SEPTEMBER 2009
U.Va.'s new MR-Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery Center opens. The center uses a hybrid technology that integrates the visualization capabilities of MRI with the intense energy of precisely focused ultrasound.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, an advocate for microfinance, speaks at University Hall. His concept of collateral-free microloans to the poor has led to a global movement that has disbursed more than $20 billion to nearly 100 million households in more than fifty countries, including the United States.
The Thomas Jefferson Award, the University's highest honor, is given at Fall Convocation. The award for service goes to President John T. Casteen III, and the award for scholarship is given to J. Thomas Parsons, the F. Palmer Weber Professor of Medical Research and chair of the Department of Microbiology.
The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies hosts a symposium celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Julian Bond, professor of history and chairman of the NAACP, gives the keynote address.
The University of Virginia's Creative Writing Program ranks third among 140 full-residency programs, according to a survey by Poets & Writers magazine.
NOVEMBER 2009
A team including Joe Bozzay (Engineering '10), Maria Fini (Engineering '11), Brandon Freshcorn (Engineering '10), Rohini Manaktala (Engineering '11), Dan Tarjan (College '10), and Thaddeus Webb (College '10) travels to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to compete in the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. Their project, which involves the manipulation of bacteria to absorb arsenic commonly found worldwide in groundwater, wins a gold medal�the first for a U.Va. team.
DECEMBER 2009
ecoMOD, a collaboration between the Schools of Architecture and Engineering and Applied Science along with the City of Charlottesville and Habitat for Humanity, dedicates a fourth house in Charlottesville on Elliott Avenue. ecoMOD's goal is to design, build, and evaluate affordable, prefabricated homes using sustainable design principles. The ceremony also kicks off the new ecoREMOD program. Architectural history students will collaborate on the ecoREMOD project, which focuses on sustainable historic preservation of previously built structures.
U.Va. researchers lead the Commonwealth with $58.3 million in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to date. The 137 funded projects range from thousands of dollars to millions and include a $3.2 million grant to study diabetes and dyslipidemia in African Americans, a study to improve healing of diseased or damaged vascular systems, a study of extrasolar planets, and an investigation into the connections between classical and quantum mechanics.
JANUARY 2010
The BioLevitator is named by the Scientist magazine as one of the ten most exciting tools for life sciences research in 2009. Invented by pathology professors Robin Felder and John Gildea, the BioLevitator's three-dimensional cell culture system allows for growth of more cells in less time than it takes with two-dimensional systems and better represents the natural in vivo environment.
For the second year, the Princeton Review with USA Today ranks U.Va. as the best value of all public colleges and universities in the nation. AccessUVa, the University's financial aid program, is cited as an important factor in their decision. Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine ranks U.Va. third among public institutions in its annual "best value" issue.
The University community responds to the earthquake in Haiti with various fund-raising efforts across the Grounds and by collecting for the Red Cross and other organizations. Several student groups, such as Hoos for Haiti, help mobilize the relief effort.
FEBRUARY 2010
To date, $392,000 is contributed by the University's employees to the 2009 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC). Since 1999, U.Va. employees have contributed nearly $7.5 million to charities through the CVC. By the campaign end, the total raised is $945,749.
For the fifth time in four years, the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a case brought by the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic in the School of Law. The Supreme Court has upheld the clinic's position in two of the previous cases, with one ruling still pending.
MARCH 2010
Led by civil rights pioneer and history professor Julian Bond, the fourth Civil Rights South Tour, "Race to the South: From the Klan to Katrina," travels from Memphis to sites in Arkansas and Mississippi, and ends in New Orleans.
U.S. Senator Mark Warner and U.S. Representative Tom Perriello join some of the nation's leading venture capitalists and U.Va. faculty members at the second annual Venture Summit to discuss ways the United States can promote innovation and maintain its leadership in science and technology.
The University dedicates its first LEED-certified building, a 15,000-square-foot addition to the Printing and Copying Services facility. It is the first building on the Grounds to be certified since the Board of Visitors declared in 2007 that all future U.Va. buildings would meet LEED standards. The Town Center Three building at the University Foundation's Research Park received gold certification in September 2009.
Business Week ranks the McIntire School of Commerce second among the nation's undergraduate business programs, naming it the top-rated program among public institutions.
