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(03/25/09 6:54am)
Since course registration advising sessions began this week, both students and professors have continued to react positively and negatively to the new Student Information System and its features.History department Chair Duane Osheim said while he finds SIS to be a better overall course registration system than ISIS, it also can be more complex to use. “It’s a system that I don’t think works very well for students trying to find what courses are available,” he said. Osheim added that University members in almost every department “have to know each one of the abbreviations before you could find out what courses are being offered,” which could pose problems for both students and advisers.In response to complaints about SIS’ course-searching feature, Carole Horwitz, communications manager for the Student System Project, said the University is redesigning the function to allow students and faculty to search for classes by department. She said she hopes the new course-search function will go into effect next week.While some areas of student and professor concern are being addressed, the new system’s other complexities are being explored by users. “I think a lot of people are not going to know what to do,” third-year College student Alyssa Brown said, adding that she would not have understood the new course registration process if she had not attended an SIS information session. She said she believes if a student explored the site for the first time during his or her registration block, it could take an hour or so to fully understand the system, which could hurt a student’s chances of getting into his preferred classes.Second-year College student Philip Perkinson, who also attended a help session, noted that using SIS is “a little rough at first but [it’s] actually better because you can search more specifically for things.” Perkinson added that the SIS Web site describes requirements well and said the catalogue is much cleaner than the previous system.Also among SIS’ potentially beneficial new features is the enrollment request process, Horwitz said.Registration and Records Team Lead Robert LeHeup noted that between 600 and 700 students already have begun identifying classes they want to take next fall semester through the new feature, which allows students to identify which courses they would like to take before actual registration opens.Though various students and advisers have noted some difficulties in adapting to the new interface, Jessica Feldman, English professor and director of undergraduate studies, said she expects users to quickly start picking up how best to make use of the extra or modified features. “On the whole people are reacting positively to it,” she said. “My guess is that within a couple of weeks we’ll all be much more at ease with it.”Looking ahead to early April’s course enrollment period and the potential for further student and professor concerns during that time, the University is looking to proactively address issues. Already, Horwitz said, the new system does not allow students to register Tuesday or Thursday during the class registration period because the Student System Project team “thought it a lot safer to schedule it so that there’s time to react to any issues that may arise,” Horwitz said. She also said, however, that she does not anticipate any significant problems.
(03/20/09 6:27am)
In response to the announcement of Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, III as the University’s spring commencement speaker, several students have begun circulating a petition to contest the process by which Wilkinson was selected.The petition, which as of press time had gained 336 signatures on ipetitions.com, reads, “We the undersigned encourage the UVA administration to create a better, more transparent and more accountable commencement speaker selection committee to better reflect and respect the diverse opinions of the student body.” The petition states that the student body deserves a unifying speaker as well as a “fair, open and respectful” process through which a speaker can be selected.College fourth-year Quynh Khanh Vu, who also serves as a Cavalier Daily senior advertising representative, said she drafted the petition for several reasons. She said her greatest concern with the announcement was the transparency of the process. Vu said after learning of Wilkinson’s appointment, she voiced her concerns directly to Special Occasions Committee chair Sandy Gilliam. Vu said, though, that Gilliam said her concerns were unfounded.“It is about undergraduates learning about how it works, whether or not that is something [students are] comfortable with,” Vu said. University spokesperson Carol Wood said Wilkinson was selected by University President John T. Casteen, III because Wilkinson had much to offer and share with this year’s graduating class. Vu noted, however, that after she further investigated the commencement speaker selection process, she had difficulty finding out precisely how the University and its president makes its final decision.Wood said a speaker selection committee met in October. Before the meeting, Wood said, Gilliam asked all committee members to poll friends, students and colleagues in the University, asking them who they would like to deliver the commencement address. “There is usually a lively discussion around nominations,” Wood stated in an e-mail. Around early October, some students began to circulate a petition to adopt comedian Stephen Colbert as the speaker, but by Winter Break the suggestion had been rejected, said Will Eden, a fourth-year College Student and advocate for the Colbert Commences Commencement group. Eden said although the petition obtained 2000 student signatures, the “group that selected [Wilkinson] was the most resistant to Colbert” and gave the petitioners negative feedback. Wood stated that at this stage, the Special Occasions Committee, which is half composed of students and half composed of faculty and administrative leaders, sent a final list of 10 recommended speakers to Casteen, who made the final decision.“Students have the final say on the Valediction speaker, but the University president has always had the final call on the finals speaker,” Wood said.Even when provided with that explanation, however, some students interviewed still said the process is not transparent enough. Others said the chosen speaker is disappointing.Katelyn Mendoza, a fourth-year College student and Entertainment Chair of the 2009 Trustees, said she was pleased about the selection of Saturday Valediction speaker Dawn Staley, but noted that she felt that University administrators did not listen to students’ concerns and did not take students’ opinions into account for the Sunday speaker.Fourth-year College student Christian West, meanwhile, said though he does not object to Wilkinson as a person or as the commencement speaker, he remains a bit uncertain about how Wilkinson was selected. West said he believes the Committee should more actively encourage recommendations from students and should create an online poll through which students can select their favorite speaker.“It would be very easy for the committee to do some student outreach,” West noted. Vu added that “an application process for students who are interested on being on the selection committee” could lead to greater student variety than the currently mandated four student members and five additional students picked by the Student Council president. Vu also said she thinks students of the graduating class should be informed about who serves on the committee and have a means through which to deliver suggestions to committee members.In previous interviews with The Cavalier Daily, Gilliam has noted that in many cases bringing more popular speakers to Grounds is made difficult because the University has a policy of not offering honorary degrees or monetary bonuses for commencement speakers.Khalifa Sultan Lee, a fourth-year College student and vice chair of the Minority Rights Coalition, however, said the University could have done more to select a more appropriate speaker for the occasion. “I was definitely surprised that the University would come to the point at which they would accept a speaker such as this judge,” Lee said, adding that he believes the announcement was a “slap to the community” and that “when it came down to final selection, no one had a clue as to how they came to choose him.”Wood, though, defended this year’s selection and said it was based on Wilkinson’s extensive qualifications.“I believe that President Casteen saw in J. Harvie what the Jefferson Medal committee saw — a great legal mind and dedicated public servant who has made important contributions to legal scholarship as well as to the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Wood said. “The president — as well as committee members — consider a number of things when recommending and inviting speakers. Does the person have something important and interesting to say? Has the person had life experiences that have prepared him to communicate important life lessons or a particular valuable message?”As the online student petition continues to gather signatures, Vu said she hopes to meet with University administrators to discuss possible ways to change the selection process in the future.
