The Alumni Association Board of Directors serves as the voice of the alumni. I would like to extend warm thanks to the incomparable Patti Boise Kemp ’69, who served as president for the past two years. The Board of Visitors, UMW President Richard V. Hurley, and the faculty genuinely care about the alumni perspective. Patti has been our ever-present champion. Mary Washington is a unique place where we spent memorable and rewarding years. As alumni, we all owe part of our intellectual, community, and financial successes to Mary Washington. I am honored to serve as Alumni Association president for the next two years. My hope is to advance three simple goals. First, I urge each of you to attend Mary Washington events organized by the regional networks. Whether a happy hour, a favorite professor delivering remarks, or a yield event to encourage high school students to join our community, these affairs are enjoyable opportunities to see old classmates and make new friends. Get … [Read more...]
Dear Editor
Ever since I was a freshman in 1963, Nan Grogan Orrock ’65 has been a part of my life, though she doesn’t know about this. I want to thank my classmate Mary Carter Bishop ’67 for her great article on this wonderful woman (Impatient for Justice, spring 2014). Nan introduced me to the unfairness and injustices in our country, especially in regard to black Americans. This, of course, was before the decades of women’s rights and all the other rights that came after the 1960s. I have only a dim memory of many of the aspects of my college life, but I will never forget the time spent with Nan and also with her sweet roommate, Kathy Burke House ’65. Those young women changed my life. I went back to school after getting my English degree at MWC and became a nurse and then a clinical nurse specialist. I have spent my life working with people who have health problems, who are dying, and who suffer from mental illness. I currently work as a volunteer at a primary care free clinic in central … [Read more...]
Guest Editor: Put Mary Washington First
Welcome to this special edition of UMW Magazine devoted to the Mary Washington First campaign. Guest editor Torre Meringolo, vice president for Advancement and University Relations, has guided efforts to support President Richard V. Hurley’s vision for UMW through the development and launch of this $50 million campaign. Begun in 2011 and ending in late 2016, the Mary Washington First campaign has raised $30 million toward its goal. Dear Readers, The launch of a comprehensive fundraising campaign is a special moment in the life of an institution. It provides an opportunity to showcase high-priority initiatives that need private support in order to propel them forward. More importantly, a campaign provides an opportunity for those who cherish the institution to express their support through personal investments. The title and theme of this campaign is Mary Washington First, and the choice of this name was deliberate. President Richard V. Hurley’s vision is for Mary Washington … [Read more...]
Making Waves
Sherry Farrington Green ’60 was strolling along a beach in Thailand in December 2004 when she turned to chat with someone over her shoulder. That’s when she saw the tsunami. “It’s not a wave. It’s a wall of water. You don’t even hear it. We started to run and I said, ‘We have to get up a tree,’ ” recalled Green, who was “hanging on like a monkey” about 25 feet in the air when that wall of water hit the shore. “I never thought I could shinny up a tree, but it’s amazing what you can do when you have to.” The tsunami claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people and injured another 125,000. Green was supposed to fly home the next day, but despite her close call - the water surged up to her chest while she clung to that tree - she was in no hurry to leave town. Instead, she packed her suitcase and made for the nearest hospital, where she volunteered for four days. “It was the most amazing and powerful experience of my life,” said Green, who’d always wanted to be a … [Read more...]
Bay Watch Gets Personal
When Thomas Parham ’86 came to the University of Mary Washington as an undergraduate, he was already an avid fisherman. By graduation, he’d turned that passion into a career. Parham, 50, is director of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Tidewater Ecosystems Assessment office. After leaving Mary Washington with a degree in biology, Parham earned a master’s degree in oceanography from Old Dominion University in 1989. “I guess the common thread is that I love to fish,” he said. “I like to figure out where the fish are going to be.” Today Parham manages a network of water-quality monitors around the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay. The bay’s health is getting better overall, he said, thanks to mandatory state water-quality goals. “We’re starting to see improvements in the bay’s watershed,” he said, noting that earlier voluntary goals failed. “The amount of polluted runoff is decreasing, and there are more underwater grasses.” Parham, who lives and works in … [Read more...]
