The next meeting of the President’s Council on Sustainability (PCS) will be on Friday November 18, from 1 to 2 p.m. The guest speaker for this meeting will be Sarah Stalcup-Jones, Research and Heavy Duty Vehicle Programs Manager for Virginia Clean Cities (VCC). Sarah will be sharing an overview of VCC as well as her work on UMW’s fleet assessment projects and Drive Clean Rural. PCS meetings are held each month of the fall and spring semester and are open to employees, students and the public. Please consider attending and sharing this information with other members of the UMW and Fredericksburg community. To attend on the 18th, go to https://umw-sso.zoom.us/j/81635523370.
REMINDER: Zoom Phone Soft Launch
UMW Faculty and Staff,
This is a reminder the Zoom Phone service is available to you now as a “soft launch“. During the soft launch period, you can make and receive internal phone calls with your colleagues using their 4-digit extension.
However, you will not be able to make or receive calls to external numbers until the full launch on Wednesday, November 10, 2021. No change will be made to your current Cisco phones during the soft launch. They will continue to work as usual.
I encourage you to take some time during the soft launch to practice using Zoom Phone. Investing time now to get familiar and comfortable with the service will ensure a smooth transition to the full launch on November 10th.
The soft launch period provides you with the opportunity to get familiar with the Zoom Phone application and begin to practice placing phone calls, checking voicemail, etc., as well as configuring personal settings, like changing your voicemail greeting and PIN. It also provides the IT Department with time to correct any system configuration problems that may surface during testing.
For instructions on how to use many of the features and functions of Zoom Phone you can reference the guide below:
You can also view a recording of a live training session that was held Wednesday, October 27th using the link below.
https://technology.umw.edu/connecting/zoom-phone/
Zoom Application
When you log into the Zoom application, you will see an additional phone icon at the top of the screen. Click this icon and you’ll be able to make and receive internal calls.
Yealink Phones
Some areas and individuals were issued Zoom Phone-compatible desk phones from Yealink. The Yealink phones can also be used during the soft launch to make and receive internal calls. If you have an open network wall jack in your area, you can plug in your Yealink phone for testing. If you don’t have an open network jack, you can unplug your Cisco phone, plug in and test your Yealink phone, and then swap them back when you are finished testing.
If you have questions or concerns about the soft launch, please contact the Help Desk as 540-654-2255 or helpdesk@umw.edu.
For more information about UMW’s Zoom Phone project, including FAQs and how-to’s, visit https://technology.umw.edu/connecting/zoom–phone/.
Barrenechea Publishes Essay in Flagship Melville Journal
Professor of English Antonio Barrenechea
Antonio Barrenechea, Professor of English, recently published “The Jungle and the Whale: Vortices of Nation in Moby-Dick and La vorágine” in Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, the flagship Melville journal.
Flu Clinic at UMW on Tuesday, Nov. 16
From the Student Health Center:
Flu season is here! The Student Health Center is collaborating with Giant Pharmacy to administer flu shots to everyone on campus. They will be in the University Center Lobby from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 16.
On these dates, other vaccines will also be available, including the COVID vaccine (Pfizer and J&J) and non-flu vaccines such as Meningitis ACWY, Meningitis B, Tetanus and/or Pertussis, Shingles, and Pneumonia.
Make sure you stay healthy this school year! Come get your flu shot!
Contact the Student Health Center at 540-654-1040 or healthcenter@umw.edu with questions.
Rettinger Comments in USA Today Article on Ed Tech Platform Chegg
Professor of Psychological Science and Director of Academic Integrity Programs David Rettinger
Professor of Psychological Science David Rettinger was interviewed in USA Today and on Yahoo.com for an article entitled, “Millions of college students use Chegg. Professors say it enables cheating – and possible blackmail.”
Company officials said they’re aware some students use its services to cheat but that Chegg works with universities to try to address the behavior. David Rettinger, a professor at the University of Mary Washington who studies academic dishonesty, said Chegg is notable for its transparency and willingness to work with academic institutions compared with other sites offering similar services. Read more.
Majid’s New Food Waste Course Highlighted in The Free Lance-Star
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid’s new course, Alleviating Food Waste, was featured on the front page of The Free Lance-Star newspaper on Nov. 6.
Majid developed the new course based on his own interest in and research on the subject of food waste, which is an environmental, social and economic challenge for the United States and the world.
“The course has a couple of goals,” he said. “I want students to be aware of how big a problem this is, and that this is a fixable problem.”
Between 30 and 40 percent of food that is produced gets wasted, Majid said—the equivalent of buying four grocery bags worth of food and just leaving one on the ground.
That waste is occurring alongside widespread food insecurity. According to Feeding America, the nonprofit that operates a network of 200 food banks across the country, an estimated 38 million Americans—including more than 12 million children—were food insecure last year.
“If we even reduced the amount of food wasted by 20 percent, we wouldn’t have food insecurity,” Majid said. Read more.
