UVA Arts & Sciences

"Once the education flame was reignited, I felt that I was unstoppable."

Follow Dareen Aloudeh's journey from Syrian refugee to UVA graduate and the first A&S transfer student to receive the UVA Trustees' Cultural Fluency Award at Valedictory Exercises.

UVA’s Interconnected Cosmos initiative is bringing together scientists and students across disciplines to tackle some of the universe’s biggest questions and prepare the next generation of researchers to think beyond traditional boundaries. Read how collaboration across astronomy, chemistry, engineering and data science is transforming discovery in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Read more about the Interconnected Cosmos Initiative in the story below.

A University of Virginia chemistry professor on Friday received a Thomas Jefferson Award, the highest University honor bestowed upon a member of the UVA community.

Jill Venton, the University’s Thomas Jefferson Professor of Chemistry in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, was presented the Thomas Jefferson Award for Scholarship during a Board of Visitors luncheon in the Dome Room of the Rotunda.

“The thing I love most about my job is working with students in the lab in the act of discovery. So today with this award, I celebrate them and all their accomplishments."

Read more in the article linked below.

Congratulations to UVA GSAS 2026 graduate BrieAnna Frank (MA in Religious Studies) and her team at the USA Today Network for receiving the 2026 First Amendment Award by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

“The First Amendment Award, presented by the AEJMC Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility, recognizes individuals and organizations that, through personal courage, have worked to protect or advance First Amendment freedoms. It is one of AEJMC's most prestigious honors.”

Congratulations to BrieAnna on this well-deserved award!

Happy reunions weekend, Hoos!

The Final Exercises procession that takes graduating University of Virginia students down the length of the Lawn takes about 375 footsteps.

However, to fully grasp Dareen Aloudeh’s accomplishment of graduating from UVA’s College of Arts & Sciences this spring with a double major in biology and Middle Eastern language and literature you need to navigate back to the first steps of a remarkable journey that began nearly 15 years ago in her war-torn home country of Syria.

Read more about Syrian refugee and graduate Dareen Aloudeh, who became the first Arts & Sciences transfer to win the UVA Trustees' Cultural Fluency Award at Valedictory Exercises, in the story below.

No students, just birds

Species aren’t always as genetically separate as we once thought. Wolves and coyotes can interbreed, and so can many birds, fish and snakes. New research from UVA biologist Drew Schield and collaborators examines how species remain distinct even while continuing to exchange genes. With the help of rattlesnakes they’re investigating one of evolution’s central mysteries.