REPORTERS, EDITORS:  To reserve a press pass and parking space, call
Penney Catlett in University Relations at (804) 924-1400.  A mult
box for taping will be located at the press area on the South end of
the Lawn.  Reserved press parking will be in the C-1 lot (behind and
beside Clark Hall, off McCormick Road.)

	ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN RICHARD WILSON TO DELIVER FALL
	CONVOCATION ADDRESS ON 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF ROTUNDA FIRE

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Oct. 18 -- Commonwealth Professor of
Architectural History Richard Guy Wilson will present the 1995 Fall
Convocation address at the University of Virginia on Friday, Oct.
27, the 100th anniversary of the disastrous fire that gutted the
University's historic Rotunda.
	Wilson, one of the country's leading architectural
historians and author of major studies of Jefferson's and Stanford
White's architecture, will speak about the fire and how it led to a
series of events that ultimately strengthened a small, struggling
university.
	Fall Convocation, which will honor about 500 undergraduates
for their academic achievement, begins at 2 p.m. with a procession
down the Lawn and is open to the public.  Rain site is University
Hall.
	Third-year students who have earned a 3.4 grade point
average or higher their first two years at U.Va. are recognized with
Intermediate Honors during the ceremony.  In addition, the annual
Thomas Jefferson Award is presented to a member of the University
community who exemplifies in character and achievements the ideals
of the school's founder.
	Convocation marks the beginning of Parents' Weekend and
coincides this year with the 100th anniversary commemoration of the
fire that gutted the Rotunda.  As part of Fall Convocation, the
University Guide Service will give "living tours" created especially
for the event.
	Wilson, who joined the architecture school faculty in 1976,
wrote the catalogue essay accompanying Alderman Library's exhibit
"Arise and Build!:  A Centennial Commemoration of the 1895 Rotunda
Fire."  With a fellowship from U.Va.'s Institute of Advanced
Technology in the Humanities this year, he is creating an
interactive database on Jefferson's architecture.  He was guest
curator of the Bayly Art Museum's fall 1993 exhibit on "Thomas
Jefferson's Academical Village:  The Creation of an Architectural
Masterpiece," and contributed an essay to the book published with
the exhibit.
	Wilson's 1984 book, "McKim, Mead and White," covered the
influence of that architectural firm, whose leading figure, Stanford
White, redesigned the Rotunda after it burned and added Cabell Hall
to Jefferson's Academical Village.  Wilson also co-curated the
exhibit, "The Making of Virginia Architecture," which opened in
November 1992, and is co-author of the award-winning companion book.
	Born in Los Angeles, Wilson received his B.A. from the
University of Colorado and a Ph.D. in American culture, art and
architectural history from the University of Michigan in 1972.
###
October 17, 1995