A liberal arts and sciences education is more valuable than ever.

University of Mary Washington President Troy Paino addresses the faculty and staff at the start of the 2023-24 academic year. Photo by Sam Cahill.

That’s what University of Mary Washington President Troy Paino confirmed to an auditorium full of faculty and staff during the annual welcome-back presentation ushering in the 2023-24 academic year. The state-of-the-university address, held August 21, 2023, in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium, covered record-setting fundraising efforts, campus construction, the student experience, life after Mary Washington and more.

“We have alumni, we have friends, we have donors who are so invested in the work we are doing here at Mary Washington,” said Paino, referencing record-breaking fundraising efforts, with more than $21.3 million in gifts and pledges raised during the 2022-23 fiscal year. That number was bolstered by a portion – $6 million – of a transformational $30 million gift from alumna Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59, the largest donation in UMW’s 115-year history.

The funding will help ensure continued student success, Paino said. Among recent accolades, UMW students have received two prestigious Goldwater awards within the past three years and claimed last year’s honor scholar of the year award for both Virginia and West Virginia. The incoming fall 2023 class – numbering just over 1,000 with transfer students included, and boasting an average GPA of 3.75 and SAT score of 1244, and more honors students than ever before – promises to be just as successful. Read more.

The University of Mary Washington has been named a “Top Employer for Interns” by the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP).

All the award winners demonstrate a commitment to meaningful internships,” State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) Director Peter Blake said in a release this morning announcing 2023 honorees across the commonwealth. “High-quality internships enhance a student’s educational experience and strengthen our workforce.”

The timing of the announcement – Thursday, July 27, Virginia Intern Day and National Intern Day – is especially poignant for recognizing interns’ contributions to the workforce and honoring employers who offer programs providing valuable career-centered experience.

UMW hosts interns on campus year-round as part of its long-held mission to support working-learning opportunities that round out the classroom experience. The University also encourages students to seek off-campus internships with businesses and organizations that are looking to attract and retain exceptional employees. By the time they graduate, more than 30 percent of all Mary Washington students have completed some type of internship. Read more.

UMW student Harrison Miles spent the summer doing research that used soybean plants and a fungus extracted from lantern flies and could possibly lead to more effective organic pesticides. He’s among 19 Mary Washington students who conducted research to tackle real-world problems during this year’s 10-week Summer Science Institute. Photo by Karen Pearlman.

Harrison Miles fills six plastic cylinders with pieces of leaves from a soybean plant. He slips them inside a machine that resembles a kitchen blender and sets it awhirl. The vials spin so quickly they need time to cool before he begins his next task – extracting the RNA he’ll use for further investigation.

“We create a soup of the fungus,” said Miles, who earned a degree in psychology and elementary education from the University of Mary Washington in 2015, and returned to campus to study conservation biology. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to get this kind of experience anywhere other than Mary Washington.”

Working on Jepson Science Center’s third floor, he spent the summer working with beauveria bassiana harvested from spotted lantern flies shipped in from Pennsylvania. He injected the fungus into soybeans and measured toxin production as the plants grew. The work, done with guidance from Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Josephine Antwi, could help create more effective organic pesticides.

The project is one of more than a dozen that unfolded during the University’s 24th annual Summer Science Institute (SSI), focused on biology, chemistry, computer science, Earth and environmental sciences, physics and math. The 10-week event had students and faculty working closely together on research aimed at finding solutions to real-world concerns, like pesticides. Read more.

The Virginia Governor’s Office announced last week the appointment of three new members of the University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors. John Anstey of Roanoke, Virginia, a 1993 Mary Washington alumnus; Nicole Neily of Arlington, Virginia; and Rev. Dean Nelson of Montgomery Village, Maryland, will serve four-year terms as members of the University’s governing board. They succeed Heather Crislip ’95, Deborah Santiago ’90 and Kerri Barile ’94, whose terms ended on June 30, 2023. Read more.

UMW President Troy Paino showed his support for both teams in a specially made Devil-Goat Day T-shirt. Photo by Tom Rothenberg.

First-year University of Mary Washington student Brianna Miles had a plan for besting her opponent in the Rocky River Log Roll challenge – keep her fleet planted and move her body just a bit. And it worked!

The giant inflatable game was one of many matches set up last week on Jefferson Square for a uniquely UMW competition called Devil-Goat Day.

“Everyone I talked to was excited about it,” Miles, who’s studying historic preservation and art history, said of the event, a tradition that dates back to the 1920s. “I’ve only been here a little while and I’m already having fun.”

Her victory counted toward the Goats’ tally in the high-energy annual contest of school spirit, where Devils, who graduate in odd years, and Goats, who graduate in even years, vie to collect the most points for participation and wins. The top-scoring team walks away with bragging rights … until the following year when Devil-Goat Day happens all over again. Read more.