(03/18/09 5:10am)
Multiple Law students have filed reports against University Law Prof. Doug Leslie, accusing him of making offensive comments, using harsh language and giving preferential treatment to particular students. An investigation about the concerns is now underway, Law School Dean Paul Mahoney said.In recent days, the accusations have become the subject of some conversation among many Law students, as Leslie sent a mass e-mail to his students encouraging them to voice their opinions to Academic Assoc. Dean Jim Ryan. Leslie declined to comment further about the proceedings, but referred The Cavalier Daily to a copy of the e-mail. According to that copy, several former students cited the professor for inappropriate behavior. “I am alleged to discriminate against African Americans by not allowing them to talk in class or by failing to accord them respect when they do,” Leslie stated in the e-mail. “I am alleged to be anti-Jewish. I am alleged to use sexually-charged, inappropriate hypotheticals in class. Finally, I am rude.”Mahoney said a couple of students from Leslie’s Contracts class last fall “approached Jim Ryan and expressed concern about offensive statements they said the professor made in class.”After hearing the report, Mahoney said he held a meeting with Leslie. Mahoney said the Law School’s investigation of the matter is ongoing and noted that his office has not yet reached a conclusion about the accusations. “Of course if a student raises a concern about a professor’s classroom behavior, we would always investigate that,” the dean said, later adding that, “Occasionally a student will complain about statements in class. Typically the matter seems to be sufficiently small and contained that it can be addressed more informally.”Mahoney also noted, though, that he is not yet comfortable talking about specific case details. In response to the allegations, Leslie stated in his e-mail that he has taken two immediate steps to remedy the situation.First, Leslie said, “I have announced in class that I will no longer cold-call, but will only take volunteers. This will avoid the allegation that I do not call on African-Americans, although it will not avoid the treating with respect issue.”Second, Leslie said, “I have also begun to audio-record all my classes, so that hypotheticals or other remarks made by me [cannot] be inaccurately reported.”Should the ongoing investigation find Leslie to have committed any wrongdoing, however, Leslie’s teaching assignments, including his current Contracts class — a required first-year class in which students are unable to choose the professor with whom they take the course — likely would change hands, Mahoney said. Leslie could still be allowed to teach other classes, Mahoney added.Since the accusations became public, Law students have responded both positively and negatively to the concerns raised about Leslie’s teaching.One former student of Leslie’s, who wished to remain anonymous, said although Leslie uses “arguably racist and misogynistic hypotheticals,” his main complaint about Leslie is his alleged favoritism. The student said Leslie uses a system of favoritism when distributing grades and claimed that Leslie’s tenure status makes the professor feel justified in doing so. Leslie “should be forced to demonstrate the integrity of his allegedly objective grading formula,” the student said.Third-year Law student Carey Mignerey, however, said he believes that “first-years, perhaps in their discomfort with Law School, have overreacted.”He added that, if someone were to read snippets of a class transcript out of context, it is “conceivable that you could read things that at first blush would appear inappropriate.” However, he said he has never perceived an uncomfortable atmosphere in Leslie’s class.Third-year Law student Paul Martin also denied the claims.“I have never ever once in all four classes [with Leslie] heard him say anything that could possibly be construed as racist, sexist or religious bigotry,” he said.Mahoney noted that the Law School usually receives complaints through student evaluations completed at the end of each semester. In recent years, though, he said there have been very few completed course evaluations from Leslie’s class in comparison to other teachers’. The investigation into the matter is ongoing, Mahoney said, as the Law School is now taking steps to look into each of the claims against Leslie.“We take student concerns very seriously,” Mahoney said.
(03/13/09 5:55am)
The University will build a memorial to a community of free blacks who in the 1880s lived in the vicinity of what is now land set aside for the South Lawn Project, officials said.The memorial also will be dedicated to Kitty Foster, a free black woman who in 1883 purchased the property where the memorial is to be constructed. The memorial is being erected as part of the South Lawn Project and will be completed by the fall of 2010, Facilities Management Project Director James Kelley said.The Foster memorial will occupy about 10 percent of the physical space of the entire South Lawn Project, Kelley said, adding that the memorial was “one of the original concepts that was developed at the inception of the project.”University Landscape Architect Mary Hughes said the home site is north of Venable Lane, which intersects Jefferson Park Avenue. Part of the memorial will feature an open archaeological site — which will be included as a public park — and a metal shadow catcher, which will cast a shadow in the form of Foster’s house site so that passerby will be able to see where the 19th-century house was located, Hughes said. Additionally, new trees will be planted in the area and the Foster family cemetery will be commemorated with a plaque and a wall.Though the memorial will not be completed until the end of next year, the archaeological site itself goes back many years.After the graveyard was discovered in 1993, Ben Ford, then a University anthropology graduate student, helped direct an archeological excavation of the site in 1994 and 1995, he said. Ford and his team discovered a dug basement and part of a foundation of a domestic residence that he believes dates back to when Foster lived on the property, Ford said.The University asked Ford, who is now Principal of Rivanna Archaeological Services, and fellow archaeologist Steve Thompson, to examine the Foster site between 2005 and 2007 in preparation for the South Lawn Project. By defining some of the site’s features, the team helped landscape architects plan the interpretation and memorialization of the area, Ford said. In more recent years, archaeologists have “found a fairly intact landscape surrounding the house,” including paved walks with bricks and cobblestones, in addition to a well, Ford said. He also noted that children’s artifacts like doll parts and marbles have been found along with work-related items including buttons and sewing needles, which confirmed that Foster and her descendants survived as washerwomen and seamstresses. Ford said he believes Foster and other free blacks of the time “purposefully located themselves near the University to provide services to students and faculty.”An additional 20 graves have been identified in addition to the original 12 found in 1993, meaning that a total of 32 graves makes up the cemetery, Ford said.The larger property, known as Canada, was a historically African American neighborhood from the 1860s up through the early 20th century, Ford said. He said he believes the name of the neighborhood is “likely symbolic of the fact that Canada was the final destination of runaway slaves,” and that it “perhaps reflects the significance of Kitty Foster and the free black community in the South Lawn area within the larger Charlottesville, Albemarle white community.”
(03/11/09 5:16am)
The Charlottesville Transit Service broke ground Monday on its new Maintenance and Operations facility. The building, which is projected to be finished in 2010, will help generate jobs in the construction sector and contain many environmentally friendly features.Among those present at the ground-breaking ceremony were Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris; Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Charlottesville; three City Council members and two representatives from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, CTS Transit Manager Bill Watterson said.The old CTS facility did not have enough space to accommodate the organization’s current operations, Watterson said, noting that the new facility will include maintenance shop space to work on vehicles, space for drivers and additional office space. Housing 30 vehicles, the old building is currently past its capacity. The new building, though, will easily accommodate up to 50 percent more vehicles, Watterson said.The department and the Federal Transit Administration are both helping fund the project, Watterson added. CTS Marketing Program Coordinator Kristin Gleason said the city is only funding 8 percent of the project.“We have a great deal of support for the project from sources from the state level and federal level,” Gleason said, noting that more than $14.2 million of the project’s $15.6 million pricetag was awarded in state and federal grants.“We’re getting a beautiful new green facility that’s going to save city taxpayers’ money and we didn’t have to put up a lot of our own money to build it,” Norris said.In addition to saving money for the city, the project also has the potential to generate income for local businesses.“This is a time when a lot of our construction companies are really hurting,” Norris said, adding that the project “is going to keep people working [and] some money flowing into the construction sector.”Watterson said he expects the facility to be 32 percent more energy efficient than the current facility, which will translate into cost savings of about $14,000 annually.“They’ll see some savings in utilities and operations by combining onto a site,” University Transit Service Director Rebecca White said. The CTS facility will differ from UTS’ current facility by way of modern features like water collection and processes allowing for geothermal energy use. The new facility will employ ground source heat pumps, which are tied to a series of wells 300 feet deep in the earth to heat and cool the building, said Steve Davis, director of sustainable design at VMDO Architects, the firm designing the building. Additionally, VMDO aims to use 30 percent recyclable content among the total building materials, Davis said, adding that this construction technique should make the new CTS building greener and more energy efficient.Another benefit is that the new building will save more than 1.55 million gallons of water each year by making use of more efficient water fixtures. The facility will recycle water from the vehicle wash system and harvest rain water to flush toilets, he said. In addition to water recycling, water cleaning will be another important feature, Watterson said. Not only will efforts be made to capture storm water runoff from impervious surfaces on site, like asphalt, but biofiltration systems also will be added to clean collected water as it makes its way back into the local area’s water system. This treatment of rain water likely will have a less negative impact on the environment, Watterson said. “This is a project that combines green building and support for transit and to me that’s a great combination to see,” Norris said.
