News Briefs

Record year for fund raising
The University received almost $262 million in donor support in the fiscal year just concluded, marking the third time in four years that U.Va. has set a record in its fund raising. The total was $6.9 million or 2.7 percent higher than the record amount received in 2001-2002.

Contributions and pledge payments in the $261,921,891 total made between July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003, included some of the largest single gifts in the University’s history. Last fall, distributions from the estate of alumnus David A. Harrison III and from a trust he had created earlier provided $64 million, largely for endowed professorships in law and medicine.

More than 61,000 other donors made gifts to U.Va. in 2002-2003. Of these, nearly 51,000 took part in U.Va.’s annual giving program, providing $34.2 million for current operations. These resources have been especially welcome to deans and department heads whose budgets have been hard hit by recent cuts in state funding.

Call to lend a helping hand
“Lend a helping hand” is the theme of the 2003 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign, an annual opportunity for state employees to donate to charity. Oct. 1 has been declared “CVC Day” in Virginia.

Each fall, U.Va.’s salaried employees receive pledge cards to support a variety of charities through payroll deduction, check, credit card, cash or stocks, with 100 percent of the donation going to the selected charities. The CVC is based on employees’ commitment to help others, with employees deciding many elements of the campaign. Last year U.Va. gave more than $560,000 to more than 400 organizations, making the University No. 1 in giving in the state.

For information, contact the CVC Office at 924-3939 or danarivera@virginia.edu, or access the Web site at www.virginia.edu/cvc/.

Sharpening English language skills
The average number
of postdoctoral researchers at U.Va. varies from 350 to 500. Nearly two-thirds of them are non-U.S. citizens, and in the latest survey, they represent at least 27 countries. Until now, those in U.Va.’s science community have not had advanced English language courses available to help them strengthen their skills in communicating with students and co-workers, as well as with colleagues at conferences.

Now the Center for American English Language and Culture has added courses for foreign scientists in Arts & Sciences and the School of Medicine. The Office of the Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies is providing additional funding for academic communications. Written and oral communications courses are also being offered for the fall and spring.

Two years ago, the center began offering content-specific English language courses for several schools and departments — law, engineering, commerce and economics.

For information, contact Dr. Kimberly Dunsmore, director of postgraduate enhancement programs, at 924-3885 or kpd6u@virginia.edu.

Basketball tickets available in lottery
The U.Va. Athletic Ticket Office has announced that approximately 75 mini-season men’s basketball tickets are available through a lottery to full-time U.Va. faculty and staff. Three packages for five or six games between November and March will cost $97 or $110, respectively. Those interested in entering the lottery may stop by the Athletic Ticket Office in Bryant Hall at the Carl Smith Center between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, until the deadline of Oct. 17. Winners will be notified by Oct. 29.

From U.Va.’s College at Wise
Couple gives $520,000 for scholarships
James and Martha Holyfield, who grew up in Wise and live in Denver, have donated $520,000 to help students go to U.Va.’s College at Wise, which the Holyfields never had the chance to attend.

The college was established in 1954 as Clinch Valley College, and the Holyfields moved away
in 1947.

The Martha Ann
Roberts Holyfield Endowed Scholarship Fund will benefit local students with financial need who plan to go to the college starting in the fall of 2004.

Mrs. Holyfield retired in 1990 as vice president and comptroller of Chase Manhattan’s western district, although she never went to college. She supported her husband through two degrees, and he retired from Colorado’s state human resources department. Over the 50 years they have lived elsewhere, the couple has returned to Wise regularly to visit family.

Wise listeners tune in
WISE-FM listeners can now enjoy expanded national public radio programming through a new agreement with the University’s College at Wise and WVTF-FM in Roanoke, the public radio station operated by Virginia Tech. The new agreement is an extension of a long-standing association in which WISE-FM partnered with WVTF to provide state- wide news coverage. Much of the daily programming will remain the same.

Since 1999, when the Wise radio station went on the air, it has provided National Public Radio service to an area where signal reception was spotty at best. WISE-FM airs at 90.1 in Big Stone Gap and Washington and Russell counties, 90.3 in Clintwood, 90.0 in St. Paul, 91.3 in Pound and Jenkins, Ky., and 91.7 in Norton.
Despite private gifts and local business underwriting, adequate funding has not been available due to recent state budget cuts.

Women’s Center to expand Hues program
As part of the U.Va. Women’s Center’s commitment to leadership in the area of diversity, its programs focus on the intersections of race, gender, class and ethnicity. The center’s Hues Mentoring program – a unique opportunity for women of color - brings together mentors, students, community members and visiting scholars, artists and leaders. The center’s Black Women’s Leadership Conference, which was originally a brainchild of an undergraduate Hues student, has become an annual event.

