UMW Galleries presents “Rows, Collections and Private Spaces: New Work by Chris Gregson,” in the Ridderhof Martin Gallery on the UMW Fredericksburg campus. The show is open through March 21. Please visit www.umwgalleries.org for more information.
A Message from President Paino
A message from the Office of the President.
As many of you heard me mention in the All-University Address a few weeks ago, UMW Vice President Sabrina Johnson has announced that she will retire at the end of the spring semester. At the time of her retirement on June 24, she will have served at Mary Washington for 24 years. She began her tenure in 1997 at the helm of the University’s Department of Human Resources – first as assistant vice president and then as associate vice president. For the past three years, Johnson has held the role of UMW’s Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for Equity and Access.
The first to hold this position, she was uniquely qualified by her professional experiences, including teaching in the arts and serving in Virginia’s Department of Human Resources Management in Richmond, as well as her formal education in law. Her compassionate approach has allowed her to become a voice for underrepresented populations such as first-generation and low-income students, ethnic minorities, students with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ communities, veterans and international students. She has championed those who felt marginalized, regardless of reason. As the momentum behind the University’s ASPIRE values and chief institutional advocate for a variety of viewpoints, Vice President Johnson has broadened the UMW community’s understanding of important and often overlooked issues.
I plan to consult with the campus community as I consider next steps in the process to identify a new leader for equity and access. Later this spring, we will celebrate the invaluable contributions of Vice President Johnson. In the interim, please join me in expressing our gratitude for her extraordinary contributions to our community.
President Troy Paino
Williams Featured on WJLA Story on Dr. Farmer’s Legacy
UMW James Farmer Multicultural Center Assistant Director Chris Williams. Photo by Karen Pearlman.
James Farmer Multicultural Center Assistant Director Chris Williams was featured in a WJLA story about how he and the staff and students involved with the JFMC carry on the legacy of Dr. James L. Farmer Jr. Watch here.
UMW Faculty Learning Community Publishes Online
Eleven UMW faculty from a variety of disciplines worked together in 2020 as the Advocacy, Deliberation, and Civic Engagement Learning Community. The group was led by Leslie Martin and Anand Rao, representing the Center for Community Engagement and the Speaking Intensive Program. The goal of the group was for the participants to work together to develop course materials that incorporate advocacy and deliberation activities to support civic learning in their courses. Modeled after a similar initiative at VCU, the UMW faculty learning community met through the Spring 2020 semester to study the ways that advocacy, deliberation, and debate, could be used in class, and the faculty then developed materials, including activities, assignments, and rubrics, for use in college classes. The materials were collected and were recently published online through UMW Eagle Scholar. The publication is titled “Supporting Advocacy, Deliberation, and Civic Learning in the Classroom,” and includes contributions from the following faculty: Leslie Martin (Sociology), Anand Rao (Communication), Adrienne Brovero (Communication, UMW Debate), Gonzalo Campos-Dintrans (Spanish, FSEM), Steve Greenlaw (Economics, FSEM), Pamela Grothe (Environmental Sciences), Jason Hayob-Matzke (Philosophy), Jodie Hayob-Matzke (Environmental Sciences), Christine Henry (Historic Preservation), Joseph Romero (Classics), and Andrea Livi Smith (Historic Preservation).
Spring Safe Zone Programs
The UMW Safe Zone program offers workshops that are designed to educate members of the University community about lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (LGBTQ+) issues to increase the safety and inclusion of all campus citizens. We are excited to announce the following Spring programs:
- We will be offering a basic training on Tuesday, March 2nd from 2:00-4:30pm (via Zoom). This training focuses on terminology, issues related to privilege, increasing awareness and sensitivity, and how to support the LGBTQ+ population on campus.
- We will be offering an advanced training on Friday, March 5th from 1-3:30pm (via Zoom). The advanced training is for faculty and staff who have already completed the basic training and covers more complex topics, including bystander intervention.
- We are also in the process of planning a book club. This would be a two-part program offered in the late afternoon on Zoom. We would like to judge interest and availability before picking the dates. We will be reading “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More” by Janet Mock. Safe Zone will provide a free copy of the book to the first 14 people who sign up!
- We are also in the process of planning an offering of our Identity and Intersectionality. The training covers privilege, power, oppression, prejudice, diversity, cultural competency, intersectionality, and allyship. Ideally, participants will have attended at least one Safe Zone workshop prior to attending this training, but this is not mandatory. We would like to judge interest and availability before picking dates and times for this workshop.
Registration is required to attend each event, and space is limited. If you are interested in registering for the Basic and/or Advanced training, or would like to express interest in the Book Club and/or Identity and Intersectionality Workshop, then please provide your information at http://umw.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_57QYFoE4BvcEGz4.
Subramanian on With Good Reason
Assistant Professor of Communication Sushma Subramanian
Sushma Subramanian, assistant professor of journalism, appeared on a special Valentine’s Day episode of With Good Reason to talk about her new book on the sense of touch, which was released this week https://withgoodreasonradio.org/episode/my-pandemic-valentine/
#UMWTogether – Collective and Individual Responsibility, Acts of Kindness
“It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the environment in which we all live.”
