News Briefs

A return to the House call: kluge Gift supports home health care
A new challenge gift from philanthropist John W. Kluge will help the School of Medicine promote the value of in-home care, especially for elderly patients or patients in the late stages of a terminal illness.
The $500,000 commitment, which must be matched by $1.5 million from other donors, will create a professorship in palliative care.

Palliative care includes health practices designed to relieve pain or discomfort in patients who suffer from conditions with no known cures. The endowed chair will support faculty who are exploring new ways to enhance patient comfort and quality of life.

In addition to providing greater comfort and convenience for patients, in-home visits also can help doctors gain an immediate grasp of a patient’s particular needs and circumstances, said Dr. Daniel Becker, professor of internal medicine and health evaluation sciences at U.Va.

Outstanding employees deserve recognition
It’s time to nominate exceptional employees whose hard work you’ve supervised or seen firsthand for an Outstanding Contribution Award. The completed package is due by 5 p.m. March 19.

The winners will each receive $1,000, along with being honored at the annual awards banquet on June 3. Either the nominator or one of the two endorsers must be the nominee’s supervisor. Up to 11 classified employees will be chosen — five from the academic division, five from the Health System and one from U.Va.’s College at Wise. Nomination forms are available online at www.hrs.virginia.edu/linksforms.html.

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 3-9.

Supporting Charity Breaking records
Hundreds of U.Va. volunteers contributed to the record-breaking success of the 2003 Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (the state employees’ annual workplace-giving program) and the local United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring last September.

Urged on by 670 volunteer campaign leaders, approximately 3,200 U.Va. employees contributed a total of $595,236 to the CVC, surpassing last year’s total. Their dollars were designated for more than 400 charities locally and throughout the nation. Employees statewide gave more than $3.2 million.

During the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring, a community service effort started by the local nonprofit organization in 1992, nearly 400 University employees — up from 258 in 2002 — completed 47 volunteer projects ranging from deck repair, painting and landscaping to reading to children, organizing parties for senior citizens and sprucing up schools.

Community spirit celebrated
The annual “Celebration of Community Spirit” awards reception was held Jan. 29 in Newcomb Hall Ballroom to recognize U.Va. employees who made special volunteer efforts in the CVC Campaign and the Day of Caring.

The following units were recognized for CVC participation:

• The Office of Senior Vice President for Development & Public Affairs Robert D. Sweeney, The Jean M. Holliday Award for highest
participation rate

• The Office of President John T. Casteen III, The Hovey Dabney Award for highest average gift

• The Office of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Leonard W. Sandridge, The Wah-Hoo-Wah Award for greatest increase in participation in the CVC

• The Office of Vice President of Research and Graduate Studies R. Ariel Gomez, The Campaign Spirit Award for outstanding accomplishments

• The Office of Vice President for Finance Yoke San Reynolds, The Campaign Spirit Award for noteworthy accomplishments

Upgrading made fun and easy
Eat food and have fun while learning about the Integrated System upgrade! The first major upgrade, to version 11i, will take place in early May, but you can peek into the future and ask questions about the present at the Integrated System User Fair on March 3, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom and South Meeting Room.

Along with balloons and refreshments, giveaways and door prizes, try out the system’s new look and feel at the Finance, Human Resources and Procurement labs. Visit central office tables, get answers to questions you’ve wanted to ask, and register for training. Attend presentations on new features, cutover information and tips on carrying out transactions and business processes.

See full program at www.virginia.edu/integratedsystem/Upgrades/11i/index.html.

Buildings could be more healthful
A Feb. 20 symposium on “Healthy Communities, Healthy People” will explore the connections between the plan and design of buildings, neighborhoods and cities and whether these environments are healthy for people.

Sponsored by the School of Architecture’s Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, the symposium will feature a keynote address by Dr. Richard Jackson, of the Centers for Disease Control, on “The New Public Health Agenda?”

