So Long, Old Friends3

A final message from President Casteen

Summer 2010

If my memory is correct, my first report to alumni, students’ families, and staff and faculty must have gone out in mid-fall 1990. In those days, I sent letters that took shape over several weeks in typewriters and later on word processors. Over time, the letters, then reports, and now pages in U.Va. Magazine and sometimes email reports have become for me important (and thoroughly pleasant) chances to share what I am thinking about and seeing in our University, and requests for advice, which has come back regularly and proved to be very useful. Thank you for that. These responses…

President’s Letter: Building Blocks0

Spring 2010

We have done a lot of building on the Grounds during my years as president. The new year brought a new beginning as the College’s South Lawn complex opened to students and faculty members. Nau and Gibson Halls, named for longtime backers John L. Nau III (Col ’68) and David Gibson (Col ’62), now house the departments of history, politics, and religious studies. A commons building that will include a 250-seat lecture hall will open in August. As the South Lawn grows in future years, it promises to become the College’s center. These new buildings carry forward a strategy laid…

Art and Science1

Winter 2009

We who work and live within Mr. Jefferson’s University sometimes overlook the energy our founder devoted to other pursuits in his spare time. Among his many avocations, science and the arts were perhaps his most compelling lifelong fascinations. Jefferson was an accomplished draftsman, dancer, musician, architect, author, and art collector—and also, on the other end of what one might imagine as an intellectual and creative spectrum, a skilled astronomer, archaeologist, paleontologist, physicist, botanist, and horticulturist. Given Jefferson’s devotion to the arts and to science, we may wonder at the irony of our modern University’s slow growth to maturity in the…

Dealing with the Downturn0

Fall 2009

The president discusses the recession and uncertainty about the financial future.

Accessibility in Tough Times0

Summer 2009

John T. Casteen Photo by Peggy HarrisonIn the middle of all of the bad news about the nation’s economy that we have been hearing and reading in recent months, we received some good news in January when The Princeton Review named U.Va. the nation’s No. 1 best-value public university in its annual “100 Best Value Colleges” list. The best-value ranking would be a noteworthy recognition in any year. During this deep recession, it is especially good news because students’ families and elected officials alike have recognized anew that affordable excellence in colleges and universities has to be a major national…

Remembering Two University Icons1

Spring 2009

President Casteen Photo by Peggy HarrisonAll of us lost two great friends in January when first Gilly Sullivan and then Jack Blackburn died. Both of these men helped build and shape our modern University through deep and long-standing commitments to their respective roles in University life—Gilly as director of the Alumni Association, and Jack as dean of admission for the undergraduate schools. Gilly Sullivan retired in 1993 after 45 years of service to the Alumni Association, including 35 years as its director. He started working for the Association in 1948 after earning an accounting degree here. During his nearly half-century…

Tomorrow Takes Shape0

Fall 2008

President Casteen Photo by Peggy HarrisonThis fall is a season of change in leadership here at the University. Retirements, departures for senior positions elsewhere and other transitions have created conditions for a remarkable transformation, and one whose scale and swiftness may be unprecedented in our history. The changes provide useful insights into where we are going, and how.Dr. Garson left the Medicine deanship to become provost in July 2007. He focused immediately on the need to conduct vigorous, purposeful searches for a new generation of deans and other leaders. Since July 2007, we have named five new deans: Paul Mahoney,…

Surrounded by History0

Summer 2008

President Casteen Photo by Peggy HarrisonOne of the pleasures of living and working in the University and the surrounding community is daily engagement with buildings whose rich histories are sewn into the University’s and our nation’s fiber. That engagement is both as physical as touching bricks and timbers, and as visceral as seeing newfound subtleties of shape or shadow that make these buildings such powerful images for all of us. Determining appropriate uses of these buildings as needs evolve can be challenging. We work to preserve them for future generations, but also to use them as working spaces for living…