Message to the Community
Dear UMW Community Members,
As part of the continuing work of the UMW Police Community Advisory Panel (CAP) process, I am writing to inform you of the formation of the Community Advisory Board (CAB). This is a presidential committee that will strengthen the University’s commitment to community policing, which is a strategy and a philosophy that emphasizes proactive and collaborative partnerships between police and community members. Ideally, this collaboration allows for an exchange of ideas and identification of concerns that encourages our dedication to inclusive excellence, builds trust, and strengthens public safety as a community-wide commitment and responsibility.
Input and recommendations from students, including the UMW NAACP 2020 Campus Police Assessment report, have informed the creation and mission of the Community Advisory Board. The CAB’s charge, purpose, and membership are below.
Sincerely,
Troy D. Paino
President
Charge
The Community Advisory Board (CAB) will be comprised of students, faculty, staff, administration and UMW Police; it will serve as a bridge between the campus community and UMW Police. The Community Advisory Board will recommend reforms to reflect best practices in bias-free, inclusive policing and develop a process to continuously review and assess the effectiveness of campus policing policies and procedures, while also actively working to ensure alignment with accreditation standards.
Purpose
The purpose of the Community Advisory Board is to reinforce the community policing philosophy embraced by the UMW Police. Through its representation from various stakeholders, the CAB will support the UMW Police’s efforts to promote transparency of operations and services in affirmation of their mission to provide a safe and secure environment for the University of Mary Washington. CAB recommendations and input will help the Chief of Police and UMW Police staff improve their operations and make community-informed decisions.
CAB Members
Dr. Juliette Landphair, Vice President for Student Affairs, Interim Chair
Officer Giovanni Baez, UMW Police
Dr. Bridget Brew, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology
Arin Doerfler, Sr. Accountant-Fixed Assets
JoAnna Raucci, Associate Director, James Farmer Multicultural Center
Dr. Danny Tweedy, Associate Professor, English and Linguistics
Nahjah Wilson, UMW Student
Brian Wolf, UMW Student, Resident Assistant
Ex-Officio Members:
Mike Hall, Assoc. Vice President of Public Safety and Chief of Police
Dr. Shavonne Shorter, Associate Provost for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer
Volunteer Servers Needed for Holiday Dining Events
University Dining will be hosting several special holiday dining events this fall, starting with the annual Thanksgiving Dinner on November 17th, and followed by the Winter Holiday Dinner on December 2nd and the Cram Jam Late Night Breakfast on December 6th, the first night of final exams. Since these special events draw many more guests than usual, it has become tradition here at UMW for students and members of the faculty and staff to volunteer to help serve the food at these events. This year, due to the tremendous labor shortage caused by the current pandemic, University Dining needs volunteer help more than ever.
Volunteers work in teams to prepare plates of food for the students as they come through the serving lines. It’s a great opportunity to have some light-hearted fun with the students, and to also enjoy some great food! All volunteers get their holiday meal free, and they will also receive a coupon for a free retail meal!
Anyone wishing to volunteer can sign up through a Google Volunteer Form. For additional information contact Rose Benedict, rbenedic@umw.com, or call the University Dining Marketing office at 540-654-5982.
Cooperman Weighs in on Virginia Governor’s Race
Professor of Political Science Rosalyn Cooperman
Professor of Political Science Rosalyn Cooperman shared comments with STAT prior to Election Day in Virginia:
“The governor’s race [is] an important test of how both parties message on Covid,” said Rosalyn Cooperman, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington. “Is that going to be palatable to voters who have typically trended blue over the last election cycles? I think we are paying very close attention to it because of the implications it has in other races in other states moving forward.” Read more.
Read THE NIGHT WATCHMAN with Mary Washington’s Mother of All Book Clubs
We are beginning the next round of reading in our online literary group, the Mother of All Book Clubs! This club is open to anyone with a connection to Mary Washington — alumni, parents, donors, faculty, and staff. Join us!
Our next selection is The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich. This book won the Pulitzer Prize this year, is a New York Times bestseller, and is on countless booklists.
From The New York Times:
“Early in this banquet of a novel that invites us back into Louise Erdrich’s ongoing Chippewa chronicles, a character on the reservation boasts, ‘Law can’t take my Indian out of me.’ Unfortunately, the United States government is hoping to do just that through the Termination Bill, an Orwellian plan that promises to ’emancipate’ Indigenous people from their lands and their tribal affiliations…
The novel’s title character, Thomas Wazhashk, is a night watchman for a factory where women of the Turtle Mountain clan work by day, using gemstones as drill bits for Defense Department ordnance and for Bulova watches. Among these working women is Thomas’s niece, Patrice, known against her will as Pixie. Thomas watches over the dark, possibly haunted factory to protect these gems from thieves. The novel follows the fates and struggles and adventures of these two people and the ever-expanding circles of their relations.”
Pick up a copy of the book and start reading–we will begin posting discussion questions on Monday, November 22. You might consider supporting an independent bookstore, or you could try your local library system.
We look forward to reading with you!
All the best,
The Alumni Relations Team