UVA Today News Blog

Central Virginia is not exactly Tornado Alley; a quick check on TornadoHistoryProject.com turns up one twister in the city limits and nine in Albemarle County in the last half-century. More common around here are the straight-line winds, microbursts (and even the odd derecho).

But tornados are not to be taken lightly. On Sept. 20, 1959, a twister near Ivy killed 11 people. And the one storm in the city limits, on May 13, 2000, is blamed for one injury.

Besides, the precautions you should take for tornados and other windstorms are pretty similar.

Continue reading…

Health and Safety, News, On Grounds, safety | Friday, March 8th | By: Dan @3:53 pm | 3 Comments     

The 21^st Annual 4^th-Year 5K Run/Walk will take place Saturday at 8 a.m., beginning at Nameless Field. Participants can register here.

The race occurs every November around the time of the last home football game to provide students with a healthy alternative to the high-risk drinking tradition associated with the final home football game: the “fourth-year fifth.” The race is also a chance for members of the larger University community to come together to publicly demonstrate their commitment to responsible behavior and healthy living.

The race is presented every year by the Peer Health Educators and is made possible by support from community sponsors and other University organizations.

Proceeds from the race go to the Leslie Baltz Foundation, an art history scholarship fund established by the Baltz family and friends to honor Leslie’s memory.

Baltz was a fourth-year honor student in studio art and art history who died Nov. 30, 1997 as a result of  high-risk drinking on the day of the last home football game.

Health and Safety, safety, Student Life | Wednesday, November 7th | By: Dan @8:00 am | 1 Comment     

I’ll admit it: Sometimes I fantasize about calling in sick, chucking all my responsibilities and sleeping in, then trying to make a dent in my bedside pile of reading, or curling up on the couch and finally watching some of those DVDs I’ve been meaning to get around to.

Alas, the few times that I have actually been ill enough to miss work have never quite matched up to my idyllic dreams. The sickness gets in the way.

And so it was that I rolled up my sleeve a few weeks ago and got my annual flu shot. And now I’m feeling a little self-righteous: If I have to be here during flu season, by golly, I don’t want to have to do YOUR work, too, especially when you had the option of getting a free flu shot yourself.

So get on down to a flu shot clinic. Here’s the schedule.

And students, you’re not off the hook, either. Someone’s paying a lot of tuition for you to actually go to your classes. There’s a big student flu shot clinic tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom.  Take advantage.

Health and Safety, human resources news, On Grounds, Student Life | Tuesday, October 16th | By: Dan @4:00 pm | 0 Comments     

Check out the new episode of the UVA Today Radio Show, a weekly five minute segment on WTJU radio. Look for new editions of the show every Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. and every Friday at 3:55 p.m. on WTJU. Afterward, all of the segments will be posted on iTunesU.

Read more about the stories featured in this week’s program:

• Neatline Helps Map New World of Digital Humanities Scholarship (David McClure)
• U.Va. Research Finds Effects of Common Chemical BPA Span Generations (Emilie Rissman)
• Rising Second-Year Student at U.Va. Joins Top 20 in Canada (Joseph Linzon)

• Air Date: 7/18/2012

To download mp3, click here.

Arts & Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, Health and Safety, Health System, International, News, Radio, research | Wednesday, July 18th | By: brevy @6:19 pm | 0 Comments     

UVA Today has written about U.Va.’s “Breathe House” in the past. Now comes word, via U.Va. Innovation’s “What’s Next” blog, that the house has been assembled in Haiti. A big congratulations to Anselmo Canfora and the team that is making this disaster-recovery housing project a major success!

Community, Health and Safety, School of Architecture, Sustainability, technology | Monday, July 16th | By: Dan @2:09 pm | 3 Comments     

Check out the new episode of the UVA Today Radio Show, a weekly five minute segment on WTJU radio. Look for new editions of the show every Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. and every Friday at 3:55 p.m. on WTJU. Afterward, all of the segments will be posted on iTunesU.

Read more about the stories featured in this week’s program:

• U.Va. Discovery Unlocks Secrets of Cancer’s Critical ‘Chimeras’ (Hui Li)
• U.Va. Students Ponder Ethical Questions in Summer Philosophy Course (Stacie Thyrion)
• Summer Reading, Part II: Family Sagas, Dilemmas and a Treasure Hunt (Beth Blanton-Kent)

• Air Date: 7/4/2012

To download mp3, click here.

