Katherine Dube ’97 was selected in May as one of the top high school teachers in the Chicago area. Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn visited Dube’s school, TEAM Englewood Community Academy, to congratulate her for being among 10 recipients of the 2013 Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award carries a cash prize and a tuition-free sabbatical to study for a quarter at Northwestern University. Dube, who majored in English at Mary Washington and earned a master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire, teaches high school freshmen who read at the fourth-grade to ninth-grade level. She makes her expectations for them clear right away: They’re going to college. Last year, her students achieved the highest reading gains for their grade level among 17 high schools, according to a Golden Apple press release. “Katherine believes that learning requires risk-taking, respect, and trust in the teachers and school,” the release said. She “is a dedicated and caring teacher who … [Read more...]
Student Athletes Soar
UMW names scholar-athletes and athletes of the year
Liz Green ’14 and David Heller ’14 were named UMW scholar-athletes of the year. Green is the 2011 CAC Runner of the Year winner in cross-country and earned all-conference and all-region honors in the 2012 season. The business administration major is from Viera, Fla. Heller is a UMW soccer team member who was an All-Capital Athletic Conference team member. The business administration major is from Alexandria, Va. Lisa Charney ’13 and Alex Anderson ’15 were named the first-ever UMW athletes of the year. Charney is a consensus first-team All America selection who led the UMW field hockey team to a 20-2 record and the CAC Championship. She was named CAC Conference Player of the Year and the Synapsesports.com national Division III Player of the year, and she was chosen for first team all-region, first team all-conference, and first team all-state recognition. The psychology major from Fairfax, Va., helped UMW reach the NCAA Final Four and scored 25 goals for the … [Read more...]
UMW Takes CAC All-Sports Award
UMW combined seven Capital Athletic Conference championships with six second-place finishes to capture the 2012-13 Richard C. Cook All-Sports Award, the Eagles’ first since 2004-05. The award goes to the CAC member that accumulates the most points during the academic year. UMW captured the CAC trophy in men’s and women’s swimming, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s cross-country, field hockey, and women’s indoor track and field on the way to scoring 156 overall points. Mary Washington also gained top honors in the Women’s Commissioner’s Award chase for the second time in three years, scoring 90 points in 11 championship sports. … [Read more...]
Fulbright Tradition Continues
Three 2012 graduates received prestigious U.S. Fulbright grants this year. Aubrey Elliott ’12, M.Ed. ’13 plans to spend eight months in Turkey as an English teaching assistant. “I’m really looking forward to learning a new language, teaching others, and experiencing life in another country,” he said. Elliott has a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in secondary education. He was awarded two UMW scholarships, the Lester D. Crow Scholarship for Student Teachers and the Oscar H. Darter Scholarship in History. The Culpeper, Va., native played on the Mary Washington rugby team, including one year as the team’s senior representative. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Peter Hawes ’12 will head to Nepal this summer to teach English for a year in a rural school and assist the Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association. “I am expecting it to be pretty challenging in a lot of ways,” he said. “I feel there is … [Read more...]
UMW Welcomes New Provost
Proven champion of liberal arts joins the UMW team
In his new position as University of Mary Washington provost – chief academic administrator – longtime educator and administrator Jonathan Levin will: Oversee enrollment management, academic programming, and faculty matters. Lead teaching and research initiatives. Work with the UMW Strategic Resource Allocation Task Force. And that’s just for starters. Levin will draw on more than 20 years’ experience in higher education at public and private institutions. Most recently, he was dean of the Drew University College of Liberal Arts, where he helped increase underrepresented minorities and boost the mean GPA of incoming students. He also worked to integrate the New Jersey school’s strategic plan, which emphasized the expansion of global, civic, and professional Jonathan Levin Becky Starling of Preservation Virginia and Rob Orrison (in green) of Prince William County Public Works present a check to UMW’s Michael Spencer, assistant professor of historic preservation, and … [Read more...]