(02/27/09 7:03am)
A recent study conducted by University Urban and Environmental Planning Prof. Bill Lucy and Graduate Architecture student Jeff Herlitz challenges many popular beliefs about the relationship between the economy and foreclosures in the United States.“Most of the country is actually quite stable in terms of housing markets,” Lucy said, even though specific locations have experienced large housing value decreases.Problems occur when people apply skewed national findings to local business, he explained.“People who are involved in buying, lending and making policy need to have a more nuanced, geographically varied understanding of house values and also development prospects,” Lucy said.Lucy and Herlitz’ study found several surprising findings, Lucy said, including a difference between foreclosures in central cities and foreclosures in suburban areas. Cities tend to maintain property values better, Lucy said, a finding which might help explain why the Virginia suburb of Prince William County has seen 10 times more foreclosures than Washington D.C.The data gathered by Lucy and Herlitz also contests widely accepted indicators of the national property market, such as the 20 City Index, which claims that all property values have gone down by an average of 18.5 percent.Similarly, Lucy said he believes that reports from the Case-Shiller Index are weighted toward states with the highest foreclosure rates, such as California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. Thus, the national average is skewed by outliers, and one might reasonably conclude that foreclosure rates are not nearly as bad in some states, including Virginia.Additionally, the study revealed a decrease from 2004 to 2007 of 1.6 million households headed by people ages 30 to 44, the bracket which normally experiences the biggest increase in home ownership. This shift indicates that it is not only reckless lending and mortgage acceptances causing foreclosure problems, but also a change in the size of the buying public, Lucy said.Along with a decrease in home purchases within the prime age bracket, Lucy said there was an increase of 3 million single family homes for sale from 1998 to 2005. These additional homes amount to an 44 percent increase during the course of seven years, he said.Simultaneously, the traditional 2-to-1 ratio between house values and owners’ annual income became much wider, Lucy said. In 2007, “California house values were more than eight times [the] median family income, [which is] why California is the center of the foreclosure crisis,” he addded.University Economics Department Chair William Johnson said the relationship between a declining economy and an increase in foreclosures is a cycle in which “the direction of causation could be either way.”He said there are two areas where housing prices are declining significantly. In areas known for housing booms and busts, like Florida, Arizona, Nevada and central California, rapidly increasing price and construction levels caused huge stock increases based somewhat on speculative demand. Once the prices of properties stopped going up, Johnson said, speculative demand disappeared and prices fell, leading to an economic downturn.The other main area of depressed prices is the Rust Belt of the Northeast and Upper Midwest. Many unemployed people in this area “[depend] on heavy manufacturing, which is not a booming part of the economy,” Johnson said.“[The] overall problem isn’t necessarily as much as a national issue as people make it out to be,” Herlitz said. “It is from an economic standpoint but not necessarily from a housing standpoint.”Mayor Dave Norris said Charlottesville is faring well enough to not qualify for federal aid offers like the Neighborhood Stabilization funds.“Those funds were targeted to cities that had higher than average foreclosure, and we didn’t qualify for any of those funds because we just haven’t seen any epidemic of foreclosures that other parts of the state have experienced,” Norris said. Although the foreclosure rate in Charlottesville is higher than it was several years ago, foreclosure is “not nearly as big of an issue here as it is in other parts of the country,” Norris said.Lucy, however, said one should remain cautious and seek to address local economic issues before they worsen. He noted that Charlottesville currently has a 3.5-to-1 ratio between property value and salary, a figure on the “outer limits of what’s sustainable.”Exactly how home ownership impacts the stability of the housing industry, though, is still unknown, Herlitz said, adding that the study prompts the need for more research in the field.
(02/20/09 6:45am)
A recent study at the University of California, Irvine found that many college and university students feel more entitled to higher grades for less work than in the past.The findings suggest that students believe they deserve an A letter grade for simply coming to class and reading the material, University Assoc. Psychology Prof. Shige Oishi said. The study, titled “Self-Entitled College Students: Contributions of Personality, Parenting, and Motivational Factors,” noted that a third of students surveyed expect B’s for attending lectures, while another 40 percent of students surveyed expect B’s for finishing required course readings only.“We have had one or two incidents a semester that reach the level of formal appeal for reconsideration of a grade,” University English Department Chair Jahan Ramazani’s said. He added, though, that an occasional complaint among many hundreds of students is to be expected. Part of the study focused on understanding the origins of what researchers referred to as a sense of entitlement. According to the study, “the self-esteem movement of the 1980s, which emphasized the importance of engendering self-esteem in youth but has been criticized since that time for not linking self-esteem to the development of skills and competencies, has been held to task for the growth of self-centered attitudes in the younger generation.”Oishi said in some instances, very high self-esteem is associated with a greater degree of aggression. Among these cases, students will retaliate more strongly to negative feedback from professors. This behavior shows a self-serving bias in attribution in which students blame low grades on external factors instead of themselves, Oishi said.Second-year College student Samantha Hoelzer said she found herself frustrated with a grade she received in a lecture-style statistics class. She said she believes that statistics classes are not structured well at the University, and added that “the ability to have a smaller class setting is helpful.”The study suggested another possibility in which “academic self-entitlement constitutes a coping strategy for students who experience a decline in grades, as may happen when they confront the more stringent demands of college and university course work and the more academically selective pool of fellow-students in that setting.”The transition from high school to college is sometimes difficult “because many of the people who come to Virginia were valedictorians [and were] used to receiving straight As,’” Ramazani said. Once at the University, however, students find themselves in a situation where several students are at the top of their class, and distinctions must be made, Ramazani said. After adjusting to University life, additional pressure to maintain a high GPA for graduate school applications and misconceptions about peers’ grades can lead students to demand better grades, Oishi explained.“Our 4.0 system has stopped being meaningful because of the problem of grade inflation,” said graduate College student Jen Burstein.When students consider a B+ to be average, they “think that a baseline amount of effort ought to merit an A,” Burnstein said, adding that she believes this is a “very economical view of education.”Ramazani said he believes the quality of work should determine the end grade, adding that this method generally is the most fair for all students in a given class. Ellen Greenberger, the lead author of the study, was unavailable for comment as of press time.
