Billy Cannaday has been named UVA's first vice provost for academic outreach, a position created to advance efforts to reach new off-Grounds students and expand the University's distance-learning offerings. "The challenge will be to approach technology-enhanced learning in ways that build on our existing strengths," Cannaday says. He will also continue as dean of the UVA's School of Continuing and Professional Studies, a position he has held since 2008.
Top Teachers
Robert Swap (top) and Dr. Erik Hewlett (bottom)
Robert Swap, a professor of environmental sciences, has been named the 2012 Virginia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education. Dr. Erik Hewlett, a professor of medicine, infectious diseases and international health, was one of only 12 educators selected by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to receive a 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award, the state's highest honor for college faculty. Swap, who earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in environmental sciences from the University, directs UVA's Summer Study Abroad program in Southern Africa and the Eastern/Southern African Virginia Networks and Associations program. Hewlett has been with the School of Medicine since 1980, and served as associate dean for research from 1992 to 2010.
William Goodwin Jr.
Goodwin Returns to BOV
William H. Goodwin Jr. (Darden '66) is transitioning from the assignment of senior adviser to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors to being an appointed member, a familiar position for the Richmond-based businessman. In January, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell appointed Goodwin to complete the unexpired term of R.J. Kirk, who resigned in October. Last June, McDonnell appointed Goodwin—who previously served on the board from 1996 to 2004—as a nonvoting special adviser to the BOV.
Stephen Colbert (top) and Jim Webb (bottom)
Final Words
Stephen Colbert, the host and executive producer of Comedy Central's award-winning series The Colbert Report, will be the keynote speaker at UVA's 2013 Valedictory Exercises, the ceremony at which the Class of 2013 will pay tribute to their time at the University and present the class gift and University awards. Colbert's wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert, is a 1985 alumna of the College of Arts & Sciences. Jim Webb, a former U.S. Senator (D-Va.) and Secretary of the Navy, decorated Vietnam veteran, journalist, filmmaker and author, will deliver the commencement address at the University's 184th Final Exercises.
Advancing Female Faculty
Gertrude Fraser
In January, UVA marked the start of a new program, UVA ADVANCE, which strives to boost the ranks of female faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and in social and behavioral sciences and economics (SBE) fields. Funded by a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the program consists of five initiatives: to improve department climate, document the experiences of senior and retired women faculty, support search and selection, fund women's research and scholarship and encourage new approaches to addressing underutilization of women in STEM and SBE academic careers. "The success of this program depends on our engaging as many people as possible in identifying and addressing subtle sources of bias at the University," says Gertrude Fraser, UVA's vice provost for faculty recruitment and retention and leader of the ADVANCE program.
