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CSC News

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Commons Building_SCUP

Contemplative Commons Wins Design Excellence Award for Architecture

The Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) recognized the University of Virginia's Contemplative Commons with a 2025 Design Excellence Award. SCUP honors achievement in strategic, integrated planning that results in exemplary buildings and grounds, institutional success, and careers that inspire. The Contemplative Sciences Center facility was honored in the category of Excellence in Architecture for a New Building.
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The interior courtyard demonstrates how the Commons provides a contemplative space integrated with nature.
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Contemplative Commons Updates

As expected, we are experiencing a high volume of requests for space at the Contemplative Commons. Currently, we are not accepting reservations as our team finalizes guidelines and procedures for processing requests. 

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Contemplative Commons from across the Dell with the LEED® certification label

Contemplative Commons Awarded LEED® Certification

The Contemplative Commons was awarded LEED® certification (GOLD-certified level means that a building has excelled in its sustainable design and operation). LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. Available for virtually all building types, LEED provides a framework for healthy, efficient, and cost-saving green buildings. LEED certification is a globally recognized symbol of sustainability achievement and leadership.
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Ninfeo Envision Article

Envision Magazine: A Serene Immersion

UVA's Envision highlighted Wolfgang Buttress' installation, NINFEO, at the Contemplative Commons.

A Serene Immersion

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Zac Brown on stage at John Paul Jones arena for the CSC Benefit concert

UVA Arts & Culture: Maggie Rogers and Zac Brown Band Light Up the Stage at JPJ

Nearly 10,000 fans packed John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday night for a star-studded benefit concert featuring the Zac Brown Band and Maggie Rogers, celebrating the dedication of the University of Virginia’s Contemplative Sciences Center.
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Meditation from the Dell event on Saturday showing the sound bath from behind the stage

Cav Daily: Contemplative Commons' Opening Centered Mindfulness Through the Arts

Over the weekend, many celebratory events featured a variety of creative activities, ending with a benefit concert featuring Maggie Rogers and Zac Brown Band.
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Opening ceremony for the Flourish weekend celebrating the Contemplative Commons
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UVA Today: ‘Choosing Peace’ and Celebrating UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center

The Contemplative Sciences Center celebrated the opening of the Contemplative Commons with partners from UVA and beyond.
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Facilitator offering a sound bath
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‘Rest Fest’ Highlighted in UVA Today

Since the beginning of the spring semester, students and community members have gathered on Friday afternoons to enjoy a sound bath followed by a yoga or tai chi session to shake off the week’s stress.

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Photo Cav Daily by Ken Fabia
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Cavalier Daily Celebrates the Contemplative Commons

The Cavalier Daily ran an editorial piece, “Celebrate the Contemplative Commons and other non-academic student spaces”, highlighting the recently completed Contemplative Commons building. With its peaceful aesthetic combined with its holistic programming, the Commons serves as a sanctuary for students, as well as bridging different areas of the University both geographically and academically.
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glow
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LearningWell: The University of Virginia Builds a Headquarters for Wellbeing

LearningWell Magazine featured the Contemplative Commons: "The new 57,000-square-foot Commons is home to the Contemplative Sciences Center—and a new way to promote flourishing in higher education."

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Photo by Ken Fabia, The Cavalier Daily.
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Cavalier Daily Story: The Contemplative Commons Pilots Programs, Prepares for April Grand Opening

The Commons hosted 9 academic courses, student drop-in programs and research talks throughout the fall semester
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Zac Brown Band Group
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The Music Beat: Zac Brown Band, Maggie Rogers To Perform at John Paul Jones Arena

UVA Today featured the April 5, 2025 benefit concert celebrating the Contemplative Sciences Center.
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ZBB Thumbnail
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A Concert to Celebrate the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The University of Virginia (UVA) announced today that GRAMMY® Award-winning Southern rock group Zac Brown Band will perform a benefit concert to celebrate UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Special guest, multi-platinum, GRAMMY® nominated artist Maggie Rogers and comedian Joe Zimmerman will also perform.
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Contemplative Commons Golden Light Brown College
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December 2024 Newsletter

At year's end, the Contemplative Sciences Center celebrates a year of new partnerships, new opportunities, and a new chapter. Find out more in the December 2024 edition of the newsletter (Archived PDF).

