About

liv·ing (adjective):

having life, exhibiting the motion of nature, evolving

liv·ing (verb):

to spend your life in a particular way, to practice

Honor (noun):

the unique spirit of compassion and interconnectedness that has come to be called the Community of Trust
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Given increased conversation about the role of Honor at the University of Virginia, President James E. Ryan and Board of Visitors Rector Whittington W. Clement asked the UVA Alumni Association to help current students and alumni “learn from one another about Honor, what it means to the University, and how its values set UVA graduates apart.”

Living Honor is a response to that request, bringing students and alumni together to understand each other’s perspectives on the ideals and impact of Honor and how those perspectives underpin our Community of Trust. What we found is that the spirit of Honor is deeply personal, community-strengthening, alive, and so much more than the system. While times inevitably change, the foundational values of Honor hold true.

Through the Living Honor website, we encourage you to view and interact with these video conversations, learn more about the students and alumni who participated, check out additional Honor resources, and share your own perspective on Honor.

We hope that Living Honor is just the start of a much larger discussion. We invite those in the broader UVA community to join in, helping to show how our Community of Trust comes to life during our years as students and our lives beyond Grounds. These conversations, which require all of us to be engaged and active participants, will be what inspires the future of Honor.

Living Honor is a project of the UVA Alumni Association, a University-affiliated 501(c)(3) foundation that strengthens bonds and builds community for the University’s 250,000+ alumni.

The UVA Alumni Association would like to thank the partners who helped make this project possible, including President James E. Ryan, Board of Visitors Rector Whittington W. Clement, the UVA Alumni Association Board of Managers, the Honor Committee, the students and alumni who shared their perspectives with us, our agency partner Journey Group, filmmaker Chris Tyree, the UVA Arts & Sciences Studios, and other partners across Grounds who contribute to the Community of Trust.

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  Gabrielle Bray (Col ’23)

  Gabrielle serves as chair of the Honor Committee and is studying history and Jewish studies. She hails from Memphis, Tennessee, and hopes to attend law school.

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  James Edwards (Nurs ’25)

  James is from Wilmington, Delaware, and serves as vice president of his class. He is a second-year nursing representative to the University Judiciary Committee and is interested in health policy and equity and pursuing a career in pediatric health care.

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  Patricia Kyle Epps (Col ’74, Grad ’79, Law ’83)

  Patricia received three degrees from UVA: College of Arts & Sciences (1974), Graduate College of Arts & Sciences (1979), and Law School (1983). She divides her time between Richmond, where she practiced law for over 30 years, and Charlottesville, Virginia.

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  Thomas Hall (Col ’02, Law ’06)

  Thomas graduated in 2002 from the College of Arts and Sciences, where he was the first-ever two-time chair of the Honor Committee. He then graduated from the UVA School of Law in 2006 and is currently a vice president and senior associate general counsel at Capital One.

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  Madhav Nair (Col ’21, Med ’22)

  Madhav graduated from the College of Arts & Sciences in 2021 and is completing an Master of Public Health through the School of Medicine. He hopes to pursue a career in health care, focusing on pediatric and adolescent mental health.

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  Kennon Poteat (Com ’01)

  Kennon graduated from the McIntire School of Commerce in 2001. He is from Danville, Virginia, and is now a litigator at the law firm Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, DC.

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  Alexa Ramirez (Col ’23)

  Alexa hails from Leesburg, Virginia, and is double-majoring in biology and psychology. She serves as a drum major for the Cavalier Marching Band and hopes to pursue a career in clinical psychology.

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  Les Williams (Engr ’00)

  Les is cofounder of Risk Cooperative and a certified risk manager with over 20 years of experience in strategic enterprise risk management, engineering, and enterprise sales and marketing. He resides in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife (a fellow Hoo and CEO of SoHookd) and graduated as a Rodman Scholar from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 2000.

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  Lily West (Darden ’12)

  Lily is the president and CEO of the UVA Alumni Association. She is the second woman to serve in this capacity and graduated from the University’s Darden School of Business in 2012.