News briefs

Diversity resources online
One of the most recent efforts to help communicate the University’s position and progress in the area of diversity is the Web site, http://www.virginia.edu/uvadiversity/. Go to “Voices of Diversity” online and see how the University is working to build “a community of understanding, tolerance and respect.”

Health plan ombudsman
Sometimes health plan benefits and claims can be daunting or confusing, but there is someone who can help: Anne Dawson. As the U.Va. health plan ombudsman, she is there to explain policies, provide answers and investigate coverage problems that employees have been unable to resolve themselves. All encounters with her are confidential.

Well-acquainted with the local community and the nuts and bolts of health care insurance, Dawson has interned at Martha Jefferson Hospital, worked for U.Va. patient financial services and, most recently, was claims and customer service manager for six years for QualChoice and SouthernHealth. She began the ombudsman job in October.

Dawson said her help runs the gamut from explaining benefits of the U.Va. health plan to advising employees on the appeals process.

Call 924-4346 or e-mail healthplanombuds@virginia.edu.

Psychologist to evaluate Sniper suspect Malvo
Among the rulings Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Jane Marum Roush made recently on pretrial motions filed by the attorneys of sniper suspect Lee Malvo was authorization to have U.Va. clinical psychologist Dewey Cornell assess Malvo for the defense.

Legal precedent gives defendants in capital cases a right to expert mental health assistance. Cornell’s duty will be to conduct an objective and neutral evaluation and determine if any mental health issues provide mitigating circumstances in the defendant’s sentence. If Malvo is found guilty, the jury will determine whether he should get the death penalty, uncommon for a juvenile.

Malvo, 17, and co-defendant John Allen Muhammad, 42, are suspected in 13 shootings last year — 10 of them fatal — in the Washington area sniper slayings and in six others across the country.

Teaching for a new era
How does an artist think? How does a scientist think? Faculty members interested in pursuing either of these questions with students have the opportunity to get support on developing a new course devoted to presenting the topic with a broad, interdisciplinary approach. With a $5 million grant to revolutionize teacher education, called “Teachers for a New Era,” the Curry School and College of Arts & Sciences are introducing a series of “common courses” to integrate liberal arts education and teacher education more closely and to serve as a vehicle for attracting students to teaching.

Proposals for the new courses, which will be large lecture classes with discussion groups, are due April 1. Proposals should involve at least two faculty members from different departments. Of the six discussion groups led by graduate teaching assistants (whose salaries will be paid by the grant) one section will focus on teaching issues. Faculty will be released from part of their teaching load and will get summer support to create their courses.

For details, call the Dean of Arts & Sciences’ office at 924-3437 or e-mail Karen Ryan at klr8p@virginia.edu or George Hornberger at gmh3k@virginia.edu.
BAMA Works helps teen center

The philanthropic foundation established by the Dave Matthews Band, BAMA Works, has made a $10,000 grant to the U.Va. Teen Health Center’s Education Program. The program trains middle- and high-school students to become peer health educators, providing accurate and potentially life-saving information to their friends on such topics as depression and suicide, body image and eating disorders, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexually transmitted infections.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball looks into presidency
The Crystal Ball — at http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/ — is the brainchild of U.Va. Center for Politics director Larry Sabato. The Web site is a comprehensive, innovative election guide featuring hard-hitting analysis of political races across the country. There’s also a look at how the 2004 presidential nominees will be decided, along with the center’s “Seven Principles of Successful Nomination-Seeking.”

Sabato’s advice to George W. Bush: “Beware the third year” – it’s among the times that try presidents’ souls. The center has a new analysis of the Gallup Poll trends for presidents since Lyndon B. Johnson.

As a professor, author and political analyst, Sabato draws on more than 30 years of experience in monitoring national elections to create this free Web site for journalists, students and political junkies alike.

Bunker wins national award
Linda K. Bunker received the fifth Director’s Award from the U.S. Office of Personnel Development and the Federal Executive Institute. Bunker, professor of health and physical education in the Curry School, is the first scholar to be given the award; the first four awards went to presidential appointees. On the U.Va. faculty since 1973, Bunker has devoted her career to researching and advocating sports for girls and women.

Her work has been honored by more than a dozen awards, including the University’s highest honor, the Thomas Jefferson Award, which she received in 1995. In 1996, she was inducted into the National Women’s Sports Hall of Fame.

