Writing From the Heart: Tapping the Power of Your Inner Voice By Nancy Slonim Aronie ’63 This enduring guide, now in its seventh printing, presents creative writing as a path to self-healing, encouraging writers to search their souls and take risks. Writing From the Heart grants individuals permission to tell their own stories in their own voices, using their own styles. The book, originally published in 1998, provides inspirational exercises and methods for overcoming writer’s blocks, and includes chapters like “Before you knew everything, everything was new” and “Are you there, gut? It’s me, Margaret.” Aronie promotes a “safe” creative environment that urges writers to let go of the red-pen discipline they learned in the classroom and gives them freedom to trust their own creativity. “If you feel safe, you can do anything,” Aronie said on the website for the Chilmark Writing Workshop she founded in 1986 on Martha’s Vineyard, where she lives with her husband. “Here is … [Read more...]
Books by Faculty
Communication Centers and Oral Communication Programs in Higher Education: Advantages, Challenges, and New Directions Edited by Eunkyong “Esther” L. Yook, UMW Speaking Center and Korea Program director, and Wendy Atkins-Sayre This collection examines the growth and development of the centers that support communication courses and programs as they become more prevalent in higher education. Published by Lexington Books, February 2012 … [Read more...]
Frances Liebenow Armstrong ’36 Service Award
Phyllis “Bee” Melillo Shanahan ’55 For years, Phyllis “Bee” Melillo Shanahan ’55 was UMW’s Long Island liaison. In New York, she represented her alma mater at college fairs, hosted receptions for accepted students, and helped with admissions recruitment. For her enduring commitment to promoting Mary Washington, Shanahan received this year’s Frances Liebenow Armstrong ’36 Service Award, which recognizes alumni for the longevity, consistency, and breadth of their contributions. Shanahan has served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors. She tirelessly gathered and submitted her classmates’ news for publication in University of Mary Washington Magazine, serving as Class Agent for a decade, from 1965 to 1975. She’s a longtime Reunion Weekend volunteer, along with her late husband, John, who was awarded “honorary alumnus” status for his enthusiasm and support of his wife’s service to her alma mater. During their 52-year marriage, the couple traveled extensively in … [Read more...]
Books by Faculty
Politics & Society in Contemporary China By Elizabeth Freund Larus, professor of political science and international affairs The text uses a detailed account of the modern history of China and the changes that have occurred throughout the past 60 years to put into context current Chinese politics and society. Published by Lynne Rienner Publishers, February 2012 … [Read more...]
“Mary Massacre” Takes UMW Ultimate All the Way
Mary Massacre, the UMW women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, competed nationally in May at the USA Ultimate Division III College Championships in Appleton, Wis., for the second year in a row. Joining some of the best D3 teams in the country, the team placed 11th after playing six games. “Ultimate is a team sport unlike any that I have ever played before,” said club president Emily Goldhammer ’13, who scored at least one point in each game they played at nationals. “Every person on the field has a role at every moment.” The tournament is made up of one day of pool play and one day of bracket play. On the first day of the tournament, Mary Massacre was seeded third in its pool at nationals and kept that seed by losing to the first and second seeded teams, Pacific Lutheran University and Carleton College, and beating the fourth seed, Hendrix College. They then played a crossover game against the second seed of a different pool, Grinnell College, and lost, leading them to play in the … [Read more...]
Get the Scoop on Socially Responsible Business
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold their first scoop of ice cream from a renovated Vermont gas station in 1978. Today, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. is a multimillion-dollar enterprise – and its co-founders look slightly different than they did in the picture that graced labels through the late 1990s. What’s remained constant is Cohen and Greenfield’s commitment to being socially responsible. At the November Fredericksburg Forum, the duo will present An Evening of Entrepreneurial Spirit, Social Responsibility, and Radical Business Philosophy. The bespectacled entrepreneurs will tell how two “real guys” who once sold homemade ice cream from Ben’s VW Squareback built not only a sweet business but also a mechanism for social change. As Cohen and Greenfield kept up with the times – packaging their product in pint-sized containers, developing an Internet presence, and marketing internationally – so did their flavors. Favorites like Fresh Georgia Peach and Chocolate Chip … [Read more...]
Serious About Sustainability
This spring, UMW recycled 38 pounds of materials for every person on campus in eight weeks, the equivalent of more than 200,000 pounds of materials kept out of landfills. That meant UMW finished first in Virginia and 18th overall in the annual RecycleMania competition, which included 338 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada. RecycleMania promotes waste reduction in campus communities. … [Read more...]
Freedom Rides Tribute Wins International Award
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarded its prestigious international Grand Gold Circle of Excellence Award to UMW for its commemoration of James Farmer and the 1961 Freedom Rides. UMW received the top award in the special events category and was one of only 19 institutions to win the Grand Gold designation for exceptional work. “Nothing has made me prouder,” President Richard V. Hurley said. “In the marking of an event that changed the course of history, I’m thrilled that the rest of the world now recognizes what I long have believed: The University of Mary Washington mounted the greatest tribute possible to James Farmer and the Freedom Rides.” In February 2011, UMW launched one of the most comprehensive institution-wide projects in its history to honor the legacy of the late James Farmer. The UMW professor emeritus of history was the architect of the 1961 Freedom Ride campaign that led to the desegregation of public interstate transportation in … [Read more...]
UMW Debates at Nationals
Four members of the University of Mary Washington Debate Team competed in the National Debate Tournament at Atlanta’s Emory University in early spring. The event featured 78 teams this year, all chosen based on a competitive qualification process. Mary Washington finished 23rd overall. The UMW debaters worked through parts of summer, winter, and spring breaks, researching topics, practicing speeches, and formulating arguments in anticipation of the qualifying and national tournaments. The extra effort paid off. Patrick McCleary ’14 of Shrewsbury, Pa., and Colin McElhinny ’14 of Erie, Pa., qualified for the second consecutive year; they placed second in the District 7 qualifying tournament hosted by Mary Washington in February. Peter Susko ’12 of Erie and Thomas Pacheco ’14 of Baltimore finished eighth in the qualifying tournament, securing the district’s final spot for the national competition. Susko had qualified for the event in previous years. In 2010, he and former … [Read more...]
Two Grads Get Fulbright Grants
Two recent UMW graduates, Eric Halsey ’11 and Peter Wingrove ’11, have been selected to receive U.S. Fulbright grants for 2012-2013. The UMW Fulbright committee is “extremely proud of Eric and Peter’s accomplishments,” Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history and UMW Fulbright adviser, said of the two Herndon, Va., natives. “Mary Washington has now had eight winners in the past five years and looks forward to more in the future.” Halsey, who majored in history and political science, will study nationalism theory and Balkan history at Sofia University in Bulgaria. He will research Alexander Stamboliiski’s governmental policies, which were a unique type of trans-ethnic and linguistic nationalism. He also will take intensive Bulgarian language courses. While at Mary Washington, Halsey interned at Genocide Watch and was a visiting student at the American University of Bulgaria in 2009-2010. After his Fulbright year, he plans to pursue a doctorate in history. Wingrove … [Read more...]