Gift Helps Preservation Students
Historic preservation majors soon will have a chance to receive extra tuition assistance, thanks to a generous gift. The Northern Virginia branch of Preservation Virginia and Prince William County presented UMW with $35,000 this spring for a new scholarship. Beginning fall 2014, the merit-based Milton Grigg Northern Virginia APVA Scholarship will be available to junior and senior historic preservation majors who live in certain localities. Grigg, a Virginia architect who died in 1982, was an important contributor to the field of historic preservation and is best known for his restoration work at Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg. “As one of the nation’s premier institutions for the study of historic preservation, the University of Mary Washington is proud to be able to honor the memory of an esteemed architect and valiant preservationist,” said Torre Meringolo, UMW’s vice president for advancement and university relations. The scholarship will be offered to residents of … [Read more...]
Fall Arts on Campus
Exhibits at UMW Galleries this fall include: • Converging Cultures: Works by Latino Artists, Ridderhof Martin Gallery, Sept. 6-Oct. 4 • UMW Art Faculty Exhibition, duPont Gallery, Sept. 6-Oct. 4 • Anarchist Abstraction, Ridderhof Martin and duPont galleries, Oct. 25-Dec. 2 Admission is free. Call UMW Galleries at 540/654-1013 for information. Shows at Klein Theatre include: • The Miss Firecracker Contest, Sept. 19-29 • Spring Awakening, Nov. 7-24 For tickets and information, call Klein Theatre Box Office at 540/654-1111. Music in Dodd Auditorium includes: • UMW Philharmonic, Masterworks: Classical Music's Bad Boys, Oct. 19 • Concert Band and Jazz Band Combined Concert, free, Nov. 15 • UMW Holiday Choir Concert, free, Nov. 17 • UMW Philharmonic, Pops, Dec. 5 and 6 Call 540/654-1324 for information and tickets. Red Marionette by Veronica Jaeger, oil on canvas, is part of the upcoming exhibit, Converging Cultures: Works by Latino … [Read more...]
Arts Are in Fredericksburg’s Stars
The stars aligned at Brompton in May − not over the UMW president’s home, but inside it. UMW President Richard V. Hurley and wife Rose welcomed not only arts donors to thank them for their generous patronage of UMW Arts in the Community, but also the dancers who will compete in Dancing With the Fredericksburg Stars (DWFS), an upcoming Arts in the Community event. Hurley is among the local celebrity contestants who will bring their can-do attitudes and best dancing shoes to the Aug. 17 benefit to boost arts education. Proceeds will endow a UMW performing arts scholarship. To learn more about DWFS or to purchase tickets, go to fredericksburgstars.umw.edu or call 540/654-1065. … [Read more...]
Researchers Give Helicopter Parenting Another Whirl
Soon after recovering from a media swarm surrounding a study they published last June, UMW Associate Professors of Psychology Holly Hollomon Schiffrin ’94 and Miriam Liss made headlines again. Time.com, Forbes.com, and The Chronicle of Higher Education clamored after the pair when their original research on intensive parenting ran in the Journal of Child and Family Studies. That project, co-authored with then-undergraduate student Kathryn Rizzo ’12, revealed that overinvolved parenting – sometimes called “helicopter parenting” – can negatively affect a mother’s health. Schiffrin and Liss continued to research the phenomenon, shifting their focus to college students. In an online survey, nearly 300 participants ages 18 to 23 agreed or disagreed with statements like “My mother monitors my diet,” “My mother does my laundry when I come home,” and “My mother had a say in what major I chose.” The results, published in February in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, showed … [Read more...]
Relay for Life
More than 400 faculty, staff, students, and community members – including President Richard V. Hurley and his wife, Rose – were at UMW April 6 to build awareness and collect funds for cancer research and to celebrate cancer survivors. The annual all-night UMW Relay for Life raised more than $46,000 for the American Cancer Society this spring. “UMW’s Relay for Life 2013 was more than just a magnificent night of celebration, remembrance, and fighting back against cancer,” said Katie Sue Van Valkenburg '14, a member of the student Relay for Life planning committee. “Relay for Life represents a full year of dedication to helping such a worthy cause.” … [Read more...]