Florence Nightingale scholar to lecture
The School of Nursing will present the Agnes Dillon Randolph Award to Lois Monteriro, professor emeritus of community health at Brown University, on March 20 at 4 p.m. in McLeod Hall auditorium. Monteriro will discuss “Florence Nightingale’s Views on Women and Women’s Issues.” Following the lecture, which is free and open to the public, Monteriro will receive the award.
The 10th annual Agnes Dillon Randolph Lecture is co-sponsored by the Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry and the nursing honor society, Sigma Theta Tau, Beta Kappa chapter. Established in 1991 to support historical scholarship in nursing, the center is dedicated to the preservation and study of nursing history in the United States.

Defend yourself
Women concerned about their personal safety can take a self-defense class taught by Lisa Speidel, formerly of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency and now a free-lance instructor of the Rape Aggression Defense System. The five-session class, which costs $40, will be held on Sundays starting March 16 from 6-9 p.m. at the North Grounds Recreation Center. It is open to full-time U.Va. students and members of the University’s recreation facilities.

For information and to register for the class, visit the Web site, www.radself-defense.8m.net.

U.Va. conference draws Tibetan scholars
Scholars from around the world are at U.Va. this weekend to share new advances in the historical study of Tibet and the Himalayan region.

U.Va. is one of the leading U.S. centers for Tibetan and Buddhist studies, as well as for making Tibetan materials and scholarship available on the Web.

For information about the conference, call the Center for South Asian Studies at 924-8815. Visit the Web site of the Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library, created by religious studies professor David Germano and run by an international team of scholars, at www.thdl.org.

Two receive Sloan fellowships
Jacob K. Goeree, associate professor of economics, and Jun Julius Zhu, assistant professor in pharmacology specializing in neuroscience, were among 117 scientists and scholars named by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as recipients of its 2003 Sloan Research Fellowships. Winners receive grants of $40,000. The fellowships are awarded annually to recognize and support young scientists and scholars in seven fields: chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience and physics.

Conference on affordable architecture
How do architects work with communities to create affordable housing?

On March 28-30, the School of Architecture, in collaboration with the non-profit group Design Corp., will host “Structures for Inclusion 3,” a conference highlighting the role architects can play in providing affordable community design. Experts and practitioners will present case studies illustrating both specific solutions and prototypical systems. Discussions will examine ways projects can move from idea to reality and the potential architects have to bring about social change.

Mabel O. Wilson, associate professor of architecture at California College of Arts and Crafts, will give the keynote address, “Domestic Encounters,” on March 28.
The cost for attending the conference is $10 for U.Va. students and members of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students and the American Institute of Architects ; $20 for other students; $40 for interns; $150 for professionals; and $250 for sponsors. Conference details and registration information are available on the Web at www.designcorps.org.

See art from Poland and U.Va.
At the art department’s Fourth-Fridays Reception March 28, a special exhibit, “Collaborative Digital Works,” will be on display, featuring Bogdan Achimescu, U.Va. visiting assistant professor of art, his students, and Artur Tajber and his students from the Fine Arts Academy of Krakow, Poland. The reception will be held at 5 p.m. in Fayerweather Hall.

Harley for you, support for CMC
The U.Va. Children’s Medical Center is raffling off a 100th Anniversary Edition 2003 Harley “Fat Boy” motorcycle. The prize, worth $25,000, comes from Waugh Enterprises with a custom-paint job and two helmets, plus a custom-built enclosed trailer donated by Ruckersville Motorsports.

Tickets are $5 each or $20 for a book of 5 tickets.

A 2003 Ford Thunderbird convertible will also be raffled off again this year (with 400 tickets at $250 each), courtesy of Jim Snead Ford.

Co-sponsored by Klockner-Pentaplast, the raffles will benefit the Children’s Medical Center. The center’s goal is $100,000. To get tickets, call Patrick Belisle or Maria Heil at 924-8432 or find tickets on sale at the U.Va. Hospital Gift Shop and at ACAC fitness center.

Off the Shelf
Jeffrey Hopkins, professor of religious studies. “Reflections on Reality: The Three Natures and Non-Natures in the Mind-Only School.” University of California Press.
Guy Newland, editor. “Changing Minds: Contributions to the Study of Buddhism in Honor of Jeffrey Hopkins.” Snow Lion Publications.

