Features
Jennifer Fog Eats RVA: Margaritas Cantina
By admin | October 4, 2012What do University of Richmond students do when their parents can't make it down for parents weekend?
What do University of Richmond students do when their parents can't make it down for parents weekend?
With a skateboard tucked under his arm and long, blond locks flowing beneath a flat-brimmed hat embossed with his signature Perfect Gentleman logo, junior Cullen Bonham might stand out as an anomaly on campus. The California native created the Perfect Gentleman trademark, as a brand-of-sorts, to label his music, clothing line and whatever else that might entail, he said. "It's my legacy." Bonham was cautious to not overly characterize the nature of his company and described it as more of "a lifestyle," he said -- one represented by the yellow scrawl of the Perfect Gentleman title and accompanied by the caricature of a small chicken. "The chicken?
Every year when students return to Richmond, they are forced to leave behind their favorite pets and spend the semester without their furry companions. But members of Richmond's BARK, Bandit's Adoption & Rescue of K-9, club do not have to wait weeks to play with dogs and puppies.
After a summer of brainstorming, University Communications employees unveiled a personalized RVA design this school year as a visual representation of the University of Richmond's connection to the city, said Cheryl Spain.
Security guards stood in front of the Apple Store in the Short Pump Town Center on Friday morning as customers waited in lines outside. Instead of waiting in line to get his new phone, Andrew Checca, a sophomore, got his iPhone 5 in the mail in order to avoid the crowds at the Apple Store. "The phone is significantly faster than the iPhone 4S," Checca said.
The bi-annual Writers Series, sponsored by the Department of English faculty, began Wednesday with a reading by award-winning novelist Lydia Millet. Millet read one of her works and also answered questions about her writing, her work and literature. The reading began at 7 p.m.
While University of Richmond students were on summer vacation, facilities staff renovated three blocks of the University Forest Apartments. Renovated blocks 100, 300 and 400 feature an open-kitchen layout, new windows, sliding glass door, new appliances, new kitchen cabinets and countertop, new tile on the first floor and new carpet on the second floor, a half bath on the first floor, new bedroom furniture and new second-floor bathroom, according to the university housing website. "There seems to be great satisfaction in the work that was done and the improvements made," said Susie Reid, director of operations and maintenance for facilities, "especially having a downstairs bathroom and a more open kitchen and dining area." Senior Adam Sandilands said the features were efficient and aesthetically pleasing. There is more room for registered events with the removal of the counter in the front room, Sandilands said. "I can speak from my experience in the first couple of weeks that we have definitely been taking better care of our apartment than we would have been in a non-renovated apartment," Sandilands said.
The eighth annual African Film Weekend will start Friday, Sept. 21, and will feature a post-film question and answer session with Akin Adesokan. The event will begin at 3 p.m.
Seven faculty members received the Distinguished Educator Award on Aug. 22 at Colloquy, an annual celebratory event during which faculty and staff gather to mark the official beginning of the academic year, said Steve Allred, provost and vice president for academic affairs. The professors who received the awards were Bertram Ashe, English and American studies; Henry Chambers Jr., law; Dean Croushore, economics; Jennifer Erkulwater, political science, Lidia Radi, Italian and French, Patricia Strait, human resource management and Thad Williamson, leadership studies. After President Ayers delivered an address, Allred presented the awards to each recipient, along with a few comments that had been prepared by a faculty selection committee, Allred said. Each year, the committee members are responsible for choosing recipients to be honored at the succeeding year's ceremony.
Hossein Sadid, vice president for business and finance and treasurer of the University of Richmond, announced Sept.
Despite the severe thunderstorms last Saturday that delayed the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race, Richmond students continued the annual tradition of tailgating at the Richmond International Raceway. Although it is unknown as to how long this tradition has been a part of the campus culture, every year students of all years gather in the fields surrounding the racetrack to enjoy the excitement of the crowd and the warm September weather.
Four members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic fencing team were at the University of Richmond Saturday to teach a three-weapon clinic for avid fencers. The clinic was hosted by Salle Green, a fencing club in Glen Allen, Va., owned by University of Richmond alumnus Walter Green. Two-time Olympian Tim Morehouse, 34, of N.Y., said reaching out to young fencers had been a priority for him and his teammates. "Following the Olympic Games, we wanted to spread as much knowledge as we could," Morehouse said.
Samuel Ryder celebrated his 21st birthday on Tuesday by legally drinking alcohol in the United States for the first time -- a tradition many American college students take part in. Ryder, an exchange student at the University of Richmond, was used to drinking alcohol legally for the past three years in Australia, where the legal drinking age is 18, as in most other countries around the world.
Members of MHz Legacy, an underground hip-hop group scheduled to perform at the University of Richmond on Nov.
For only the second time in 27 years, accounting professor Marshall Geiger did not prepare for the coming school year at University of Richmond. Geiger will not be teaching at Richmond this year, but instead will work for the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Office of the Chief Accountant in Washington, D.C.
As freshman Tim Gruber opened his acceptance letter to the University of Richmond in December, he never imagined that he would share that moment with the nation during the London Olympics. The video of Gruber, 18, tearing open the letter, leaping in the air and screaming "boo-yah" first appeared on YouTube after his father, Chris Gruber, who served as the director of admissions at Richmond from 1985 to 2005, secretly recorded his celebration, he said. "It was my college counselor's idea to put it on YouTube," Gruber said.
University of Richmond student Manyang Reath was standing on a plot of farmland on the border of Sudan and Ethiopia this summer when he received a call from VH1. "They called my phone and said, 'Where are you?'" Reath said.
Beams, laboratories and nuclear detectors are something out of a sci-fi movie, but for Jerry Gilfoyle, a University of Richmond physics professor, and the students he employs, it is just another day at work. This summer, Gilfoyle received a grant renewal of $89,000 from the U.S.
For almost 31 years, longer than any undergraduate student has been alive, Jermaine Massenburg has been cleaning and maintaining the campus buildings. Massenburg has lived in Richmond her entire life and has been caring for the buildings on campus since 1981.
After four years of anticipation, the Class of 2013 commenced the festivities of their final year in college with the Senior Toga Social.