This year the program has undergone some changes, according to Kimberley Roberts, director of mentoring and lecturer in Studies in Women and Gender. “We are changing the name, for one. It will be called the Hues Leadership Network for Women of Color,” she said. Mentoring will continue to be offered, but events will be added that will be of more interest to women of color. Professional development will be an ongoing theme. Watch the Web and Inside UVA calendars for upcoming events.

Tough Times Companion
A new publication from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities features pictures and words to help those in need of healing. “Tough Times Companion” is a book of poetry, fiction, essays and photography by and for people surviving difficult times. In order to reach those who face tough times daily, the book, produced by the Violence and Survival program, will be distributed throughout the region to hospitals, shelters, emergency care-givers, firefighters, police and rescue workers. For information, call Althea Brooks at 924-3296 or e-mail althea@virginia.edu.

Curry to host Norwegian scholars
A group of six to eight graduate students from Norway will visit the Grounds Oct. 6-10 to study the Curry School’s well-regarded special education programs. Hosted by Curry professor Robert Pianta, the Norwegians are advanced students in special education who plan academic or policy careers. They are interested in getting a sense of how the Curry School provides training in special education, and how special education programs operate in local schools. Special education is a fairly broad field in Norway, so Pianta said he and his colleagues hope to expose the visiting scholars to a range of activities or topics.

U.Va. research featured in journal Nature
James Brookeman, professor of radiology and biomedical engineering, had research findings published in the Aug. 21 issue of Nature. In his work, he examined the use of hyperpolarized helium and xenon gas as a vehicle to make lungs, the brain and other organs visible through magnetic resonance imaging. MRI is much faster using these gases than using conventional MRI procedures. This new technique may help reduce the cost of MRIs and enable smaller health-care facilities to offer the technology.

Paula Q. Barrett, professor of pharmacology, published in the July 10 issue of Nature news of a discovery about T-type calcium channels. These channels have been implicated in the pathogenesis of arrhythmias, epilepsy, diabetes, hypertension and in the progression of congestive heart failure. Undergraduates, as well as graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and lab technicians, work in Barrett’s laboratory.

Garage work may delay traffic  
Several types of work related to construction of the Ivy Road/Emmet Street Garage began this week, and with it, the potential for traffic delays. Drilling and earth-moving account for periods of loud,
prolonged noise.

Workers are widening Rothery Road, off Ivy Road and opposite the garage driveway, closing Rothery temporarily, in advance of building
a traffic island.

Construction on the new Emmet Street turn lane begins Sept. 29.
In mid-October, areas of Ivy and Rothery roads near the garage will be paved, temporarily interrupting traffic flows.

To subscribe to monthly e-mail updates about U.Va. construction projects, contact the Community Relations Office at 924-1321.

Updates are also posted on the Web at www.virginia.edu/communityrelations/.

Salmonella protein detected
Salmonella bacteria are responsible for up to 4 million infections and 500 deaths in the United States every year. As reported in the Sept. 26 issue of Science magazine, scientists at the U.Va. Health System, working with colleagues at Rockefeller University, have found that a protein in salmonella called SipA invades healthy human cells by using two arms in a “stapling” action.

Edward Egelman, U.Va. professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics, said this research is significant because it offers the possibility of designing molecules that would prevent SipA from binding to a protein called actin, thereby preventing the severe infection and symptoms associated with salmonella.

The article can be accessed on the Web at www.sciencemag.org

‘Spirit Walk’ needs warm bodies
Would-be actors who would like to portray a ghost from Charlottesville’s past are invited to audition for the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society’s “Spirit Walk,” a dramatic evening walking tour. Auditions will be held Sept. 27 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 200 Second St. N.E. About 20 actors are needed to portray a variety of historical characters, including men and women of all ages and racial backgrounds. Behind-the-scene volunteers also are needed.

The ninth annual “Spirit Walk” will take place Oct. 24, 25 and 26, leading groups through historic downtown Charlottesville, including Jackson Park, Maplewood Cemetery, the old High Street jail and the Court Square area.

FEAP offers workshops on communication
Whether you have to deal with difficult people at work or you are the difficult person for co-workers, the Faculty and Employee Assistance Program offers a workshop on communication that could help. The six-week series, held Wednesdays from noon to 1 p.m., Oct. 1-Nov. 5, will cover different facets of communication from several perspectives, such as using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, managing anger constructively and understanding and appreciating others. Sessions will take place in the fifth-floor conference room of the Blake Center at 1224 West Main Street. To register, contact Denese Straughn at dds4e@virginia.edu or 243-2643.

Reading volunteers wanted
The Learning Needs & Evaluation Center at U.Va. urgently needs volunteers to read textbooks onto tape for students with disabilities. Good readers are needed only one hour per week, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Elson Student Health Center. Contact Genevieve Grosbaum at 243-5187 or
glg2v@virginia.edu.