See an overview of the accessibility programming coming your way with a quick look at what’s coming in February, March and April, followed by a deeper look at February’s sessions, and an answer to the frequently asked question: “What score should I be aiming for in Panorama?”

If you have questions you want addressed, please feel free to send them to the Title II Accessibility e-mail: t2access@umw.edu. Your input makes these resources more helpful and relevant.

Thanks for everything you do to support accessible learning!

Mary Washington announced its fall 2025 President’s List and Dean’s List. More than 1,200 students achieved these honors during the fall 2025 semester. To be recognized on these lists a student must carry at least 12 graded credits of new coursework. Students who earn a grade-point average of 4.00 on all work taken for graded credit in a semester receive a spot on the President’s List. Students who earn a grade-point average of 3.50 to 3.99 on all work taken for graded credit in a semester are placed on the Dean’s List. Read more about the President’s and Dean’s lists.

We hope you have had time to review and reflect upon the January 2026 release of the initial complete draft of UMW’s Strategic Action Plan for 2026-2031, which is again attached to this email (see employee email from Jan. 8). As we continue this work this semester to refine ideas, assess resources and map out the timelines, milestones and measures for each action item, we appreciate your feedback.

If you have comments on the plan at this stage, please complete the UMW Strategic Action Plan – January 2026 Campus Community Feedback Form by January 30.

You can also provide feedback through the University Faculty Council, University Staff Council, or Student Government Association if you prefer, as the plan will be on agendas of upcoming meetings.

Thank you for your engagement in the planning process and for sharing your perspectives.

To learn more about the planning process and the priority groups, visit the strategic plan website.

On behalf of the steering committee,
Chief of Staff and Vice President of Strategy Jeff McClurken & Provost Tim O’Donnell, co-chair

In the Company of Strangers: AI and the Value of Estrangement
Dr. Alexa Alice Joubin, Professor of English at George Washington University

Monday, Feb. 2, weather permitting
4 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Combs 139
Reception to follow

About the talk: AI makes us strangers to ourselves in a productive manner. AI can produce uncertainties, but AI also compels us use estrangement as cognitive and affective intervention. We put our embodied perception and emotions on the line when we interact with human and more-than-human entities. This hands-on workshop addresses two of the challenges in our era: (1) data poverty despite informational abundance due to AI’s inequitable filtration, and (2) disempowerment through exclusion, which is caused by technological opacity. The solution to information inequity is open culture, which transforms us from mere consumers of AI to informed participants in the digital world. The antidote to opacity and exclusion is participatory justice through meta-cognition (the ability to reflect on one’s own thought processes). 

About the speaker: Alexa Alice Joubin is a leading voice on AI, social justice, and higher education. She is Director of the Digital Humanities Institute and Professor of English, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Theatre, International Affairs, and East Asian Languages and Literatures at George Washington University. She is a faculty of the Trustworthy AI Initiative and an affiliate at the NSF’s Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society. In 2024, she was named the inaugural Public Interest Technology Scholar.

The Center for AI and the Liberal Arts invites you to a Public Debate on the question:
Should the University of Mary Washington be an AI University?
Wednesday, Feb. 4  at 3:30 p.m.
Weatherly Wing, Seacobeck Hall

Arguing for the resolution: Anand Rao (CDS)
Arguing against the resolution: Stefan Bauschard (Adjunct CDS; Berkeley Prep Debate Coach)
Moderator: Tim O’Donnell

This debate will explore what it might mean—academically, institutionally, and culturally— if UMW were to define itself as an “AI University.” Following the debate, there will be time for audience questions and discussion. Please encourage your students to attend. We will have attendance sheets available and will share copies with instructors after the event.

We also invite you to send us suggested lines of argument or key questions in advance, especially issues you would like to see addressed in the opening speeches. This is meant to be a fun and engaging debate with a provocative topic. I would like to follow the debate with an open forum in the coming weeks for a more deliberative conversation of AI initiatives, including curricular proposals. I hope this public debate prompts ongoing discussion about the university’s future, and I welcome suggestions for how the Center can support those discussions.

This event is sponsored by the Center for AI and the Liberal Arts and is open to the public. We hope you will join us for what should be a thoughtful and engaging conversation about the University’s direction.

The Department of Political Science and International Affairs is hosting a panel discussion on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 4 p.m. in Monroe 116: “Trump and the World: One Year On.” The panel will feature regional expertise and analysis of the Trump administration’s foreign policy from Professors Jason Davidson, Surupa Gupta, Guan-Yi Leu, Melissa Martinez, and Ranjit Singh. There will be ample time for questions from the audience.