Jonathan Rosenberg and Zachary Karabell, Miller Center research fellows. “Kennedy, Johnson and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes.” W.W. Norton & Co.

John Portmann, religious studies professor. “Sex and Heaven.” Palgrave Macmillan.

This book explores why sex and sexuality have replaced religious belief as the stairway to heaven in Catholicism.

Also new this month: the paperback edition of “In Defense of Sin,” edited by Portmann and first published two years ago.

Gang Tao, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. “Adaptive Control Design and Analysis.” John Wiley & Sons (Adaptive and Learning Systems for Signal Processing, Communications and Control Series).

George Klosko, professor of politics. “Jacobins and Utopians: The Political Theory of Fundamental Moral Reform.” University of Notre Dame Press.

Robert Louis Wilken, William R. Kenan Professor of the History of Christianity. “The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God.” Yale University Press.
Curry School of Education faculty Daniel L. Duke, Margaret Grogan, Pamela D. Tucker and Walter F. Heinecke, editors. “Educational Leadership in an Age of Accountability: The Virginia Experience.” SUNY Press.

George Garrett, Henry Hoyns Professor of Creative Writing. “Southern Excursions: Views on Southern Letters in My Time.” Louisiana State University Press.

Jahan Ramazani, English professor; Richard Ellmann and Robert O’Clair, editors. “The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry.” Third edition. W.W. Norton.

Jonathan Moreno, director of Center for Biomedical Ethics, editor. “In the Wake of Terror: Medicine and Morality in a Time of Crisis.” MIT Press.

With the federal government’s Department of Homeland Security telling citizens to pack water, flashlights and duct tape in an emergency kit to be ready for terrorist attacks, this book on new and changing policies considers the ethical issues that are surfacing in the climate of bioterrorist threat. Contributors include U.Va. faculty George Annas, James Childress, Paul Lombardo and Patricia
Werhane.

UVA NewsMakers online as well as on TV
From activist, poet and playwright Amiri Baraka to former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, UVA NewsMakers provides another chance for the community to hear notable speakers and scholars who visit U.Va. The speaker series is not only televised, but videos and transcripts also are available on the Web.

The public service program, produced by University Relations’ Television News Office, is broadcast weekly Thursdays and Fridays on Charlottesville Public Access Ch. 13.

The show also is broadcast on the ResearchChannel, a nonprofit consortium founded by a core group of research universities and corporate research divisions, available by direct-broadcast satellite, cable television, webcast and video on-demand. In addition to this national outlet, the program airs on the University’s College at Wise cable outlet, cable television in Tidewater through U.Va.’s Hampton Roads Center and on Georgia Tech Cable Network Television.
See the UVA NewsMakers new Web site at http://www.virginia.edu/uvanewsmakers

Order academic regalia by March 21
For faculty members participating in Final Exercises May 18, academic regalia can be rented or purchased from the U.Va. Bookstore. Orders are due by March 21 and may be placed weekdays between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. The cost of a rental cap and gown is $15, with an additional $15 for a rental hood. For information, call Teresa Hammond at 924-3721 or 924-7212.

Reminder to nominate outstanding employees
Nominate exceptional employees whose hard work you’ve supervised or seen first-hand for an Outstanding Contribution Award. New this year, the winners will each receive $1,000, along with being honored at the annual awards banquet on
June 5.

Nomination forms are available online at http://www.hrs.virginia.edu/linksforms.html and the completed package is due by 5 p.m. March 21.

Outstanding employees will be automatically submitted for the Governor’s Awards, which are given to employees around the state and will be announced during Virginia Public Service Week, May 5-11.

In Memoriam
• John T. Haliburton Sr., 82, of Charlottesville, died Feb. 19. He retired from the University after many years as executive chef.

• Marvin Burke, 78, of Madison, died Feb. 23. He retired in 1984 from Facilities Management as a power plant supervisor.

• Dorothy C. Marsh, 85, of Charlottesville, died Feb. 27. She retired from the Health System as an employee of Central Sterile Supply.

• Carol Lee Jones, 69, of Charlottesville, died Feb. 27. She worked in the Health System’s Department of Nutrition Services.

• Joann Stinne Green, 55, of Charlottesville, died Feb. 28. She retired from the Health System as a laboratory technician in December 2002.