Class of 2021

By the Numbers: Move-in day Aug. 23, 2017 ••• First-time freshmen 970 ••• Females/males 65 percent/35 percent ••• Identify as ethnically diverse 28 percent ••• From Virginia 88 percent ••• Number of states represented 26 ••• Foreign countries represented include Argentina, Australia, Nepal, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Smartphones Rule Over the summer, incoming first-year students were surveyed about the technology they planned to bring to campus. Most who responded said they would bring two key items – a smartphone and a laptop computer. Of 729 responses, all but two students said they planned to bring a smartphone. Among them, 82 percent were iPhones and the rest Android and Windows phones. Laptops? Of 748 respondents, 56 percent planned to bring Windows laptops, 39 percent Macs, and 2 percent Linux or Android laptops. Three percent would bring no laptop. Desktop computers are decidedly unpopular with freshmen. Of 432 who responded, only 30 … [Read more...]

UMW Graduates 1,190 in 106th Commencement

The University of Mary Washington graduated 1,190 students during its 106th commencement in an undergraduate ceremony on May 13 and a graduate ceremony on May 12. Edward Ayers, historian and onetime University of Richmond president, addressed undergraduates Saturday morning on Ball Circle and encouraged them to capitalize on an uncertain future, reminding them that there have been many tumultuous times in American history. Rachelle Serena Dambrose ’17, whose GPA was 3.9, received the Colgate W. Darden Jr. Award for finishing with the highest grade-point average in the four-year undergraduate program. At the graduate commencement on Friday night in Dodd Auditorium, Navy Deputy Assistant Secretary John D. Burrow challenged the 155 master’s degree recipients to step up as much-needed leaders. Four longtime professors and an administrator were awarded emeritus status at commencement: Manning Collier, associate professor emeritus of mathematics, served for 35 years. Steve Hampton, … [Read more...]

Theater’s It!

UMW Theatre began its 2017-2018 season less than a month after the start of fall classes with Christopher Durang’s comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike followed by the perennial favorite Little Shop of Horrors, Nov. 2 through 19. The season continues spring semester with: Feb 15-25 • Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl. A provocative and meditative comedy reveals technology as a catalyst for connecting or isolating us. When Jean answers a persistently ringing phone in a cafe, she becomes entangled in a dead man’s life. April 12-22 • Medea by Euripides. This powerful play first performed in 431 B.C. reveals the capacity in all of us to do the unthinkable. A gritty, visceral translation by Robinson Jeffers captures the essence of Medea’s rage, jealousy, and pride. Broadway Weekend, May 18-20, 2018 Producing Director and Professor Gregg Stull will lead patrons on a weekend of Broadway theater, seeing three of the season’s hottest hits. Patrons get to relax and enjoy the … [Read more...]

Fleming Enchants Dodd

A Dodd Auditorium audience showed world-renowned soprano Renee Fleming the love in September as she opened the UMW Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2017-18 Celebrity Series. Fleming, a National Medal of the Arts recipient, said she was excited to make her “Fredericksburg debut,” offering works by European composers followed by Broadway favorites. She answered insistent standing ovations with three very different encores: Bjork’s Virus, Lerner and Loewe’s I Could Have Danced All Night, and finally Puccini’s moving O mio babbino caro. While on campus, she and National Institutes of Health neuroscientist and engineer David Jangraw gave a talk about music and the mind, discussing the therapeutic effects of music on the brain. Fleming, a four-time Grammy winner, recently retired from the Metropolitan Opera. Upcoming: The Holiday Pops Concert on Friday, Dec. 8, with the Irish Tenors – Finbar Wright, Anthony Kearns, and Ronan Tynan –  who will perform songs from their best-selling album We Three … [Read more...]

Airmen, Code Breakers, Orwell, and Tesla Among Great Lives Subjects

The William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series returns in January for the 2018 season. Jan. 18 Jonas Salk, Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs, author of Jonas Salk: A Life Jan. 25 Women Code-Breakers of World War II, Liza Mundy, author of Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II Jan. 30 Dale Carnegie, Steven Watts, author of Self-Help Messiah: Dale Carnegie and Success in Modern America Feb. 1 Lawmen and Outlaws of the Old West, Thomas Clavin, author of Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West Feb. 6 The Women Soldiers of World War I, Elizabeth Cobbs, author of The Hello Girls: America’s First Women Soldiers Feb. 8 Nikola Tesla, W. Bernard Carlson, author of Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age Feb. 13 The Tuskegee Airmen, Todd Moye, author of Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II Feb. 15 Sam Phillips: Godfather of Rock ’n’ Roll, Peter Guralnick, author of Sam Phillips: The Man Who … [Read more...]