News Briefs

Family Weekend rounds out October
Moms, dads and other family members will be on Grounds Oct. 31-Nov. 2 for family weekend activities. The weekend begins on Friday with Fall Convocation at 2 p.m. in University Hall where Intermediate Honors will be awarded to 354 students. Twelve students from the School of Architecture, six from the School of Nursing, 81 from the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and 255 from the College of Arts & Sciences will be honored. In addition, the recipient of the Thomas Jefferson Award will be announced. The award is considered the highest honor given to a member of the University community who has exemplified in character, work and influence Jefferson’s principles and ideals.

Family Weekend is sponsored by the Office of Orientation and New Student Programs. For more information, see http://www.virginia.edu/familyweekend/.

U.Va. garners Governor’s Technology Awards
The University Library and the Office of Information Technologies are playing key roles in two statewide programs recently honored with 2003 Governor’s Technology Awards.

The library has been a leader in helping shape the Virtual Library of Virginia consortium, which won the Governor’s Technology Gold Award for higher education.
The information technologies office has partnered with three other state universities to offer leadership to protect Virginia against computer-security problems. The partnership, the Virginia Alliance for Secure Computing and Networking, was honored with a Silver Award, which recognizes innovative ideas in technology.

Shirley C. Payne, director for security coordination for U.Va.’s Office of Information Technologies, is chairwoman of VA SCAN. Jim Jokl, ITC director for communications and services, and Brian Davis, ITC security and policy specialist, have also played active roles in the alliance.

Monacans, archaeologist tell their story
This fall, the University’s Engaging the Mind statewide public lecture series brings to Charlottesville a panel discussion on "Writing Collaborative History: U.Va. and the Monacan Indian Nation." To be held in the Rotunda Dome Room Oct. 23 from 4-6 p.m., the forum will include anthropology professor Jeffrey Hantman and members of the Monacan Indian Nation: Chief Kenneth Branham, Karenne Wood, Daniel Red Elk Gear and George Whitewolf.

Although the perception of archaeologists and Native Americans as adversaries in the writing of Indian history hasn’t been totally dispelled, Hantman and the Monocan people have worked together cooperatively for 10 years in researching their past along the James River.

The event is free and open to the public but space is limited; reserve a seat by calling 1-866-882-6887 or go to the Web site http://www.virginia.edu/facultysenate/speakers/2020/.

Engaging the Mind brings together U.Va.'s scholars with citizens across the state, extending the intellectual life of a nationally ranked research university.

Students update community on Greek system
Students in U.Va.'s four Greek governing councils invite faculty and staff to attend "State of the Greek System" on Oct. 21 from 7-8:30 p.m. in Newcomb Ballroom. The program will feature representatives from the Inter-Fraternity Council, Inter-Sorority Council, Black Fraternal Council and the Multicultural Greek Council.

Art reception rescheduled
The U.Va. Art Museum event with artist Tim Rollins is rescheduled for Oct. 24.

Rollins will give a talk at 5 p.m., followed by a reception.

The General Faculty Council invites general faculty to stop by the GFC table in the museum to meet council
representatives.

Gilliam goes to Miller Center
The Miller Center has appointed George H. Gilliam as director of special programs. Gilliam is the producer of several documentaries on Virginia history, including the acclaimed “Massive Resistance,” produced as part of a PBS series. After practicing law for more than 25 years, Gilliam began work on a doctoral degree in history at the University in 1998. He has taught at U.Va., Washington and Lee University and Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Vaughan gets national post
Robert C. Vaughan III, president of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and a member of the Darden faculty, has been elected to a two-year term as president of the National Humanities Alliance. The alliance is the only organization that represents the humanities within a full range of organizations — colleges and universities, scholarly and professional associations, museums, libraries, historical societies, historic sites and state humanities councils.

Web site on yellow fever awarded
A project at the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library has been awarded the 2003 Waldo Gifford Leland Award from the Society of American Archivists for the digitization project and Web site of the library’s Philip S. Hench Walter Reed Yellow Fever Collection.

