University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan to preach at St. Paul's

The new academic year draws near, and we at St. Paul's Memorial Church will proudly welcome back the University of Virginia community with a very special "Convocation Sunday" on August 29 at our 10 am service.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that our guest preacher will be Dr. Teresa Sullivan, the new president of the University and the first woman to serve in this position.

As exciting as a new year is, there is still a lingering sadness here in Charlottesville over the murder of 4th year student Yeardley Love last spring allegedly at the hands of another student. We will be hosting a special interfaith prayer service on Sept. 22 at 5:30 pm, and I hope you will join us. We've entitled the service "Rekindling Our Light."

Also, I commend to a note from President Sullivan addressed to the entire University community that I received Wednesday evening:

To members of the University community:

After the news of Yeardley Love's death reached me in Ann Arbor last May, I began to think ahead to joining the University of Virginia community and about what we as a community could learn from this horrific event and how we might begin to identify the characteristics of a caring community, one whose members recognize their mutual responsibility for each other.

With the start of the new academic year, it is important to continue the conversation that began in the wake of Yeardley's death. It is my hope that a full day of open and vigorous discussion about violence, violence prevention, and best practices for campus safety will bring us together in new ways so that each of us can feel safe to participate fully in the life of the University.

To that end, a Day of Dialogue has been scheduled for Friday, Sept. 24. There will be several plenary sessions with keynote speakers as well as a number of thought-provoking concurrent sessions.

Our goal is to develop interdisciplinary relationships that will serve as the foundation for the caring community we seek to create.

I encourage all members of our community -- students, staff and faculty -- to mark your calendars and plan to join me for what should be ground-breaking discussions.

Teresa A. Sullivan
President