(Commentary) James Davison Hunter is a well-respected social scientist at the University of Virginia. A Christian, he has written perceptively and sympathetically about contemporary Christianity. He and some colleagues at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture have conducted a research project studying today’s polarized political culture. They explore the conflict between what they call the “Social Elite” and the “Disinherited.” The published and downloadable report, “Democracy in Dark Times: The 2020 IASC Survey of American Political Culture,” is fascinating.
For the third consecutive year, a discovery at the UVA School of Medicine has been selected as one of the most significant biomedical discoveries of the year. UVA’s entry for the “STAT Madness” competition, which features 64 contenders, is a discovery made by Dr. Hui Li. He identified the oncogene, or cancer-causing gene, responsible for glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
UVA School of Medicine researchers are in the running for a big award, after discovering a gene that is responsible for causing one of the deadliest cancers. Hui Li and other researchers identified the oncogene, which is responsible for causing glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. Now Li and researchers at UVA are working to use what they know about the gene to create drugs and therapies for this type of cancer.
Five Virginia colleges would be required to make reparations for using enslaved people’s labor to build their institutions, under a bill currently awaiting Gov. Ralph Northam’s signature. The proposal from Del. David Reid (D-Loudon) requires the five public colleges – the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Military Institute, Longwood University and the College of William and Mary – to begin the process of researching and memorializing their past use of enslaved labor.
The proposal includes a lower level, which restores pre-pandemic service hours but with several modifications, and an upper level, which would result in a 27% increase in overall service hours, and could include new weekend service and improved frequencies on some routes, as well as additional service between UVA and the U.S. 29 corridor.
Wednesday will see multiple events to commemorate the arrival of the Union troops, including a bell ringing at the UVA Chapel. On Friday, there will be an event at the UVA Monument to Enslaved Laborers involving descendants of those workers.
Brokos pointed to a Feb. 12 incident where University of Pittsburgh educators were discussing sexual and American Jewish history on Zoom with academics from UVA and Brandeis University. At one point, the event was infiltrated and unknown persons posted anti-Semitic imagery including swastikas, as well as anti-Semitic rants.
In 1869, the Buckingham County courthouse – and the records within it – burned to the ground. One historian says it was another blow to African Americans in the commonwealth, part of over 200 years of theft and exploitation committed by the white aristocracy, which continue today. The cause of the fire has been debated for decades, but Dr. Lakshmi Fjord, a visiting scholar at UVA, believes it’s quite clear what happened that night.
Valerie Adams-Bass is a UVA developmental psychologist who studies Black youth and media stereotypes. She says often, in the media, Black students are portrayed as being uninterested in education, and Black boys are portrayed as scary or intimidating. “If that’s what the teachers and administrators or their peers see, then oftentimes that is what they’re responding to when they’re engaging with Black students in reality.”
In the era of online interactions via Zoom, most conversations do not end when people want them to, a new study reports. The study has been authored by experts from Harvard University, as well as University of Pennsylvania and the University of Virginia.
Though this vaccine works differently, Dr. Patrick Jackson, an infectious disease expert at UVA Health, says it’s not a reason to fear. “In the cell, both, or all three vaccines, are essentially doing the same thing. But the delivery mechanism is slightly different,” he said.
Recently nominated for the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce’s 40 Under 40 Award, [UVA alumna] Jennifer Masi is the epitome of a good deed doer. Jen has worked at the Children’s Law Center in Washington, D.C. since 2011. In 2017 she became the pro bono director for the nonprofit organization, representing at-risk children living in homes suffering the gravest job, food and shelter insecurities.
Local sports hero and former NFL player Dennis Haley [a UVA alumnus] released his first book last month. “The Playbook: The Art of Dreaming” recounts the trials and tribulations that he endured during his journey to become a professional athlete. It also provides a playbook for how readers can accomplish their dreams the way Haley did.
Two UVA Health doctors, who specialize in treating heart rhythm problems, made each other’s hearts skip a beat more than 20 years ago. Dr. Pamela Mason and Dr. Rohit Malhotra sat next to each other in medical school thanks to their last names.
Legendary Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson will join a panel discussion with more than a dozen experienced local marathoners, including Charlie Hurt and UVA President Jim Ryan, on Sunday from 4-5 p.m.
“People who describe themselves as religious or spiritual, those who are more connected with the world around them and those who are seeking meaning – or in distress and searching for signs – are more likely to experience coincidences,” said Bernard Beitman, a visiting psychiatry and neuro-behavioural sciences professor at UVA and a coincidence researcher.
Manzanita Historian Publishes Book on Critical Period in American Politics; Live Interview March 2nd
UVA political scientist Larry Sabato, a widely respected commentator on American politics and the head of the Uuniversity’s Center for Politics, says Johnson’s book is “revealing” and “well written” as it charts the disturbing trend toward ever more negative campaigning since 1980.
Herrera Beutler also may benefit from Washington’s “top two” primary system, which puts every candidate on the same ballot regardless of party, said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the nonpartisan politics newsletter at UVA’s Center for Politics. “I think it definitely plays to her advantage. I would definitely say if Washington had a closed Republican primary, that would be potentially very tough for her,” Coleman said.
Larry Sabato, a UVA political analyst, said that for decades after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976, “outside of a few liberal white pockets, and much of the Black community, support for the death penalty was strong. And it was fundamental to political success. … If a politician wanted to win statewide, or in most localities and districts, he had to trumpet his backing for two things – capital punishment and the right-to-work law.”
Political scientist Larry Sabato took a grim view of the scene in Orlando. “Trump continues his #BigLie drumbeat about having really WON the election,” tweeted Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics. “And these #CPAC cultists cheer him loudly. Beyond hopeless.”