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Law School offering course on American Indian law
The School of Law will offer a course next fall on laws that manage relationships between governments and American Indians.
"The core of the course will be Constitutional principles, federal statutes and regulations that govern the relationships that the federal, state and local governments have with Indian tribes and Indians," said Rod Smolla, dean of the law school.
"It will include coverage of the history of American Indian policy, a history that includes many tragic and heartbreaking elements."
The impetus for the course came from a visit to the law school by leaders of a number of Virginia tribes. "They expressed disappointment that there was very little emphasis on American Indian law by law schools located in Virginia," said Smolla. They also discussed the many legal struggles of the Virginia tribes.
"I shared their views with our faculty and committed the law school to offering at least one course next year."
Noting that Virginia will be commemorating in 2007 the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown, Smolla said the Law School is hosting an international conference on the Rule of Law in April 2007. "We are committed to including, as a segment of that conference, a session on American Indian law and the plight of indigenous people throughout the world," he said.
$75,000 grant goes to Connect Richmond
Richmond Memorial Health Foundation has awarded a three-year, $75,000 grant to the University's Connect Richmond project.
Connect Richmond, managed by the Jepson School of Leadership Studies, is a Web-based information clearinghouse established in 2001 to help inform and unite nonprofit leaders and their volunteers. Its Web site includes information about nonprofits as well as advice and resources on how to maintain or start a nonprofit organization.
The grant will allow Connect Richmond to improve and expand the health section of the Web site with new research and a redesign and to develop new community collaborations. In the first stage of the project, representatives of Connect Richmond will meet with local health leaders to determine their most pressing concerns and determine how Connect Richmond can address them. In addition, the grant will cover staff leadership and supervision of Connect Richmond interns as they research databases, organize information and add resources and tools to the site.
Each year the grant will support a summer fellowship for a Richmond student interested in health and community service.
The Richmond Memorial Health Foundation is the steward of the legacy of caring embodied in the creation of Richmond Memorial Hospital. The foundation invests fiscal and intellectual capital to improve health care and wellness in Richmond and central Virginia.
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