Serving the University Community Since 1890
Student sponsors of the fall ballot referendum to add a discrimination standard to the University Judiciary Committee's Standards of Conduct decided last night to attempt to pull the referendum because of constitutional concerns in regard to freedom of speech.
William B. Harvey, who previously assisted college administrators with diversity initiatives at the American Council on Education in Washington, is now joining the University as chief diversity officer.
Members of the University faculty issued a petition to President John T. Casteen, III last week scrutinizing the creation of the 2005-2006 academic calendar and requesting a change in protocol. Associate History Prof.
Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based architecture firm, was selected to work on the South Lawn Project yesterday. According to University Relations, the firm has been contracted to work on phase one, or the first four buildings, that will comprise the South Lawn Project. University Architect David Neuman said phase one should take between four and a half and five years to complete. "Specifically the firm, we believed, had a lot of very valuable experience doing similar sorts of projects," Neuman said.
University Medical Center Research Prof. Barry Marshall was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine over the weekend, making him the first current University faculty member to receive the honor. With the help of Australian physician Robert Warren, Marshall discovered that the Helicobacter pylori bacterium causes peptic ulcer disease.
Last night, state legislators and students met to discuss current issues facing Virginia's higher education system, mainly focusing on increasing tuition rates, in the Student Council-sponsored third annual ABC's of Higher Education"forum. Sen.
University Police arrested Martin Straume, an associate professor of research in the University Health System, yesterday afternoon on several criminal charges, including the attempted malicious wounding of a female University graduate student. According to University Police, the attempted malicious wounding of the graduate student occurred Sept.
Polls open next week for the University's fall elections supervised by the University Board of Elections.
The average employee healthcare costs at most colleges and universities increased by 10 percent this year, according to a survey released Monday by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources. Although healthcare costs for current University employees have not gone up, University Staff Union President Jan Cornell said employees have expressed frustration with the eroding service. The University is self-insured and designs its own health plan, but all claims are processed through Southern Health Services, Inc. In addition to employees having to pay upfront for services, there are not enough doctors and dentists in the Charlottesville area, so many employees are forced to go as far as Fredericksburg or wait for Southern Health to find a provider in the area, according to Cornell. "Southern Health doesn't pay enough to get doctors and dentists," Cornell said.
Seventy scholars from around the world met for a conference yesterday at the University's Darden School of Business to consider the future of digital scholarship. The conference, titled "Summit on Digital Tools for the Humanities," is three-day event which began yesterday.
Three University students were recommended for the Rhodes Scholarship, and four students were named as nominees for the Marshall Scholarship by the University Selection Committee. Fourth-year College students Catherine Neale, James Kennedy and Ryan Fleenor were endorsed by the University Selection Committee to compete for Rhodes Scholarships. Fourth-year College students Lee Skluzak and Chat Hull, as well as Kennedy and Fleenor, were endorsed for Marshall Scholarships. The Rhodes Scholarship offers 32 American students the opportunity to receive two fully-funded years of post-graduate study at England's Oxford University, said Nicole Hurd, director of the Center for Undergraduate Research. The Marshall Scholarship is similar but allows for study at any institution in the United Kingdom, Hurd said. The students had to write a personal statement outlying their planned course of study if chosen to go abroad, according to Hurd. "I would like to pursue a master's degree in higher education," Neale said.
The governing body of the Multicultural Greek Council voted over the weekend to sponsor a new interest group that hopes to establish the first multicultural fraternity at the University. The new interest group, the Fraternal League for All Men, has been working to attain special CIO status for the past three years, FLAME President Anthony Peng said.
The American Association of State Colleges and Universities found in a study released yesterday that the most important factor for high graduation and retention rates is a "campus culture" that reinforces student success and promotes a sense of purpose. AASCU undertook the study in an effort to understand retention and graduation rates of students at public four-year colleges. "Higher education has long been focused on access, but lately there's been more of a demand to focus on success," AASCU Director of Special Projects John Hammang said. According to the study, the most essential parts of "campus culture" in graduation rates are a sense that students can succeed, an inclusive environment for all members on campus and a "strongly held sense of an institutional mission that recognizes the campus as 'distinctive' or 'special.'" The survey chose 12 institutions nationwide with traditionally high graduation rates or significantly improved graduation numbers within their categories.
After years of gyrating state appropriations, it now appears that the University is safely on its way to getting the financial autonomy from the Commonwealth administrators say is necessary to compete among top-10 institutions. The Board of Visitors approved a proposed six-year financial plan Saturday and delegated final negotiations on a revised Management Agreement that is likely to go into effect by the next academic year.
The National Institute of Health granted the University Health System a six million dollar grant for prostate cancer research Monday.
With the creation of new financial aid programs at both Virginia Tech and William and Mary joining the University's AccessUVa, many Virginia schools and schools across the nation are developing a new approach to financial aid designed to assist student need in higher education. Virginia Tech President Charles W.
Tom Wolfe will be the Valedictory Speaker for this year's graduation festivities, according to University Relations. Wolfe will speak May 20 during Finals Weekend 2006. Fourth Year Trustees President Jordan Levy said the Fourth Year Trustees committee chooses the valediction speaker and that the ceremony is unique in its connection to students. "The students get to run [this ceremony] rather than graduation," Levy said.
