CSC Newsletter August 2025
As UVA's Fall 2025 semester begins, view CSC's events and programming in the August August 2025 newsletter (archived PDF). Subscribe here.
CSC News
View the full list of all our newsletters in the archive.
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WVIR News: Kids come together at “Elements of Peace”
The Elements of Peace Summer Program offered youth (ages 11-15) an immersion retreat rooted in mindfulness, creative expression, and deep connection with nature. Campers expressed how the retreat gave them a sense of belonging and deepened self-awareness.
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WVIR 29 Story: UVA students use AI to develop solutions to community challenges
In a partnership between UVA's Contemplative Sciences Center (CSC) and CARELab, a conscious AI leadership program, UVA students, interns, and community youth worked together on solutions to local community challenges. CSC facilitated mindfulness integration into the values-centered program.
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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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.
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.
Envision Magazine: A Serene Immersion
UVA's Envision highlighted Wolfgang Buttress' installation, NINFEO, at the Contemplative Commons.
A Serene Immersion
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.
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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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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‘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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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.
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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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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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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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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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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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."