College of Arts & Sciences, Health and Safety, Health System, News, Radio, research, Science | Thursday, July 5th | By: brevy @5:04 pm | 0 Comments     

The photo above shows what was found behind a cornice on Kerchof Hall, home of the Department of Mathematics — and, appropriately enough, to “Bee School,” described as “an informal seminar at the University of Virginia on the mathematics of honeybee behavior and the practice of beekeeping. It’s part academic pursuit and part social activity, honoring the University’s unique tradition of close student-faculty friendship.” It’s led by Christian Gromoll, an associate professor of mathematics.

Gromoll’s nicely illustrated post on the Bee School blog tells the whole story of extracting the huge hive from Kerchof. In the end, Gromoll and his helpers collected about four pounds of bees, a large broodnest and 145 pounds of honeycomb out of the building. The bees were relocated to Gromoll’s bee yard.

Arts & Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, Health and Safety, News, On Grounds, safety, Sustainability | Wednesday, May 30th | By: Dan @3:10 pm | 2 Comments     

Tracy Welling and a friend in Chile's Atacama Desert.

Friend of UVA Today Christine Kueter, a communicator at U.Va.’s School of Nursing, sent us a report:

Tracy Welling has tended her share of aching feet. She’s hydrated the spent, urged the exhausted up massive sand dunes and trod — in sneakers, 35-pounds of supplies on her back — across some of the world’s most remote, barren and starkly beautiful terrain.

All for fun.

A some-time emergency pediatrics nurse at Fairfax Hospital in Northern Virginia, Welling – who’s currently entering her second year in the Nursing School’s Certified Nurse Leader program, offered to students with at least a bachelor’s degree in another field who are interested in advanced practice nursing – recently returned from Chile, where she worked on a team ministering to the health needs of 170 athletes making the 250-kilometer (nearly 156 miles) journey in seven days.

Continue reading…

Health and Safety, International, News, Nursing School, People | Friday, April 20th | By: Dan @3:34 pm | 0 Comments     

On Saturday, the main lobby of John Paul Jones Arena looked more like a casino than a monument to basketball. More than 120 men and women were seated around 14 large poker tables, attended by dealers clad in black and burgundy tuxedo vests, for the second annual Cavaliers Against Cancer Texas Hold’em Tournament.

With their $60 entry fee, players had a shot at almost $10,000 in prizes, including three iPad2s, a football signed by Cavalier head coach Mike London, a Washington Nationals jacket signed by Ryan Zimmerman and hotel vacation packages.

The tournament raised more than $12,000, said event founders Shawn Brydge, Jason Chestnutt and Joshua Scott, all of whom are U.Va. alumni. (The latter two also work in Development for U.Va.)

The proceeds benefit the Rebecca Clary Harris, M.D. Memorial Fellowship, which honors the life and work of Harris, a researcher in the U.Va. Cancer Center‘s Human Immune Therapy Center. The center is a national leader in the development of treatments that harness the body’s immune system to fight cancer, an approach with the promise of avoiding the debilitating side-effects that accompany more traditional cancer treatments like radiation chemotherapy.

Chris Hubert, a researcher in U.Va.’s Development office, won the high stakes section of the tournament ($150 entry fee), and took home a Wyndham Vacations four-night stay in a two-bedroom villa. Jeff Wood (pictured above) beat out 89 players to win the main tournament, and selected a prize package with an iPad2 and a one-year subscription to TheSabre.com EDGE.

Community, Health and Safety, Health System, News, On Grounds, research | Tuesday, March 27th | By: Dan @8:00 am | 0 Comments     

Tornadoes are in the forecast for Tuesday.

Well, at least tornado drills; Tuesday marks Tornado Preparedness Day across Virginia. The University will participate in a statewide tornado drill scheduled to begin at 9:45 a.m. The University will test its emergency notification system, and the Health System will conduct a tornado procedures drill.

According to the U.Va. Emergency Preparedness Office, during the emergency notification system test you should:

• Receive a UVaAlerts text message (and possibly email) if you have signed up; see www.virginia.edu/uvaalerts to sign up
• Receive an e-mail on your University email account
• Receive a page if you are part of the U.Va. Health System
• Hear an overhead announcement if in the U.Va. Medical Center complex
• See a test message on your computer if the desktop pop-up is installed
• See a test message on the UVa home page
• See a display on LED or LCD screens in some areas and classrooms across Grounds
• Hear the outdoor siren and public address system if you are outside
• Health System employees will be provided receive specific guidance on drill procedures and performance expectations.

For those not in the Health System, unless you are in a meeting, in class or engaged in a critical activity when you see or hear the test tornado message, you should practice moving to a safe location or take a minute to plan how you would shelter from a tornado. This minute of effort may save your life one day.

