... Also pertinent is the theory — backed by so-called "positive psychologists' — that human beings have an inherited base level of happiness that fluctuates only during periods of change. In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, for example, Jonathan Haidt, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, discusses the opposing case studies of winning the lottery or becoming paralyzed. ...
...At a recent town hall meeting at Darden, Dean Robert Bruner answered questions from students about how the crisis would affect them and their careers. His message, says Christine Bohle, a second-year student at Darden, was that students could continue to dream big about their careers but they might have to find more creative avenues for fulfilling their goals. Laura Pearson, a first-year MBA student at Darden, added that faculty are not sugar-coating the problems students will face. ...
The University of Virginia is leading the way in African American graduation rates. Eighty eight percent of UVA's African American students are leaving Grounds with a degree. This is the 15th straight year the university has taken the top honor among public universities.
Dr. Tim Pruett and the Get Game, Give Life program aim to increase organ donation rates through appearances at college sports events, including a recent appearance at a U.Va. basketball game
Will Anderson and Nate Mcfarland
Recent graduates who play in the alternative-rock band Parachute (formerly Sparky’s Flaw), who performed in Times Square in NYC on New Year's Day, alongside superstars like the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift
Is It A Bird, A Plane? Nope, It’s Parachute - The Band To Watch This Spring
andPOP / Mar. 8
http://www.andpop.com/article/14188
Rangina Hamidi
Graduate in women's studies and religious studies and Afghanistan native who returned there to work on empowering women there
A small step for womankind
Malaysia Star / Mar. 6
http://thestar.com.my/life...
By Daniel McDowell, a graduate student pursuing a Ph.D. in foreign affairs
... What a difference an economic crisis makes. As American and European credit markets froze up this fall, investors in need of cash began pulling their money out of emerging markets, essentially outsourcing the liquidity crisis. The result? Once again, the IMF has a mission, and it has not hesitated to act upon it. To date, the fund has committed about $50 billion in loans to an array of economies adversely affected by the crisis...
Louis A. Bloomfield
Professor of physics
Strange but true for March 8
Aiken Standard (SC) / Mar. 8
http://www.aikenstandard.com/local/0308strangebuttrue
Richard Bonnie
A law professor and an expert on capital punishment
America has a cultural divide on death penalty
Associated Press / Mar. 8
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/08/america/NA-US-Executions-Cultural-Divide.php
David Breneman
Dean of the Curry School of Education and co-author of a new OECD review of tertiary education
Japan: Change reformed tertiary system, says OECD
University World News / Mar. 8
http://www.universityworldn...
Virginia Quarterly Review editor Ted Genoways recounts his trip to Suriname with his father to search for an elusive bat species his father discovered 30 years earlier
By Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Center and a visiting lecturer
... Last week's news that North Korea plans to test a ballistic missile that could reach Alaska gave doomsayers more grounds for gloom. But amid the fear about nuclear attacks by terrorists or leaders such as Kim Jong Il, let's not forget that the United States has managed to protect itself from such a catastrophe not only since 9/11, but since the birth of the bomb in 1945.
A recent study carried out and reported by Robert Tai, associate professor at the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education, with Marc S. Schwartz of the University of Texas at Arlington and Philip M. Sadler and Gerhard Sonnert of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, shows "that high school students who study fewer science topics, but study them in greater depth, have an advantage in college science classes over their peers who study more topics and spend less time on each." ...
More than half of the nation's foreclosures last year took place in 35 counties, a sign that the financial crisis devastating the national economy may have begun with collapsing home loans in only a few corners of the country. ... "This crisis was triggered by foreclosures, and a lot of those were in a very small number of areas," says William Lucy, a University of Virginia professor who has studied the link between lenders and faltering home loans.
In part three of our special series on graduating in a turbulent economic time, we are joined by 1981 Alumnus Carroll Warfield. In the news: “The Business of Social Change” will be the topic of the upcoming Black Business Student Forum Conference in April.
... The University of Virginia's Air Force ROTC program has seen a 25 percent jump in applications. ...
... Women Education Leaders in Virginia is hosting its 10th annual conference with a theme of inspiring leadership. ... The Virginia ASCD is co-sponsoring the conference, along with the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia.
... The ratings are the work of College Prowler, a series of books written by students, for students, with the lowdown on college life, the stuff you probably won't hear on the campus tour. ...U.Va. scored A's - counting minuses and pluses - for academics, off-campus housing, girls, athletics, Greek life, and campus strictness. It got C's for nightlife, diversity and campus dining, and a D for parking. ...
... An increased interest in mediation has sparked a new clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law. The 11 students in the Family Alternative Dispute Resolution Clinic are learning about the collaborative divorce process and mediation’s role in family law.