AS PART OF ROTUNDA FIRE COMMEMORATION, 
U.VA. WILL OFFER SUMMER STIPENDS 
FOR STUDENTS TO RESEARCH UNIVERSITY HISTORY
	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 8 -- The University of Virginia
will offer five stipends of $2,000 each for graduate students and
advanced undergraduates to conduct research on the 20th century
history of the University this summer.
	Results of the faculty-supervised research will be used as
part of U.Va.'s planned commemoration of the 100th anniversary of
the disastrous Rotunda fire of Oct. 27, 1895.
	The full-time research projects in June and July will be
with primary sources on 20th century University life, including
official records, student publications, archaeological evidence and
oral histories with key participants.
	Applications must be submitted by April 7 to Phyllis K.
Leffler, chair of the Rotunda Fire Research Committee, Garrett Hall.
	Students should submit a prospectus of no more than two
typewritten pages, describing a proposed research project and its
value for understanding the 20th century history of the University;
a current transcript of undergraduate and/or graduate work, and the
names of two faculty members as references.
	Faculty aware of student research in progress or of
potentially interested students are asked to encourage them to apply.
	As a result of the student research, "we hope to become
better informed about what life at the University was really like in
earlier parts of the century, and not just in its official context,"
said Leffler, assistant dean of arts and sciences and a member of
the University-wide committee planning anniversary events.
	The research will be used in an interdisciplinary course on
University history next fall and as part of an exhibit and public
conference next spring, she said.
	Those activities are among a wide variety being planned to
mark the 100th anniversary of the great fire that destroyed the
interior of U.Va.'s landmark Rotunda, the historic centerpiece of
founder Thomas Jefferson's original "academical village."
	The University will use the anniversary not only as an
opportunity for examining closely its 20th century history but for
looking ahead to the 21st century, Leffler said.
	The 21-person committee planning the official anniversary
events is made of students, faculty and administrators.
###
March 7, 1995