April 22, 2026

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Zoom Yoga Sessions for UMW Employees

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Campus Recreation’s traditional yoga class has converted to an online format for the first session this fall. This program is exclusively for UMW employees and is 5 weeks long.

Now more than ever, it is important to make time in your day for a break from sitting upright in a chair, get some stretches in, and move your body. Can’t make a few of the workouts? That’s okay! There’s no penalty for missing a few classes. We understand that it’s tough to commit to all 10 meetings. Just remember: some scheduled movement in your day is better than no movement!

Below are the details about the employee yoga class. Please register by September 7!

Lunchtime Yoga
The lunchtime yoga class is a gentle, relaxing yoga class designed to give faculty and staff head space during busy workdays, as well as the energy needed to finish the day strong.
$30 for a 5-week session
Meets twice a week: Mondays & Fridays from 12:00-12:50pm
Zoom (Link provided after registration) 

Fall 2020 Session 1
September 7 – October 9

You can register and pay online. If you register online, please log in using the button and your UMW credentials. Please note: online transactions incur a 2.75% processing fee.

Harris Discusses Impact of Pandemic on UMW Museums

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University of Mary Washington Museums Executive Director Scott Harris

University of Mary Washington Museums Executive Director Scott Harris

University of Mary Washington Museums Director Scott Harris was interviewed for an article in The Free Lance-Star on the pandemic’s impact on area museums.

 

Scott Harris, director of the University of Mary Washington Museums—which oversees the James Monroe Museum and the Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, as well as the Papers of James Monroe—said the loss of admissions and event revenue since March has been “a very large financial hit” for the two museum sites.

“[The financial loss] is only partially offset by savings from not paying hourly wage employees, such as front desk and interpretive staff, and some other savings of on-site costs, such as catering at events, regular trash service, etc … ,” Harris said.

He said membership renewals at both the James Monroe Museum and the Gari Melchers Home and Studio have been “fairly steady” and some members have increased their giving levels.

“It remains to be seen what General Assembly actions will do to our state appropriations,” Harris said. Both UMW museums belong to the state of Virginia and receive funding from the assembly.

Both sites have a “benchmark” reopening date of Sept. 14, when UMW students begin their fall semester, he said. Read more.

Free Nutrition Webinar for UMW Community

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Stress and Mindful Eating
Presented by the President’s Council on Wellness & Giant Food’s Nutritionist, Lindsay

Wednesday, September 23, 12:15pm-12:45pm EST on Zoom

Whether it’s obvious or subtle, let’s face it, stress can easily creep into our lives and wreak havoc on sleep, immunity and our moods. Attend this free Zoom webinar to learn stress coping and mindful eating strategies that can help you increase emotional self-regulation while practicing sound eating habits that nourish our mind, body and soul.
Here’s the Facebook event if you’d like to join and invite colleagues.

Zoom for Faculty and Staff

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A message from the Chief Information Officer:

UMW Faculty and Staff,

In response to the COVID pandemic, UMW purchased a limited number of Zoom licenses to support online instruction and teleworking. To better serve our teaching, learning and university operations, UMW has moved from a limited number of Zoom licenses to an enterprise site license.  With the site license, every UMW faculty, staff, and student has access to a Pro-level account.

Students will be notified in a separate email next week on how to access their Zoom accounts.

To access your Zoom account, you can log in at https://umw-sso.zoom.us with your UMW NetID and password.

To learn the basics of using Zoom, there are several video tutorials available on the Zoom support site (https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/206618765-Zoom-Video-Tutorials).  Digital Learning Support also has some resources around getting started with Zoom (https://academics.umw.edu/dls/online-teaching-tools-and-resources/zoom/).

If you need assistance installing the Zoom desktop app, please contact the Help Desk (https://technology.umw.edu/helpdesk/).

If faculty need assistance with how to leverage Zoom for instruction, please contact Digital Learning Support (https://academics.umw.edu/dls/).

As part of the conversion to a site license, we will be consolidating all current accounts with a UMW email address, under the enterprise site license.  What happens at that point depends on how your account was created.

  • If you requested/purchased an account through DLS or IT, you will not need to do anything.  Your account should already be under the UMW license.
  • If you purchased your own account and used your UMW email address, you will get a notice that your account will be merged with the UMW license.  You will be given two options for prorated reimbursements.  You should select the option to send the prorated refund to the account used to make the purchase.
  • Any accounts created using a non-UMW email address will not be merged into the UMW license, but you can log in as described above to create a new UMW Zoom account. If you would like to cancel your non-UMW Zoom account, you will need to log into you non-UMW account and cancel it there.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Help Desk at 540-654-2255 or helpdesk@umw.edu

Great Presidential Lives: Announcing a New Online Mini-Series

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With large in-person gatherings currently prohibited on campus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Great Lives program is offering a mini-series of videotaped lectures focusing on several notable Presidents — an approach that seems particularly appropriate in this presidential election year.

