Headlines @ U.Va.

A LOOK AT THE VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW
Literary journals are considered “known quantities” in the academic and intellectual worlds. With staid, predictable covers and oft-perplexing article titles, they’re not usually thought of as “hip.” Enter the new incarnation of The Virginia Quarterly Review, founded in 1925, reinvigorated in 2003 by its current editor, Ted Genoways…. In the three years of his tenure, VQR has covered the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, post-earthquake camps in Pakistan, and in the Summer 2006 issue, Milosevic’s Serbian legacy. “We hope to filter large issues through a personal perspective,” Genoways commented. “We insist that the quality of the writing rise to a literary level, and the pieces we end up with are remarkable.” (Mobile Press-Register, Aug. 20)

INFLUX OF STUDENTS LIKELY BY 2010
Tens of thousands more students are expected to join classrooms in Northern Virginia’s fast-growing outer counties by 2010, further taxing strained resources, according to a study released yesterday. The number of students in Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties will increase by about 48,400, according to a study of birth rates and U.S. Census data released by the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center…. Michael Spar, a research associate at the Weldon Cooper Center who conducted the study, attributes the growth to a rise in in-state births and more child-rearing parents moving to the state than leaving. (The Washington Post, Aug. 3)

TECH SQUADS EASE COMPUTER SYSTEM’S HUGE HOOKUP TEST
They’ve been gearing up for this for months. Last week, the final wave of computer support staff went through training. The techs held their breath, hoping no new virus would come along. Yesterday morning, they gathered for final instructions, and then it hit: The University of Virginia dorms opened. More than 3,000 new students arrived … And more than 3,000 computers got plugged in… “We’re pretty much flat-out from the first of July to the first of September,” said Tony Townsend, U.Va.’s chief technology analyst. “The climax is move-in Saturday.” Yesterday, U.Va.’s tech staff, wearing matching T-shirts, deployed in waves to help find cables, explain passwords, watch for bugs. (The Washington Post, Aug. 20)

FOUR DARDEN ALUMNI MAKE MAGAZINE’S LIST OF YOUNG AFRICAN-AMERICAN MBA’S
Four graduates of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business have made the list of “Top 50 Under 50” African-American corporate executives compiled by Black MBA magazine. The four alumni on the list are: Thomas Baltimore, president of RLJ Development in Bethesda, Md.; Bryan Simms, senior vice president of Lehman Brothers in New York; Warren Thompson, president, chairman and CEO of Thompson Hospitality Corp. in Herndon, Va.; and William Wright, managing director of Morgan Stanley in New York. (Virginia Business Magazine, August 2006)