In The News

Campus Downloading Crackdown Inside Higher Ed / March 1 The music industry is ramping up its campaign against illegal file sharing by college students - and asking campus administrators to play a more central role in that process. http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/01/sharing Science Competitiveness, Bit by Bit Inside Higher Ed / March 1 The federal government's push to strengthen basic research and science education as part of a larger goal of bolstering "American competitiveness" has that motherhood and apple pie feel to it; who (in the United States, anyway) is likely to oppose it? ht...

Report Grades States on Effectiveness of Schools in College and Work-Force Preparation Chronicle of Higher Education / March 1 States are doing a poor job of tracking the information they need to make sure their schools are preparing students for college and the work force, according to a report released on Wednesday by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ...Grading on a curve, the report gave A's for college and work-force preparation to 10 states: Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Virginia. http://tinyurl.com/37s74n Col...

Benjamin Harris Who graduated from U.Va. with a business degree The Face Of War - Part 1 9NEWS NOW/ February 28 http://www.wusa9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=56318 William A. Hawkins, III Graduate of the Darden School of Business and trustee of the Darden School Foundation and new president and CEO of Medtronic Durham Native Heads Medtronic Durham (NC) Herald Sun / February 28 http://www.heraldsun.com/business/21-824420.cfm William A. Hawkins, III Graduate of the Darden School of Business and trustee of the Darden School Foundation and new president and CEO of Medtronic Medtronic Annou...

Zechariah Jones Student in the College Opening the door / Can a low-income financial aid program stem the trend at UVA? C-Ville Weekly / Feb. 27 http://tinyurl.com/2y3xr7 Sally MacLean Doctoral student in administration and leadership The New Gainesville Middle School Officially Has a leader: Principal Sally MacLean TimesCommunity.com (VA) / February 28 http://tinyurl.com/2ohkbu Ashley Robins Student in the College Opening the door / Can a low-income financial aid program stem the trend at UVA? C-Ville Weekly / Feb. 27 http://tinyurl.com/2y3xr7 Caroline Ward Student in the School of Nursin...

John A. Blackburn Dean of Admissions Opening the door / Can a low-income financial aid program stem the trend at UVA? C-Ville Weekly / Feb. 27 http://tinyurl.com/2y3xr7 David W. Breneman Dean of the Curry School of Education Opening the door / Can a low-income financial aid program stem the trend at UVA? C-Ville Weekly / Feb. 27 http://tinyurl.com/2y3xr7 John T. Casteen, III President of the University Opening the door / Can a low-income financial aid program stem the trend at UVA? C-Ville Weekly / Feb. 27 http://tinyurl.com/2y3xr7 Maurice Cox Associate Professor of Architecture Global Wa...

[Correction to article: Talk will be at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 18] Benjamin Ray will give a gallery talk at [see correction] at the University of Virginia Art Museum. Ray is the curator of the exhibit of 25 objects in "Images of Women in African Traditional Art." For details, call 924-3592.

Artist Stephen Westfall will give a talk about his artwork at 6 this evening in Campbell Hall, Room 160. For more than a decade he has exhibited his paintings in the United States and abroad, including a 2006 show at Lennon Weinberg Gallery in New York. For more information, call 924-7206.

The work of a group of artists enrolled in the MFA Sculpture and Extended Media program at Virginia Commonwealth University will be on exhibit at the University of Virginia's McIntire Department of Art Off Grounds Gallery this month. There will be an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday.

His eyes blink as doctors approach. Prone to fevers, muscle aches and chest pains, Stan is hooked to a monitor that tracks his blood pressure, heart rate and other vitals. But no one at the University of Maryland Medical Center worries much about Stan's health. That's because he's a mannequin -- albeit a very expensive one. ...The University of Virginia's nursing and medical education programs also use simulation mannequins, and there are plans to create a human simulation training center in a new medical education building.

Kaine appeared at the University of Virginia nursing school to discuss initiatives also approved last weekend in the state budget that would increase pay and incentives for nursing professors and for students becoming nursing faculty at universities and community colleges.

Jim Baker and Lee Hamilton are not out of the commission business yet. After having tried to sort out the Iraq war, the former secretary of state and the former Indiana congressman are turning to another seemingly intractable conflict -- the more-than-two-century-old battle between the White House and Congress over who should take responsibility for starting and stopping wars. The two elder statesmen, who co-chaired the Iraq Study Group last year, were named yesterday to a new panel being sponsored by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

Officials say by 2012, there's a good chance there will only be enough nurses for two out of every three patients. ...This year the general assembly, along with Governor Kaine, did something about it. Under new legislation $200,000 will go toward nursing scholarships, and $750,000 will go to UVA to help qualifying students with loan assistance.

A march through the University Grounds was held Wednesday to honor African-Americans in engineering fields. The University of Virginia chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers and the Center for Diversity in Engineering sponsored the event. The march was followed by a ceremony with keynote speaker Robert Bland. In 1959, Bland became the first African-American to complete undergraduate studies at UVA in the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

'I'm an improviser,' announced Bobby Seale, once Black Panther Party chairman, during his February 22 address to a packed Harris-Small Auditorium. And for an hour and a half, he stuck to form, delivering a rambling but illuminating recital of the group's beginnings.

[...] on February 23 the aging Piano Man showed the John Paul Jones crowd that he can still kick in on a Friday night. His seven-piece band kept things rocking, and handpicked cute girls filled the front row and screamed for the 57-year-old. Joel resisted his age, kicking over his stool on 'Extremes' and dancing with the mic stand during 'Big Shot.'

As an update to a story last week, the County Planning Commission approved a lighting waiver for additions to UVA Foundation's North Fork Research Park off Route 29N. ...'[The new fixtures are] really quite good,' says Philip Ianna, UVA astronomy professor emeritus, who was in large part responsible for the County's lighting policy.

Hoping to turn the trends around for poorer students, colleges have begun to think about socioeconomic diversity on campus. ...UVA President John T. Casteen, III resolved in 2004 that UVA would do its part. Through a relatively new program, AccessUVA, it's offering $20 million a year or more in grant funds and is promising to meet demonstrated financial need for all students. 'That's a very strong commitment,' says Yvonne Hubbard, UVA's director of student financial services. 'Most publics can't meet need.' ...Since 2004, UVA has enrolled 527 students on all-grant packages. In 2006, the Univer...

Former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and Warren Christopher will head a private, bipartisan panel to study a lingering and gnawing national question: Who does the Constitution say has the power to begin, conduct and end wars. ...The war powers study is sponsored by the private Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. Among its 12 members are Baker, who served under the first President Bush; Christopher, who was in the Clinton administration; [former Rep. Lee] Hamilton; former Attorney General Edwin Meese, who was also on the Iraq Study Group; and Brent Scowcroft...