Walter Reed earned a medical degree at U.Va. in 1869 and worked on the U.S. Army Commission to eradicate yellow fever in Cuba in the early 1900s. In the 1950s, Dr. Hench of the Mayo Clinic collected documents to preserve the history of how Reed and colleagues worked on the task.

The project team, led by Joan Echtenkamp Klein, assistant director of historical collections and services for the library, comprised individuals with expertise in history, archives, digital technology and metadata. U.Va.’s Electronic Text Center gave technical support to the project, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services provided funding.

Poet Anne Carson will read at U.Va. Oct. 27
The acclaimed Canadian poet and essayist Anne Carson will read from her poetry at the University Bookstore Oct. 27. Carson, professor of classics at McGill University and winner of several major literary prizes, will read at 8 p.m. as part of the U.Va. English department’s Peters Rushton lecture series.

Her poetry collections include “The Beauty of the Husband,” “Autobiography of Red,” “Plainwater” and “Glass, Irony and God.”
A noted Greek and Latin scholar as well as a poet, Carson has been honored with a

MacArthur Fellowship, Britain’s T.S. Eliot Prize and a National Book Critics Circle nomination, among other awards.

‘Writer’s Eye’ literary competition under way
The University Art Museum offers creative writers its annual opportunity to respond to works of art on exhibit for the 17th annual Writer’s Eye Literary Competition.

Organized by the museum’s docents, the program invites students in grades three through 12, U.Va. students and local adults to submit original prose and poetry compositions inspired by a selected work of art.

Winners will be recognized in the spring and published in an anthology.

For details, visit the Web site at www.virginia.edu/artmuseum or call 924-7142.

Free legal clinic
The Women’s Center’s free legal clinic is held the third Thursday of each month. Thirty-minute time slots are available with local volunteer attorneys who offer advice on a range of legal issues. The clinic is open to all U.Va. faculty and staff, as well as local Charlottesville residents. For information, call 982-2361 or e-mail Katie Torrens at kjt4d@virginia.edu.

Minority career day marks 20th anniversary
University Career Services will observe a milestone Oct. 28 when it hosts U.Va.’s 20th annual Minority Career Day. By early October, 114 organizations planned to participate in the recruiting event at the Charlottesville Omni. Public, private and nonprofit organizations will be talking with students.

Minority Career Day is now the largest minority recruiting event in the mid-Atlantic region. In addition to U.Va. students, UCS invites students from colleges throughout Virginia and in the Washington area.

Originally designed for African-American students, the program now includes all students, especially those who consider themselves of minority status.

To kick off the event, Joanne M. Yoo (Commerce ’98) will speak at a reception for recruiters and U.Va. students on Oct. 27. Yoo established her own event planning and marketing firm in New York and is now working concurrently toward a master’s in business administration at Columbia and a master’s in public administration at Harvard.

American Management Systems, The May Company/Hecht’s and Booz Allen Hamilton are sponsoring the event. For information, see http://
www.virginia.edu/career/mcd/mcdweb.html.

Buildings named
At the full board meeting Oct. 3, the Board of Visitors approved naming the future studio art building Ruffin Hall, in memory of the late Peter B. and Adeline W. Ruffin, whose foundation gave $5 million toward the cost of the new building. It also approved naming the Monroe Lane Language House after A. Vincent Shea, former vice president for business and finance in the 1970s, who died last year. It will be called Shea House.

Faculty Actions
The Faculty Actions approved by the Board of Visitors will be posted with the online edition of the Oct. 10 Inside UVA.

Special Committee on Diversity Meets
The Board of Visitors’ Special Committee on Diversity met Oct. 2
to review its mission statement and meet the co-chairs of the President’s Commission on Diversity and Equity, Angela M. Davis and Michael J. Smith.
Chairman Warren M. Thompson will meet with the co-chairs of the diversity commission after its retreat Oct. 13 and 14. Thompson also said his committee will examine the University’s recruitment and retention of faculty, as well as students.