(02/18/09 7:11am)
The first interest meeting for a University chapter of a national food recycling initiative — known as the Campus Kitchens Project — took place yesterday night in the interest of promoting a new initiative that will provide local homeless and hungry residents with leftover portions of dining hall food. According to the nonprofit organization’s Web site, the organization allows “thousands of students each year to recycle food from their cafeterias, turn these donations into nourishing meals, and deliver those meals (along with a friendly visit) to those who need it most in communities across the country.”The idea behind the University’s chapter was first formed about a year ago when a small group of Engineering students working on their thesis project teamed up with Ayisha Memon, a fourth-year College student who had been pursuing the idea for several years, said Campus Kitchens coordinator Caroline Nettles, who also is a fourth-year Engineering student.Memon said she first began to look for an organization after learning that several homeless and needy individuals in Charlottesville were not receiving sufficient meals and nutrition, while there was plenty of leftover food at University dining facilities. The goal was “to reconcile that, bridge the gap, and on the way be more sustainable,” Memon said.According to 2005 U.S. Census estimates, about 25 percent of Charlottesville citizens below the poverty line, said Krystal Boitnoot. a University CPK coordinator and fourth-year Engineering student. She added that only 70 percent of the meals distributed by the Charlottesville Salvation Army are donated by others, meaning the Salvation Army must provide 30 percent of meals. Additionally, Nettles noted, most of the food wasted by the University goes to the Amelia landfill. She added that the about 80-mile drive causes extensive air pollution and is expensive for the University.For the past year, the students have been working with Director of Dining Services Brent Beringer to help further the project. “Having Brent’s support behind us really helps us a lot,” said John Bankson, another coordinator and fourth-year Engineering student. Beringer said dining is currently relocating some of its operations out of Runk dining hall to Ivy Road to make space for the student initiative. He said dining wanted to “create space that they could use [and] hopefully for the most part be able to walk to it.”The commissary kitchen in Runk, Beringer added, will “allow students to work safely [and] have access to everything they need,” while keeping CKP food separate from the rest of the dining hall food. Beringer said the source of the CKP food is leftover portions that were never served.[Food that] “otherwise would have gone unused will actually find a very good purpose,” Beringer said.In addition to coordinating with dining services on such projects as cataloguing the number of excess meals in the dining halls, the student group also aims to create an advisory board of people who will remain in Charlottesville after students graduate, Nettles said. “If faculty and community members are involved, it gives the program longevity,” she added.While the group’s recently completed application for admittance into the organization has not yet been approved or denied, the founders are already making plans. The group will need to start raising funds early on despite a grant that will be provided over the first few years by the national organization, Bankson said.Another difficulty will be trying to continue the operation during student breaks, Memon said, because the organization hopes to provide food locally year-round. Additionally, the founders are in need of people to carry on the University initiative after they graduate.Currently, the group is looking for a student leadership committee of eight to 12 committed people, Nettles said. This will include positions in volunteer recruitment, fundraising, food resourcing, delivery expansion and nutrition.
(02/11/09 7:12am)
Former University English Prof. Barbara Nolan passed away Sunday after battling breast cancer for many years, according to Nolan’s family obituary.Nolan was the first female professor to obtain tenure in the English department at the University, Associate Dean of Students Francis Aaron Laushway said. Nolan served as a medieval literature professor for 30 years before retiring this past summer, English department Chair Jahan Ramazani said.“You see in her life the importance of a passionate devotion to teaching [and] the way in which that intense connection with students can electrify their excitement, even about literature that’s many hundreds of years old,” Ramazani said, noting that Nolan possessed a “radiant presence in the classroom.” As an active member in the University community, Nolan helped build the English faculty’s distinguished national reputation, Laushway said. “Because of her involvement within the academy, she was able to draw distinguished talent from other institutions for both short and long-term tenures,” Laushway added.Alongside teaching classes, Nolan also played a role in the creation of the University’s seminar classes, Ramazani said, noting that Nolan “helped to generate a great deal of excitement about teaching in those.”After serving as the interim chair of the English department for one year, Nolan took a position as vice provost for instructional development from 1992 to 2002, while still teaching in the English department, Ramazani said. Law Prof. Peter Low, who served as University provost during Nolan’s tenure, said Nolan’s work focused on undergraduate instruction and the improvement of teaching practices. Nolan brought a serious level of academic integrity that allowed her to perform her role as vice provost exceptionally well, Low said.“She had very sound academic and personal values,” Low said.In addition to serving multiple roles within the University throughout her career, Nolan also authored several academic texts.“Her scholarly writings are among the most intelligent, informed materials I read,” University President John T. Casteen, III said.Bruce Holsinger, Nolan’s colleague in the medieval literature studies department, said Nolan was one of the reasons he decided to teach at the University, and also praised her literary works.“She was a prolific writer [who] wrote widely on Chaucer and his relationship to medieval French literature,” Holsinger said. Holsinger also noted that Nolan’s greatest intellectual legacy will probably be “the humane way of conceiving the role of literature, religion and culture in the life of the middle ages.”Casteen added that “she wrote with a spiritual authority” because Nolan had such thorough knowledge of Chaucer’s links to France and Italy, and especially to the writers who shaped the Renaissance. “Her knowledge of the languages, of art, of vernacular writing in the languages that Chaucer admired, and her sound judgment made her books especially notable,” he said.Nolan also obtained a Guggenheim fellowship, two Fullbright Scholarships with the University of London and a Rhodes Scholarship, according to her obituary. She also served as a trustee of the New Chaucer Society and was a member of the Advisory Board of The Review Journal of Medieval Literature.“She was among the warmest and most passionate people I’ve ever known,” Laushway said. “She was particularly generous with her time and always enjoyed discussing — or one might say, with Barbara, debating — ideas. She had a very true and intense fascination with people and the world.”Nolan’s memorial service will be held Saturday at Westminster Presbyterian Church. A reception will follow at Pavilion IX.
