To thank everyone for their support and encouragement, Grace Anne Braxton, longtime UMW Dining employee, Panera cashier and Special Olympian, wanted to create a menu for the Top of the CRUC and personally thank everyone. That idea is a perfect example of Grace’s spirit and heart. With that, we thought we would expand on her idea. Tuesday, March 7, will be Amazing Grace Day! She is an inspiration in many ways, so we wanted to take that time to thank Grace! Please join us on March 7 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for Amazing Grace Day at the Top of the CRUC. Chef’s Fare and the Campus Grill will feature entrees hand-picked by Grace.

On Saturday, March 11, 2023, the James Farmer Multicultural Center will host its seventh annual Social Justice and Leadership Summit, beginning at 9 a.m., inside the Hurley Convergence Center in the Digital Auditorium. The purpose of the summit is to create a valuable and meaningful opportunity for college and high school students to enhance their awareness of social justice issues and learn about strategies and resources to effectively address and respond to them. Additionally, this summit will provide attendees with an opportunity to build coalitions across cultural barriers, strengthen advocacy, and support the promotion of an equal, equitable campus culture and climate in U.S. society. This year’s theme for the summit is “If Not Us, Then Who?” A free breakfast and lunch will be provided.  There will be dynamic keynote speakers and leaders, as well as free T-shirts and stickers given to attendees.

Register for the event.

The Women’s Leadership Colloquium March Coffee Talk will take place Tuesday, March 14, from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., in person, at the Jepson Alumni and Executive Center’s Kalnen Inn Living Room, 1119 Hanover St., Fredericksburg. Street parking is available on Hanover. Register for the event.

This month’s Coffee Talk topic is The Power of Rest, led by Kimberly Young.

We often plan our days, our projects, or strategic initiatives very carefully with timelines and activities. But how often do we pencil rest into that plan?

An interesting fact is that physiologically, our bodies cannot repair without rest. Despite this fact, we often ignore our need to recharge and push past our breaking point to get to the next accomplishment. In this talk, we will explore the power of planning rest and the downside of ignoring our need for rest.

Note: This session is being led by someone who recently failed to acknowledge the warning signs and can share lessons learned and strategies for bouncing back.

Kimberly Young is associate provost for Career and Workforce at the University of Mary Washington.

She has more than 20 years of experience in higher education, leadership development and consulting in multiple sectors including education, health care, hospitality, and the arts. She is a facilitator and a strategic thinker who cares deeply about equipping organizations with the tools to achieve their goals.

During her time at Ernst & Young, Kimberly led and supported projects in process improvement, change management, strategic communications, and organization design. She managed large scale change projects in conjunction with new enterprise resource planning system implementations and implemented new organizational structures to support the evolving needs of her clients.

Kimberly has worked with leaders in classroom-based and experiential learning in the United States, Canada, China, and Malaysia. Ms. Young was the founding director of the Bloch Executive Education Center at the University of Missouri—Kansas City where she oversaw the Executive MBA, international programs, and custom corporate education. Through her work over the years, her client list includes companies such as Coca Cola Company, Garmin, Eli Lily, H&R Block, 3M Corporation, and Cerner Corporation.

She earned her B.A. in Public Policy Studies from Duke University, and earned both an MBA and a Master of Management in Hospitality from Cornell University. Kimberly is an active member of the Region 6 Growth Opportunity Virginia Council, the Mary Washington Healthcare Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors of the Community Foundation.

For more information and to register, visit us online.

The next Mary Talk will feature Julius Esunge, professor and chair of mathematics. His presentation, “The Ubiquitous Pi,” will explore how, where and why pi shows up and why it’s so important. The talk will take place on Wednesday, March 15, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., online via Zoom. Register to attend.