NEW STUDENT OPTIONS RESIDE ON U.VA. GROUNDS

	University of Virginia students gain a variety of living
options, including a new residence hall, foreign language house and
a program devoted to promoting cultural diversity, as the academic
year begins.

Cauthen House

	The new 38,000 square-foot student residence facility
welcomes its first residents, 120 first-year students and six
Resident Staff members, on Saturday, Aug. 24.  Located in the
Alderman Road housing area behind Observatory Hill Dining Hall,
Cauthen House has the distinction of being the only first-year
residence facility with a public area that includes classrooms.  

	The first floor of the brick-faced building will contain two
classrooms and a computer lab, which will have 22 work-stations with
full phone, cable and data access. A common area with tables, chairs
and vending machines adjacent to a room with washers and dryers will
be open to all students.

	The 4,000 square-foot public area will also contain a
graduate advisors suite, a place offering academic advice and
counseling.  Members of the Resident Staff program will also be
on-site to provide assistance, and preliminary plans call for
another area on the first floor to be used for support services.

	"The public area was designed to promote social interactions
among Cauthen House residents and others in the University
community," said Daniel Montgomery, project manager for the
$6,750,000 facility.  "Outside areas, such as a large terrace, will
also be suitable for social gatherings.  I think the public areas
will give a welcomed feeling of openness to Cauthen House,"
Montgomery said.

	Residents will use key cards to gain access to Cauthen
House's top three floors -- one for men and two for women.  "The key
cards will provide increased security and convenience to students
since they can easily be reprogrammed if students lose them, "
Montgomery said.

	All residential rooms on each floor open to a central
corridor.  Each floor will have a large lounge area and two study
rooms in addition to a bathroom area meeting American Disabilities
Act requirements. All the air-conditioned rooms have phone, cable
and data access. 

	Named in memory of Irby B. Cauthen Jr., an English teacher,
author and college dean, the facility has been completed on time and
within budget.  "Extraordinary credit should go to the architect,
Hanbury Evans Newill Vlattas & Co. of Norfolk, and the contractor,
Branch and Associates of Roanoke," said Montgomery. 

	For more information, contact Daniel Montgomery at (804)
982-4723. 

Note to photographers, videographers: Janice Gerda, assistant dean
of students, and Jennifer Ledford, an area coordinator in the Dean
of Students office, can describe the new facility from 8 a.m. to 4
p.m. during "move-in day," Saturday, Aug. 24.  They can be reached
on Saturday at (804) 924-3736.

Spanish House

	About 24 upperclass students will move into the new Spanish
House located at 1408 Jefferson Park Avenue, next to the French
House.  Students, who will speak Spanish in all common areas
including the kitchen and dining room, will share at least four
dinners together weekly.  They will live in newly renovated,
air-conditioned rooms that will have phone, cable and data access.

	The Spanish House is located in what was formerly known as
Snowden faculty apartments.  This academic year marks the first time
that the Spanish House has been self-contained within its own
building.  Last year it was housed within the Lambeth Field
residential area.  Clara Gimenez, assistant professor of Spanish who
holds her doctorate from the University of Madrid, is faculty
advisor for the house. 

	For more information, contact Wanda Weaver in U.Va.'s
Housing Office at (804) 924-6873.  Clara Gimenez is at (804)
924-7159.

Mosaic Program

	A student initiative last year -- a program devoted to
promoting multiculturalism -- becomes a reality this year in Hoxton
House.  Expected to attract approximately 44 upperclass students,
the Mosaic Program will offer a variety of events designed to
explore and stimulate awareness of cultural diversity.  Among the
programs planned so far are discussions of minorities in the media,
history of "step" and a comparison of liberation movements in South
America and the United States.

	For more information, contact student-organizer Barbara
Hutchison at (804) 243-1754.

A First for Hereford College

	U.Va. President John T. Casteen III will speak at Hereford
College's first fall convocation on Wednesday, Aug. 28.  To be held
at 4:30 p.m. in the amphitheater (Rain site:  Runk Dining Hall), the
convocation will include a speech by the president, remarks by
Daniel Bluestone, Hereford College's new principal, and the
induction of 22 fellows.  The fellows program gives Hereford College
residents opportunities to interact with faculty, graduate students
and community residents in formal and informal settings outside the
classroom.

	"The selection of fellows has been revamped to put more
emphasis on people who live in Charlottesville," said Drake Patten,
one of three new coordinators of studies at the college.  At least
six Charlottesville residents, with interests ranging from the arts
to politics and government, will be inducted as fellows. 

	"We are excited about holding our first fall convocation.
It marks the first time President Casteen has been at a formal
ceremony here since the official groundbreaking for the New
College," Patten said.

	"The convocation will celebrate the college's new
beginning," agreed Bluestone.  "We see it as an opportunity to
articulate the vision for a residential college."

	Bluestone, a preservation professor in the architecture
school, is pleased at the variety of social and cultural programs,
ranging from classical musical performances to rock-climbing
expeditions, that students are planning.  "It's exciting to give
students an opportunity to become their own producers, as well as
consumers, of intellectual and social interactions."

	Faculty who teach Hereford College residents will be invited
to dine with the students periodically throughout the year.  In a
program begun last year and continued this year, course
registrations are scanned to identify college residents enrolled in
the same classes.  "Whenever we find six to 15 students taking a
class together, we call the professor and invite him or her to
dinner.  It's an effective means of pulling faculty into the
students' lives," Bluestone said.

	The lower level of Vaughan House has been converted into
study space, in response to student requests, Bluestone noted.
Library tables and chairs have been placed in an area adjacent to
the computer room.  "Students have gained a first-rate place for
study," he said.

	For more information, contact Daniel Bluestone at (804)
243-1776.  Drake Patten and the other new coordinators of studies,
Philip Troutman and Edna Johnston, can be reached at (804) 982-4874.

New Principal

	H.C. Erik Midelfort became the new principal of Brown
College on July 1.  A history professor, Midelfort can be reached at
(804) 982-5598.

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August 21, 1996