(02/09/09 7:27am)
Rahul Gorawara, a third-year Engineering student and a first-year Batten student, was selected Friday as the next nonvoting student member of the University Board of Visitors. Gorawara’s term will begin at the conclusion of the Board’s April 2009 meeting, Board Rector Heywood Fralin said. Gorawara was selected from among a pool of about 30 applicants, comprised of both graduates and undergraduates, Fralin added.After reviewing all applications, a committee of students and administrative officials selected 14 students for interviews. Of these 14, six semifinalists were reviewed by a separate executive committee, Fralin said.All six received positive reviews from the executive committee.“You [could] close your eyes and point and not come up with a wrong choice,” committee and Board member Alan Diamonstein said. “I know that all of them were a lot brighter and more involved than I remember anybody being when I was a student at U.Va.”The executive committee eventually made its recommendation to the Board, though, which finally approved the selection of Gorawara, Fralin said. Gorawara is currently pursuing an undergraduate triple major in computer engineering, electrical engineering and economics, as well as a master’s in public policy. Additionally, Gorawara is both a Jefferson and a Rodman scholar, Fralin said. Pat Lampkin, vice president for student affairs, said Gorawara stood out because he “brought an energy to his interview.” She added that she believes Gorawara is “in touch with students as a [Resident Adviser].”Gorawara said his role as a resident adviser has helped him “get a good sense of how [students] view their role in the University community” — a perspective he said he believes will be helpful when considering the Board’s decisions.As the next student member, Gorawara said he hopes to bring two priorities to the Board to consider during the coming year. The first is the University’s affordability and accessibility in the current global crisis and the second is academic development. Gorawara said he believes the University should “make sure we offer classes that provide perspective and skills to allow [students] to better understand and compete in the global economy.”He also said he expects to play an active role as student member, whose job he sees as twofold: to “voice student opinions to the Board, and relay the Board’s priorities and thoughts to the student body.”The student member plays an important role because he or she sees the student body from a different perspective than the Board, Gorawara noted. He has also been involved in several activities such as the McIntire Investment Institute, the Virginia Policy Review, Future Business Leaders of America and the Indian Student Association.Gorawara’s extensive exposure to several student groups makes him “well prepared to represent the student body and relay information back to the student body,” he said. “I want to give back to future students [and] make sure that their experience at U.Va. is even more enjoyable than mine has been.”
(02/06/09 7:59am)
Seeking to find answers to funding gaps and pending state budget cuts, the Board of Visitors Finance Committee met yesterday to discuss the University’s fiscal future in light of current economic conditions.“There is a genuine problem in Virginia for higher education,” President John T. Casteen. III said, adding that the “combination of state support [and] in-state tuition leaves us at a loss.”The University recently sent out a record number of appeals for additional financial support, Casteen added. So far, the University has received “gifts of every size imaginable,” including $4.7 million for unrestricted use in graduate schools and a new $3.1 million pledge from the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation.Casteen cautioned, though, that he does not anticipate the increased pace of giving seen toward the end of 2008 to continue at the same rate during the new year.The Board, especially its Finance Committee, is currently re-evaluating financial plans for all levels and divisions of the University. This year, the Committee held its biannual update of the Major Capital Projects program.The program will evaluate three possible scenarios for near-term proposed projects, explained Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget. These include a growth scenario, which includes all needed and desired projects; a standard scenario, which is a “reasonable representation of what might be expected to happen;” and a pessimistic scenario, the bleakest and most serious situation of the three. The University’s academic division, for example, is projected to secure $482,000 in the growth scenario, less than $400,000 in the standard scenario and $200,000 in the alternate scenario. Sheehy suggested that the Board use sensitivity analysis during its retreat this summer to provide a “more realistic look at what is possible given current economic conditions.”In addition to evaluating the University’s future funding scenarios, the Finance Committee also determined the amount of debt the University could incur in the future. The committee concluded that the University could amass up to $18 million in debt by the end of the year, said Yoke San Reynolds, vice president and chief financial officer. “If the economy doesn’t turn around, we are going to be more disciplined in [looking at] what projects we can put debt into,” she said.Reynolds, however, said she believes that the University’s debt situation is temporary, and “over the long haul, we’re fine.” Chris Brightman, chief executive officer of the University of Virginia Management Company, presented about the University’s gains and losses during the fiscal year. Because the University’s endowment experienced a “truly remarkable and disturbing” market value loss in the long-term pool, he said the University should consider taking an even more conservative investment approach until the markets bounce back.“Given the uncertainty and turmoil of the market [it would] not be appropriate to have as much market exposure and risk,” he said.Moving forward, the University will have to carefully manage its assets and invest wisely, balancing a need to grow and improve with a need to remain financially secure and stable, presenters and Board members said.2009 “could be the trickiest year in history of determining where we are,” Casteen said.
(02/06/09 7:57am)
The number of both first-year and transfer applicants to the University has risen dramatically since last year as a result of the University’s decision to accept the Common Application, admissions officials told the Board of Visitors yesterday, and several Board members and University administrators are now hoping that the increase translates into more diversity on Grounds.“It’s pretty clear that the Common Application is a factor in having an increased number of applicants than last year,” said Bill Harvey, vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity, noting that he hopes the increase in applications will lead to an increased number of minority students offered admission to the University.When colleges and universities first begin using the Common Application, they typically see a six percent increase in the number of applicants, Harvey said, adding that the number of applications from minority candidates tends to increase by as much as 15 percent. “We’re all encouraged by the applicant pool situation being larger from last year,” Harvey said. “We are seeing an increased percentage over last year of students from African American, Hispanic and Asian communities.” According to data from the Office of Undergraduate Admission, to date the University has received applications from 11,632 females and 10,315 males. Among these applicants were 1814 Asian females compared to 1747 males, 806 black females compared to 554 black males and 475 Latino females compared to 391 Latino males.Some Board of Visitor members expressed concern, however, about the discrepancies between minority females and males. Board member Syd Dorsey questioned whether the number of black women who come to the University to play Division I basketball further skews these figures. She suggested that if scholarship athletes were removed from the pool, the discrepancy between females and males may be even greater.“In minority applicant numbers, we’ve stayed relatively the same the past 10 years,” Student Board member Adom Getachew. To change this trend, “it’s important to think about more effective means of outreach, growing your own, and considering what kinds of resources and commitments that will take for the University,”Board member Warren Thompson echoed Getachew and cited a need for improvement. “We’ve done a great job of letting people know we are discrete of diversity,” Thompson said, adding, though, that the University needs to improve its efforts to prepare students from diverse backgrounds so that those students can compete at the University’s high academic standards.In this regard, Asst. Dean of Admissions Valerie Gregory suggested putting a greater effort into summer programs geared toward high school students. Vice Rector John Wynne agreed, noting that the number of students who demonstrate an interest in the University after participating in these summer programs is incredibly high. “We’re going to have to be very deliberate and intentional in communicating,” Harvey said about the University’s efforts to reach out to minority applicants.Gregory emphasized, though, that such outreach efforts can be hampered somewhat by the highly competitive atmosphere of college admissions today.“We’re all competing for the same small piece of pie,” Gregory said, noting that “the pie is shrinking” in terms of the number of qualified minority applicants.
