The University of Virginia will use energy-efficient bulbs in this season's Lighting of the Lawn ceremony. For Thursday night's event, students have replaced the strands of old incandescent bulbs with light-emitting-diode bulbs. The LED bulbs use about one-sixth of the energy as the old lights.
By Donald Nuechterlein, a lecturer in politics whose most recent book is "Defiant Superpower: The New American Hegemony"
... a disturbing, longer-range challenge facing the incoming administration is how to deal with the increasingly assertive leaders of Russia, President Dimitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
A day after his college football career ended, University of Virginia senior Eugene Monroe collected a major award. It's not likely to be the last honor he receives in the coming weeks. A 6-6, 315-pound offensive tackle, Monroe yesterday received the Jacobs Blocking Trophy. The Jacobs is awarded annually to the ACC's best blocker, as selected by the league's head coaches and defensive coordinators. This marks the 11th time a Cavalier has won the Jacobs.
For the second time in three years, Virginia has declined to add a year to head football coach Al Groh's contract under a rollover clause, athletic director Craig Littlepage announced Sunday.
Mary Calcott
A Norfolk education leader in the first half of the 20th century, among the first women to be appointed to U.Va.'s board
What's in a name? | Norfolk's Mary Calcott Elementary
The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk) / Nov. 28
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/11/whats-name-norfolks-mary-calcott-elementary
Luis G. Fortuño
Law School graduate and Republican Governor-elect of Puerto Rico, who spent the last four years as the island's nonvoting representative in Congress
Puerto Rico Governor Promises Changes
New York Times / Nov. 28
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/28/us/politics/28governor.htm...
Denise Maye Obama
A first year, asked daily whether she can leverage her name for good seats at the inaugural parade
... Downstate counties and cities boasting the largest increases in turnout this year were almost all college towns or home to large black populations. In Charlottesville, home of the University of Virginia, voter turnout increased by 49 percent this year compared with eight years ago, even though the city's population declined by 10 percent during the same period. ...
... In establishing a "National High Five Day" more than six years ago, three students at the University of Virginia suggested taking the gesture to strangers in the street, with the wordless greeting to be delivered to startled passers-by.
Brothers of the University of Virginia's Phi Gamma Delta fraternity are on their way, by foot and bus, to Blacksburg as part of an annual charity event. ... Both chapters of the fraternity have raised more than $180,000 for cancer research.
Daniel Bluestone
A professor of architectural history
A new community center? Former school seen as more than museum
Charlottesville Daily Progress / Nov. 30
http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/article/a_new_community_center_former_school_seen_as_more_than_museum/32094/
James Ceaser
A politics professor
A last electoral hurdle for Obama
Christian Science Monitor / Nov. 26
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/11/26/a-last-electoral-hurdle-for-obama/
Susan Chaplinsky
Darden professor
Regional banks secure billions in 'bailout' funds
Staunton News Leader / Nov. 27
http://www.news...
By Harold Gould, a visiting scholar at the Center for South Asian Studies
... A successful collaboration with US and coalition forces will increase Pakistan's chances of neutralising, if not eliminating, the Jihadist quasi-state now in control of the Hindu Kush. It would also materially improve the chances for the Pakistani middle-class and the moderate political environment that recent elections set in motion to complete the task of bringing Pakistan into the mainstream of democratisation now enveloping global society.
... [Richard] Herskowitz recently recalled the night while reminiscing about memorable moments during his 15 years as executive and artistic director of the [Virginia Film Festival].
... The STEM Conference is a partnership between the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center... and other regional firms, which will be joined by women from the engineering schools at Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia...
... Fans paid $4 to attend "Puck Cancer." Proceeds will benefit the University of Virginia Cancer Center, as well as Breast Friends, a cancer support group in Staunton.
The University of Virginia's Children Hospital is thankful for hundreds of runners this Thanksgiving. Thirteen hundred people participated in the 27th Annual Turkey Trot Thursday morning at the Boar's Head Inn.
...Darden has been holding panel discussions to talk about issues in the nation's economy as they arise. Connie Dato English, director of Darden Alumni Career Services, said alumni have tried to impress upon current students interested in financial services that they can use their skills outside of investment banking.
The University of Virginia is faring better than many other institutions of higher learning in the current economic downturn. That message was conveyed recently to the UVA Faculty Senate by Vice President Leonard Sandridge. Sandridge says he's never seen anything like the current general economic situation. Sandridge says his main areas of focus are the University's ability to pay its bills and issue debt, its dependence on the state budget and its investments.