The Collegian
Saturday, May 03, 2025

Features


Features

Alumna writes children's book about WebstUR and Richmond campus

Dana Misner, who graduated from Richmond with a business degree in 2003, has published a children's story, "Hello, WebstUR," which was released in December. The storyline follows Richmond's mascot, WebstUR, past notable campus landmarks and ends with WebstUR cheering on the basketball team in the Robins Center. Misner, who lives in Connecticut, organized the book as a tour through campus because she wanted to give her children the opportunity to see the place that had influenced her life so positively, she said. "We live close to my husband's campus, so we can drive about two hours there and let them walk around campus," Misner said.


Features

Fraternity-hosted Movember event supports cancer research

Members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity exhibited marvelous moustaches Tuesday in the Tyler Haynes Commons at the 38th annual Movember Trivia Night. Fifteen teams filled the Commons and answered trivia questions about pop culture, food, sports, Greek mythology and miscellaneous information.


Features

Richmond graduates create an iPhone app for sports fans

Every great business was born in a basement, said David Shack, a 2010 graduate, about working from the home office in his basement. Shack, along with Andrew Vassallo, another 2010 graduate, came up with an idea to create Spogo, an interactive application for iPhones that allows its users to make predictions during live football games.


Features

Jewish Family Services at Richmond creates immigrant documentary

University of Richmond Hillel and Jewish Family Services (JFS) is producing a university-made documentary about Jewish families that immigrated to Richmond from the Soviet Union in the 1980s and 1990s. Because of anti-Semitism and economic hardship, about 800 families came to Richmond with hopes of finding a better life.


Features

Student knitting club looks to donate products to charity

Knit it Up!, a student knitting club at the University of Richmond, received funding this semester, and members are working toward their goal of donating finished products to charity. The founder of Knit it Up!, sophomore Anna Sangree, said she started knitting with girls on her dorm hall last year and wanted to receive funding to make knitting into an official club.


Basketball

Richmond men's basketball alumni on coaching staff

Former Richmond men's basketball players, Ryan Butler and Peter Thomas, are using their experience playing for coach Chris Mooney helps them relate to current players, Thomas said. Thomas played for Richmond from 2003 to 2007, and he was a junior when Butler came in as a freshman in 2005.


Features

International Center wins statewide architecture award

The Carole Weinstein International Center received an award recognizing outstanding architecture from the Virginia American Institute of Architects. AIA gave the 2012 award of honor to the University of Richmond building for excellence in contextual design. The contextual design category looks at architecture that reflects the history, culture and physical environment of the place in which it stands and that, in turn, contributes to the function, beauty and meaning of its larger context, according to the award description. The AIA jury found the international center to be "an outstanding building, clear in its concept and exemplary in its detailing.


Features

A Spider for President?

Virgil Goode, a 1969 Richmond College graduate, who is running for president as the Constitution Party nominee, may take support away from Mitt Romney here in Virginia. "There's not much difference between Romney and Obama," Goode, 66, said in a Southern drawl.


Features

Research grant will further the study of nuclear stewardship

TThe staff of the U.S. Department of Energy (USDE) awarded Cornelius "Con" Beausang, University of Richmond physics department chairman, a $513,000 grant to fund his research on nuclear stewardship. "Nuclear stewardship science is trying to understand the details in the science behind nuclear weapons," Beausang said.


Features

"A Mile of Style," a different kind of community

Walking down West Cary Street, I saw clothing stores, restaurants, grocery stores and a 26-year-old man playing cello outside a lingerie shop. Sitting in a fold-out chair he brought from home with his "signature shades" and an open cello case with $5.62 in it, Edward Haskins has been playing in Carytown, mostly outside Fiamour Lingerie, five days a week since the beginning of September, he said. "The weather is nice, and I'm a few dollars short of my rent, so I got a week to get it," he said.


Features

Jennifer Fog eats RVA: Weezie's Kitchen, Carytown

Those who know Jennifer Fog know that she doesn't often attend apartment parties (or, for that matter, use a pseudonym) And yet, I found myself in a UFA living room last Friday night trying to participate in an Anchorman drinking game and attempting to operate in an atmosphere that was so very "college-y." My distaste for cliches has always led me to dislike "college-y" experiences, at least outside the classroom.


Features

Spanish turmoil hits close to home for international students

As Leon Herrera studies at the University of Richmond, his friends and family in Madrid are haunted by Spain's economic and political unrest. Herrera, a sixth-year student, is one of 20 Spanish students at Richmond this semester, said Sara Jaax, international education manager of internal communication and events. "I feel kind of outside, or alienated, from all the turmoil," Herrera said.


Features

Student and her service dog live in UFA apartments

Junior Alexis Achey lives in the University Forest Apartments with her service dog, Winston, who helps her to manage her Type 1 Diabetes through his sense of smell, which detects when her blood sugar levels are out of range. "He can smell the changes in body chem- istry as the glucose levels fluctuate," Achey said.


Features

Richmond alumnus is leading advocate to legalize marijuana

University of Richmond alumnus Mason Tvert is one of the leading advocates for legalizing marijuana in Colorado through Amendment 64, which if passed in November, would create the first state system where marijuana would be regulated and taxed like alcohol. Tvert, a 2004 graduate, is the co-founder of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), the SAFER Voter Education Fund and has frequently appeared in the news to promote the message that marijuana is safer than alcohol. Amendment 64 will appear on the November 2012 ballot, he said. If passed, the amendment would remove all legal penalties for the personal use, possession and limited home-growth of marijuana for adults 21 years of age and older in Colorado. One of the most recent polls, conducted about two weeks ago by the Denver Post, shows support for the passing of Amendment 64 at 51 percent to 40 percent not in favor of passing. Most of Tvert's time and energy is spent arguing that marijuana is a safer substance than alcohol, a belief that was formulated during his time at Richmond, he said. Tvert said in high school he would frequently drink on the weekends without any fear of punishment. The summer after his high school graduation, Tvert attended a concert from which he had to be taken by ambulance to a hospital, unconscious, to have his stomach pumped for alcohol poisoning, he said. "I was released from the hospital without any sort of punishment," Tvert said.