(02/04/09 6:29am)
In the hope of ending gerrymandering in the commonwealth, the state Senate unanimously passed a bill Monday that intends to make the state redistricting process less politically-driven and create more contested elections.Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, has been a patron of the bill, known as the Bipartisan Redistricting Commission Act of 2009, for seven years, Deeds’ Senior Adviser Peter Jackson said.The bill states, “All districts, to the extent practicable, shall respect the boundary lines of existing political subdivisions. More populous subdivisions shall be divided between or among districts before less populous subdivisions are divided.”The bill effectively says that no political party has a monopoly on redistricting, Jackson explained, noting that voting districts should not be drawn so as to protect certain political parties or those currently in office. He said to avoid gerrymandering, the task of drawing districts will be “put it in the hands of commission that isn’t allowed to consider past voting results or party strength.”Redistricting would give Charlottesville better representation in the state Senate because it would give the region a senator responsible for just representing that area, Jackson said.“At this point in time, Charlottesville has not been affected by redistricting,” Charlottesville General Registrar Sheri Iachetta said. She noted, however, that “it could very easily happen because Albemarle is growing so much.”The county has parts in the 57th, 58th and 59th House of Delegates districts in addition to the 24th and 25th State senate districts, said Jackie Harris, an independent elections consultant who works part time with the City. Because these districts will capture entire precincts, Albemarle County’s boundary lines will be redrawn in the summer of 2011 after the 2010 census due to population growth, Harris explained.Since the state takes a longer time to redraw the lines, Albemarle residents will “have to work more closely with the state so the state plans don’t conflict with local redistricting,” Harris said.Harris further noted that the Department of Justice will be reviewing these plans and aims to more closely scrutinize district lines that have been proposed and sent for pre-clearance under the Voting Rights Act.For some, the current mapping is less than satisfactory. “We’ve always felt like the fifth congressional district is sort of a poorly drawn district in that Charlottesville has very little in common with some of the localities at the southern end,” City Mayor David Norris said. He added that Charlottesville is significantly different in economics and transportation when compared to other neighboring southern counties. Economic and geographic commonalities are important factors to consider when determining boundary lines, he said.“It’s really obscene how they use the district-drawing power to link up localities in congressional districts that have absolutely nothing in common with each other,” Norris said, noting, however, that he is “not terribly optimistic” that the bill will survive in the House of Delegates.“The irony of the whole situation is that redistricting is about minimizing the influence of partisanship in the political process, but partisanship runs the General Assembly,” Norris said. “You’re asking partisans to set aside partisanship.”Cordel Faulk, director of communications at the University Center for Politics, shared Norris’ skepticism about the bill’s fate. “If it makes it out of committee, it’s going to have problems in the House of Delegates, [which] hasn’t been receptive to bills in the past,” Faulk said.Jackson, however, remained optimistic that the bill will pass and will create real competition at the ballot box. “Democracy is not supposed to work where elected leaders are choosing their voters instead of voters choosing their leaders,” Jackson said.
(02/02/09 10:49am)
University President John T. Casteen, III announced Friday that Harry Harding will serve as the founding dean of the Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.“The dean in a sense defines a new school,” Casteen said, adding that “Harding has a wonderful opportunity.”Though Harding is new to the University, he is no stranger to the spheres of leadership, public policy and education, Casteen said. Throughout his career, Harding has been “vigorously involved” in international affairs and education, Casteen added.“[Harding] comes with an exceptional record,” University Provost Arthur Garson said. Garson explained that this record includes an education at Princeton and Stanford, the briefing of President Clinton and the White House Press Corps, extensive teaching positions and a deanship at the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs.“Recruiting someone with a tremendous reputation was important to all the deans,” Garson said, adding that Harding “brings a spirit of collaboration from George Washington that is widely known.”College Dean Meredith Woo said she looks forward to a close interaction between the Batten School and the College during Harding’s administration.“The fact that he understands completely the enterprise [of arts and sciences is] something we all can celebrate about,” said Woo, who was enthused that Harding “understands the research mission that will be most fruitful in the collaboration between the two units.”Of the three leading candidates for the position, fourth-year College student Ethan Carroll found Harding to be the most capable, largely because of his experience at the Elliott School of International Affairs.“We’ve so far in Batten been trying to find a balance between domestic and foreign policy,” fourth-year College and Batten student Caitlin Gearen said. “I think he has a great vision for that.”As dean, Harding said he intends to take an integrated approach to the traditionally separate realms of domestic and global public policy and weave those fields into a single curriculum. He said he also aims to teach students leadership as “one of [the] key skills for success in areas of public policy,” and prepare students for service as skilled professionals in all levels of government and the private sector.The Batten School dean’s position is unique in that Harding and his colleagues will be “basically putting together — at a graduate level — a curriculum that does not exist,” Harding said, because the school has no precedent at the University.“This dean has to build a faculty, and that will take a long time,” said fifth-year Batten student Nick Feucht, noting that Harding “must know that he wants to be here for a long time.”According to a University press release, Harding will be expected to perform many duties during his first year. He must review programs, develop a master’s degree program and organize the school’s faculty. Additionally, he must recruit students and “encourage creation of research centers and programs on key areas of public policy,” the release states.Aiding Harding in accomplishing his duties is the significant pool of resources allotted to the Batten School. The Batten School, Harding said, was “very generously endowed,” with a $100 million donation from Frank Batten, Sr., who graduated from the College in 1950. Those funds allowed the creation of the school — the first new school at the University in more than 50 years — in the first place.“It took a little bit of guts [to apply for the program],” fifth-year Batten student Katie Meyer said, especially because the concept of a leadership and public policy school is a new one.“There’s some stability from having an actual, official leader,” Meyer added, saying that she hopes Harding will attract more candidates to the program.Other students expressed similar satisfaction with the University’s appointment of a dean.“Having a dean makes me feel really confident in the future of the school,” Gearen said. “He seems to be a great leader for the program.”Vice Rector of the University Board of Visitors and longtime colleague of Batten, John Wynne, agreed Batten himself “would be gratified that his dream is moving to reality and offer support to our new dean.”With this new beginning, Casteen welcomed Harding to the University.“We take pleasure in entrusting the Batten School and its students to you,” Casteen said.
(01/28/09 6:40am)
The Inter-Sorority Council saw a decrease in the number of girls involved in this year’s formal Spring Rush process in contrast to previous years, during which a steady increase in participation had been observed.ISC President Stuart Berkeley said 819 women registered for recruitment this year, about 785 of whom began the recruitment process and about 540 of whom received bids or snap bids, which are invitations to join a sorority that did not meet its recruitment quota after initial bids were accepted or denied. Those numbers represent a slight but meaningful decline from last year, said Ashleigh Carson, ISC vice president for recruitment, who also noted that open recruitment will continue to take place at a number of houses that still have openings.Last year, 603 of the 829 women registered to rush received bids.Before this year, Carson said the number of women rushing had been increasing significantly from year to year.“Last year it seemed to reach its peak,” Carson said.To learn more about the reasons for this year’s lower participation rate, the ISC will complete a post-recruitment evaluation, said Michael Citro, assistant dean of fraternity and sorority life. Part of this evaluation will involve looking at reasons why individuals chose to join or not join sororities, Citro added, noting that, “the ISC evaluates the recruitment process on an annual basis in an effort to better the process and the experience for both chapters and new members.”Reasons for decreased participation may include the recent economic downturn, Berkeley said, although financial constraints are always a concern when women are considering whether to join a sorority.“Sorority expenses can be tough — especially new member fees — and that is why the ISC is hoping to expand our offerings,” Berkeley said, adding that ISC scholarships are something the next ISC executive board will look to develop.These scholarships would complement scholarships already in place within individual chapters, Berkeley said, and would aim to offset some of the cost of joining a Greek organization.Berkeley noted, though, that the exact amount of sorority expenses that the potential scholarship might cover is still undecided.“We would hope to have what we are prepared to offer by the end of this semester,” she added.
