Myriad U.Va. programs reach others in the state

By Ida Lee Wootten

The University is making a difference in the lives of about one million people every year with more than 400 public service and outreach programs statewide, according to preliminary figures gathered by Laura Hawthorne, coordinator of public service.

Descriptions of such programs have been posted on the "Outreach Virginia" Web site (http://www.virginia.edu/outreachvirginia). The site is one of the first tangible results of the Virginia 2020 Public Service Planning Commission.

"No matter how well you think you know the University, expect to be surprised when you visit Outreach Virginia for the first time and see how much U.Va. is doing to make life better in this community and throughout the state," Hawthorne said.

To build awareness of the Web site and the hundreds of services the University provides, Hawthorne is making on-Grounds presentations to a range of groups. Meetings with alumni, the news media, elected and appointed civic officials, as well as business, education and political leaders across the state are next on the agenda.

Hawthorne and others also will highlight U.Va.'s outreach activities in conjunction with faculty lectures sponsored by the Faculty Senate Speakers Bureau. Events are planned in Tidewater, Lynchburg and Northern Virginia this spring.

Included here is a sample of some of the University's current contributions to public life.

• Since 1998, through the Center for State and National Programs for Educators in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, U.Va. has provided assistance to 129 of the 132 Virginia public school divisions in realigning K-12 curricula with Standards of Learning.

• In fall 2000, approximately 65,000 elementary, middle, and high school students participated in the nation's largest online mock election, run by the Youth Leadership Initiative, part of the Center for Governmental Studies at U.Va. Schools from fourteen other states are now getting into the project.

• Every day, approximately 30,000 users from 40 to 50 different countries download 150,000 digital texts from the internationally recognized Electronic Text Center.

• In 2000, nearly 40,000 people visited the Bayly Art Museum. Each year, approximately 6,000 schoolchildren visit the Bayly for guided tours.

• U.Va.'s Blue Ridge Poison Center, which serves more than half the state, receives almost 31,000 calls each year from frantic parents, loved ones, rescue squad personnel and physicians. Over half these calls involve a child younger than six years old.

• In fall 2000, teachers throughout Virginia used an evaluation tool developed at the Curry School of Education to test the reading abilities of more than 65,000 children in K-3 classrooms.

• Every year, the U.Va. Women's Center serves more than 11,000 people in the Charlottesville-Albemarle community through counseling services, information referrals, mentoring programs, sexual assault education, special events and publications.

• Over 7,000 individuals and organizations receive a monthly newsletter from the Weldon Cooper Center highlighting demographic and workforce trends in Virginia. Each month, over 3,000 individuals retrieve information, including demographic, income, and workforce data, from the Cooper Center Web site.

• On New Year's Day 2000, Dr. Karen Rheuban, a pediatric cardiologist, used the telemedicine system to diagnose a rare, life-threatening heart defect in a 2-day old infant in Winchester. To date, nearly 2,500 consultations have taken place via the Health System's Telemedicine Program, saving time, money, and lives by using technology to provide clinical and consultative health care services for patients in remote areas.

• Since 1996, more than 8,000 people throughout Virginia have received medical information on current treatment options and research at no charge through our Health System's BodyTalk program.

• Several thousand people participate every year in the lifelong learning programs offered through the Center for University Programs in the School of Continuing and Professional Studies, exploring topics that range from the Civil War to landscape architecture.