People all across Charlottesville spent yesterday celebrating the birth of the University's founder - Thomas Jefferson - who would have turned 267 years-old. A celebration was held at Monticello in conjunction with the University in honor of Jefferson's birthday and his achievements.
The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities was awarded a $660,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to be used for work on an electronically-based collection of sources related to the lives of early Americans. The project, entitled People of the Founding Era, combines a biographical dictionary and "prosopography" - a type of biography used in social history to examine relationships and connections between people and locations - to preserve those figures largely unknown to history who lived during the early 18th and 19th centuries, said Mark Saunders, manager of the Electronic Imprint of the University of Virginia Press. With this system, "one could look up where leading attorneys in 1820s Virginia came from, and if there is a correlation between place of origin and success," said Holly Shulman, founding director of the Documents Compass group, part of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. The effort will collect information about individuals in such fields as gender, slave status and place of birth, and seeks to provide a broader view of historical figures that makes it attractive to scholars who study more obscure groups that usually are not included in other databases, Saunders said. "We may know that a craftsman worked on the University of Virginia because he is referenced in Jefferson's papers ... We may know where he lived or how old he was ... but little else," Saunders said.
[caption id="attachment_34384" align="alignleft" width="273" caption="The dome of the McCormick Observatory will be painted white, and its linoleum floors will be replaced with wood to match the facility's original design.
[caption id="attachment_34365" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Above, a heavily protected police line clears remaining rioters in the area.
[caption id="attachment_34363" align="alignleft" width="237" caption="In Educational Media Co. at Virginia v.
Tim Davis, a 27-year old Charlottesville employee for WNRN radio and victim of the April 5 Blue Ridge Parkway shooting, passed away at the University Medical Center Friday. Currently, 18-year old Christina Floyd, who also was injured in the shooting, is in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery. Ralph Leon Jackson, the man suspected of shooting Davis and Floyd, is currently detained at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona, Va., without bond.
The University's Financial Aid Office will introduce several changes to the student loan process this summer to fall into accordance with a student-loan provision in the 2010 Federal Health Care Law. The loan overhaul will make the government sole lender of student loans, thus eliminating banks as institutional intermediaries.
Although several months have passed since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti in January, the island nation is still very much on the minds of University faculty, staff and students. Hoos for Haiti, a University-wide fundraising campaign, reached its semester's fundraising goal of $100,000 this past weekend.
[caption id="attachment_34332" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Terrace crossing construction will close one lane from 7 a.m.
The University recently hired Nina Morris as Sustainability Outreach Coordinator for the Energy and Utilities Department.
[caption id="attachment_34302" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="University community members show an intense interest in the UVA Bay Game demonstration held in Clark Hall yesterday.
Attendees of the 2010 annual Foxfield Races will see some operational changes to the races intended to streamline and improve the safety of the day's events, Foxfield marketing director Anne Susen said. The races, which are scheduled for April 24, will begin at 9 a.m.
[caption id="attachment_34296" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Asihel is a third-year double major in foreign affairs and economics.
[caption id="attachment_34269" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Gov. Bob McDonnell faced criticism yesterday for the original proclamation before releasing an official apology and a revised version of the declaration.
The University and U.S. Census Bureau have made efforts throughout the past week to encourage students to complete the decennial questionnaire. Census workers, for example, have handed out forms on the Corner and have been stationed in Newcomb Hall to provide information about the survey, which was sent out in mid-March. Students' participation in the census is instrumental in determining the distribution of resources, said Pat Lampkin, the University's vice president for student affairs. "It is our civic duty," she said.
Student Council's Diversity Initiatives Committee hosted a forum titled, "The Slave Experience at U.Va: uncovering the truth" last Monday. Prof.
Augusta County law enforcement officials announced in a press conference yesterday that they have apprehended Ralph Leon Jackson, a man suspected of shooting two people at Rock Point Overlook at about 7:30 Monday evening at mile marker 10 of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The victims, 18-year-old Christina Floyd of Fluvanna County and 27-year-old Timothy Davis of Charlottesville, were taken to the University Medical Center.
[caption id="attachment_34264" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Striving to keep afloat in the middle of midterms, students vigorously study on the fourth floor of Clemons Library.
[caption id="attachment_34217" align="alignleft" width="145" caption="Student Council President Colin Hood spoke at an event held in the Dome Room of the Rotunda yesterday night during the official switchover to the newest administration.
Student Council's Student Life Committee announced last week that the Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering Library will resume its extended exam hours during the upcoming final exam period in May.