This is what Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama (the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism), has said about our obligations to the Earth and to each other. As you go through your day, how do you show gratitude to the planet, and to those who share it with you?
1) Purdue University has created a list of “45 Sustainability Resources You Need To Know”: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/blog/student-life/45-sustainability-resources/
2) The Dalai Lama talks about individuals’ environmental responsibility in 2015:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRwlygihP7I
“No act of kindness no matter how small is ever wasted.” Aesop, The Lion and the Mouse.
There are so many small acts of kindness that you can perform that have the power to make a significant, positive impact on another person’s life. When you engage in acts of kindness, it shows others that there is still kindness and empathy in the world. Often, a simple act of kindness on your part can inspire others to act in a more compassionate way, as well. Small acts of kindness that you can easily do include things like holding open the door for others, greeting individuals you encounter, and even just smiling at others. Acts of kindness also include treating yourself kindly, by doing things like taking breaks throughout the day and engaging in self-care. Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, once said that “a single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” By engaging in acts of kindness, no matter how simple, you are making the world a kinder and more compassionate place.
Here are some resources that may inspire you to engage in acts of kindness, both to other people and to yourself:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gJ5V525SCk_gJ5V525SCk
- https://diverseeducation.com/article/177240/?utm_campaign=DIV20MAY18D&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua
- https://weareiu.com/traditions-spirit/traditions/20-things-to-do-on-random-act-of-kindness-day/
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTQP7XzDxjI
Free 30-Minute Guided Meditation
Mindfulness is great for relieving stress and improving mental health
Campus Recreation’s Yoga instructor, Bill Brooks, will lead a Free 30 minute Guided Meditation over Zoom.
On these free weekly meditation calls, you won’t be asked to speak, but simply to listen as Bill guides everyone on the line through some mindfulness practices.
Every Wednesday from 12:15-12:45 pm
Zoom link: https://umw-sso.zoom.us/j/81773264881
Meeting ID: 817 7326 4881
Al-Tikriti Co-Develops & Co-Edits Middle East Report (MERIP) Issue: “Health and the Body Politic”
In December 2020, Middle East Report [MERIP] Issue #297, “Health and the Body Politic,” was officially published. UMW Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History Nabil Al-Tikriti joined the team of developers and editors who invited contributors and edited content for the issue, available online here: https://merip.org/magazine/297/.
The Issue Development Team (IDT) consisted of Profs. Omar Dewachi of Rutgers, Nabil Al-Tikriti, Kevan Harris of UCLA, and Assistant Dean Graham Cornwell of George Washington University. Michelle Woodward is MERIP’s Managing Editor.
Press Release: “Health and health care have become increasingly ungoverned over the past few decades, in tandem with a broader breakdown of the body politic. Health care workers are finding it increasingly difficult to work in settings of violent conflict and insecurity, rapidly declining health care systems, pervasive corruption and widespread economic mismanagement—all amidst the waning capacity of states to improve the health and wellbeing of their populace. While the Middle East region trains a lot of doctors, few end up staying. The winter issue of Middle East Report explores the interactions of the body politic with health and medicine and examines the entanglements of physical bodies in the institutional and political processes that govern them. The articles in this issue explore a range of different landscapes and ecologies of politics and health care, bringing the questions and problems of health and illness into the analysis of geopolitics and political economy.”
In addition to participating on the IDT, Al-Tikriti also joined Omar Dewachi in an interview of Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, a prominent activist and doctor who has worked for over 25 years in conflict medicine throughout the Middle East and Europe, much of it with MSF/Doctors without Borders.
Other contributions to the issue included: Mac Skelton, “The Long Shadow of Iraq’s Cancer Epidemic and COVID-19,” Nihal Kayali, “Syrian Refugees Navigate Turkey’s Shifting Health Care Terrain,” Jennifer Derr, “Hepatitis C, COVID-19 and the Egyptian Regime’s Approach to Health Care,” Osama Tanous, “The Dilemmas of Practicing Humanitarian Medicine in Gaza,” Nora Chalati, “Illness as Metaphor and Reality in Syria,” and Aula Abbara, “COVID-19 Exposes Weaknesses in Syria’s Fragmented and War-Torn Health System.”
Middle East Report is published by the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), a progressive, independent organization. Since 1971 MERIP has provided critical analysis of the Middle East, focusing on political economy, popular struggles and the implications of U.S. foreign policy for the region.
Larus Commments in Vietnam Press on Biden Foreign Policy Challenges
Professor and Chairman of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Freund Larus
Elizabeth Larus, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, commented in the Vietnam press on President Biden’s foreign policy challenges. Professor Larus indicated that Biden will need to overcome the skepticism of Congressional Republicans in formulating his foreign policy. Although foreign policy making is historically the domain of the executive branch, Congress undeniably has a role as well. Access her comments at https://www.vietnamplus.vn/my-chuyen-gia-danh-gia-ve-chinh-sach-doi-ngoai-cua-tong-thong-biden/691987.vnp