Headlines @ U.Va.

COLLEGES RELY ON CONSORTIA, CONTRACTORS AND INGENUITY TO CUT COSTS
[...]Not long ago, colleges were seen as models of inefficiency. Their presidents let budgets grow unchecked during flush times, only to institute across-the-board cuts — whittling the good along with the bad — when times became tight. Now college officials are becoming increasingly creative in finding ways to reduce costs. They’re outsourcing nonacademic activities, collaborating with other institutions to share goods and services, and absorbing greater financial risks when long-term savings seem likely. ...U.Va. is taking on greater risks with its borrowing, hoping to save money through lower interest charges over time. In the past, the University issued only fixed-rate debt, so that it could be sure of its repayment obligations years into the future. Recently Yoke San L. Reynolds, vice president and chief financial officer, has been adding variable-rate debt, which now accounts for about 40 percent of the University’s borrowing. (Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 23)

PUBLIC OR PRIVATE COLLEGE — THAT IS THE QUESTION
Tim Watters’ son, the eldest of four children, is a high school junior ready to start touring colleges. And that has brought the family face-to-face with the question: public or private? A lot of money is riding on the answer. Including tuition, room and board, New Jersey state schools cost about $18,000 a year, while private colleges can run $40,000-plus... And there is no such thing as a typical public college or a typical private college. In either category, you can find big or small; selective or not; high quality or low. You could never make a blanket statement that private schools are better than public — because we all know of selective public schools (think U.Va.) that offer a better education than most private ones. (Bergen County Record, Jan. 18)

U.VA. NURSING SCHOOL RESEARCHERS TARGET MINORITY HEALTH CARE
A study at U.Va.’s School of Nursing is taking a look at health care shortages among minorities in central Virginia — and what to do about them. The study will focus on populations in rural parts of Louisa, Buckingham, Nelson and Orange and will focus on differences in care for diabetes, cancer and mental illness. Sharon Utz is an associate professor in the School of Nursing. She tells The Daily Progress, in Charlottesville, a 15-person team will conduct the research in hopes of developing a program geared to the specific needs of a black person living in the South. It could include exercise and eating tips. Randy Jones is another investigator in the project. He says many things may limit health care, including high costs, limited transportation and a lack of local practitioners of the same race. (Associated Press, Jan. 25)

SCIENTIST HONORED WITH SECOND-MOST CITED RESEARCH PAPER OF DECADE
Wladek Minor’s busy laboratory inside Jordan Hall at U.Va.’s Health System is famous for strong cappuccino and European chocolates. But now there’s something a lot bigger to crow about — the esteem of his competitive scientific colleagues around the world. A professor of molecular physiology and biological physics and a native of Poland, Minor is a pioneer in the growing field of protein crystallography. His lab’s work is not going unnoticed. A 1997 paper, “Processing of X-ray Differentiation Data Collected in Oscillation Mode,” published with Zbyszek Otwinowski, a colleague at the University of Texas, is now the second-most cited scientific paper in the world in the last 10 years, according to The Scientist magazine. (Europe Intelligence Wire, Jan. 17)