• Bringing Ideas Together


• JILL becomes OLLI


• Weak Economy?


• Admissions FAQs

Cross-pollination is just as important to creative thought as it is to bees and blossoms.

To that end, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation’s Jefferson Fellows Center promises to be a hive of intellectual activity by providing scholars of different disciplines a shared space to rub elbows and exchange ideas.

"They can have an opportunity that’s not available to them anywhere else," says Jimmy Wright, president of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation. Spacious common areas, expansive seminar rooms, a reception hall, shared offices and a central outdoor courtyard make interaction easy and natural. Top graduate students in law, business and the arts and sciences will be able to learn, teach, conduct research and exchange ideas freely.

The center, located on two acres on Maury Avenue, is scheduled for completion by the beginning of the 2009 fall semester.

The bulk of the funding comes through $18 million in bonds approved last June by the Albemarle Industrial Development Authority. The initial design called for 23,000 square feet of space, but that could grow slightly. More than two-thirds of the facility will be devoted to student and faculty use; the remainder, to offices for the foundation, which has been housed at Alumni Hall since its inception.

Courtyard view from entry

The center and its emphasis on multidiscipline cross-pollination is part of the foundation’s effort to attract the nation’s best and brightest, Wright says.

"The decision to build this was driven by the knowledge that we had to have a center for those fellows if we were going to be able to succeed in attracting the quality of person we were seeking," he says.

In addition, students, faculty and visiting scholars will be able to use the center for public lectures and presentations.

"There will be the opportunity for the community at large and the University community to come and learn here from the variety of people we anticipate hosting," Wright says.

return to top >

JILL becomes OLLI
Lifelong learning is still the focus

The name may be different, but the mission remains the same.

And online opportunities and a new partnership portend a bright future for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia.

OLLI evolved from JILL—the Jefferson Institute of Lifelong Learning, a U.Va. foundation providing university-level academic courses for people age 50 and older.

Grants from the Bernard Osher Foundation in San Francisco led to the transition to OLLI, and this spring about 50 short courses were offered in two six-week sessions. The curriculum includes an online course on nutrition and fitness, to be offered again in the fall.

"In the following spring, we plan to offer at least one additional online course," says Jim McGrath, OLLI’s executive director. "Online courses offer alumni and others outside the Charlottesville area a chance to stay connected with the University’s intellectual community. OLLI is a vehicle to make that happen."

The group has partnered with the U.Va. Alumni Association to offer 20 percent discounts to association members on enrollment fees and provide e-mail notices about course offerings. McGrath says the arrangement promises to help both groups grow.

OLLI, which exists at about 115 colleges and universities in the U.S., now serves about 1,200 people in the Charlottesville area, McGrath says. Catalogs for the fall semester’s offerings will be available soon.

"Courses are held during the day, tuition is minimal, parking is always available, courses are noncredit and there are no exams," McGrath says.

For information about the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia, call (434) 923-3600, go to www.olliuva.org or e-mail olliuva@comcast.net. 

return to top >

Weak Economy?
Put a positive spin on a downturn with solid planning

by Carter Hunter Hopkins
Director, Alumni Career Services

Identifying options and setting realistic goals should be a regular exercise for every professional, no matter where you are in your career.

When the marketplace tightens, however, there is even more reason to be focused on career management. Should you stay at your job or leave? If you lose your current position, what will you do? Are you prepared for an extended job search?

While a shrinking economy might seem threatening, it can offer new opportunities. Acting now to meet future challenges will keep your career on track.

• Take stock of where you are. List your accomplishments. Know your value and what you have to offer, whether to your current employer or a new one.

• Identify your options. What are your career choices with your current employer? In the larger marketplace? What new responsibilities would you like to have? Do you need to sharpen or learn skills? Are there ways to do that in your current position? Can you take on new tasks or a new position with your current employer? Do you need additional training or a graduate degree to advance?

• Set short-term and long-term career goals. What is your next logical career step? What will it take to reach that step? What comes after that step? Can you accomplish these with your current employer?

• Create a strategy. Update your résumé. Network with alumni, professional contacts, family and friends for advice. Register for the new HoosOnline Network at http://uva.affinitycircles.com/virginia/auth/login, which features a job board for U. Va. alumni. Find a trusted mentor, inside the organization or elsewhere.

• Work your plan. The best plan in the world will not work if it is only on paper. Set aside time every day to move your plan forward. Follow up on every lead or contact you receive. Keep your networking contacts apprised of what happens at each turn.

return to top >

Admission FAQs
Do U.Va. admission deans evaluate applicants by region or high school? 

The answer, simply, is "no." There are no targets or quotas associated with any region of the state or country, nor with any one high school, says John A. Blackburn, dean of admission.

"Each applicant is read individually," he says. "We are fortunate. We’re a public university, but we’re unique in that we see interest from students across the state, the country and the world, so the geographic cross-section of students in the incoming class occurs without our needing to set quotas."

Family members sometimes worry that an unusually large number of students applying to U.Va. from their child’s high school could limit their child’s chances of attending the University.

"This is not true. Their child will be evaluated based on his or her record only," Blackburn says. "When we evaluate an application, we do so without knowing how many other students have applied from that student’s high school or region."

For the record, this year’s entering class includes students from 69 countries and 42 states. About 60 percent of applicants are from out of state; at least 67 percent of the entering class must be Virginia residents.

return to top >