Unlikely Hero: Stonewall Jackson’s Early Years
Orphaned at an early age, Stonewall Jackson spent his youth struggling for identity and striving for acceptance from family, friends, and teachers. Celebrated Virginia Tech historian James “Bud” Robertson, author of Stonewall …
Let’s Get Fiscal: Year-End Tax Tips
Before the W-2s and the shoe boxes full of receipts start appearing, two accounting professors, Richard Newmark from Old Dominion University and James Smith from William & Mary, join us to discuss strategies to …
High Anxiety: Understanding Social Disorders
Part I: Education professor Valerie Morprew of Longwood College shares new approaches for treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Find the segment audio here. Part II: Mark McCormick, a Virginia Commonwealth University psychiatrist and director of the …
School for Scandal? Literary Censorship in K-12 Curriculum
Each year, venerated literature, from Huckleberry Finn to Catcher in the Rye, is banned from school libraries around the country by parents and religious groups who find the content of these classics unfit …
Good Morning, Vietnam: 25 Years After the Fall of Saigon
Vietnam is emerging as the economic frontier of the 1990s, and nations around the globe are lining up to take advantage of its needs and resources. Even the U.S. can’t …
Take This Job and Love It: Labor Unions in the 90s
The economic recession of the early 90s, downsizing, plant closings, NAFTA, and the move toward overseas manufacturing have left America’s once all-powerful labor unions reeling from loss of membership and, …
Conquering Depression: The New Deal’s W.P.A. Program in Virginia
The Great Depression left thousands of Virginians out of work, from unskilled laborers to accomplished artists. The Works Progress Administration, a branch of FDR’s New Deal, sought to change that. …
Bounty Hunters: Efforts to Improve Virginia Agricultural Production
Part I: William & Mary marine scientist Gene Burreson explains the plight of the Chesapeake oyster and efforts to improve the industry. Find the segment audio here. Part II: Virginia State University animal scientist Terry …
And Then There Were None: Endangered Species in Virginia
Part I: Virginia Tech wildlife scientist James Fraser discusses the threat that Chesapeake Bay shoreline development poses to bald eagles and current efforts to save our national bird from extinction. Find the segment …
Beyond Redemption? The Debate over Prisoner Rehabilitation
For the better part of a century Americans believed education and training would help criminal offenders turn their lives around. Today, however, Virginians have abolished parole, and the state spends …
It Doesn’t Add Up: The Role of Gender in Math Education
Do girls get inadvertently shortchanged on math education by teachers who feel boys are more adept and interested in the subject? Education professors Lee Doerries of Christopher Newport University and Marie Sheckels of Mary …
On the Town: The Debate Over Reversion and Revenue-Sharing
Virginia has 40 independent cities—28 are eligible to revert to town status. With increased competition between city and county, reversion promises cities new clout and relief from costly education and …
Double Vision: The Science and Ethics of Cloning
The appearance of Dolly, the cloned Scottish ewe, sparked worldwide controversy over scientists’ newfound ability to clone mammals. Medical College of Virginia geneticist Walter Nance describes the science behind animal cloning, as …
Buried Treasures: Unearthing Historical Sites in Virginia
Virginia is rich in archeological sites from the grand plantations along the James to primitive forts and simple schoolrooms long since abandoned. Longwood anthropologist James Jordan joins Mary Washington historic preservationist Douglas Sanford for …