The University's Board of Visitors names the arts precinct for President John T. Casteen III and his wife, Betsy Casteen. The area will be known as the Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds.
More than 100 students, faculty members, and guests showcase the U.Va. Bay Game, an interactive computer simulation that models the effect of human decisions on the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed. Philippe Cousteau, grandson of famed ocean explorer and conservationist Jacques Cousteau, helps host the event.
The University marks the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the McCormick Observatory. Built in 1885, it was the second largest in the world and the largest in the United States at the time.
The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards are presented to undergraduates Courtney Mallow (College '10) and Ben Chrisinger (Architecture '10) and head swimming and diving coach Mark Bernardino. The awards recognize their remarkable character, integrity, and commitment to serving the University community and others.
U.Va.'s student-initiated composting program receives a silver medal in the 2010 Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards. The program is one of many student-initiated sustainability efforts.
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Leonard W. Sandridge is presented with a joint resolution of the Virginia General Assembly, citing his "integrity, competence, hard work, and willingness to take on any task." A joint resolution of the General Assembly presented in March recognized President John T. Casteen III for his leadership in higher education.
Kathryn Thornton, retired NASA astronaut and associate dean of graduate programs at the Engineering School, is inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center.
The Miller Center of Public Affairs hosts a Presidential Sites and Libraries Conference that features speeches by Pulitzer Prize�winning presidential biographers.
President-elect Teresa Sullivan is named by the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering and the president of the Institute of Medicine to a national committee that will study and make recommendations on the state and future of the American research university.
U.Va.'s Office of Community Relations created and administers the Day in the Life Program, which is coordinated by AmeriCorps VISTA members who work with U.Va. students, area schools, and community organizations to provide tutoring and mentoring. In 2009�10, 650 U.Va. students provided 7,205 hours of tutoring and mentoring to more than 2,090 local youth through the program.
JULY 2010
Governor Robert McDonnell appoints four new members to the Board of Visitors. The new appointees are Hunter E. Craig of Charlottesville; Marvin W. Gilliam, Jr. (College '78), of Bristol; Sheila C. Johnson of The Plains; and Mark Kington (Darden '88) of Alexandria.
The School of Medicine launches Memory Commons (www.memorycommons.org), a first-of-its-kind interactive educational website focusing on Alzheimer's disease and dementia. The site includes tutorials, interactive case discussions, open case consults, blogs, and an innovative interactive simulation of outpatient clinic encounters.
The School of Medicine inaugurates a new building, launches a new curriculum, and welcomes the 155 members of the Class of 2014, the largest in the history of the school. Approximately 3,246 new undergraduates move onto the Grounds, with more than 90 percent of the incoming students ranking in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating classes.
As oil continues to ooze into the Gulf region's marshy bays, first-year MBA students at the Darden School of Business debate two new case studies about the environmental disaster. The multimedia cases are the work of Darden professor and author Erika James, case writer Gerry Yemen (College '95), and multimedia producer Stace Carter.
The University of Virginia ties for No. 25 with the University of California-Los Angeles and Wake Forest University in the 2011 U.S. News rankings. U.Va. continues to rank No. 2 in the best public university category. For the seventh year in a row, U.S. News ranks U.Va.'s College at Wise as the top public national liberal arts college whose students graduate with a low debt load.
The U.Va. iPhone app is released August 28 and by August 30 is listed as the No. 1 "New and Noteworthy" app in the education section of the iTunes store.
SEPTEMBER 2010
Governor Robert McDonnell announces the members of six task forces working in coordination with the Virginia Health Reform Initiative Advisory Council. U.Va. Health System members include Ed Howell, vice president and chief executive officer (Medicaid Reform); Dorrie Fontaine, dean of the School of Nursing and Sadie Heath Cabaniss Professor of Nursing (Service Delivery and Payment Reform); and Dr. Karen Rheuban, medical director of the Office of Telemedicine (Technology).
A $2 million National Science Foundation grant is awarded to a multidisciplinary research team to develop "smart building" energy systems for residential and commercial buildings. Team members include faculty and students from the Engineering and Architecture Schools, as well as Darden. The researchers will develop affordable, energy-reducing technology and systems that will be tested in various buildings such as the new Rice Hall, Charlottesville-area homes, and a disaster recovery home built through the Architecture School's Initiative reCOVER.