In The News

Of those presenting to the Virginia Tech Incident Review Panel at Darden School of Business on July 18, none topped Russ Federman, director of UVA's Center for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), whose candor garnered the full attention of the panelists and audience. Though Federman's opening statement cautioned everyone not to draw too much from the Virginia Tech shooting, he offered UVA's mental health system as a strong example: "My hunch is that if Mr. Cho had been involuntarily hospitalized at UVA, CAPS staff would have become involved with him much earlier during the unfolding ...

Angela Hucles, a 2004 Olympic gold medalist and the career scoring leader at the University of Virginia, Natasha Kai and Marian Dalmy were the final three players selected for the U.S. women's roster for this year's World Cup in China. ...The team, which plays Saturday against Japan in San Jose, opens the World Cup on Sept. 11 against North Korea.

Human development has long been seen as a one-way street. During gestation, stem cells were thought to develop into a succession of ever more specialized cells. As Dr. R. Ariel Gomez has discovered, the final identity of these cells is not as definite as once thought. "The identity of many cell types is in a constant state of flux," Gomez says.

RICHMOND, Va. - The state Department of Motor Vehicles says more Virginians are buckling up when they hit the road. That's according to a survey by the Virginia Transportation Research Council at the University of Virginia. The department says that seat belt use increased to 79.9%. That's up from 78.6% last year.

As a Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority official made the case for area residents to begin voluntarily conserving water, board members seemed to have their minds already made up. ...Rainfall is 6 inches below normal for the year, as measured at the McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia. Recent rains have been insufficient to replenish the water supply significantly, Frederick said.

...The crisis now seems to be one born from successfully navigating the last crisis: UVA did such a good job with fundraising, and restructuring its relationship with the state to get greater autonomy, that it has to figure out just what kind of beast it now is-public? private? public-private? private-public?-as well as how to crack that US News & World Report top 10 ...Here are some of the big ideas from the subcommittees ... Students •Give all freshmen peer advisors and revamp first-year colleges •Create a program to help with transfers, particularly those from community colleges &...

Ten Top Graduate Programs in Creative Writing (in alphabetical order) ...University of Virginia Five Programs With Notable Alumni ...University of Virginia Five Highly Selective Programs ...University of Virginia Five Programs With Distinguished Faculty ...University of Virginia

In April, Jerry Miller, an Illinois man who served 24 years for a rape he did not commit, became the 200th American prisoner cleared by DNA evidence. His case, like the 199 others, represented a catastrophic failure of the criminal justice system. When an airplane crashes, investigators pore over the wreckage to discover what went wrong and to learn from the experience. The justice system has not done anything similar. But a new study does. Brandon L. Garrett, a law professor at the University of Virginia, has, for the first time, systematically examined the 200 cases, in which innocent people...

Governors Urged to Set Up 'Compacts' With Colleges to Work to Fulfill States' Economic Needs Chronicle of Higher Ed / July 23 State governments, postsecondary-education systems, boards of regents, and the private sector should collaborate in setting agendas to ensure that the work of colleges is aligned with the economic needs of each state, according to a report presented this past weekend at the annual meeting of the National Governors Association. http://tinyurl.com/24lcwj Apples and Oranges in International Statistics Inside Higher Ed / July 23 Is the United States falling behind India ...

Karen Anderson Who holds a master's degree in curriculum and instruction Principal Ready for New Post The Charlotte (NC) Observer / July 22 http://www.charlotte.com/union/story/206557.html Samuel Crosby Who received his undergraduate degree from U.Va. Daphne Lawyer to Lead Alabama Bar Association Mobile (AL) Register / July 22 http://tinyurl.com/ynklaf C.H. Randolph "Randy" Lyon Who holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business 'People person' finds a place in corporate world Chicago Tribune / July 22 http://tinyurl.com/2c7u7x Gov. Janet Napolitano Arizona governor and graduate of the Sc...

