Author: Brynn Boyer

Beginning this Monday, October 31, the University Web team — Cathy Derecki and Curtiss Grymala — will hold walk-in labs to assist people with managing and enhancing their websites in the new UMW WordPress environment. Open labs will be held at George Washington Hall, Room B010 three times per week at the following times:

• Mondays, 2:30 pm
• Thursdays, 10:30 am
• Fridays, 9:00 am

Cathy Finn-Derecki, Curtiss Grymala, and Jim Groom — UMW’s web team and UMW Blogs architect  — gave a presentation on the philosophical and strategic drivers behind the new UMW Web site on October 15, 2011 at the 3rd annual edUi Conference in Richmond. The presentation, entitled “University Web Site to University Web Life” talked about how the new system paves the way for a growing integration between the external image of the University and its real-time academic activities online. Also presented were the specific WordPress tools developed exclusively at UMW for scaling WordPress for multiple networks. The ideas were well-received and sparked lively discussion regarding free speech, censorship, and the changing nature of higher education online branding in the open environment of today’s web.

Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Great Lives Lecture Series, has an article in the October issue of Writer’s Digest magazine. The article, “Wish You Were Here,” satirizes the supposed glamour of a published author’s life. The issue is available at http://www.writersdigestshop.com/product/writers-digest-october-2011-pdf-issue/.

Shields will appear at the National Press Club’s 34th Annual Book Fair and Authors’ Night on Tuesday, November 15 in connection with his new biography, “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life.” He also will appear at the Miami International Book Fair and at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C. in November.

Cate Brewer, visiting instructor of theatre and dance, recently filmed an episode of “Twisted Fate,” formerly known as “The Day That Changed My Life,” to air on Lifetime Networks this fall.  People who have encountered dramatic incidents, from accidents to miracles, are at the focus of the six-part, one-hour series.

UMW mathematics major Kathryn Dillinger won second place for her poster presentation at the Shenandoah Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics (SUMS) conference held at James Madison University on Saturday, October 29.  Her poster, titled Profiting with Options Using the Black-Scholes Equation, details her work completed during the Summer Science Institute of 2011 under the guidance of Dr. Leo Lee.