Show your Mary Washington spirit by choosing one of several UMW-themed backgrounds custom-designed for UMW for your next Zoom meeting. Find all the options online.
Farnsworth Lectures on 2020 Elections
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently delivered an online lecture, “The Exceptional Election Year of 2020: Anger, Protest, Economic Anxiety and Covid-19,” for Virginia Revenue Commissioners Conference.
Dr. Farnsworth also has commented on the following national or regional news stories:
Early voting turnout hits record numbers in Virginia (Fox5DC)
Virginia early voting nears 200,000 in first week (WTVR; The Free Lance-Star; WHSV)
164,000 cast ballots in first week of early voting in Virginia (Daily Progress)
Polls show Virginia voters favor Biden (Galax Gazette)
Virginia sees massive early voting lines ahead of general election (New York Post)
Virginians to Decide Fate of Controversial Redistricting Amendment (Courthouse News Services)
Viewpoints with Todd van der Heyden (CJAD)
Debate Showdown (CTV News Channel)
Trump to Fill Supreme Court Vacancy (CTV News Channel)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dies at 87 (CTV News Channel)
Expert tells ABC7 rapidly replacing RBG before the election would be ‘unprecedented’ (WJLA)
Wittman, Rashid exchange barbs in Monday night debate (The Free Lance-Star)
Join us (virtually) for #StayHomecoming
Join us (virtually) for Homecoming 2020!
This year for Homecoming, you won’t be #BackInTheBurg…Instead, #StayHomecoming with us online!
Because large, in-person events are impossible this fall, we had to think outside the box for Homecoming. The result is #StayHomecoming: a week-long host of events and offerings with something for everyone.
Monday: College of Education/Alumni Educators affinity group event
Tuesday: College of Business young alumni networking event
Wednesday: “Between Two Ficuses” young alumni video launch
Thursday: Kahoot! Trivia with UMW Alumni and the LGBTQ+ Affinity Group
Friday, 10/23: FXBG alumni virtual beer tasting w/ Adventure Brewing, plus MaryWash memorabilia with Dean Rucker
Saturday, 10/24: (Homecoming Day!): Bartending and tailgate food tips
Throughout the week, we’ll also have social media initiatives, including contests that can win you some big prizes. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter so you won’t miss out.
For more information and updates, check the Homecoming web page, and follow the Homecoming event on Facebook.
Then watch your email–we’ll let you know as soon as registration is open!
We hope you will #GetDirtyGoWash with us from a distance this year. Go Eagles!
Richardson Column in The Free Lance-Star
UMW College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson
College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson’s latest column in The Free Lance-Star is titled, “CARE ENOUGH TO COACH.”
I once had a colleague who provided me with opportunities to be a coach. As a manager, he had a good heart and gave me every indication that he wanted to be a good manager. But there were many times he did things that ultimately gave me the opportunity to care enough about him to correct his behavior.
Did you catch that? I cared enough about him to have tough conversations with him. Eventually, he said that to me. He shared that he had told his wife about one of our recent conversations, and his wife remarked, “She must care a lot about you to keep sharing ways that you can get better.”
Have you either thought about corrective actions as caring? Most of us do not. Read more.
Larus Comments on U.S.-China Tech Cold War in South China Morning Post
Professor and Chairman of the Department of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Freund Larus
Elizabeth Freund Larus, Chairman of the Department of Political Science and International Affairs, commented in the South China Morning Post (HK) on September 16 that regardless of a Trump or Biden victory in November, the U.S. will continue and possibly deepen scrutiny of Chinese acquisitions of technology. She also indicated that a second Trump administration is likely to further limit sales of advanced technology to China on national security grounds, and that there may be greater scrutiny of Chinese graduate students engaged in technology research in the U.S. Her comments also ran in the The Korea Times.
Read the article at
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3101636/us-china-tech-cold-war-has-turned-hot-would-biden-presidency-change
What do I do if I hear of a COVID positive?
What do you do if you hear a student/employee is positive or a confirmed close contact?