Holding Patrick Henry’s Seat
It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, and Del. Hyland F. “Buddy” Fowler Jr. ’95 thought he might go fishing. Then U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor called and invited him to lunch. He’d have to indulge his passion for the outdoors another day. “If the House majority leader wants me to be somewhere, I’m marching,” said Fowler, who did plenty of that on the campaign trail last year. For months, he attended every fish fry and chicken pickin’ in Virginia’s 55th House District. Some days, he knocked on so many doors his knuckles ached. Those efforts paid off. When election results rolled in on Nov. 5, 2013, the Republican had garnered 57 percent of the votes, besting his Democratic and Libertarian opponents for a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates – where Cantor got his start. “Fifteen thousand and some folks are pulling the lever for me. … It’s very humbling,” Fowler said. “I’m sitting in Patrick Henry’s seat in the legislature. To be representing that district, it’s a privilege and a … [Read more...]
The Dangers and Powers of Speech
Today Gerald Ndikintum, M.Ed. ’06 is an important figure in the Northern Virginia education community. But not too long ago - before he became an adjunct instructor in the UMW College of Education, before he was chair of the Fairfax County Public Schools Department of English for Speakers of Other Languages, and before he settled in the U.S. - Ndikintum was fighting for the rights of teachers and English speakers in Africa. A native of Cameroon, Ndikintum developed a love of language early on. He spent 11 years teaching in secondary The Dangers and Powers of Speech schools throughout Cameroon while acting as a teacher representative for a budding trade union. An advocate for the weak, he battled injustices aimed at teachers, women, children, and English speakers. Over time, he found himself getting more politically engaged. “It was particularly in my fight for teachers and English-speaking Cameroonians that I got very involved with the nascent multiparty politics in … [Read more...]
Eagle Fight Song Scores!
Mary Washington has a fight song, its first ever. After a campuswide lyrics competition, the winning Soar, Eagle Nation, Soar! was unveiled at Devil-Goat Day in April. Women’s soccer coach Corey Hewson, M.Ed. ’05 and business major and pep band member Ronald May ’16 wrote the lyrics. Paul Murtha, an arranger for the United States Army Band, was commissioned to compose the melody. Soar, Eagle Nation, Soar! Verse 1: Soar, Eagles, soar March on to victory. Represent the heights with Pride and loyalty. We wear the gray and blue, Our honor, pure and true. So fight on Mary Washington, Soar, Eagle Nation, soar! Refrain U. M. Double U! We rule the nest! (That’s right!) U. M. Double U! We are the best! (Go! Pride!) U. M. Double U! We rule the nest! (That’s right!) Go! Fight! Soar! Verse 2: Soar, Eagles, soar High above the heights. Score just one more time Fly on to victory! Our gray and eagle blue Is mighty to the core! So fight on Mary Washington Soar, … [Read more...]
New Master’s Program Puts UMW on the Map
This fall the University of Mary Washington will roll out its master’s program in geospatial analysis. The 30-credit-hour program makes UMW one of only two Virginia schools to offer this advanced degree. Involving mapping and the study of spatial data, geospatial analysis is used to track phenomena affecting the Earth. Its applications are vast, including monitoring water supplies, tracking real estate values, solving crimes, managing crises, following climate change, and more. The program, designed for recent graduates and working professionals, will combine technical training and theory with critical thinking, project management, and communication skills. It will prepare students for work in multiple areas, including urban and regional planning, all levels of government, and cartography. Graduates will be poised to fill senior positions locally and across the country. … [Read more...]
Governor Names BOV Members
The Virginia Governor’s Office in June announced the appointment of two UMW Board of Visitors members and the reappointment of another. Former Virginia Sen. Edd Houck, Mary Washington Healthcare (MWH) President and CEO Fred Rankin, and BOV Rector Holly Tace Cuellar ’89 will serve four-year terms, through June 2018. Houck and Rankin succeed Joseph Wilson and Xavier Richardson. Cuellar has been a member of the UMW board since 2010 and rector since 2013. A San Diego resident, she’s membership director for broadcast supply industry trade association IABM. Houck, a longtime legislator and educator, represented the Virginia Senate’s 17th District from 1984 to 2012. He earned a bachelor’s degree from West Virginia’s Concord College and a master’s degree from the University of Virginia, both in education. Rankin, MWH president and CEO for nearly two decades, earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Pittsburgh. … [Read more...]