Mukesh Srivastava, associate professor of accounting and management information systems, presented a blind reviewed co-authored paper on “Co-creation in Vendor-Customer Matrix Organizations: A Boundary Theory Approach” at the sixth Asian Business Research Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand from April 8 through 10. He won Best Paper Award at the international conference. He also was awarded a fellowship by the World Academy of Social Science on Tuesday, April 10.
Laurie Abeel Earns Black Belt
Laurie Abeel, associate professor in graduate education, passed her Black Belt test in Tae Kwan Do on Saturday, April 28 at the Karate Sports Academy in Warrenton. She started as a white belt in April 2004 and three knee surgeries (with one more at the end of May) and eight years later has finally earned her black belt!
Center for Economic Development Members Complete Certifications
Members of UMW’s Center for Economic Development recently completed certifications and attended a conference.
Susan Ball, Early Venture Specialist for the UMW Small Business Development Center, completed the U.S. Department of Commerce International Trade Certification. Ball also attended a Social Media Marketing conference here in Fredericksburg, Va.
Brian Baker, Executive Director for Entrepreneurship and Business Development, completed two International Economic Development Council (I.E.D.C.) certification courses: Economic Development Credit Analysis and Real Estate Development and Reuse.
Gifts that keep Giving
A UMW friend recently made a gift that doubled the size of the scholarship she named in memory of her husband. On April 25, 2012, Mary Jane O’Neill notified the University of a new gift that now brings the Robert C. O’Neill Scholarship Endowment up to $100,000. Beginning in the fall of 2013, the scholarship will be awarded to undergraduate students with declared majors in the College of Business.
Longtime residents of Fredericksburg, the O’Neills were active in economic and real estate development. Mr. O’Neill passed away in 2007. Mrs. O’Neill is now a member of the UMW Washington Society, which recognizes cumulative lifetime giving of $100,000 and more.
This gift announcement is from the Division of Advancement and University Relations.
Students Relax During Finals with Therapeutic Dogs
At the Stress Free Zone this week, students found more than just crafts and snacks–they found pets.
Diesel(pictured left), a cane corso mastiff, has been a therapy dog for four years. He also has been seen at Mary Washington Hospital, the Marine Corps Marathon and Wounded Warriors events like the Polar Plunge. This is the first year that the therapeutic dogs have visited the Stress Free Zone.
Graduate assistant Whitney Hanlin said the dogs’ presence doubled the number of students who attended the event from last year.
The Stress Free Zone is sponsored annually by the Office of Student Activities and Engagement.
There, students had the options of tie-dying T-shirts, coloring, doing crafts, snacking on cookies, crackers and gummy candy, and playing with the dogs from the Rappahannock Area Comfort Canines.
“It’s just a way to support our students,” said graduate assistant Meg DeMaria. “We just want to make this week as easy as possible for them.”
Scharf’s Plays to be Performed in Potomac, Baltimore
The Potomac Theatre Company in Potomac, Md. 
will present adjunct instructor Mark Scharf’s plays “Get Stuffed, Replay,” and “Grey Hair and Zits” during its one-act festival, “Wit, Wisdom, Wickedness & Wonderment,” from June 15 to 24.
His play “Hired Gun,” which is semi-finalist for the 2012 Eugene O’Neill National Theater Conference, will be produced in July by the Theatrical Mining Company in Baltimore, Md. His play “Replay” will also appear at the Spotlighter’s Theatre in Baltimore in August as part of an evening of one-act plays entitled “The Things We Do.”
“Replay” is now available from Heurer Publishing. Scharf was recently named “Playwright-in-Residence” by the Twin Beach Players, who have commissioned Scharf to write a stage adaptation of “Frankenstein” to be produced in October 2012 for Halloween.
Previously, the Oberon Theatre Ensemble presented a staged reading of Scharf’s play “The Whispers of Saints” on March 25 at The Lambs Club in New York City.
Courtney Clayton presents at AERA Annual Conference in British Columbia
Courtney Clayton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, presented her research at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association on “Preparing Social Justice Teachers: Rethinking Action Research Curriculum for Transformation” as part of Division K – Teaching and Teacher Education/Section 5: Preservice Teacher Education Coursework: Practices to Improve Teacher Knowledge, Understanding, and Application of Subject Matter. She also served as discussant for a paper session titled, “Preparing Teachers to Work with English Language Learners and Immigrant Students”.
AERA is concerned with improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results.
AERA is the most prominent international professional organization, with the primary goal of advancing educational research and its practical application. Its more than 25,000 members are educators; administrators; directors of research; persons working with testing or evaluation in federal, state and local agencies; counselors; evaluators; graduate students; and behavioral scientists.
Stephen Farnsworth’s Study Featured in National Media
Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies Stephen Farnsworth’s study “News Coverage of New Presidents in The New York Times, 1981-2009” is referenced in several news articles, including in The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Statistics and information from the study, co-authored by Farnsworth and George Mason University’s S. Robert Lichter, appear in the Sunday, April 22 article “A Hard Look at the President” in the New York Times and in the Monday, April 23 article “The 2012 Dogfight” in the Wall Street Journal.
Suzanne Sumner elected President of Beta Eta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma
Professor of Mathematics Suzanne Sumner was elected President of the Beta Eta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma, an international honorary society for female educators. Delta Kappa Gamma supports women teachers at the elementary through university levels by providing scholarships to education students and grants for teaching supplies, developing high ideals in the teaching profession, conferring distinction upon women educators and providing leadership development.
The Beta Eta Chapter includes members from the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania, and Stafford. Beta Eta’s projects include the Virginia Scholars Program, Schools for Africa, and the Beta Eta Scholarship. In the last two years the Beta Eta Scholarship Committee has made donations to Gloucester County schools for tornado relief and Louisa County schools for earthquake relief.
College of Business Faculty Present at Research Colloquium
Seven College of Business faculty members will present their work at the fourth faculty research colloquium on Friday, April 27. The presentations will take place in the Stafford Campus North Building from 1 to 3 p.m.
John St. Clair and Lou Martinette will present “Change Management for Higher Education Learning Management Systems Transitions,” Christopher Garcia will present “Robust Optimization Models for Volunteer Scheduling” and Bob Greene and Margaret Mi will present “A Systems Model for Teaching Human Resource (People) Management.”
Also, Mukesh Srivastava and Lou Martinette will present “Building a Sustainable Competitive Advantage” and Gladys Gomez will present “WISE Fraud Case.”
For presentation abstracts and information about the colloquium, read the full program.