The William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series returns for its 17th season on Jan. 21, 2020, which also marks Professor Crawley’s 50th year on the UMW faculty. The series is characterized by its breadth of topics and quality of speakers, who this season include Pulitzer Prize winners David Blight on Frederick Douglass and William Taubman on Nikita Khrushchev. Several 2020 topics focus on groups of interesting people, including duelists, pirates, and female pioneers in aviation and the internet. Great Lives lectures are free and open to the public. All begin at 7:30 p.m. in Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall. For information, call 540-654-1065 or visit umw.edu/greatlives. Calendar Jan. 21 Ronald Reagan, Craig Shirley, author of Rendezvous with Destiny Jan. 23 Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict, author of Tiger Woods Jan. 28 D-Day Girls, Sarah Rose, author of D-Day Girls Jan. 30 JFK/James Bond, Steven Watts, author of JFK and the Masculine Mystique Feb. 4 Francis … [Read more...]
Teaching Sets UMW Apart
The University of Mary Washington is among U.S. News & World Report’s Best Colleges 2020. UMW placed 16th overall among regional universities in the South. Within that category, UMW ranked seventh in the “top public schools” and “best colleges for veterans” categories, 16th in “best undergraduate teaching,” and 18th in “most innovative schools.” “Service learning is a hallmark of the UMW experience,” U.S. News noted. “An education at UMW, with multiple opportunities for student research and service learning, uniquely prepares graduates for interesting careers or for advanced study. … [Read more...]
College of Business Honors Top Alumni
The College of Business inducted Doug Dolton ’78 into its Hall of Fame at a gala ceremony Oct. 18. Dolton is co-founder and chairman of Second Act Financial Services, a member of the College of Business Executive Advisory Board, and a former Mary Washington executive-in-residence. The October event honored several other College of Business alumni for contributions to their professions and leadership in their fields. Distinguished business alumni recognized were Linda Lemanski Blakemore ’84, Chris Fines ’99, and Monecia Helton Shelton ’81. Young alumni recognized were Tad Dickman ’12, Darrell Graf ’04, Marc Logan ’04, Ben Maxwell ’05, and Julianne Sweat Thompson ’14. … [Read more...]
UMW: A Great Place to Work
The University of Mary Washington has been recognized as a 2019 Great College to Work For, based on a survey of 835 full-time faculty, administrators, and staff. The survey, conducted by the consulting firm ModernThink, highlights colleges and universities that get top ratings from employees for workplace practices and policies. Of 152 four-year institutions that participated in this year’s nationwide survey, Mary Washington was among only 60 selected for the distinction. The results were announced in September and promoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Since taking the helm at Mary Washington in 2016, President Troy Paino has worked diligently with leadership to improve the workplace environment, zeroing in on key components identified in a survey completed shortly before his arrival, including communication, collaboration, and compensation. Paino has instituted regular all-university addresses and intimate coffee-talk sessions. The university completed a comprehensive … [Read more...]
108th Commencement
The University of Mary Washington graduated 1,234 students in commencement ceremonies Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11, 2019. Terrie L. Suit MBA ’16, chief executive officer for the Virginia Realtors and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, gave the graduate address Friday evening. Anabeth Guthrie ’97, chief of communications for the National Gallery of Art, addressed undergraduates on Saturday. For the first time in UMW history, four graduates received the Colgate W. Darden Jr. Award, presented to honor students with the highest grade-point average in the four-year undergraduate program. Darden Award recipients were Sophia Josephine Lamp, Emily Lynn MacIndoe, Hollis E. Pultz, and Lauren Marie Van Nostrand. All four finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA. Three longtime faculty members were awarded emeritus status: Julie A. Hodge, associate professor emerita of theatre, taught costume design, scene painting, and more at Mary Washington for 23 years. Louis A. … [Read more...]
Class of 2023 By the Numbers
(Preliminary figures as of October 2019.) 894 First-year students 302 Transfer students 64% Female 36% Male 28% Identify as ethnically diverse 91% From Virginia 31 States represented 38 Foreign countries … [Read more...]
UMW Community Engagement Gets New Focus
UMW’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE) is up and running, strengthening ties between Mary Washington and the greater Fredericksburg area. The newly launched center held its first Day of Service in August, sending first-year students to volunteer in the community doing riverfront cleanup, tree mulching, animal shelter support, and more. The CCE showcases civic and community engagement opportunities and fosters partnerships that enhance student learning and encourage positive social change. The center fits into a larger national movement to make community engagement a top priority at higher education institutions. “At UMW, we have a tradition of working in and with our communities,” said Sarah Dewees, CCE’s associate director. The center provides an infrastructure to support, promote, and enhance the service and volunteerism already being done by students and employees. It also assists faculty who have long incorporated community engagement into their teaching and research, and … [Read more...]
Service, Academics Draw Praise
UMW’s core principle of service earned it two mentions in the 2019 College Rankings guide published by Washington Monthly. Mary Washington made the lists of “best master’s universities,” placing 32nd among schools nationwide that award master’s degrees but few or no doctoral degrees. UMW also ranked 39th on the list of “best bang for the buck” for its ability to help non-wealthy students attain marketable degrees at affordable prices. Washington Monthly rates institutions “based on what they do for the country and the public good” – a key aspect of Mary Washington life. … [Read more...]
Dennis Quaid Is Philharmonic’s Spring Guest
Violinist Itzhak Perlman kicked off the UMW Philharmonic’s 49th season in October as the featured guest of the Celebrity Concert Series. A classical superstar, Perlman has four Emmy Awards, 15 Grammy Awards, a Medal of Liberty presented by President Ronald Reagan, and a National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton. This was Perlman’s second performance with the UMW Philharmonic. The season continues: Friday, Dec. 6 – Holiday Pops: Winter Wonderland with traditional favorites and new arrangements. Sunday, Feb. 16 – Violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, UMW’s first artist-in-residence, joins the newly formed UMW Chamber Orchestra. Saturday, March 21 – Rockwell Reflections, inspired by the works of Norman Rockwell, composed by Stella Sung, and narrated by Abigail Rockwell, the artist’s granddaughter and an authority on his work. Friday, April 24 – Actor Dennis Quaid joins the UMW Philharmonic to sing the original version of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. The program, Made in … [Read more...]