In 1993, Mary Washington received an extraordinary gift from an extraordinary benefactor, the New York painter Alfred Levitt. It included more than 3,000 works of art from his personal collection. These included works not only by Levitt, but also by his dear friend Margaret Sutton ’26. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Mary Washington, Sutton moved to New York City where she met Levitt and his wife, Gertrude, a lawyer. The three lived together in a Greenwich Village apartment from 1939 until Gertrude Levitt died in 1983. Alfred Levitt and Sutton remained together there until Sutton’s death in 1990. The exhibit Margaret Sutton, Life and Art examines a rich moment in American art through Sutton’s work and long career. Most importantly, the exhibit represents what is best in the UMW Department of Art and Art History – students learning, creating, and contributing. Students in Professor of Art History Marjorie Och’s Laboratory in Museum Studies class are curating … [Read more...]

Do you have a box of college memorabilia stashed away somewhere? We hope you’ll bring it to reunion to share with fellow alumni and preserve for the future. During Reunion Weekend, UMW digital archivists will set up a scanning station at the University Center to preserve your college photos and papers as part of Mary Washington history. You can keep your originals or donate them to the University Archives, but either way you’ll contribute to the lasting record of a time and place that meant so much to you. The History Harvest table will also feature an exhibit of artifacts from the archives. The table will be open the afternoon of Friday, June 2, and the morning of Saturday, June 3. Reunion Weekend ends Sunday, June 4. Learn more online at www.alumni.umw.edu/reunionweekend. … [Read more...]

Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and international affairs, is the University of Mary Washington’s latest winner of a statewide award for outstanding higher education faculty. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) selected Farnsworth as one of 12 award recipients from a field of 97 nominees for 2017. The award recognizes faculty who demonstrate the highest level of scholarship, teaching, mentoring, public service, and research. Farnsworth has taught at UMW for 16 years and directs the Center for Leadership and Media Studies. He is the author or co-author of five books and dozens of articles and book chapters on mass media, the presidency, and state and national politics. He is a frequent media commentator on political topics. He was a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Research Scholar at McGill University and is former president of the Political Communication Section of the American Political Science Association and of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national … [Read more...]

Incoming first-year students will learn in-depth about the crucial role a team of female African-American mathematicians played in the early days of America’s space program. The university has selected Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race as the common read for 2017-18. Students receive the book at orientation in June and join the campus community in a discussion of the book in August. Throughout the year, university events feature themes from the reading. The program includes a lecture and campus visit by the author. In March 2017, the Fredericksburg area’s Central Rappahannock Regional Library held a lecture and book-signing by Shetterly at Dodd Auditorium in UMW’s George Washington Hall. Every seat was taken, many attendees stood at the sides of the auditorium, and an overflow crowd watched the talk on a screen in the lobby. Shetterly signed books for two hours … [Read more...]

Legendary singer Tony Bennett thrilled the audience in sold-out Dodd Auditorium in a Dec. 9, 2016, concert that stretched to four encores. In March, singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth also sang with the UMW Philharmonic Orchestra to an adoring, standing-room-only crowd. Singing with both the full orchestra and a select quintet, Bennett offered many familiar favorites, including I Left My Heart in San Francisco, Rags to Riches, and The Way You Look Tonight. The audience couldn’t get enough of the high-energy performance by the 90-year-old musical powerhouse, and Bennett returned to the stage for encore after encore, performing almost 20 minutes longer than expected. Bennett’s production manager, Tom Young, told Philharmonic Conductor Kevin Bartram afterward: “We have done a lot of colleges over the years, but never with the college orchestra. You have a great combination of community members and students. It really works.” Bennett appeared as part of the Philharmonic’s … [Read more...]

Grace Anne Braxton, who works as a dining room attendant at Qdoba in the University Center, won the regional Customer Experience Award from Sodexo in February. Braxton, a longtime Campus Dining employee, earned the recognition for being a kind, thoughtful, and hard-working employee who has formed supportive bonds with students, said Rose Benedict, UMW Dining’s marketing director. Braxton previously won local and district awards for her Sodexo work. In addition, she is an accomplished Special Olympics athlete, having won gold medals in swimming and golf in three World Summer Games. She also has competed in track and field, basketball, field hockey, skiing, and ice skating. An avid basketball fan, Braxton is a season ticketholder for UMW Basketball and shouts encouragement from the stands. … [Read more...]