The Board approved the committee’s mission statement, which stresses, “the encouragement and support of an atmosphere at the University that ensures that diverse members of the University of Virginia and Charlottesville community are treated equally and fairly. The accomplishment of this mission is essential to creating an educational experience for our students to prepare them
for productive and responsible citizenship in the world beyond this community.
The Special Committee defines diversity to include race and ethnicity, age, gender, disability status, sexual orientation, religious and national origin, socioeconomic status, and other aspects of individual experience and identity.”

Board Establishes Professorships
The Board of Visitors established eight new endowed professorships, bringing the total to 429. They are: the Alvin V. and Nancy Baird Professorship in Historical Collections; the Cory Professorship in Political Philosophy, Policy and Law; the Cosmo A. DiFazio Professorship in Anesthesiology; two Ivy Foundation Distinguished Professorships in Pediatrics; the Harry W. Porter Jr. Visiting Professorship in Architecture; the William Stone Weedon Professorship
in Asian Architecture; and the Distinguished Professorship in the
History of Landscape Architecture (anonymous donor).

Everybody’s business
The 2003 Charlottesville Business Expo will take place Oct. 23 at the U.Va. Cage, next to University Hall, from 4 to 7 p.m. Co-sponsored by U.Va. and the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, the event showcases U.Va. and local businesses, services and products to area residents.
Musical entertainment and refreshments will be provided. The event is open to the public at $2 per person and is free to all Chamber members.

Career workshops
Employee Career Services continues to offer workshops to help employees excel in the workplace and in their career development. The Oct. 14 session focuses on “Rave Review Resumes: How to Develop Winning Resumes and Career Portfolios.” Learn how to speak for yourself in the Oct. 22 session on “How to Shine in Interviews and Conversations with Supervisors.”
Workshops begin at 8:30 a.m. in the human resources building at 2400 Old Ivy Road. See the schedule at http://www.hrs.virginia.edu/Career/ecs.html

Undergraduate fellowship office moves
The Center for Undergraduate Excellence, which administers the David A. Harrison Undergraduate Research Awards, fellowships and interdisciplinary majors, has set up shop at 116 Cauthen House while its office in the basement of Garrett Hall is being renovated.

Nicole F. Hurd, an assistant dean in the College and center director, said the office is conducting business as usual and will be located in the first-year residence hall through the end of the semester.

Two music professors honored
Walter B. Ross, recently retired professor of music, and Edmund Najera, adjunct faculty voice teacher, have been honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. An independent panel recognized Ross and Najera for their catalog of original compositions, as well as for recent performances.

Homecomings: a revived tradition
The University Programs Council and Student Council are reviving Homecomings weekend, with events planned for Oct. 24 and 25. Alumni, students and the Charlottesville community are invited to a party Friday from 6-9 p.m. in Mad Bowl with student organizations, and appearances by coach Al Groh and the football team.

Before the 3 p.m. Saturday football game, U.Va. vs. Troy State, Virginia cheerleaders and Cav Man will be part of the festivities from noon to 2 p.m. in Nameless Field.

Drug developer to speak Oct. 15
Mary Ann Leeper, a leader in developing drugs and products that address global women’s health issues, will discuss AIDS in developing countries at the U.Va. School of Nursing’s annual Zula Mae Baber Bice Memorial Lecture Oct. 15.
Leeper oversaw development of The Female Condom™ — the first and only STD prevention method under a woman’s control that has been approved by health regulatory agencies around the world.

The Bice lecture, free and open to the public, will be held in the Jordan Hall Conference Center Auditorium at 2 p.m. For information, call 924-0138.

In Memoriam
• Jon Christopher Crocker, professor emeritus of anthropology, died Sept. 19. He had retired from U.Va. in 2000. A former student of Claude Levi-Strauss, Crocker went to southwestern Brazil in the ’60s to do field work with the Bororo Indians. He studied symbols, ceremonies and rituals in their culture and others, such as Northwest Coast Indians.

• Hermann Johannes Schladitz, 89, of Palmyra, died Sept. 12. He was professor emeritus of material sciences.

• Mary Ella Coleman, a retired U.Va. hospital nurse, died Sept. 21.

• Joseph L. Johnson, 73, died Sept. 21. He had retired from the University’s Department of Buildings and Grounds, now Facilities Management.