Dear alumni and friends

As dean, I still teach one class a semester and am an academic adviser to about 25 students. These experiences are windows for me on the joys and challenges of earning a U.Va. degree and tangible reminders of our fundamental mission.

The young people at U.Va. are smart, energetic, and eager for close interaction with faculty, whether in class, in their research, or in other settings. They search for connections among all the things they do. In response, the College is giving new attention to undergraduate research and interdisciplinary programming. In this issue we show you how by introducing a number of scholars and researchers, including Mario Geysen, a chemistry professor who has brought a groundbreaking scientific approach to U.Va. and is training our students to teach it to others.

We describe our first “common course,” a new breed of class that engages a fundamentally interdisciplinary and thorny issue: war in our time. The professors are Michael Smith and Jim Childress, names as familiar to many of you as they are to our students — some of whom are attending the class for no credit because it was oversubscribed. Our students are here to learn.

Fortunately, the stream of devoted learners shows no sign of slowing. At a New York City admissions gathering this fall, I spoke to dozens of prospective students about how the College offers an intimate undergraduate education in the midst of a broad research university. Several recent graduates followed with moving stories about the power of this place. The audience looked like the United Nations, and afterwards a single question seemed to be on everyone’s mind: “I’d love to come to Virginia! Do you think I can get in?”

For many, the answer will be “yes.” Those are the ones who will become our next great students, probing researchers, and dedicated alumni of the College — men and women like you, intent on making a difference in the world.

Edward L. Ayers