Dear alumni and friends

By the time you read this letter, I’ll be home from a trip to Australia, where I visited and lectured at several universities. I also planned  time to travel a bit, with a visit to the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru — a sacred Aboriginal site also known as Ayers Rock — high on the agenda. Just a few weeks before I left, I had the chance to talk with alumni who returned for Reunions Weekend.

The schedule included something new this year, an expanded Arts & Sciences forum on “Our World Today.” Faculty addressed topics from the birth of Earth to the aging process that affects us all; from spirituality and medicine to the history of American counterterrorism. You can listen to some of these seminars at the University’s podcast site, www.virginia.edu/uvapodcast/.

In every issue of this magazine, we recognize gifts to Arts & Sciences of over $1 million. On page 3, you’ll find news of the total contributions to the Annual Fund for this year — more than $3.5 million, the cumulative result of thousands of gifts from $1 to $100,000. Each one, whatever the amount, is very much appreciated, and, as you can see, they add up. Their cumulative effect in the College and Graduate School is impressive. Arts & Sciences Career Services, which was featured in the last magazine, is an example of an ongoing program the fund supports. A fascinating series of lectures on Muslim societies, organized by Elizabeth Thompson, associate professor of history, was one of the special programs the fund made possible last year.

We’ve established online message boards for further discussion of some of the articles in this issue. I hope you’ll pay them a visit — think of them as a virtual discussion section and a way to connect with fellow alumni and friends of Arts & Sciences. You’ll find Web addresses at the end of several stories. We look forward to hearing from you.