Author: Brynn Boyer

UMW’s 2012 Executive-in-Residence Thomas P. Nerney will visit the Stafford and Fredericksburg campuses on Thursday, March 22 and Friday, March 23 as part of the Executive-in-Residence program. The program gives UMW students the opportunity to interact with prominent leaders of the corporate world and to enhance their knowledge about the free-enterprise system.

Nerney has been the chairman, president and CEO of the A++ rated United States Liability Insurance Group for more than 15 years. During his visit to UMW, Nerney will interact with students, faculty, staff, alumni and local business leaders.

While on the Fredericksburg campus, Nerney will give several presentations for students, faculty and staff. No registration is required to attend.

On Friday, March 23 from 10 to 10:45 a.m. and from 11 to 11:45, Nerney will present “Driving Success Through a People-Focused Organization” in Monroe Hall, room 116.

He will present a career forum, “Planning Career Development and Understanding the Importance of Corporate Culture,” at 2 p.m. in the Jepson Alumni Executive Center. The career forum is open to UMW alumni, as well as students, faculty and staff.

During his visit, Nerney also will participate in several invite-only receptions, presentations and discussions with UMW alumni, students and regional business leaders. More information about the Executive-in-Residence program and schedule details can be found at http://business.umw.edu/eir/.

Over the past few weeks several UMW users have fallen victim to email SPAM or Phishing attempts. Providing your account information or clicking a link in an email from an unknown sender or in a suspicious email from a known sender not only can compromise your account – it cancause problems and delays to the entire UMW email system. For example, email messages that are being sent to off-campus email addresses are currently at risk for having their delivery delayed – or possibly blocked.  Conversely, incoming emails may also be delayed.

UMW IT and other reputable organizations will never ask you to confirm your account information through email.

Users who give out account information via email allow spammers and/or criminals to access their accounts either to send additional SPAM through our email system to internal and external users or access the content of your mailbox.  This is a serious security concern.  Furthermore, external email providers may elect to blacklist the umw.edu domain preventing email messages to be sent to or received from external senders including students.  Mailboxes that are used to send SPAM will be immediately suspended and users will be contacted so we can work to properly secure the account.

Below is additional information on what we are doing and what you can do to protect the UMW email system.

Here’s how we protect you:

• SPAM filtering. UMW IT utilizes a robust industry-standard SPAM filtering utility. While the SPAM filter or junk mail settings may occasionally catch legitimate email, they block email that can compromise your account and computer.  We typically block over 80 percent of incoming email messages as spam per day.
• Password reset requirement. Our additional password requirements help to safeguard your account.  For more information on setting a secure password please visit:http://technology.umw.edu/information-security/passwords/
• Anti-virus, security awareness training, and SPAM/Phishing alerts. These are designed to keep your computer secure and you informed.

Here’s how you can protect yourself:

• Verify that emails are from a trusted sender.  Do not reply to emails from unknown senders that ask for personal information or attempt to get you to click a link.  Do not click on links from unknown senders.
• Allow your anti-virus updates to run.  This is the last line of protection for your computer.  Run full and quick scans on your PC using the installed Symantec Anti-Virus program.  If you need assistance, please contact the Help Desk  at HelpDesk@umw.edu or (540) 654-2255
• Report suspicious emails. Suspicious emails or concerns about your account being compromised should be reported immediately to it-abuse@umw.edu.

Assistant Professor of Political Science Emile Lester’s op-ed “Mormonism and the Presidency: Don’t Worry” appeared in The Free Lance-Star on Sunday, Feb. 12. Lester argues that Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith need not be a point of contention for potential voters.

Lester presented on panels at a Renaissance Weekend in Santa Monica, Calif., from Feb. 16 to 20. Renaissance Weekends are private, invitation-only gatherings of innovative leaders, and their families, from diverse fields. Participants are selected on the basis of their professional experience, personal profiles and likely contributions to the program’s breadth and depth.

Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series, will speak at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in Grapevine, Texas. The conference will take place from July 20 to 22.

On Saturday, Feb. 25, Shields will speak to the Baltimore Science Fiction Society about Kurt Vonnegut, American author of a number of fantasy novels.

Eric Gable, professor of anthropology, will present the lecture “Jefferson’s Ardor: Sex, Race, and the Invention of Cultural Relativism” at Sweet Briar College on Thursday, March 1. While at Sweet Briar, Gable will attend classes and meet with anthropology and archaeology students.

According to an article in the New Era Progress (Amherst, Va.), “the lecture will explore Jefferson’s ideas about race and culture, and how these relate to American ideals of egalitarianism and present forms of inequality.”