[UVa News Services, by Maggie Graves] For Kristina Hill, working on the South Bronx project has been a way of coming full circle.

A University of Virginia associate professor of architecture and the director of the landscape architecture program, she and a group of U.Va. students are working with a citizen organization in New York called Sustainable South Bronx to help residents of the area promote sustainable improvements in the neighborhood. Through this effort, Hill hopes to help the local kids who, she said, "grew up like me."

Born in 1964, Hill was raised in Worcester, Mass., a decaying urban community. She attended what she described as a violent high school, where many students were expected to drop out or fail. "We were all just trying to stay out of serious trouble," she recalled.

Hill's parents were teachers who encouraged her academically. "My family's all about education," she said. "We really believed that was your ticket." An honors student, she graduated from high school in three years and was accepted to Tufts University....[for complete article, follow link to UVa News]