New World Views

Did you know Virginia was once believec to be only a 10-day march from the Sea of China? An exhibit at the Special Collections Library shows how views of North America evolved as navigation, printing and cartography advanced.

The University and the Civil War

Nick Taylor’s debut novel, The Disagreement, is set at the University’s Medical School during the tumult of the Civil War.

The Vanished Prince

Howard Scherry’s life direction was determined early on, when as a student he encountered the words of the legendary aviator and author.

The Tibetan Connection

The people and culture of Tibet have been a part of the U.Va. community for decades, and a new center provides a fresh link to an area of growing international focus.

Behind the Scenes

At an institution as large as U.Va., it’s easy to forget that it consists of many individually moving parts. We profile a few of the 13,500 employees who keep the University humming every day.

A Balm for Burns

Burn victims suffer a unique agony. The pain of their injury is compounded by the rigorous cleansing required to ward off infection, a common and often fatal complication.

Bookmarked: Crystal Ball

Election season is heating up and Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball is the place to go for the Web’s most reliable source of political analysis. (The Pew Research Center and…

Verbatim

A Walk on the Lawn

Nearly 6,400 degrees were conferred during Final Exercises on May 18. For the first time in University history, more than 10 percent of the graduates were international students.

The Big Picture

A new video board will be installed in Scott Stadium in time for the 2009 football season.

The Power of Rice

In villages throughout India, huge piles of rice husks—a byproduct of rice milling—sit slowly rotting. Proving the old adage that one man’s trash is another’s treasure, two Darden students have started a business that uses these discarded but plentiful rice husks as fuel for two generators that are providing power to about 10,000 rural Indians.

Admission Dean to Retire in 2009

Three decades and 451,908 applications later, Blackburn, 66, has announced that he will retire in June 2009.

Fighting Fair

A bipartisan panel of statesmen, scholars and military experts convened by U.Va.’s Miller Center of Public Affairs has issued a call to change the process by which the nation’s leaders address decisions about going to war.

Chinese Spoken Here

While Elizabeth Wesner was filling out her application to the Curry School of Education in 2004, she felt like something was missing. When asked to indicate which language she wanted to be certified to teach, she created her own box and wrote "Chinese."

Q&A

Darden professor and former economist for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Ronald T. Wilcox examines the causes and consequences of America’s aversion to saving

University Notes

Robert D. HardieHelen Dragas of Virginia Beach, chief executive officer of the Dragas Group, and Robert D. Hardie of Charlottesville, managing director of Level One Partners, were appointed in July…

Say Hello to the Future

A number of key leadership positions have been filled in recent months around Grounds. The following is a brief introduction to the people who will help guide the University in coming years.

R&D In Brief

Tapping Into the Brain

Imagine being able to think, taste, touch and feel, but being completely unable to move or communicate. “Locked-in syndrome” is…

Lost Flower Power

Air pollution is destroying the fragrance of flowers and inhibiting the ability of bees and other insects to follow scent…

Post-Combat Care

A surgery long popular for cosmetic purposes may also help soldiers when they come off the battlefield.Adam Katz, a plastic…

Sports Shorts

From Chris Long to Sharneé Zoll, Cavaliers made their marks in the drafts held this spring by pro leagues.Long, a…

Making Sport of Water

Such is the appeal of water sports—dancing on the thin line between two elements, riding on surface tension, moving faster on water than legs can travel on land.

Basketball Beats Ballet

The world of ballet might be a better place if Debbie Ryan (Grad ’77) had made a different choice as a child, but the world of basketball would be poorer.

Fountain of Youth

This year, a bumper crop of talented young players—eight in all, including two from the Netherlands—makes the odds good for a threepeat.

A Tackle to Remember

Dombrowski also became pretty good at football. He played a central role in U.Va.’s success in the 1980s, including Virginia’s first bowl game, a 27-24 victory over Purdue in the 1984 Peach Bowl.

No Country for Slow Players

Becky Sauerbrunn (Col ’08) will remember her first international soccer match for all the right reasons—and one she’d just as soon forget.

Reunions 2008: June 5-8

See photos from 2008 Reunions Weekend

Saluting Achievement

The U.Va. Alumni Association’s Board of Managers saluted past accomplishments and paved the way for new ones at its spring…

Admission FAQs

How does the University regard transfer students, particularly those from community colleges?

New & Notable

Required Reading: Marcia Day Childress

Comic Wizard

He points out the stigma attached to comic books—that it’s for geeky kids with Coke-bottle glasses and pocket protectors—is out the window.

Mom’s the Word

They just felt compelled to create a magazine that, as thinking mothers, they would want to read.

A Long Paper Trail

A 40-year effort by U.Va. to acquire the papers of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer finally met with success in June. With her family’s blessing, the late poet’s literary life on paper was boxed up at her home in Lynchburg, Va., and delivered to the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.

In Memoriam

Letters to the Editor

For what it is worth, I could not have been more pleased, or impressed, with the cover of your summer…

Student Life: Learning the Ropes—and Stairs

The community these students have already begun to create emulates the group focus that orientation director Tabitha Enoch and orientation leaders emphasize. "Orientation is important in establishing what it means to be a part of the University community," Enoch says.

First Person: Crossing the Aisle

Virginia was a smaller state in 1968, and its politics had been one-party Democratic for the previous swath of the 20th century.

Short Course: Teen Angst and Parental Stress

For those of us who fear that all our efforts to raise our children to be bright, polite and responsible have failed miserably, Peter Sheras has a message: Don’t give up.

Retrospect: 1825-1939: The Anatomical Theater

Thomas Jefferson designed the Anatomical Theater in 1825.

President's Letter: Tomorrow Takes Shape