Maurice Cox, U.Va. professor of architecture and mayor of Charlottesville, will give closing remarks at 5 p.m. A student exhibit exploring public health and the built environment will be on display through Feb. 26.

The event is free and open to the public.

To make lunch reservations, contact Bettie Hall at 924-1339 or bhh@virginia.edu. Visit www.virginia.edu/arch and select “News & Events.”

Engineering opens house to public, youth
From an artificial heart pump to a solar-powered car, a range of projects will be exhibited at the annual School of Engineering and Applied Science Open House, held Feb. 28, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., throughout the Engineering School complex.

The event, free and open to the public, is especially appropriate for middle- and high-school students considering careers in engineering. The nearly 50 exhibits include lasers, a movie of a mouse heart MRI and a scanning electron microscope.

Kathryn Thornton, former astronaut and assistant dean of graduate programs for the Engineering School, will give an audio-visual presentation, “The Sights and Sounds of Space Flight,” at 1 p.m. in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering building, Room 205.

Visitors may register at the event in the lobby of Thornton Hall or online at www.seas.virginia.edu /openhouse/. Free parking is available near Scott Stadium, adjacent to the Engineering School.

General Faculty council seeks nominations
The General Faculty Council is seeking nominations for general faculty to represent several constituencies: administration, College of Arts & Sciences (two positions), libraries, health professionals (two positions), and the Curry School of Education. You may nominate yourself or someone else, with no limit on the number of nominations. E-mail nominations by Feb. 16 to Derry Wade, elections chair, at derry@virginia.edu.

The General Faculty Council represents full and part-time academic general faculty and administrative and research professional staff. The council exists to represent the interest of the general faculty to the University and to advise the University on matters pertaining to the general faculty. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month. For information about the General Faculty Council, visit the Web site at www.virginia.edu/genfac.

Endowed chairs created
The Board of Visitors established three new endowed professorships, bringing the total to 432. They are the LaBrosse-Levinson
Distinguished Professorship in Religion, Culture and Social Theory;
the Joseph and Frances Larner Professorship in Pharmacology; and the Justice Thurgood Marshall Research Professorship in Law.

Goodbye, German house
The Buildings and Grounds Committee
approved the demolition of the Max Kade German House on Brandon
Avenue. Colette Sheehy, vice president for management and budget, said the 1928 building required $378,000 in repairs to meet fire and safety codes, and the Housing Division had concluded the building was not worth the expense. Arrangements have been made to house the German language students elsewhere, and once renovations are finished at Bice House, she said, the German students could have a suite there.

In other board business At its meeting last week, the Board of Visitors

• Heard a report on the University’s endowment, which finished 2003 at $1.97 billion, its highest month-end level ever;

• Selected Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates of Philadelphia to assess sites for a University Center to be located near Newcomb Hall;

• Approved construction of a $5.9 million residence hall at the College at Wise;

• Ratified the purchase of a new clinical-operations building in the Fontaine Research Park, to be funded through the sale of bonds; and

• Named law student James W. Head as its new student member. Head, who completed his undergraduate studies at U.Va. in 2003, is a former
member of the Honor Committee.

NOTABLE
Awards and achievements of U.Va. faculty and staff

• Engineering professor Brian L. Smith has been named as the Council of University Transportation Centers’ 2003 outstanding new faculty member in transportation.

The council recognized Smith for his transportation research, his teaching and his contribution to professional engineering organizations. Smith directs U.Va.’s SmartTravel Laboratory and heads a $1.5 million research program to alleviate traffic congestion and provide more dependable transportation services.

• Ann Taylor has been appointed executive director of the Darden School Foundation. A 1985 Darden and 1980 College of Arts & Sciences alumna, Taylor was most recently chief operating officer of Gold Violin, a specialty retailer in Charlottesville. She has served on U.Va.’s Alumni Board of Managers and as a Darden alumni chapter president.

