The Board of Visitors Advancement Committee met Thursday afternoon to discuss upcoming plans for the University and learn of new opportunities occurring on Grounds.
The meeting began with remarks by University President Teresa Sullivan regarding plans for the University’s approaching bicentennial. The two-year-long celebration will begin Oct. 6, 2017, to mark the laying of the cornerstone for the University on what is now Pavilion VII.
“The bicentennial is a great culture reinforcement process,” Board of Visitors member Jeffrey Walker said.
Cultural events will be at the forefront of the celebration, beginning with an exhibit coming to the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library in fall 2017 titled “A History of U.Va. in 100 Objects.” The Fralin Museum of Art will host an exhibit from Jan. 2018 to May 2018 about Thomas Jefferson and Andrea Palladio.
Sullivan proposed creating a bicentennial commission to help plan not only the bicentennial celebrations but also the third century of the University. The private campaign for the third century will begin in July 2017 and will become public in fall 2019.
Other suggestions for possible bicentennial events included involving the entire nation in the celebration due to Jefferson’s status as a Founding Father, as well as a “Birthday Box” given to various student organizations and University Clubs, an idea which came from Columbia University’s bicentennial celebration.
Following discussions of the bicentennial, several presentations were given by University professors to discuss advancements occurring within their respective fields.
Benton Calhoun, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, discussed what he called the “next revolution, the Internet of Things.” However, he said the problem facing the IOT is power.
“We don’t need more computing capability,” Calhoun said. “We need more power.”
The technology being developed at the University is going to help solve this power problem, Calhoun said.
Researchers at the University have introduced a new paradigm of circuit design in which the circuits are low-powered and take energy from their environments. Calhoun and his students are collaborating with the medical school to create a wearable electrocardiogram which will obtain energy from body heat.
Calhoun plans to look into more cross-collaborations with other schools at the University.
The second presentation was given by Jerry White, professor of Practice in the College. White discussed religion-related violence which exists across the world and the work he is doing to promote the science of violence prevention.
White iterated the importance of collaboration and having an interdisciplinary approach to problems. He is currently working with the College, Batten School and Nursing School, and hopes to include more schools in the future.
Additionally, White said he has connections with universities in the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Jordan and India in order to research violence across the world.
The meeting concluded with an updated fundraising report. Total philanthropic cash flow for the second quarter was $118 million, 16 percent ahead of two years ago. The booking of new commitments raised $127 million.
Additionally, parent giving has increased by five percent, with 13 parents committed to give at or in excess of $100,000. Fifty-eight new members have been added to the Cornerstone Society, a group of individuals who have included the University in their wills. The society has a total of 2,500 members.
Finally, a plan for the restructuring of University Advancement was detailed. The goal of the new plan is to build and strengthen relationships with private foundations.
Aspects of the plan include research, strategy, proposal development and expertise expansion using various tools and trainings.
The plan also identified 50 foundations which are considered the top foundations with which the University should pursue relationships. Some of these foundations include the MacArthur Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Kresge Foundation and Hearst Foundations.
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