to 1901 when the medical center first opened its doors. ...

Forty years ago, you might have found her, a Ph.D. student in composition at Princeton University, slithering under the cover of night into the Engineering department with a stack of primitive punch cards, feeding them through a digital convertor, and then making her way into the underground bunker that housed a hulking IBM360. ... The new world of computer music was exciting, but the actualities were nearly impossible. Since Shatin joined the UVA faculty in 1979, computer technology has revolutionized everyday life, and along with it, what it means to compose music. ...