March 28, 2024

UMW Workshop Shares Makerspace Magic With Stafford Educators

The University of Mary Washington’s College of Education (COE) hosted a hands-on field trip last month for Stafford County Public School teachers, who left with plenty of lessons to take back to their classrooms. The main goal of the day was helping educators discover new, innovative resources to implement into their academic toolkit. Each one […]

College of Education Countdown is Complete: Six Things About Seacobeck

Future educators began filling its classrooms and meeting spaces this semester, but a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday made it official: Seacobeck Hall is the new home of the University of Mary Washington’s College of Education and Office of Disability Resources. A years-long renovation transformed the building – which served as a dining hall for decades – […]

College of Education Graduates to New State-of-the-Art Home

A student passes by Seacobeck Hall, which is under construction as the new home of UMW’s College of Education and slated for completion early next year. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

A student passes by Seacobeck Hall, which is under construction as the new home of UMW’s College of Education and slated for completion early next year. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

Barbara Bishop Mann ’66 remembers making peanut butter and jelly crackers on linen-clad tables. Gayle Petro ’79 pumped pink frozen yogurt from a newfangled machine. Susan Doig ’91, M.Ed. ’06, and friends got creative, making potato skins by topping tubers with salad bar staples and cranking them through a grill-type toaster.

“A lot of bonding happened in this building,” said Doig, one of several alums who studied education at Mary Washington and returned this month to their old dining hall. They came back to add their names to a beam – also signed by COE students, faculty and staff – to be hoisted onto the roof of Seacobeck, the decades-long campus hub for generations of students.

Since meal service moved to the University Center in 2015, a $24 million renovation – in starts and stops – has brought Seacobeck full circle. Its planned re-opening early next year as the new home of the recently accredited College of Education (COE) will reflect UMW’s roots as a school for teachers, with a nod to the future of academia.

The state-of-the-art facilities will be “transformational” for students, said COE Dean Pete Kelly. Read more.

College of Education Graduates to New State-of-the-Art Home

Barbara Bishop Mann ’66 remembers making peanut butter and jelly crackers on linen-clad tables. Gayle Petro ’79 pumped pink frozen yogurt from a newfangled machine. Susan Doig ’91, M.Ed. ’06, and friends got creative, making potato skins by topping tubers with salad bar staples and cranking them through a grill-type toaster. “A lot of bonding […]

Limited Reservations for Grand Finale Dinner

Campus Dining is hosting a Grand Finale Dinner on Wednesday, April 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. to bid farewell to Seacobeck as a dining facility. Guests will enjoy photo displays from Seacobeck’s earlier years and an extensive dinner menu that will include Steamship Round of Beef, Smoked Salmon, Coq Au Vin and a host of other culinary treats.

The cost for alumni, faculty and staff is $5 plus tax and  $10.75 plus tax for all other guests.

Everyone is invited to join in the celebratory dinner, which will be held in the dining rooms at Seacobeck.  A limited number of reservations are being accepted by e-mailing dining@umw.edu or calling 540-654-2169. When reservations are no longer available there will be open seating on a first come, first served basis.

Seacobeck Closed for Summer Break

Seacobeck Dining Hall is closed for a summer break as of Thursday, July 27. Service will resume later in August. Check out the Eagle Dining website or Facebook page in the coming weeks for information on fall dining options and service times.

Chandler Site Studied for New Student Center & Dining Facility

Our university desperately needs a vibrant and modern student center and a new dining facility. Seacobeck and Woodard Campus Center are minimally meeting the needs of our students now, and new facilities will not only improve the quality of life at UMW, but also aid in attracting future students to keep the university strong.

The most critical facility deficiency on campus is the lack of a real central gathering place—a student center— for students and the larger UMW community, and our current dining facility is simply inadequate and not sustainable for the future. Most universities have a robust, centrally and strategically located, active, busy and energetic student center that draws students and serves as the hub for activities. These facilities have many common attributes such as housing student organizations, meeting rooms, auditoriums or theaters, retail outlets, substantial food venues and comfortable open areas for relaxing, visiting and meeting. They are the hub of a vibrant campus community.

With these facts in mind, President Hurley has decided to fast track a new dining/student center. He asked vice presidents Doug Searcy and Rick Pearce to put together a small, representative group to investigate the possibilities and to recommend a site. Assistant Professor Michael Spencer, Associate V.P. for Facilities Services John Wiltenmuth, an independent representative of the architectural and engineering firm Burt Hill that is conducting the UMW Master Plan process, a representative from the state’s Department of Historic Resources, and a UMW student representative made up the search committee.

This committee thoroughly vetted several sites on campus and narrowed the possibilities to two, Seacobeck and Chandler. Both sites provided excellent locations but neither building can be renovated or expanded sufficiently to accommodate a new dining/student center. Additionally, the historic value of the two buildings was examined and discussed at length. Seacobeck clearly possessed the greater value to UMW in terms of its place in the university’s history and in the degree that it maintains its original construction features and integrity. Thus, based on the strong response last fall to the suggestion of demolishing Seacobeck coupled with its historic place in the life of the university, Chandler Hall was the unanimous recommendation of the committee as the site for the new center.

Moving forward, a construction plan of this magnitude will have many impacts that we will have to plan for. Two of the university’s largest academic departments, Business Administration and Psychology, will need to be relocated. This was not included in the original draft Master Plan and will be an enormous undertaking. Committees from both departments as well as the Master Plan Steering Committee will be asked to thoroughly study all available options as part of the planning process. They will consider the short term impacts regarding temporary relocation as well as the long term and cascading effects on other offices and departments.

The web site which is being used to comment on the draft Master Plan will also be the location for comments on this new development. Work on the Historic Preservation Plan continues. The Historic Preservation Steering Committee led by Michael Spencer is expecting to complete their plan in September. This plan will be in place prior to moving forward with the Master Plan.