A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Elle Magazine – Feb 4, 2021
Sushma Subramanian, assistant professor of journalism, published a story in Elle Magazine’s February issue covering a North Carolina case involving “alienation of affection,” a legal term used to describe the breakup of a marriage by a third party. It asks questions such as: Is marriage a contract just like any other, or is it mostly an emotional affair? Read more here:
Privately funded faculty award for English professors recognizes the value of extraordinary teaching.
Donald E. Glover as pictured in the 1971 edition of The Battlefield.
In 1971, the average cost of a postage stamp was 8 cents; Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida; and Intel released its first microprocessor. In Fredericksburg, Virginia, a Mary Washington English professor made an indelible impression on a member of the Class of 1971.
Fifty years later, that alumna has fully funded a new faculty award to honor the memory of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English Donald E. Glover. During his tenure, Dr. Glover was a widely respected and beloved member of the faculty. He began teaching at Mary Washington in 1961 and served as department chair from 1970-73. Glover retired in 1998 after 37 years of service; he passed away in August of 2020.
While the donor still wishes to remain anonymous, she first alerted the University in 2018 of her intentions as defined in her estate plans. She then requested that Glover be informed so he would know how important his teaching had been to her during those formative years at Mary Washington.
Dr. Gary Richards, professor and chair of the Department of English and Linguistics, met with Glover in 2018 to share news of this faculty award, as well as the future creation of a named endowed scholarship.
In 2018, Dr. Gary Richards (left) met Dr. Donald E. Glover (right) and shared news of two special gifts from a former English student.
“Don was long retired when I became Chair,” says Richards, “but this award brought me in contact with him and his lovely wife, Alice. Even though he was already struggling with his health then, I got a glimpse of the professor who made such an impact on our donor. I am delighted that Don Glover is being honored in this way.”
The donor recalls that Glover was light on lectures, yet strategically led his students to understand and appreciate works of literature by asking questions to stimulate critical thinking and discussion. She says students learned for themselves as they came to realize the full meaning and importance of what they had read. She decided to go ahead and fund this award now in the hope that English faculty can follow in Glover’s footsteps, while having a positive and lasting impact on students’ lives.
Richards says the award’s focus on teaching acknowledges Glover’s long and distinguished career at Mary Washington. “This award documents the life-impacting teaching that professors in our department have been doing for decades,” says Richards. “It also documents the generosity of this alumna, who so carefully looked backwards to her experiences at UMW and forward to other students’ experiences.”
While the department is fine-tuning details for the application and evaluation process, Richards stresses the value of this new faculty award for an outstanding professor of English. “This is in perfect keeping with UMW’s focus on undergraduate teaching and stands to buoy faculty who are exerting such winning energies in this arena,” he says. “And, as I hope we all know, affirmed and energized professors carry that excitement into the classroom, which in turn energizes students.”
Details for applying for the new Donald E. Glover Faculty Award will be available soon.
For information about establishing estate gifts or funding endowed awards and scholarships, contact the Office of Advancement at advance@umw.edu or 540-846-0470. UMW honors requests for anonymity.
The William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series continues on Thursday, Feb. 11 with iconic architect I.M. Pei, presented by Assistant Professor of Art History Suzie Kim. The JON Properties/Van Zandt Restorations Lecture.
Because of restrictions on public gatherings on campus, the entire series of 18 lectures will be pre-recorded and delivered electronically, through Zoom Webinars, with closed captioning available. Although the presentations will be taped in advance, there will still be a live Q&A session following the online debut of each lecture, in which the speaker will be available to answer questions submitted by audience members.
I.M. Pei
Chinese-born American architect I.M. Pei (Ieoh Ming Pei, 1917-2019) was one of the most acclaimed and world-famous architects of the 20th and 21st century. He was awarded the 1983 Pritzker Architecture Prize for his iconic design for the east building of the National Gallery of Art (1968-78) in Washington, D.C., and the underground reception area and the central glass pyramid of the Louvre in Paris, France (1983-93). After earning his B.A. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his M.A. at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, he became well-known for his use of structural concrete as a smooth, ‘men-made’ stone and contemporary interpretation of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) and the International Style. The National Gallery of Art east building is quintessential I.M. Pei with the walls clad with continuous and smooth Tennessee pink marble, the use of architectural concrete molded by skilled cabinetmakers, and the application of the isosceles triangle for all architectural forms and smaller details. Pei’s buildings cover a wide range of skyscrapers, university buildings, and art museums in and outside of the U.S., which have been built in refined geometrical forms and demonstrate harmonizing effects with the surrounding skylines, cityscapes and landscapes.
Other upcoming lectures include novelist Horatio Alger, given by UMW Reference and Humanities Librarian Emeritus Jack Bales on Feb. 16; General Douglas MacArthur, given by Professor of History and American Studies Porter Blakemore on Feb. 18; and authors and Black rights activists Anna Julia Cooper and W.E.B. DuBois by Professor of Sociology Kristin Marsh. To learn more about Great Lives and view past and upcoming lectures, please visit https://www.umw.edu/greatlives/.
