UVA researchers compared course completion rates for students at the Virginia Community College System who were enrolled in online courses from the start of the spring semester against those who were enrolled in in-person courses at the start and had to switch to virtual instruction due to the pandemic. They found that the shift to virtual instruction resulted in a 6.7-percentage-point decrease in course completion.
(Commentary by Jeff Bergner, adjunct professor in UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy) In the midst of all the vitriol over replacing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court, perhaps a few facts could help to anchor the conversation.
UVA researchers recruited 155 healthy adults either into a psychological wellbeing course or put them on a wait list. Three months after the course ended, those who had participated reported fewer sick days than those who had stayed on the wait list. They also said they felt better, mentally and physically.
(Editorial) Larry Sabato, the widely regarded director of UVA’s Center for Politics, suggests the country faces “a real danger zone” between Nov. 3 and the inauguration. In an interview with columnist Peggy Noonan, Sabato offered an idea to cut off potential trouble at the pass – muster a group of prominent Americans from both sides of the aisle to preach unity, regardless of the result.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is the only Republican up for reelection this year – and one of two in the Senate, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska – who has challenged McConnell's plans to bring a Supreme Court nominee through the chamber, weeks before the election. "People will be reminded in Maine of how important that vote was and they are going to hold it against Collins in all likelihood," Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics, said. Sabato’s Crystal Ball shifted Maine's Senate race in Democrats' favor on Monday morning, moving it from a toss-up to a lean toward the party.
Dozens of members of the Charlottesville community showed up at a demonstration of solidarity with Louisville on Wednesday evening while demanding justice for Breonna Taylor. "Tonight is mostly about solidarity and solidarity for the people in Louisville,” said Cecilia Cain, a University of Virginia student who attended the demonstration.
Mourners filed quietly past the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s flag-draped coffin outside the white marble court building on Wednesday as the United States began three days of tributes to the liberal icon. Her popularity prompted officials to set aside two days for public viewing, rather than the one day allowed for other justices, said Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
We look back 60 years at the first-ever televised presidential debates in the fall of 1960 between incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon and Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. Barbara Perry, presidential studies director at UVA’s Miller Center, talks about how the debates came to be, the issues, the candidates and how the debates created public expectations for later presidential campaigns.
The advanced battery cell design and new manufacturing processes outlined by Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk are promising, battery experts say, but they questioned how quickly they can be implemented and how much they’ll contribute to reducing overall costs. Gary Koenig, an associate professor at the University of Virginia: “It seems like often people are looking for a new type of battery, but changing things like form factor can make a big difference, and a lot of the Battery Day discussion mentioned those advances. Making processing easier and faster, and even successfully making the (ba...
In 1607, just 10 days after English explorer John Smith and his fellow colonists settled at a marshy site they called Jamestown, an expedition went up the James River to search for precious metals. “Monacans resisted English settlement, trade, and political control for more than a century,” writes UVA archaeologist Jeff Hantman in a recent book, “Monacan Millennium.”
There are 15 new cases of COVID-19 at the University of Virginia, 14 of which are among students. There are currently 221 active cases of the virus on Grounds, of which 96 percent are student cases.
There are 15 new cases of COVID-19 at the University of Virginia, 14 of which are among students. There are currently 221 active cases of the virus on Grounds, of which 96 percent are student cases.
The president of the University of Virginia has announced new COVID-19 restrictions which he describes as mostly preemptive because students have been doing the right thing.
Aynne Kokas, UVA associate professor of media studies who specializes in U.S.-China media and tech relations, noted that the proposed ownership structure as detailed by ByteDance is short of previous executive branch statements around ownership.
Obamacare, abortion rights and the rights of LGBTQ people will likely dominate the looming Senate confirmation hearings, but the potential nominee will likely decline disclosing her views about them. “If she is asked about Obamacare and Roe and all these things, she’s just going to say, ‘I can't discuss cases that might come before me,’” UVA law professor Saikrishna Prakash said.
The president has frequently made unsubstantiated claims about fraud with mail-in ballots, and experts have been pushing back. “I want people to know many of us, and I’m one of them, have looked into vote fraud for decades, and there are certainly isolated examples, but it’s just not there. This is made up. It is a fiction,” said Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics, said.
Filipino scientist Rhoel Dinglasan and his team at the University of Florida were recently recognized for developing a rapid saliva test using a smartphone to diagnose COVID-19, along with malaria and anemia. Dinglasan went to the University of the Philippines Diliman for two years before moving to the U.S. and graduating from the University of Virginia.
A mounting fight over the makeup of the Supreme Court is drawing extra attention to Arizona’s already high-profile Senate race. But political analysts question how much of an impact the high-court drama will have on the contest, even if Democratic challenger Mark Kelly defeats Republican Sen. Martha McSally and gets sworn into office by the end of November. “We’ve had that race ‘leans Democrat’ since March. I don’t see the court vacancy changing this race a whole bunch,” said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, an election forecasting publication from political analyst...
(Commentary by Bethany Teachman, professor of psychology) Most people hate this all-too-familiar type of uncertainty. I find it fascinating. As a psychologist, I’m interested in how people think differently when they’re anxious. That means I study what happens when people don’t handle uncertainty well and get lost in that bottomless pit of currently unanswerable questions.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam offered relief to public colleges and universities in the state Tuesday with a refinancing plan that could save the institutions more than $300 million over the next two years. According to the governor’s office, it could save $58 million at GMU, nearly $44 million at James Madison University, $40 million at Virginia Tech, nearly $13 million at Virginia State University and $344,000 at the University of Virginia.