In September, UMW recognized Professor of Computer Science Ernie Ackermann with the 2011 J. Christopher “Topher” Bill Outstanding Faculty Service Award, which recognizes dedication to the University and service to the Fredericksburg community. The University seized it’s last opportunity to bestow the honor on Ackermann; he plans to retire this summer. Ackermann has led Mary Washington’s effort to stay on top of technology since he arrived on campus in 1980, signing on as the school’s first director of academic computing and leading its online presence. But his contributions reach well beyond campus, and his list of volunteer activities is so long it would be hard to name them all. “I enjoy using whatever talents I can to help the community,” Ackermann told University of Mary Washington Magazine last summer. He is on the board of directors of Mental Health America of Fredericksburg and the Stafford Board of Zoning Appeals. He has served as technical consultant for the Central … [Read more...]
Professor Honored for Milton Essay
The Milton Society of America chose UMW Assistant Professor of English Ben LaBreche for its prestigious James Holly Hanford Award. His essay Espousing Liberty: The Gender of Liberalism and the Politics of Miltonic Divorce was one of two winners selected from articles published this year on John Milton, the 17th-century poet and author of Paradise Lost. The Milton Society will present the awards at its meeting at the Modern Language Association convention in Seattle in January. This year, LaBreche received a research grant from the Folger Institute and the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and a UMW faculty development grant. His winning essay appeared in English Literary History, a quarterly journal of The Johns Hopkins University. … [Read more...]
UMW Student Leadership Gets $25K Grant
The Honor Code is at the heart of the University of Mary Washington’s new Student Leadership Colloquium. Supported by a $25,000 grant from the AT&T Foundation, the initiative aims to introduce students to the principles of leadership and social responsibility and to enhance critical-thinking skills. A special focus of the project will be increasing understanding and acceptance of the Honor Code and the ways in which the concepts behind it impact leadership. AT&T Mid Atlantic President Michael Schweder presented the grant to President Richard V. Hurley in August as Mary Washington representatives and Virginia House of Delegates Speaker William Howell looked on. “I can assure you that honor is very much alive on the UMW campus,” Hurley said. The Student Leadership Colloquium is open to all students but aims to engage at least half of the underrepresented population of the entering class of 2011. The program also will target first-year students and those at risk of failing to … [Read more...]
Top of the Ranks
University of Mary Washington alumni have always recognized their alma mater as one of the best. This year, the annual college rankings lists got it, too. The U.S. News & World Report’s 2012 Best Colleges guide ranked UMW sixth among public, Southern master’s-granting institutions and 15th among all Southern schools in the same category. Similarly, The Princeton Review included UMW in the 2012 edition of its national wrap-up, The Best 376 Colleges. Many of the rankings focused on the University’s great value, with the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2012 calling UMW one of America’s 49 “best buys” in public education – the only university in Virginia, Maryland, or Washington, D.C., to make the list. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine named Mary Washington among the 100 best values in public colleges for 2011. UMW ranked 26th based on in-state tuition costs and 28th when comparing out-of-state tuition costs. The accolades don’t stop there. Newsweek and The Daily Beast named UMW … [Read more...]