Emily Harp A rising third year in foreign affairs and religious studies Potter Fans Await, Then Devour Finale Charlottesville Daily Progress / July 22 http://tinyurl.com/23mfrl Drew Moore A rising third year student Potter Fans Await, Then Devour Finale Charlottesville Daily Progress / July 22 http://tinyurl.com/23mfrl

WISE - ...Brief rain showers that fell during the morning hours were shrugged off by more than 1,200 volunteers helping to deliver free medical and dental services to a similar number of damp but determined individuals seeking those services. ...It seems some of the rainy runoff chose a portion of the UVA Med Center digs to flow and gather. No matter. [R. Edward Howell, chief executive officer for the Medical Center] said about 160 students and UVA Med Center staffers were slogging through a RAM experience, and even wet is good.

OYSTER -- ...The Virginia Coast Reserve Long Term Ecological Research Center was started in 1987. This summer the Oyster research site and the coast reserve's outdoor laboratory have served as a classroom for teachers from the region. It is part of the center's mission to better prepare students, to train teachers and provide curriculum resources. A partnership called Schoolyard Long Term Ecological Research exists between U.Va. and Northampton County Public Schools to help further education in science. ...There are many benefits in an internship program that pairs high school students with gr...

Thomas T. Baber An associate professor of civil and environmental engineering Cities: Fix the pipes or pay the price Richmond Times-Dispatch / July 21 http://tinyurl.com/3672zm Bernard Carlson A historian of science who is writing a biography of Nikola Tesla The Power of Induction Science News Online / July 21 http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070721/bob8.asp George M. Cohen A law professor specializing in professional responsibility Refco Fallout May Hit Lawyers / Examiner's Report Suggests Regulation of Professionals Should Be Stronger Chicago Tribune / July 22 http://tinyurl.com/25t...

A groundbreaking study of the first 200 people cleared by DNA testing in the U.S. identifies flaws that led to the wrongful convictions and to the failures of appeals courts to detect and remedy them. The author, Brandon L. Garrett, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, says the first empirical examination of how such cases were handled from start to finish will be published in the Columbia Law Review in January. ...The wrongful convictions were the result of incorrect eyewitness identification in 79 percent of the cases, forensic evidence in 55 percent, informants or snitch...

Julian Bivins Named to Chair National Advancement Group Engineering School Renames, Refocuses Department U.S. News Recognizes Seven Health System Specialities http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/

A legendary TV and film personality who launched her broadcast career in Virginia has lost her battle with cancer. Tammy Faye Messner (right) died Friday at age 65... [Her son] Jamie Charles Bakker, who calls himself Jay, was at the Regal Cinema last October 27th to showcase "One Punk Under God" as a part of the Virginia Film Festival.

...[Prof. Kamin] Whitehouse and his team of three other UVa computer science researchers are building a prototype motion detector system that could track pedestrian traffic on the Downtown Mall. ...By the end of the year, Whitehouse hopes that the sensors on the mall will produce data that shows how many people pass by a particular shop per day, how many people stop to check out a window display and how many people actually enter the shop. Participating merchants would then be able to access their store's data on a secure Web site. ... Whitehouse plans to integrate data collected by Downtown ...

The cradle of democracy in America and the modern world, Virginia is commemorating its 400th anniversary with flair. ...Amid all this excitement, it would be easy to overlook the less grandiose but still noteworthy milestone reached in Charlottesville -- the 10th anniversary of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Since its founding by professor Larry Sabato in 1997, the Center for Politics has launched innovative and remarkably effective programs in fields ranging from youth civic education to election analysis and oral political history.

In the 'Parents as Partners' orientation seminar at the University of Virginia last week, associate dean of students Leonard Perry addressed an auditorium packed with parents of incoming UVa students. ...More than any generation before it, the cohort of young adults enrolled in college - most of whom were born in 1982 and afterwards - have relied on their parents for emotional support, financial assistance and advice on every aspect of their lives. Also known as Millennials, many of these young men and women have grown up with 'helicopter parents' always hovering overhead. Today, however, some...