September Enewsletter: Feature - Virginia Online Magazine Site

Comments:

Anonymous @ 9/17/2008 8:48:55 AM

Oh, my UVA!!!! Everything done at UVA is done with grace and beauty. My three children are graduates of the UNIVERSITY...one of the three has also recieved a degree from Darden. I love UVA and everything that it has to offer.

Jo Ann Hunter
Memphis, TN

Anonymous @ 9/17/2008 9:37:51 AM

I must say that I am not pleased with the many departures from the classic Jeffersonian architectural style as it pertains to the new buildings constructed (and planned for construction) on the grounds in the past decades. Mr. Jefferson must be spinning in his grave at the liberalization of his University in terms of the administration, faculty, student body, and building designs. It's all such a shame!

Robert G. Corder, Ph.D.
Engr. '63, L/M

Anonymous @ 9/17/2008 12:29:56 PM

The appearance of the University has drastically changed over the years from the 1960s. Buildings do not make a University great. Its the teaching ability of the faculty that inspires, educates and in fact teaches first and foremost. I was very fortunate to have experienced specific faculty members who walked the talk in the School of Education, the Counselor Education Department with faculty that produced PhDs and EdDs aplenty in some very fine old distinguished building. That I will never forget.

Joseph H. Quintano, Ed.D.
Education, 64 and 74

Anonymous @ 9/17/2008 12:34:56 PM

I'm sorry to disagree with Dr. Corder, but I think taking the construction of new buildings into a wholly new phase of architectural style is exactly what Jefferson would have wanted. He was an innovator - and certainly a liberal thinker - and given his penchant for progress and rebirth (think: the tree of liberty being refreshed every 20 years!) I think we can safely assume that Jefferson would accept the new changes, even encourage them. The only materials available to Jefferson were the red brick and the white pillars; there's no telling what he would have done with concrete and steel. If nothing else, Jefferson may be rolling in his grave feeling that the University is not taking the ideals on which he founded it far enough.

RDM
Col. '04

Anonymous @ 9/17/2008 1:54:08 PM

Here in California, where I'm been living, every time I mention UVa, people always seem to know graceful, elegant, and historical the environment and grounds are. I'm so proud to be associated with UVa's evolving yet timeless beauty.

Todd Hodes
SEAS 94

Anonymous @ 9/17/2008 5:33:16 PM

The artistic renderings of the new construction invites one to accept the changes in a very welcoming way. Also, they were done by my roommate and fellow graduate, Michael Powers Coll. 74

Paul Ryczek
Comm. 74

Anonymous @ 9/17/2008 7:17:54 PM

Some of my favorite places to study while a student at UVA were in the older nooks and crannies of Cark Hall or the stacks. The smell of those buildings just made one feel more academic. I do laud the changes and updates but my heart/memories will be in the older buildings. Mr. Corder certainly takes a harsh view, thank god for the liberalization of the student body.

Cindy Peterson
Nursing, 1985

Anonymous @ 9/18/2008 4:22:44 AM

Why have the newly completed additions to Campbell Hall not been included in this list?

Anonymous @ 9/18/2008 6:10:01 AM

From the editor: Campbell Hall is included in the text at the beginning of the article with a link that provides information about the expansion.

Anonymous @ 9/19/2008 12:35:39 PM

I think it looks great. But I too agree that I do remember older nooks and crannies of the stacks in the libraries. I miss that feeling of academia at UVA.

Anonymous @ 9/20/2008 8:28:28 AM

I loved U.Va. and I agree that Mr. Jefferson would actually like what is happening to the buildings. I learned while in Charlottesville how innovative he was in his own thinking and discoveries. I feel he would have delighted and embraced the marriage of the new with the old. I think the South Lawn project is a completion to an idea he and a life he imagined. I feel U.Va. will always be a representation of the classic style but that as we grow the culture grows and the new shows this evolution with such grace and style. What's not to love?

Meg Glass
CLAS '82

Anonymous @ 9/23/2008 7:07:54 AM

Who cares what Mr. Jefferson thinks? He has been gone for sometime now.

Anonymous @ 9/23/2008 10:21:19 AM

Need to add the Med Ed project adjacent MR5
Thanks - Richard Allen SOM

Anonymous @ 9/28/2008 8:26:29 AM

I think the additions are very tastefully done, as well as much needed. I applaud the architect for balancing traditional & modern styles, and I am glad to see some green issues are being tackled as well.

Carrie Treagy
CLAS '94

Anonymous @ 10/15/2008 5:41:29 AM

Dr. Corder is off base. Please spare me the endless rants of your generation about "liberalization"! If you really knew anything about Mr. Jefferson, you'd know he was a liberal for the ages and a radical for his time. I think he is smiling down on the possible election of a descendant of slaves to lead our nation!

Michael Philip Weinstein, Esq.
College '71

Anonymous @ 10/17/2008 5:29:47 AM

Does all of this expansion make sense with the sudden "change" in the economic outlook? I'm sure some of it is needed, but all of it? When does it stop - how big does UVA need to become?

Young Kim
SEAS '90

Anonymous @ 1/21/2009 8:01:08 AM

My question is similar in nature to Young Kim's -- How much expansion is enough? Better facilities are needed to keep pace with the latest innovations in technology, but the University is best at its current size, which is larger than when I attended, but not doubled. I look around at all of the new spaces built since I attended whenever I am there with my son, now a student, and I would estimate that space is nearing a doubling. Is the University planning to expand the student population significantly, or does each student require that much more space to learn?

Anonymous @ 2/6/2009 8:29:22 PM

The only thing beautiful about the UVA grounds remains the original academical village. The rest is a hodge-podge of buildings of every architectural style imaginable and spread out all over the place.