Each lecture will be delivered by UMW Professor Emeritus of History William B. Crawley, who is the founding director of the Great Lives series. This year marks the completion of Professor Crawley’s 50 years on the Mary Washington faculty, during which he has won numerous awards for teaching excellence, focusing largely on political history.

All lectures will be pre-recorded and released on the dates listed below. They will remain posted throughout the series, after which they will be available in the Great Lives archives. Please refer to the schedule below and click on the media link to view the lecture.

Aug. 11 Thomas Jefferson: Paragon of Democracy or Racist Hypocrite?
Aug. 25 Theodore Roosevelt: The Patrician Progressive and the Bully Pulpit
Sep. 8 Woodrow Wilson: Self-Righteous Idealist or Far-Sighted Visionary?
Sep. 22 Franklin D. Roosevelt: Savior or Spoiler of American Democracy?
Oct. 6 Harry S. Truman: The Accidental President and the Triumph of True Grit
Oct. 20 John F. Kennedy: “Camelot” and the Question of Style vs. Substance

 

Read ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ with UMW Book Club

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Looking for a way to stay connected to other alumni? We are beginning the next round of reading in our online literary group–the Mother of All Book Clubs!

Alumni read and discuss via a private Facebook group, so only approved members can see posts or participate in the discussion. This is informal and low-pressure–read along with us and chime in on the discussion as much or as little as you like.

Our next selection is The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot. Henrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose cells were removed and then cultured without her permission during cancer treatment in the 1950s. In the decades since–and still today–her cells have been reproduced and used in 60,000 medical research studies all over the world. Lacks’ cells have benefited global society immeasurably.

From a review in The New York Times: “…Rebecca Skloot introduces us to the ‘real live woman,’ the children who survived her, and the interplay of race, poverty, science, and one of the most important medical discoveries of the last 100 years. Skloot narrates the science lucidly, tracks the racial politics of medicine thoughtfully, and tells the Lacks family’s often painful history with grace. She also confronts the spookiness of the cells themselves, intrepidly crossing into the spiritual plane on which the family has come to understand their mother’s continued presence in the world. Science writing is often just about ‘the facts.’ ­Skloot’s book, her first, is far deeper, braver and more wonderful.”

Pick up a copy of the book and start reading–we will begin posting discussion questions on Monday, August 24. 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

 

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Target

Help Us Celebrate National Coming Out Day

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Stand is Solidarity with the LGBTQ+ Sunday, October 11 is National Coming Out DayHelp us celebrate National Coming Out Day in a socially distanced way!

In a time when we can’t all be as present with each other physically as we might want, it’s more important than ever to show support for those around us.

National Coming Out Day is on Sunday, October 11th. In celebration of this event and to show support for members of the LGBTQ+ community at UMW, Safe Zone has organized a virtual wall where you can leave messages of support.

We ask that between Friday, October 9th and Monday, October 12th you visit our virtual wall and leave 1 or more messages of support and solidarity.

Please help us spread the word!

Call for Move-In Volunteers

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A message from the Office of Student Affairs. 

Dear Colleagues:

As you know, the University of Mary Washington will be reopening our residence halls starting with first-year students on Thursday September 10. We need your help! We typically count on scores of Move-In volunteers; however, so far this year the response from staff and faculty has been lower than usual, which certainly makes sense given the public health emergency and other pandemic realities.

Please know that 2020 Move-In will be very different. We will have very strict guidelines in place for our Move-In volunteers and the students and families moving in. This year, our staff and faculty volunteers will assist with traffic flow, answering questions, and guiding students and families across campus.

The Move-In dates are next week, September 10-13. We will have a brief Zoom training for our volunteers ahead of time.  If you’re interested in volunteering during Move-In, please go to our volunteer page on Sign-Up Genius.

Please direct any questions to Michelle Brooks, mesch@umw.edu.

For our new students especially, the first few days and weeks at UMW are particularly important for the rest of their time in college. Many new students and their families are hopeful and excited about being back on campus. Thank you in advance for assisting us with this significant student experience.

Sincerely,

Juliette Landphair
Vice President of Student Affairs
University of Mary Washington .

James Farmer Multicultural Center Thanks #UMWRun4Justice Participants

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The James Farmer Multicultural Center thanks everyone who participated in the Virtual #UMWRun4Justice 5K this past weekend, especially UMW Women’s Lacrosse and Coach Maddie Taghon, Women of Color, and the Black Student Association, as well Alumni Relations for help with spreading the word. The event raised $2900 that will be used in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and other social justice initiatives at UMW. The desire is to create opportunities to help open conversations and develop a more inclusive campus. Please enjoy the video below of JFMC Director Marion Sanford thanking participants.