South Lawn success

In the last issue of this magazine, I wrote with excitement about the newly approved schematic design for the South Lawn Project.

Now I can write about another exciting development: we have met our June 30, 2006, fundraising deadline and can go ahead with plans for a ceremonial groundbreaking. We can look forward to beginning construction next year.

So I’d like to thank once again the more than 100 donors whose gifts and pledges brought us to this happy point. A challenge by John Nau, the former president of the College Foundation whose gift is the largest to the project, provided the catalyst that helped us do so well. New and additional gifts from current and former members of our College Foundation Board took us over the top; in all, 35 have contributed.

There is one last fundraising deadline for this phase of the project. By June 30, 2007, we must have in hand an additional $18.7 million to complete the philanthropic piece of the funding.

We’ll give regular reports on the construction progress, and I hope that, in a year or so, when you come back to Charlottesville you will wander over to what’s now the B-1 parking lot and take  a look for yourself.

In closing, the cover story this month is a subject close to my heart: the Virginia Center for Digital History. For over a decade now, it has been thrilling to reach out from Charlottesville to touch people all around the world with a new kind of history. When you read about the great work of my friend Randy Shifflett on his Virtual Jamestown project I think you’ll see why this is an important part of U.Va. for teaching, scholarship, and public service.

Edward L. Ayers
Hugh P. Kelly Professor of History
Dean of the College and Graduate School
of Arts & Sciences