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Picture of Kelly Crase
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Kelly Crace Named Executive Director of the Contemplative Sciences Center

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The University of Virginia announced today the selection of Kelly Crace as executive director of UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center. Crace will officially begin his new post on January 8, 2025.

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A child at their classroom desk in grayscale foreground looking at their problem sheet.
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Compassionate Schools Project Curriculum Study Findings Show Benefits For Students

The Compassionate Schools Project (CSP) curriculum, Flourish, a collaboration between the Contemplative Sciences Center, the UVA School of Education and Human Development, Kentucky's Jefferson County Public Schools show elementary school students, particularly those from high-poverty areas, can benefit from the Compassionate Schools Project's Flourish curriculum.
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The artist inspecting his installation of the Ninfeo

NINFEO Art Installation

In fall 2024, we welcomed international artist Wolfgang Buttress for the commissioning of his latest piece, NINFEO, an immersive sound, light, and sculptural experience housed in the Contemplative Commons. NINFEO contains 3,320 laser-etched illuminated crystal blocks inspired by the water lilies of the Dell Pond.

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The interior courtyard demonstrates how the Commons provides a contemplative space integrated with nature.
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CSC Newsletter August 2024

The Contemplative Sciences Center and our partners are thrilled to offer a robust roster of programming in the Contemplative Commons this fall! See what is going on there and in other CSC news. View the August 2024 CSC Newsletter (Archived PDF). 

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Studetns with their computers attending a lecture at UVA
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CSC: What If We Learned Contemplation Like We do Arts or Sports?

As with football or violin practice, young people could gain versatile life skills through routine contemplative training. CSC’s Director of Research Michael Sheehy examines teaching contemplation in the classroom in an article for the magazine Psyche.

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View of the Contemplative Commons from across the Dell at twilight
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CSC is Piloting New Programming for Fall 2024

This fall 2024 semester, the Contemplative Sciences Center and partners will pilot select activities for UVA students and the general public; and host several academic classes. The building will not have public business hours but will be open during that programming. The Contemplative Commons' official public grand opening will be spring 2025 (stay tuned!) Piloted programming includes drop-in opportunities for students as well as events that are open to the public including Meditation from the Dell.
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Rotunda as seen from the Lawn
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Karsh Institute of Democracy Student Dialogue Fellowship

The Good Life Political Project at UVA's Karsh Institute of Democracy invites students from all backgrounds and with a diverse range of views and experiences to apply for the Student Dialogue Fellowship, which will convene multiple cohorts of UVA undergraduate and graduate students for a monthly dinner series in the fall of 2024. Dialogue Fellows will have the option to continue their engagement with the program into the spring of 2025, where they will contribute to the development of the program’s future iterations and will have the opportunity to collaborate with thought leaders at the University.
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Screenshot of Tiny Blue Dot's home site
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CSC's CIRCL Awarded Funding to Study Contemplative Sleep Practices

The Tiny Blue Dot Foundation announced the funding of twelve neuroscientific research projects related to “The Science of Perception Box.” CIRCL, CSC's Contemplative Innovation + Research Co-Lab, is among the awardees along with collaborators at Northwestern University for their study, "Transformative Benefits of Contemplative Sleep Practices and a Novel Pathway to Deliver Benefits to the General Public."
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CASEL logo

CSP Flourish Included in CASEL Program Guide

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) has designated Flourish: The Compassionate Schools Project Curriculum as a Promising Program for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). Flourish is one of 14 programs in the 2024 review cycle selected for inclusion in the CASEL Guide to Effective Social and Emotional Learning Programs.
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CSC Newsletter April 25, 2024

See the latest news and updates from the CSC Newsletter April 25, 2024 (Archived PDF).

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A group of Dalai Lama fellows sitting with the Dalai Lama

CSC Newsletter April 1, 2024

The April 2024 Newsletter includes "A Conversation with the Dalai Lama," Contemplative Commons News, JCS Series: “What is Contemplation;" New Student Advisors; Tom Tom Festival Panels; Video: What is a Psychedelic Experience?
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