The Kappa of Virginia Chapter and the University of Mary Washington Mathematics Department are pleased to host a Virtual Visit by the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, Mathematician Ken Ono, on February 18-19, 2021.
The visit will feature classroom visits and a Zoom Webinar Public Lecture on Thursday, February 18, 2021, 5:00 – 6:15 p.m., titled “Why does Ramanujan, ‘The Man Who Knew Infinity,’ matter?”
Dr. Ken Ono is the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia, the Vice President of the American Mathematical Society, and the Chair of Mathematics of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Ono was also an Associate Producer and the Mathematics Consultant for the movie “The Man Who Knew Infinity” about Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
A showing of the film “The Man Who Knew Infinity” will be available to University of Mary Washington students on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., at the Zoom link below.
For questions, please contact Dr. Suzanne Sumner at ssumner@umw.edu or call 540-654-1335.
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Science Pamela Grothe discussed GM’s plan to phase out gas-powered vehicles with Courthouse News.
Pamela R. Grothe, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Mary Washington, believes this is a positive first step that will inspire other automakers to follow suit.
“Tackling climate change needs an all-hands-on-deck approach – we need companies, like GM, to commit to a carbon neutral future rather than waiting for government policies. I think GM’s move to a carbon neutral future will encourage other auto makers to do so, especially since they have already laid out the framework on how to do it,” she wrote in an email.
She added, “GM’s commitment to electrify their fleet and invest in renewable charging infrastructure will not only reduce carbon emissions related to transportation, but will lead to better air quality and human health.” Read more.
UMW Galleries presents “Origin, Celebrating UMW Studio Art Alumna Tenee’ Hart.” In the duPont Gallery from February 11 through March 21. Open Tuesday through Friday, 10 to 4, and Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4. Limited capacity: schedule your visit in advance at www.umwgalleries.org. A scheduled talk with the artist has been postponed due to
About the artist: Tenee’ Hart is an ‘unconventional’ fiber sculpture artist pursuing themes of feminism that delve into topics of beauty, anatomy, and injustices of women. Material usage throughout her practice is critical due to their innate history and meanings. Hart hails from Virginia, where she was born and raised. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mary Washington in 2011. Later, Hart pursued and currently holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Florida State University, where she has been teaching, at the college level, since 2014. She enjoys dinosaurs, radical feminism, glitter, stickers, fur babies, and everything that is the 80’s!
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies
Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth, who is also the director of UMW’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, penned an editorial piece in advance of his Great Lives lecture on late-night legend Johnny Carson. He is the author or co-author of seven books, most recently, “Late Night with Trump: Political Humor and the American Presidency.”
FOR THREE decades, from 1962 to 1992, Johnny Carson dominated late night television in a way that no entertainer ever has or ever will.
In a career containing more than 5,000 episodes of “The Tonight Show,” Carson tucked Americans in at night with his signature mix of mostly gentle barbs directed at political figures and his immense roster of usually compelling guests.
Of course, to say that Carson dominated television during his era is to understate the case. By every measure, not only was he first—he was so far ahead of the competition that it hardly mattered who placed second.
At its peak, Carson’s 90-minute show generated roughly 17 percent of all NBC’s profits, an astonishing share of income from a single program, and one that aired after the prime television viewing hours.
Carson’s era was not a placid time in the U.S., and his show offered a refuge from the troubles of one’s day. In addition, he was the ideal host to steer Middle America through those difficult decades when he held court at 11:30 p.m. Read more.
Farnsworth also offered commentary in the following local, regional and national news stories:
Despite Republican Calls for a Short Session, General Assembly to Continue This Week (WVTF)
Virginia Senate Censures Member Who Spoke at Rally Before Capitol Riot (Courthouse News Service)
I.M. Pei
Assistant Professor of Art History Suzie Kim wrote an editorial on iconic architect I.M. Pei in advance of her lecture this evening, at 7:30 p.m. All Great Lives lectures can be accessed via Zoom at umw.edu/greatlives/.
CHINESE-born American architect I.M. Pei (leoh Ming Pei, 1917–2019) was one of the most acclaimed architects of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Two years ago, on May 16, 2019, Pei passed away at the age of 102. In its obituary, the New York Times named him as the “Master Architect Whose Buildings Dazzled the World.”
Pei understood how to convey the relationship between human and nature, modern and postmodern, and the old and new in his modern designs. Read more.
We are beginning the next round of reading in our online literary group–the Mother of All Book Clubs!
Our next selection is The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett. This book is a New York Times bestseller and was on the longlist for the National Book Award.
From Amazon: The Vanishing Half is “a stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white.
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age 16, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still…the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?”
Pick up a copy of the book and start reading–we will begin posting discussion questions on Monday, February 22. You might have a small-business bookseller you like to support, or you might want to try your local library system, some of which even offer ebooks. But if you need the book shipped, below are some links to larger online providers.
We look forward to reading with you!
All the best,
The Alumni Relations Team
Associate Professor of English Colin Rafferty
Assistant Professor of English Colin Rafferty will give a virtual nonfiction reading tonight at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom to the Grand Valley State University’s Writers Series in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Those who wish to attend can contact the GVSU Department of Writing for the Zoom link. Read more.