(01/21/09 5:00am)
Students and local community members gathered in John Paul Jones Arena yesterday between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. to celebrate and watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama.Leonard Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the University made the decision to open JPJ for the event several days before releasing the notice of class cancellations between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. To accommodate anticipated attendance at the event, the University considered Newcomb Hall among other location options. Eventually the arena was picked because “for the first time [we have] the technology to be able to stream the event live in a facility that could accommodate large numbers of people,” University spokesperson Carol Wood explained, adding that the University entered an agreement with C-SPAN to give audience members the most uninterrupted coverage.Neither students nor other community members had to pay to attend the viewing. “We wanted all students and staff who wished to attend to have a chance to view the official events of the swearing-in ceremony,” Sandridge said. “It was not planned as a money-making event.” He explained that the time devoted to the project was minimal and the cost of staff and services at JPJ was $3,100. “The event was by-and-large met with positive reviews from members of the University,” Provost Arthur Garson said. “The turnout was tremendous. I was seriously moved at students, faculty and members of the community acting as one in their enthusiasm.”University Democrats President Megan Durkee said she was excited about the viewing and the Charlottesville community’s turnout but also said she wished that more students would have attended the event.Some students appreciated the opportunity, though; fourth-year College student Charquea Tiggle, for example, noted that she enjoyed the viewing “for the simple fact that it brought members of the Charlottesville community and students together.”Other students expressed similar sentiments about the presence of local Charlottesville residents at the event. “It was great to have a place to be with a lot of people from the community,” first-year Nursing student Kendra Gaarder said, noting that there were many children present in addition to students and adults from the local community.Some University instructors also attended the event. Charlottesville resident Jocelyn Johnston came with her husband Daniel Lefkowitz, an associate anthropology professor, and their children Andrea and Aaron, who sported Obama T-shirts. “Their Dad really wanted [the kids] to be in a big group,” Johnston said. “We thought this would be more memorable.”The crowd at JPJ even included some attendees from outside of the immediate University and Charlottesville communities, such as Doris Scott Crawford, a Farmville resident. “We saw so much more here than we could have in [Washington,] D.C.,” Crawford said. With her was Newstell Dowdell, who came all the way from Birmingham, Ala. Praising the University for making the event available to the community, Dowdell said, “It was worth it to be here.”One fourth-year College student expressed similar sentiments about her trip to the actual Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C. “Everything that I saw at the parade was just fantastic,” Bonnie Carlson said. Though Carlson and her party were “waiting outside for at least three hours in our bleacher seats before it started” because of a delay caused by Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy’s seizure, the experience was worth the wait, Carlson said.For students and community members who wanted a more intimate viewing experience than attending the ceremonies in D.C. or even at JPJ, many areas around Grounds also provided alternative means of watching the ceremony. The Harrison Institute, Fiske Kimball Fine Arts, Brown Science and Engineering, Alderman and Clemons libraries all broadcasted coverage from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. — with sound during the inauguration — and two screens were set up at 11:30 a.m in Newcomb Ballroom, Wood said.After seeing the success of the event, Garson hopes that gatherings of similar nature will continue to occur at the University but with more advance notice of class cancellations. “The idea of spending 3 hours every four years as a community, listening and speaking and reacting together to the next president of the United States is something that I believe should occur at U.Va,” Garson said.
(01/16/09 9:21am)
According to a survey published online in the January-February 2009 issue of Academe, doctoral students may be less likely to pursue professorships at research-intensive universities because of the lack of accommodations these institutions make for family needs.Conducted at nine of the 10 University of California campuses, the survey results suggest that today’s doctoral students are leaning toward institutions that have a stronger focus on teaching instead of research, said Karie Frasch, University of California Faculty Family Friendly Edge Project manager.Researchers conducted the survey for seven years with students at different points in their doctoral careers. About 45 percent of men and 39 percent of women reported that at the beginning of their doctoral programs they wanted to pursue careers as professors with a strong focus on research. Only 36 percent of men and 27 percent of women, however, reported that they still wanted to pursue this career option at the time the survey was performed.The survey’s findings showed that 84 percent of women and 74 percent of men were either very concerned or somewhat concerned about the family friendliness of possible career paths.“In the eyes of many doctoral students, the research-focused career track has a bad reputation — one of unrelenting work hours that allow little or no room for a satisfying family life,” the report states.According to the report, these results have striking implications about the overall mind-set of graduate students not only in the University of California system but at universities across the country. “If this sentiment is broadly shared among current and future student cohorts, the future life-blood of academia may be at stake, as promising young scholars seek alternative career paths with better work-life balance,” the report states.These results, Frasch explained, “bring home the need to make some transformations to academia in order to keep attracting the best and brightest people.”Sharon Hostler, University of Virginia Medical School senior associate dean, suggested that the results seen in the study may also appear in Charlottesville. At the University of Virginia Medical School, incoming employees are increasingly choosing tenure-ineligible tracks, during which “people do their scholarly activity at the rate they choose to,” Hostler explained.As a research institution, the University of Virginia Medical School also is now more closely considering the futures of its doctoral students. The Medical School is encouraging a program known as “Off the Clock,” which can delay an evaluation or a portfolio review for a year for reasons determined by the circumstance. An equal number of men and women take advantage of the program, Hostler said.“It’s becoming more common for men to want to balance work and family as well,” Frasch said. “It’s not just a women’s issue.”To accommodate families as a whole, the University also looks to find jobs for partners and to “provide a broader net for families and couples who are looking for work,” Hostler said. Furthermore, the University Medical School is seeking to improve its child care. Though two University-run day care facilities — the Child Development Center and Kenneth Cole Center — currently exist, plans to create two more day care centers over the next four years are in motion. The goal is to “try to combine all four into a consistent resource for families,” Hostler said. “We have trouble meeting the needs of mothers who have newborns here. The waiting list is often longer than the pregnancy.”At the beginning of 2008, the University Medical School also began offering an emergency child and elder care plan for its employees. “We clearly have a need that we are not meeting for faculty and staff and students,” she said.
