The Year in Review
We just wrapped up our third academic year of programming at the Blue Ridge Center. It was another good year, in which we were able to pursue our goal of expanding intellectual diversity at UVA by exposing students to a variety of perspectives from myriad speakers.
To express this year in numbers hardly does it justice, but we are proud to report that our programming reached 14.3% of the undergraduate student body. We hosted 41 public events, welcomed over 1500 students, and partnered with 20 different organizations on Grounds. Our events spanned topics as diverse as affirmative action, social media and politics, faith and science, free speech, and the relationship between Christianity and Judaism. Our speaker line-up this year included names like Greg Lukianoff, Justin Brierley, Dan McLaughlin, Megan McArdle, and U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Our public events proved to be enormously popular with the student body for the third year running, and we look forward to resuming in the fall!
In addition to our public events, the Blue Ridge Center was able to host 17 reading groups between two semesters, which met in our office on the corner to share meals and discuss topics from private equity to St. Augustine of Hippo to combating anti-semitism. Our reading groups are opportunities for students to engage closely with a text alongside highly-motivated peers, and are regularly one of our most popular programs.
Finally, we welcomed 18 Blue Ridge Fellows in April. The Blue Ridge Fellows are students who have gone through a competitive application process to become more closely integrated with assisting the vision of the Blue Ridge Center. Fellows meet with the Blue Ridge staff to discuss events and programming opportunities, and have special access to speakers, private dinners, and networking events. Our 18 Fellows represent some of the brightest and most motivated students at the University, and we look forward to working with them over the course of the next year!
Overall, this has been another successful school year at the Blue Ridge Center, and we are happy to continue our mission of expanding viewpoint diversity, open discourse, intellectual humility, and empathetic engagement at the University of Virginia.