Author: Brynn Boyer

As part of an attempt to start imagining what open systems for publishing and sharing a community’s work—as UMW has done exceptionally well with UMW Blogs, ds106, and Domain of One’s Own—Jim Groom (the Director of the Division of teaching and Learning Technologies) has been invited to the Open Learning Hackathon at MIT this weekend to work with a range of thinkers to start framing an architecture that might harness and expose the power of loosely coupled syndication systems modelled on the qweb rather than monolithic information systems..

The Office of News and Public Information welcomes interesting or notable story ideas about graduating students. We share the ideas with local and regional news media and add them to our list of future story possibilities.

If you know of a student who has a noteworthy accomplishment or who has another type of unique story, please send a description of the student’s achievement and/or background to Marty Morrison at mmorris3@umw.edu or Brynn Boyer at bboyer@umw.edu.  Please include the student’s contact information, including cell phone number if available.

Please send your ideas by the end of business on Friday, April 19, so that suggestions can be passed on to the news media in a timely manner.

Congratulations to Jeffrey Pugh, A/V Systems Manager, who has been selected as the Excellent Eagle Employee for the month of April. A parking spot of his choosing has been reserved for him through the end of the month.

Here is what one of his co-workers said about him:

“I would like to recommend Jeff Pugh for the Excellent Eagle Employee.  We have had several recurring AV/IT issues at the Stafford Campus that he was able to get resolved in a timely matter. He responded immediately to troubleshoot the problems and got the issues taken care of.  Jeff is always professional, follows through with everything he does and takes initiative.  Jeff is a great asset to UMW.”

To nominate someone who you believe is an Excellent Eagle Employee, send an email to Priscilla Sullivan (psulliva@umw.edu) with Excellent Eagle Employee in the subject line.  In your email, be sure to list the person’s name, department, work location (with the most convenient parking lot), and of course, the reason why you believe they should be recognized.  Please spread the word to other employees about this wonderful opportunity to recognize a co-worker(s).

As part of national Act! Speak! Build! Week, UMW’s Community Outreach and Resources (COAR) will hold activities and events from Wednesday, April 10 through Tuesday, April 16. COAR encourages faculty, staff and students to participate:

Wednesday, April 10 — Hunger Banquet — Woodard Campus Center’s Great Hall from 6 to 7 p.m.

Thursday, April 11 — Picnic Table Build for Habitat for Humanity — outside Lee Hall — 3 to 6 p.m.

Monday, April 15 — Assembling Snack Packs — outside Lee Hall — 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Tuesday, April 16 — TOMS’ A Day Without Shoes — outside Lee Hall — 12:15 to 4:45 p.m.
experience what different types of terrain feel like for those without shoes
Tuesday, April 16 — Dance Walk — Fredericksburg campus — 5 p.m.

For more information, contact COAR at coarumw@gmail.com.

The Mental Health America (MHA) of Fredericksburg will hold its sixth annual Walk for Mental Wellness on Saturday, May 4. The one or three-mile walk, which begins at 10 a.m. at Hurkamp Park, will raise money for people with mental illnesses in the Fredericksburg community. The walk also will include music, a moon bounce, food, and a silent auction featuring art by local artists. For more information or to register, visit http://www.mhafred.org/ or call (540) 371-2704.