This year, the University of Mary Washington celebrates the 20th anniversary of its Research and Creativity Day by hosting a week of departmental presentations, performances and exhibits which put student work centerstage.
A group of University of Mary Washington theatre students began applying powder, color and gloss to a fellow student’s face. They contoured cheekbones, defined eyes, shaped brows and lips, and incorporated aging lines, scars and dirt. After fine-tuning features, enhancing texture and layering on some final touches, the student was transformed into a character, looking completely unlike themselves.
Professor of Geology Grant Woodwell was fascinated.
“It’s the most fun when you encounter something you don’t know about and you become the student in the process,” said Woodwell, recalling a year-end theatre demonstration. “There’s a lot of technical components to stagecraft makeup that I would have been completely unaware of, so that was a memorable thing to see.”
That sense of discovery is at the heart of Mary Washington’s Research and Creativity Day, a campuswide celebration of scholarly research and creative endeavors students have been cultivating, alongside faculty mentors, throughout the academic year. UMW celebrates the event’s 20th anniversary this year with a week of departmental presentations, exhibitions and performances that shine a spotlight on how far the day has come.
The story of how it began involves a conference, a carpool and a realization. In 2007, Woodwell and his colleague John Morello, then associate provost for academic affairs and professor of communication, hit the road together to attend a national gathering in Washington, D.C., focused on undergraduate research at large universities. Read more about Research and Creativity Day’s 20th Anniversary.
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