Arts on Grounds: Fun-Filled Fall Semester Courses
Picking classes every semester can feel like a lottery. But whether you are a first-year student looking to explore your options or a fourth-year wanting to take a fun elective, the good news is that the University offers a myriad of arts courses to take that are engaging and enlightening. No matter your major, arts classes can provide a creative outlet and introduce you to valuable new skills.
Students Use the Summer to Pursue Professional Arts Opportunities
Coast to coast, overseas and rooted on Grounds, three current students and one recent graduate have used this summer to unearth their places in the arts. The zeal among students in the University’s arts scene doesn’t fade over the three-month academic break — it carries itself into opportunities wherever they can be found. Discovering that creative careers often reach far from home and far from ideas of traditional artistic roles, these four shared how the arts have shaped their summers — and how their summers may shape their futures. For third-year Education and College student Carlin Lacques, that discovery reframed her perspective on what it meant to work in the arts.
College Students Are Reading Less. This UVA ‘BookTok’ Influencer Wants To Change That
Professors across the country have noticed a troubling trend: College students are reading less than ever, and a recent study found many students enter college with challenges completing an entire book. The reasons why are complex. The rise of digital entertainment and the isolation of the pandemic have played a role, and studies show that 9- and 13-year-olds are reading for pleasure at historically low rates, which could contribute to the decline in college reading habits.
Jenna Pastuszek Wants You to "Get Happy!"
Bringing "Get Happy!" to the Virginia Theatre Festival this summer is not just a regular performance for Jenna Pastuszek — it is a homecoming. “As I was building my own professional career … I always thought about Charlottesville,” she said. “That is every U.Va. alum’s constant question of like, how can I get back there?” Pastuszek, an alumna from Class of 2010, will be paying homage to Judy Garland July 24-27 at the Ruth Caplin Theatre, singing the iconic performer’s uptempo medleys & ingénue ballads while also incorporating personal stories in a cabaret performance she has taken to over 10 states and 20 regional theatres.
These Hoos Know How To Tango
Three scientists and a nurse walk into a room and start dancing tango. It might sound like the opening to a joke, but it’s actually the first Charlottesville Tango event of the season – and the University of Virginia community is well represented. Assistant professor of psychiatry David Acunzo, assistant professor of chemistry Jelena Samonina and emeritus professor of computer science Gabriel Robins, along with UVA Health nurse Cristina Ramirez, are devotees of Charlottesville Tango.
Alumna’s Book on Uncovering Her Buried Past Makes National Headlines
A literary agent was on the phone with Amy Griffin. She wanted the University of Virginia alumna to pen a volume on women in business. That made sense. After earning a volleyball scholarship and progressing to team captain, she graduated from Virginia in 1998 and charged into a marketing and investing career. In 2002, she married John Griffin, another successful Wahoo. “I think that’s the only reason he married me, because I went to UVA,” she teased.
At 103, Former UVA Librarian Revisits a Transformed Main Library
"It doesn’t have that old book smell.” That was one of the first details Mary Catherine Dunnigan noticed as she entered the University of Virginia’s Shannon Library for the first time in decades earlier this month. Dunnigan, who recently turned 103, chose to celebrate her birthday by returning to the University, where she spent years working as a librarian and director of the Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library. She began working there more than 50 years ago, in 1973.
UVA Librarians Share Their Must-Read Books for Summer
The extra daylight hours summer brings also mean more time for reading. Whether you’re spending the season by the beach, lounging at a pool or holed up inside with the AC blasting, summer’s more relaxed pace invites you to crack open a book and immerse yourself in a new world.
Arts This Week: Michael Snyder’s Alleghania
You’re listening to WTJU Charlottesville. At New Dominion bookshop, photographer and filmmaker Michael O. Snyder will host a book talk where he will speak about his new book, Alleghania. This event takes place Saturday, June 28 from 7pm to 8pm. For Arts This Week, we chatted with Michael Snyder.