Wat Hopkins, VCOG Immediate Past President and professor of communications at Virginia Tech, has been named the Roy H. Park Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina for the spring semester of 2010. Hopkins, a North Carolina native, earned his Ph.D. from UNC.
Rod Smolla, dean of the Washington & Lee law school, was chosen by the Virginia Bar Association to moderate the first debate between state gubernatorial candidates Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell at the Homestead.
Served with a subpoena to reveal the identities of those commenting on an online story posted about a local defamation case, Waldo Jaquith claimed the identities were privileged. The case was dismissed before the issue could be resolved by a judge.