(12/03/08 6:33am)
President-elect Barack Obama announced Monday that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), a 1983 Law School graduate, will serve as secretary of Homeland Security in his administration. After announcing the members of his security team during a press conference, Obama explained his reasoning for choosing Napolitano.“Janet Napolitano offers the experience and executive skill that we need in the next secretary of Homeland Security,” Obama said. “She has spent her career protecting people — as a U.S. attorney, an attorney general and as governor of Arizona. She understands the need for a Department of Homeland Security that has the capacity to help prevent terrorist attacks and respond to catastrophe — be it man-made or natural.”Cordel Faulk, University Center for Politics director of communications, media and research, echoed Obama’s confidence in Napolitano’s experience.“She’ll be an asset as a prosecutor,” Faulk said. “She’s not coming into these issues new; she knows them very well and she brings her Virginia education, which is also a plus.”Faulk said immigration is one of the main issues that falls under Napolitano’s new role and noted that her background as a governor in a border state will be very helpful.“As a former state governor she also has a lot of good executive experience that she’ll bring to the table heading a large department,” Faulk said, noting that Napolitano’s qualifications make her both unique and the “obvious choice” for secretary of Homeland Security.Napolitano is in her second four-year term as governor, which does not officially end until 2010. She will continue to serve as governor throughout the confirmation process, Napolitano’s spokesperson Shilo Mitchell said. Since the confirmation is expected to take place before her term is complete, Arizona’s Secretary of State Jan Brewer (R) will succeed Napolitano.In addition to her political and jurisdictional experience, Napolitano “came out as an early supporter for Obama’s presidency” and “serves on the advisory board of his transition team,” Mitchell said.Law School Dean Paul Mahoney expressed enthusiasm about Napolitano’s accomplishment.“All of us at the Law School are very proud to hear of Napolitano’s nomination,” Mahoney said, adding that Napolitano is an “exceptional public servant [and an] outstanding choice to be the secretary of Homeland Security.”Mahoney noted that “Governor Napolitano will join a long and distinguished line of Virginia Law School graduates in the security area.” According to a Law School press release, these alumni include Transportation Security Administration Administrator Kip Hawley, FBI Director Robert Mueller, III and Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney general for national security.Napolitano’s accomplishment “is further evidence of [the] strong ethic of service our graduates have,” Mahoney said.
(11/19/08 5:00am)
After four years of research, Pharmacology Prof. Fraydoon Rastinejad has made a significant breakthrough in his research on nuclear receptors, the University Health System announced Monday. Rastinejad said his discovery “will help pave the way to discovering better drugs that are much more specific and have fewer undesired side affects.”The subject of Rastinejad’s research is a nuclear hormone receptor called peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, which plays an important role in the treatment of type two diabetes, among other diseases, Rastinejad explained. Rastinejad described the receptor as a lock that needs a specifically shaped key to successfully treat diseases. His research intends to help develop drugs that are effective “keys” for their respective diseases. He noted that 201 laboratories worldwide also have been working on the same problem.“What we’ve done is we’ve made an atom-by-atom description of the three-dimensional structure of this receptor,” Rastinejad said, noting this development will better enable researchers to observe how drugs bind to the receptor and to design medicines that combine more effectively with the receptor. These more-targeted drugs will then provide better treatment for patients.Assoc. Pharmacology Prof. Ira Schulman said Rastinejad’s research is critical to the understanding not only of PPAR but also of an entire family of related receptors. Shulman emphasized that “the nuclear hormone receptor family is a very important class of drug targets.” This family “includes the PPAR [which is a] drug target for diabetes, the estrogen receptor for breast cancer and the glucocorticoide receptor,” which is important in the study of most anti-inflammatory drugs, Shulman noted.To create the 3-D visualization of the receptor, Rastinejad used X-ray crystallography, “which requires that we purify these receptors and grow crystals of these receptors with the drug,” Rastinejad explained, adding that researchers then shoot these crystals with an X-ray beam to create a picture of the receptor.Pharmacology Prof. Jim Garrison, a former department chair, said Rastinejad’s achievement “compares very well to a lot of major discoveries that change how people think about things — that happens relatively infrequently.”Shulman, meanwhile, compared Rastinejad’s achievement to the first time the mile was run in under 4 minutes.“People thought it would never be done,” Shulman said. “Now that barrier has been broken.”Looking forward, Garrison said the next step of product development resulting from this research is a long way off but emphasized the research’s global implications.“It’s a piece of information that becomes a template for what people can do all over the world,” he said. As to where its next step will first take root, he noted, “it’s hard to know where it will happen first.”
(11/12/08 9:22am)
The Web site through which many College students were supposed to obtain their access codes for course registration was taken offline Nov. 7, causing difficulties for some students who were supposed to register earlier this week.“What happened was that on Friday we identified a security vulnerability and promptly shut it down,” said Mike McPherson, associate vice president and deputy chief information officer. He noted that Information Technology & Communication officials were concerned the vulnerability could have led to a leak of important information.Since taking these precautions, “we determined that there is no evidence that data has been improperly released,” McPherson said, adding that “there has been no exposure ... but the system is down for now.”Directors of undergraduate studies and department chairs within the College received word of the shutdown through an e-mail sent by Rachel Most, assistant College dean and director of advising, explained Ron Michener, economics department director of undergraduate studies.Michener said when he received this e-mail, he obtained a “hard copy of advising codes for the majors” from the registrar and sent an e-mail to students to inform them that if they were economics majors and could not access their codes any other way, they could call and receive their codes after verifying the last four digits of their Social Security number. Michener explained that “the issue is making sure the person is who they say they are.”Jessica Feldman, English Department director of undergraduate studies, said access codes are available to students who take initiative.“While it’s been a frustration for students, everyone who has sought the information has gotten it,” she said.Neither director had heard any word of when the problem may be fixed. “We are working to get students their codes, but I don’t know if the site will open up again,” Assoc. College Dean Richard Handler said. In general, “we’re not happy,” he said.Some students also expressed discontent about the technical difficulties.Third-year College student Christine Johnson received an e-mail with a link to receive her registration code but did not look at it right away. When she did click the link, it took her to a page that stated that the Web site was unavailable.“I thought it was just me,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know it was a problem that was ubiquitous.” When her adviser could not send her code, she had to go to the English undergraduate office. “It was a little stressful,” Johnson added. “I didn’t want to be unable to sign up for classes.”Third-year College student Leanne Ryan experienced similar problems in accessing her code.“I got [my code] a while ago for my economics major,” Ryan explained, noting that “at first it worked, then something malfunctioned.”Ryan noted, however, that she wrote down the code upon first receiving it and is confident that she will be able to register.Students, however, are not the only members of the University having problems with the registration system.Handler pointed out that with the Web site down, advisers are also unable to access students’ codes unless they already created a hard copy.Advisers’ sudden lack of access to the codes online created problems for some students.“If the advisers didn’t send [the codes] out by Friday, [the students] had no access to them,” Handler explained. There were few of these cases, though, because most advisers sent out the information earlier, he said. “The only [students] who are having trouble are the ones who didn’t bother to open their e-mail,” he added.For those students who did miss their registration time or did not preserve a hard copy of their registration code, alternative ways of accessing the Integrated Student Information System are available. These methods differ based on whether or not a student has declared his or her major.“If non-majors don’t have [their code], they can bring a printed copy of the e-mail that the advisor sent to them to Garrett Hall and a staff member can release the same registration code,” Asst. College Prof. Mary Stegmaier said. “Majors who do not have an advising code should see the major department’s administrative assistant for the registration code. If a student is unable to get code from their major department, [they should] bring some sheet signed by the [administrative assistant of the] department that indicates that our office can release the code.”She noted that students with two majors only need one registration code, which they can obtain from either of their departments.Though problems exist with the current registration process, Handler noted the difficulties will not remain when the University switches to a new system in 2009 called the Student Information System. Until then, Handler said students in the College who need their access codes should see their association deans in Garrett Hall as soon as possible.