From time to time, we may hear of or interact with students or employees who reveal that they are positive or are a close contact to a confirmed positive. Here’s what we should do as staff and faculty:
- Stay calm. If MMDC is followed and our classrooms maintain the established 64 square feet social distancing requirements, the risk has been minimized and members of the UMW community would not be considered close contacts.
- Self-report. If you are alerted by a student or employee that they have tested positive, encourage them to self-report.
- Email Dave and copy Safety Mike. If you become aware that a member of the UMW community has tested positive, email Dave Fleming – COVID-19 Monitoring and Tracing Coordinator – (dflemin3@umw.edu) and CC Mike Muckinhaupt – Director of Emergency Management and Safety – (mmuckinh@umw.edu).
- Let UMW processes take over. UMW contact tracing efforts, in concert with the Rappahannock Area Health District (RAHD), will immediately assess the situation and make determinations about next steps, including notifying students, faculty and staff who may have been close contacts. Generally, because of MMDC and our classroom configurations, students and faculty in classes will not be close contacts.
If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.
Jeff McClurken and Tim O’Donnell
COVID-19 Co-coordinators
Make Good Choices Campaign – Joining Our Collective Voices
A message from the COVID-19 Co-Coordinators.
Colleagues,
As the Implementation Team discussed this morning, two things are converging. First, email fatigue is real (the irony is not lost on us as we prepare to hit “send” on this) and the more we use email exclusively to communicate with students, the less effective it will be. Second, there is urgency around pushing out a resounding message about the importance of making good choices this weekend – our first big test since students are on campus and the weather is nice.
Consequently, we are asking everyone to share with students, in your own unique way, the imperative to be smart and continue adhering to MMDC as we head into the weekend. For example, if you are an instructor of a lab course, you might say “we are starting in-person labs next week, please be smart this weekend so that we can make this happen!”
At the same time, we should acknowledge that this is difficult – we all want to congregate – so we should also express our empathy as well as appreciation for the good work that has been done so far.
It will take all of us to push out this message, but it can make a real difference.
Thank you for your participation.
Jeff McClurken and Tim O’Donnell
COVID-19 Co-coordinators
Larus Comments on U.S. Sanctions Against China in Indus News
Professor and Chairman of the Department of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Freund Larus
Elizabeth Freund Larus, Chairman of the Department of Political Science and International Affairs, commented on Indus News on U.S. sanctions against Chinese construction companies. In her August 31 interview, Professor Larus argued that the U.S. sanctions are not intended to contain China’s rise, but are in response to their participation in China’s island building on disputed territories in the South China Sea. The U.S. sanctions threaten the future of Chinese development projects, such as construction of Sri Lanka’s Port City Columbo project. Professor Larus’ comments begin at 19:30 minutes into the program at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ1mCRNkptw
Gupta Speaks on the She-cession to Students in New Delhi
Surupa Gupta, professor of Political Science and International Affairs and director of UMW’s Women’s and Gender Studies program
Some of the same technology for online webinars was available even before the pandemic started but for the most part, few people were organizing webinars with global participation before March 2020. That has changed: students from Miranda House and Gargi College, two highly selective liberal arts colleges in New Delhi reached out to Surupa Gupta, director of UMW’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program and professor of Political Science and International Affairs with a request to speak in a webinar titled “Peace and Persistence – Assessing the ‘She-cession’ and Leadership of Women in Pandemic.” Gupta shared the panel, held on September 8, with two professors from New Delhi. The students belong to a campus group called Global Youth, which, among other things, seeks to expose Indian youth to diverse global perspectives on a variety of issues.
Farnsworth Lectures Online on Political Humor for Moldova
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently delivered an online lecture, “Presidents and Political Humor,” for the U.S. Embassy in Moldova. Professor Farnsworth, who has also talked with international audiences about U.S. politics, the mass media and political culture in more than a dozen nations on programs funded by the U.S. government, is the co-author of a new book, “Late Night With Trump: Political Humor and the American Presidency” (Routledge, 2020).
Dr. Farnsworth also has commented on the following national or regional news stories: