(By Adam Daniel, senior associate dean for administration and planning, and Chad Wellmon, professor of German language and literature) Our recent Chronicle Review essay, "The University Run Amok!," elicited a number of responses. We would like to consider two of the most substantive ones.
The University of Virginia Foundation would like to eventually build a hotel near the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport. The possibilities of a hotel, residential development and UVA’s new Biocomplexity Initiative make the UVA Research Park an exciting place to be, said chief administrative officer Deborah van Eersel.
Local Boys & Girls Clubs of the Blue Ridge members gathered at New College Institute on Monday to help begin designing a game to promote health. Elgin Cleckley, assistant professor of architecture and design thinking at the University of Virginia, led the design workshop, with assistance from Marcus Divers, who is coordinating the Gamification of Health project, and Jennell Charles, who is the project coordinator for the School Telehealth aspects of the eBACKPAC grant (which involves connecting students to health resources).
Trump’s controversial immigration policies and criticism of his recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin may also be keeping his poll numbers low, according to UVA analyst Larry Sabato. “And he is not a 50 percent president. He has never been over 50 percent in the polling averages for one single day of his presidency,” Sabato said.
Other top-ranked public schools include the University of Virginia at No. 34, College of William and Mary in Williamsburg at No. 43 and University of California, Los Angeles, at No. 46.
A new Charlottesville group is making sure history buffs get to join in the conversation. Charlottesville History Club meetings begin with a half-hour presentation by a speaker, often a member of UVA’s history or politics faculties, and then dive into 30 minutes of discussion time.
(Commentary) A 2016 study by UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service found that by 2040, approximately half of the U.S. population will live in only eight states. An additional 20 percent will live in seven other states, meaning that in total, 70 percent of the U.S. population will live in 15 states. So, by 2040, 30 percent of the population will be selecting 70 percent of the senators.
Even before the tragic death of a Maryland offensive lineman following a workout this summer, UVA had put in place enhanced precautions to protect its football players from the dangers of heat stroke.
The University of Virginia moved up two spots from last year to No. 4. As a public research university, UVA has pioneered research in hypersonic flight.
Two current and one former University of Virginia students have been awarded Wallerstein Scholarships by the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Institute of Government at UVA's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. According to a release, rising third-year students Amber Arnold and April Corwin as well as 2018 graduate Wes Gobar each received $2,500 scholarships.
Diabetes can have an impact on motor vehicle accidents because becoming hypoglycemic while driving is a “hazardous condition and may lead to a greater incidence of driving mishaps,” according to research by D.J. Cox of the University of Virginia School of Medicine. If workers are diabetic, it’s important to educate them on blood sugar. In one study, Cox found diabetic drivers who were able to control their blood sugar had three times lower crash rates.
Former White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short does not believe the press is the enemy of the people, he told NPR. Short, who left his role at the White House and is now pursuing a job at the University of Virginia, spoke against President Donald Trump’s personal views of the press in the Friday Interview.
For some in the Democratic establishment, Jealous’s decision to abandon what they consider a crucial event was the latest in setbacks that include a viral video of Jealous cursing at a reporter, more than $1 million in unanswered attack ads from Republicans and a public poll showing Hogan with a 16-point lead and Jealous’s unfavorability ratings on the rise. Political forecaster Larry J. Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics, on Thursday reclassified the race from “leans Republican” to “likely Republican.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s 800-page environmental impact statement makes one mention of the compressor station’s impact on Union Hill’s “history of African American settlement after the Civil War.” But it says this is no problem because the pipeline’s builders found that the area “does not exhibit a cohesive cultural landscape.” The lack of attention to history makes it seem “as if [the project] were to be built on the moon,” Lakshmi Fjord, a visiting scholar in the anthropology department at the University of Virginia, wrote in a response to the federal report.
Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional law professor at the University of Virginia, said it’s not entirely clear whether Mr. Mueller is investigating the President’s business dealings, but that he certainly could. Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated then-president Bill Clinton, provides something of a precedent: He was initially called in to probe a failed real estate deal, but ended up looking into an extramarital affair.
Larry Sabato, the oft-quoted director of the UVA Center for Politics, wrote that Giuliani is keeping “1984” relevant. “‘Truth isn’t truth.—@RudyGiuliani to @chucktodd. It’s why, since 2016, the book of the year, every year, has been and will be George Orwell’s ‘1984’.,” Sabato said.
"Students and teachers report feeling safer and more positive about their schools using a threat assessment approach," said professor Dewey Cornell, a University of Virginia clinical psychologist who studies school safety issues.
So, what can parents do to make their teenager put down the phone and crack open a book? The solution can require a complicated dance between coercion and suggestion, said Daniel Willingham, a UVA professor of psychology and the author of “Raising Kids Who Read.” The first step is prying your kids away from their screens, Willingham said.
Researchers at UVA’s Weldon Cooper Center are shedding some light on the commonwealth's population by using pyramids. The pyramids show Virginia's local and regional populations in percentages rather than raw numbers in age and sex.
Charlottesville High School staff spent an afternoon learning about the ways ethnic and racial discrimination have shaped the city in which their students live. Friday's racial and ethnic history tour was a joint effort by Charlottesville City Schools, the city of Charlottesville’s Office of Human Rights, the University of Virginia and the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.