For further information, see the tornado fact sheet on www.virginia.edu/emergency and after the break. Should you have questions or comments regarding this drill, contact the Office of Emergency Preparedness at 434-982-0565 or uvaoep@virginia.edu. Health System questions should be directed to PIC 1655 or uvahcc@virginia.edu.

Continue reading…

Health and Safety, Health System, News, On Grounds, safety | Monday, March 19th | By: Dan @11:00 am | 0 Comments     

At the risk of the blog being overrun by event-planner seeking publicity, this one was a little eye-catching: Hoos Ready, a student-led emergency preparedness group, is sponsoring an earthquake readiness seminar on Tuesday evening from 6:30 to 7:30 in Clark Hall, room 108.

Of course, holding an earthquake-preparedness seminar in Central Virginia would have been a head-scratcher, not an eye-catcher, a little more than six months ago. Yeah, right. Why not have a tsunami awareness meeting, while you’re at it? But then came The Fairly Big Shake on the first day of classes, and suddenly, we feel a little more vulnerable. (Image above from Christian Science Monitor.)

“Earthquakes in Our World” will feature Audrey Snyder, a nurse coordinator for community outreach with the U.Va. Health System, and State Geologist David Spears of the Virginia Division of Mineral Geology. And free food — which is another big draw.

Hopefully, they will answer questions like “When things start shaking, do you get out of the building or stay put?” (I’ve heard conflicting advice on that one.)

If you’re interested in attending, click here. Just thing — even if there is never another major Virginia temblor in your lifetime, you never know when you might end up in California.

Community, Health and Safety, News, On Grounds | Monday, February 27th | By: Dan @3:39 pm | 0 Comments     

Attention students: In case your parents forgot to badger you about it, or in case you forgot their badgering, here’s a reminder that you can get your flu shot (and any other immunizations you are lacking) today at the “Immunization Day” clinic, which continues until 8 p.m. in the Newcomb Hall Ballroom.

Student Health also adds this omin0ous reminder: “Any student who has not completed pre-health entrance requirements will be blocked from registration for spring classes.”

For more info, click here.

Health and Safety, News, On Grounds, Student Life | Thursday, November 3rd | By: Dan @1:27 pm | 0 Comments     

“Don’t kill the birthday girl” was a common refrain at Sandra Beasley’s childhood parties. A kiss from someone with cake-smeared lips could land her in the hospital. Beasley, a 2002 U.Va. graduate in English, is known in certain circles for her poetry. Having lived with the hazards of food allergies, she wrote the memoir, “Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life” that doubles as a cultural history of food allergy in America.

The book has received positive attention in such venues as People, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. Beasley had an hour-long interview on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show.

Continue reading…

Alumni, Arts & Sciences, Health and Safety, News, People, Student Life | Tuesday, September 20th | By: Anne Bromley @4:29 pm | 1 Comment     

Check out the new episode of the UVA Today Radio Show, a weekly five minute segment on WTJU radio. Look for new editions of the show every Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. on WTJU. Afterward, all of the segments will be posted on iTunesU.

Read more about the stories featured in this week’s program:

• New Chair of Biomedical Engineering Conducts Medical Imaging Research to Personalize Treatment of Heart Ailments (Frederick Epstein)
• U.Va. Researchers Find High Energy Output From Algae-Based Fuel, But ‘No Silver Bullet’ (Andres Clarens and Lisa Colosi)
• Preludes, Symphony’s Instrument of Outreach, Celebrates Decade of ‘Aha’ Moments (Elizabeth Roberts)

•Air Date: 8/24/2011

To download mp3, click here.

Arts, engineering, Health and Safety, Medical School, Radio, research | Wednesday, August 24th | By: brevy @12:53 pm | 0 Comments     

Students and faculty members have been hard at work, making the gardens grow at Hereford Residential College and across from Observatory Hill Dining Hall, which includes contending with bugs, as well as fierce rainstorms. Lately a new culprit has done more damage: somebody’s been stealing the fruits of their labors. The students were devastated, according to one volunteer, not only with the losses but also the violation of trust. It also affects their learning experience.

“We are asking everyone to please keep an eye out for any suspicious activity in the gardens and to call the U.Va. Police (who are aware of the situation) if any unauthorized veggie collecting is spotted. So far, thieves have decimated the Student Garden’s garlic, eggplant and cabbage crops, and have wiped out the Coleman Garden’s ripe zucchini and tomatoes,” wrote student intern Erica on the website for the Thomas Jefferson Demonstration Garden.

Community, Health and Safety, safety, Student Life, Sustainability | Friday, July 15th | By: Anne Bromley @4:42 pm | 2 Comments