Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management (Coursera): This course covers project management tools, techniques, and processes for project planning, risk management, and project execution. The last week includes a discussion of alternative project execution methods such as Agile and Scrum. Cost: Free; $59 to access assignments and receive a certificate. Offered by: The University of Virginia.
Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia, is the best educated metro area in Virginia and one of the best educated nationwide. Of all adults in the metro area, 49.2% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, well above the 39.6% share of adults in Virginia and the 33.1% of adults nationwide.
Devon Henry’s Virginia construction company completed over 350 projects in 2020. But one, he said, was the most meaningful by far. Team Henry Enterprises was the general contractor handling the recently completed Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia, a tribute to the people whose work building and maintaining the school founded by Thomas Jefferson had long gone unrecognized.
University of Virginia (public): $120 million from the Quantitative Foundation, a private charity associated with the married couple Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff. The gift supported the launch of a school of data science. Announced in 2019.
Online U has just released its rankings of the best online bachelor’s degrees for return on investment. The No. 1-rated college is the University of Virginia.
(Commentary) By creating or expanding programs that address skills gaps and target emerging opportunities, colleges and universities can ensure Virginians are positioned for success. Examples include George Mason University’s and James Madison University’s programs in cybersecurity; the University of Virginia’s initiatives in data science; and Virginia Tech’s genomics sequencing center.
They developed new ways to teach classes and new medical tests and protocols. They redesigned classrooms, living quarters and dining facilities. And they did it all in a matter of months. It’s not like University of Virginia officials, staff, faculty and students had a choice. The changes were necessary due to the pandemic that began sickening and killing Americans in March.
Dr. Laurie Archbald-Pannone, UVA associate professor of medicine: No. March 12, 2020 was the last day I ate indoors at a restaurant. At the time, there was mild apprehension – but much changed that week. The COVID-19 pandemic altered many aspects of “normalcy,” and for me eating inside at a restaurant is one of those activities.
(Commentary by Jennifer L. Lawless, Commonwealth Professor of Politics, and Mary Kate Cary, adjunct professor of politics and a senior fellow at the Miller Center) Worried that 2021 could be filled with cringe-worthy political conversations around the virtual dinner table and, post-pandemic, in real life? The two of us – one a card-carrying liberal and the other a self-avowed conservative – just survived 13 weeks of hour-long political conversations, twice a week every week. And get this: We actually enjoyed it.
On the morning of Dec. 16, the threat of a Virginia snowstorm canceled school for 7-year-old Alain Bell. He instead spent the morning scribbling a scowling face in black marker onto his father’s newly vaccinated upper arm. “It was his idea,” Alain said over Zoom, pointing to his father, Dr. Taison Bell, 37, a critical care physician at UVA Health in Charlottesville. “I feel good that he’s not going to get sick.”