Our Vision | The Faculty | The Students
Bricks & Mortar | Health System| Athletics

Great Expectations
how we enrich the student experience



In today's global environment, students are outward looking, eager to learn about world events, and open to diverse points of view. They seek out courses that offer broad cultural perspectives, and they are enrolling in foreign language classes in unprecedented numbers.

	With an award from the new Kenan endowment, Nia Rodgers (Architecture '02) used mapping techniques to reveal the role of African Americans in shaping the University.

And of course, they have an intuitive grasp of information technology. This is a generation that was born with the IBM PC, and they expect to work in an environment in which the technology for acquiring and presenting information and for working collaboratively is readily available. We provide such an environment. Indeed, Yahoo! Internet Life has ranked the University as the ninth most wired institution in the nation.

New Options for Learning

Meeting the very real -- and worthy expectations -- of our students is one of the driving forces behind our Virginia 2020 and Envision planning processes. We can already see the results of our efforts across the Grounds. In 2001-2002, the University introduced educational programs that reflect the emergence of new areas of study, that tap into the unique strengths of our faculty, and that involve multiple disciplines. An example is the new interdisciplinary major in Environmental Thought and Practice, an area of growing student interest as concerns about population growth, sustainability, and climate change move environmental issues to the fore. This program draws on faculty expertise in the Institute for Practical Ethics, the Law School's Center for Environmental Studies, and the College's Environmental Literacy Program.

Another new interdisciplinary major, Human Biology, takes advantage of the University's outstanding faculty in law, medicine, bioethics, public health, health policy, and health evaluation. Likewise, the new major in Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law combines courses in history, economics, philosophy, law, politics, and foreign affairs. Generous gifts from Charles R. Cory (College '77, Law '82, Darden '82) and from an anonymous donor will endow new faculty chairs in this cross-disciplinary field. In the Engineering School, the state has approved a new B.S. degree in Computer Engineering, in which students will grasp the fundamentals of computer science, electrical engineering, and other relevant fields. As one would expect in the digital age, undergraduates are flocking to the program.

The Firsthand Pursuit of Knowledge

To fulfill our students' desire to pursue learning beyond the classroom, we are determined to make independent research, conducted collaboratively with faculty mentors, the hallmark of our upper-division programs. The Faculty Senate's research awards have given undergraduates the opportunity to take on such scholarly projects under rigorous academic standards. Made possible by the generosity of the late David A. Harrison III (College '39, Law '41), grants of up to $3,000 have been awarded to second- and third-year students based on the quality of their research proposals. In recent years, projects have ranged from an analysis of soil respiration in the rain forest to an examination of taste bud structure to an investigation of the molecular properties of nanoparticles. Some projects take place in laboratories on the Grounds; others involve field work in this country and abroad. Complementing the Harrison Awards, the Office of the President funds undergraduate summer research fellowships, and the College has created an office devoted to undergraduate research. It will act as a clearinghouse for research opportunities, both at the University and around the country, and it will help students develop grant proposals and to showcase their work. Students have established an undergraduate research network and have begun publishing their own scholarly journal, The Oculus, which takes its name from the skylight in the Rotunda. Another program, sponsored by the William R. Kenan Jr. Endowment Fund for the Academical Village, offers competitive awards of up to $4,000 for student research on the history of the University. The first round of awards supported projects on such topics as the role of African Americans in University life over time, the history of McCormick Observatory and Jefferson's plans for the study of astronomy, and the recollections of former Lawn residents.

Broadening Our Global Perspective

	New study-abroad programs have taken students to Shanghai, above, as well as to Rabat, Morocco; Lyon, France; St. Petersburg, Russia; and other cities overseas.

The Virginia 2020 Commission on International Activities set an ambitious goal of boosting student participation in study-abroad programs from 15 percent to 80 percent over the next two decades. To meet this target, the University has reinvigorated the International Studies Office and has begun to create a study-abroad program for every undergraduate major. These programs will be intellectually rigorous, will be aligned to the University curriculum, and will carry full University credit. This is an important issue, for there is little room in most students' schedules for pass/fail transfer credits that cannot be applied to the requirements for a degree.

The fruits of these efforts were evident this past summer, as groups of students traveled to Russia, Morocco, France, China, and South Africa for courses taught by University faculty. The summer programs in France and Russia are outgrowths of successful exchange programs already in place, while in Morocco, China, and South Africa, the summer programs represent the first steps in a process that could lead to semester- or year-long initiatives. They join a host of existing programs in locales as diverse as Jodhpur, India; Valencia, Spain; and Kyoto, Japan.

A new exchange program established in 2001 pairs the School of Architecture with Bradenburg University of Technology-Cottbus, one of Germany's premier institutions in the study of architecture and planning. And in the fall 2002 semester, our students began taking part in a full-credit University of Virginia program affiliated with the New York University Center in London.

Technology for Learning

The University has earned an "A" from Yahoo! Internet Life for its technological capabilities. It received its highest ratings in infrastructure, student services, and e-learning, but was judged only adequate in wireless capacity. This is about to change. The Department of Information Technology and Communication installed 200 wireless access points in areas where students work and study, including the Lawn, Alderman and Clemons Libraries, and most of the classrooms on Grounds.

A number of faculty members have already capitalized on the educational advantages of this network. Economics professor Charles Holt has devised a series of classroom exercises that lead students to an understanding of specific economic theories. As part of a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, he purchased a set of wireless handheld computers so that all the students in a class can log onto the Web, complete these exercises, and compare results, whether they are sitting in a classroom or in the shade of a tree along the Colonnades.

The Importance of Graduate Life

The University's graduate students play a triple role at the University: they are here to learn, to assist in learning, and to advance research. Graduate students, working closely with faculty members, collaborate on research projects that set the stage for their own scholarship. At the same time, the quality of our graduate programs and the quality of students who enroll in them are key factors in our ability to attract and retain the best faculty.

Composer Peter Swendsen is one of the first students in the new Ph.D. program in music.

This is why support for graduate fellowships is vital to the academic enterprise. Donors such as John H. Birdsall III (College '66), who recently endowed Jefferson Scholar Graduate Fellowships in music and art history and a graduate support fund in drama, are making a profound impact on the University's academic programs. Named for former University President Edgar F. Shannon, Jr., Mr. Birdsall's fellowships have helped attract students like composer Peter Swendsen, who turned down Northwestern to enter the McIntire Department of Music's new and innovative Ph.D. program, the first of its kind in Virginia. In art history, the Shannon Fellowship, combined with the opportunity to work with American art specialist Maurie McInnis, persuaded doctoral student Jennifer Van Horn to choose the University over Yale.

Clearly recognizing the importance of graduate support, the Faculty Senate this past year awarded $17,000 dissertation-year fellowships to eleven graduate students who have shown outstanding promise not only as scholars but also as teachers.

Writing a dissertation is an intense and difficult process. With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, English professor Herbert "Chip" Tucker helped place the dissertation in context for twelve graduate students in an eight-week summer seminar. Entitled "Proving Grounds: Hypotheses and Humanities," it examined the diverse assumptions and methods that shape the way arguments are formed and pursued in the humanities.