• Nancy Iverson has won the 2003 Best Dissertation Research Award from the National Staff Development Council. Iverson was recognized for her work on the U.Va. Standards of Learning Project, a program of courses, conferences and workshops to help educators implement Virginia’s SOL
requirements.

• Dr. Paul D. Mintz, director of the Division of Clinical Pathology and the Medical Center’s Clinical Laboratories and Blood Bank, is president-elect of the American Association of Blood Banks. The AABB is the principal international scientific and standard-setting association in transfusion medicine.

• Capt. Michael Coleman of the U.Va. Police Department has been elected treasurer of the Virginia Campus Law Enforcement Association.
Also, officers Joshua Ryan, Angela Santiago and Jeremy Tabler recently graduated from basic police training at the Central Shenandoah Criminal Justice Training Academy.

Law symposium explores Brown v. Board’s 50th anniversary
Jack Greenberg, one of the attorneys who argued the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case before the U.S. Supreme Court, will be the keynote speaker at a symposium Feb. 20 and 21 commemorating the case’s 50th anniversary. The event is sponsored by the Virginia Law Review and the Center for the Study of Race and the Law. Greenberg’s talk will occur Friday at 4:15 p.m. in the Law School’s Caplin Pavilion. E-mail lawrev@virginia.edu for information or to register.

SERIES on politics and history
The Miller Center is sponsoring a series on politics and history. The interdisciplinary forum is free and open to the public. Talks are held at the Miller Center at noon. R.S.V.P. for lunch.

• Feb. 20. Gretchen Ritter, associate professor of government, University of Texas-Austin. “Privacy and Citizenship in the American Constitutional Order, 1960-1980.”

• Feb. 27. John Skrentny, professor of sociology, University of California at San Diego. “The Rise of Instrumental Affirmative Action: Law and the New Significance of Race in America.”

Speakers’ papers will be posted online a week ahead. For a complete schedule, see http://www.americanpoliticaldevelopment.org.

Bold films by women
OFFScreen, the independent film group at U.Va., presents two more films in its series “Extreme Vision: New Women Auteurs” this month.

• Feb. 15. “In My Skin,” the debut effort of Marina de Van. The film looks at the theme of the human body as a boundary and a battleground for self-mutilation and escape.

• Feb. 22. “Open Hearts,” by Susanne Bier. The film explores the thorny question: How does one survive the reverberations of a single tragic moment?

Movie times: 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Newcomb Hall Theater. Tickets $3; memberships $26.

Women’s Center offers support groups
This spring, the Women’s Center Counseling Service is offering support groups open to students, employees and community members.
One group is for women who have had abortions and would like to process their experiences and share their stories in a nonjudgmental, therapeutic atmosphere. Another group is for exploring healthy relationships, from familial to intimate relationships, including same-sex relationships, in a supportive and therapeutic environment. Call 982-2252 or visit www.womenscenter.virginia.edu.

Nominations invited for Distinguished Alumna
A successful model of leadership. An extraordinary achiever in her field. A positive force for change. If you know of an outstanding female graduate, you can nominate her for the Women’s Center 2005 Distinguished Alumna Award. Nominations must be postmarked by March 1. For information, call Virginia Moran at 924-3946.

This year’s Distinguished Alumna awardee is Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Law School graduate who will be honored April 21.

In Memoriam
• William Cleerdin, 56, of Crozet, died Jan. 18. He was employed by the faculty housing department until his medical leave in October 2003.

• Margaret Mason Taylor, 84, of Charlottesville, died Jan. 19. A 1941 graduate of the U.Va. School of Nursing, she was in charge of the hospital’s hematology lab.

• Marcella Patricia “Pat” Wilson Dickerson, 47, of Charlottesville, died Feb. 1. She was employed by U.Va. Catering at the time of her death.
n Edward P. Knight, 83, of Dyke, died at his home on Feb. 3. He retired from Facilities Management in 1985.

• Frances C. Morris, 79, of Earlysville, died in Afton, on Feb. 4. She retired from U.Va. in 1992.