April 7, 2026

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Conversations With President Paino

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Dear UMW Faculty and Staff,

President Paino invites you to join him for Conversations with President Paino, formerly known as Coffee with the President.  These sessions will offer informal opportunities to share insights and engage in candid discussions that are aligned with our community values and in support of making University of Mary Washington the best it can be.  Occasionally, the sessions may focus on a particular issue facing us or may include other leaders who represent areas critical to institutional progress.

Sessions will be offered at the following dates and times:

  • Wednesday, February 23              10:30-11:30 a.m.
  • Monday, March 21                         1:30-2:30 p.m.
  • Monday, April 11                            3-4 p.m.

Thank you.

Office of the President

Rev. Aaron Dobynes to Deliver UMW’s Martin Luther King Jr. Keynote Speech

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Rev. Aaron Dobynes

Rev. Aaron Dobynes

The 10th pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site), Dobynes will deliver the Martin Luther King Jr. keynote speech via Zoom on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 6 p.m. A fourth-generation preacher who holds two doctoral degrees, Dobynes attended high school in Selma, Alabama, and will draw on his personal experiences and advanced studies to deliver an emotional presentation dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. Presented by the James Farmer Multicultural Center. Registration is required.

Employee Honors Awarded at Presidential Luncheon

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UMW President Troy Paino, during a virtual luncheon Tuesday, expressed his gratitude to faculty and staff for their commitment to seeing the University through a “remarkable” fall semester. Staff Advisory Council President Michelle Pickham, Executive Director of Human Resources Beth Williams and Chief of Staff Jeff McClurken also spoke during the event.

Clockwise from top left, Executive Director of Human Resources Beth Williams, President Troy Paino, Chief of Staff Jeff McClurken and Staff Advisory Council President Michelle Pickham spoke at Tuesday's Presidential Luncheon and award presentation.

Clockwise from top left, Executive Director of Human Resources Beth Williams, President Troy Paino, Chief of Staff Jeff McClurken and Staff Advisory Council President Michelle Pickham spoke at Tuesday’s Presidential Luncheon and award presentation.

“I just couldn’t be more proud of the Mary Washington community,” Paino said, thanking students, area partners and all UMW employees, with a special shout-out to those with children at home who are juggling multiple roles. “We’ve really gone through this together.”

Paino told participants that UMW’s performance throughout the pandemic, and the reimagining of operations it caused, had exceeded his expectations. He talked about the road ahead for the University, emphasizing the importance of practicing mental health and continuing to follow MMDC (monitor, mask, distance and clean) guidelines.

The panel answered questions on topics such as the University’s rebranding efforts and slated construction on campus. And the winners of the Hurley, Coleman and Atkins employee awards were announced. A twist this year is that two employees were doubly honored.

  • Digital Knowledge Center Associate Director Shannon Hauser received the Richard V. and Rosemary A. Hurley Presidential Commendation. This award goes to a UMW employee, with preference for an administrative/professional faculty member who has performed exceptionally meritorious service to the University, demonstrated strength of character and maintained steadfast dedication to the University’s mission.
  • Assistant Building Attendant Manager Sharon Neville received the Charles Coleman Service Award. This honor goes to classified and hourly employees who have demonstrated loyalty and dedication to the University, displayed care and concern for others, and maintained a positive “can do” attitude regarding assigned duties and responsibilities.
  • Hauser (AP faculty), Neville (classified) and Center for Career and Professional Development Career Coach Mary Becelia (wage) received the Staff Advisory Council’s Larry Atkins Award. This honor goes to employees who lend a helping hand to their teammates, go above and beyond in each and every task, and set a positive example for their colleagues.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Paino told employees who joined Tuesday’s luncheon. “We’re going to come back for a better 2021.”

Livestream Session Addressed Return-to-Campus Culture

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Faculty and staff attended a live Q&A webinar via Zoom yesterday, as the state entered Phase 3 of the governor’s “Forward Virginia” reopening plan. Called “Commitment to Community,” the session focused on how the University will help students prepare for and commit to behavioral and social expectations and requirements when they return to campus next month.

UMW Chief of Staff Jeff McClurken moderated the livestream event, which featured panelists Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair, Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Life Cedric Rucker, Assistant Dean for Residence Life and Housing David Fleming, and University Physician and Director of the Student Health Center Nancy Wang.

“We know how much our students want to come back to campus,” Landphair said. “They want to resume their holistic Mary Washington experience as much as possible.”

Landphair explained that establishing a culture of compliance – an environment that encourages adherence to sound public health principles and a purposeful intent to prevent the spread of disease – is a “gating requirement,” or prerequisite to re-opening. In that vein, UMW’s Return to Campus Plan will be submitted to SCHEV for approval and shared with campus on Monday, July 6.

The plan, panelists said, focuses on moving forward the core mission of Mary Washington and builds on existing codes of conduct, as well as the University’s statement of community values, known as ASPIRE.

“We don’t want to see a situation where individuals feel stigmatized in any way,” said Rucker, who has spent the past several weeks speaking with incoming students. “That’s why ASPIRE is also important. We want to celebrate everyone but also make sure that everyone is committed to ensuring that the academic process moves forward as smoothly as possible.”

Students, faculty and staff will be asked to complete training modules focused on “MMDC” – monitoring, masking, distancing and cleaning – and all individuals must pledge to uphold the guidelines.

Among their many questions, employees who tuned in to the hourlong session asked how faculty and staff will be expected to enforce behavioral guidelines, how claimed health exemptions to regulations will be handled and how the University is collaborating with city officials.

The Return to Campus Plan will address many of yesterday’s topics of concern, such as quarantine and isolation, testing and tracing, and communication of positive cases, McClurken said. If questions still exist after reading the document, he encouraged employees to restate them at next week’s livestream Q&A event on Wednesday, July 8, at 3 p.m., via Zoom or YouTube.

Watch yesterday’s Q&A below.

 

 

Virtual Town Hall Addresses Campus ‘Hurt’

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UMW President Troy Paino addressed an audience of concerned students yesterday afternoon during a virtual town hall meeting.

The event – planned for an hour but extended by 15 minutes to allow more students to speak – was called in light of protests taking place throughout the country and in the Fredericksburg area since the May 25 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

“I just wanted to let you all know that my mind and my heart have been with you over the past week and a half, and really since we left each other back in March,” Paino said at the start of the session, hosted live via Zoom.

While a number of faculty and staff members expressed interest in participating, President Paino wanted to have an exclusive conversation with students. Their concerns centered on the presence of UMW Police Sunday night during a protest when city police used tear gas to displace protesters. Other topics included the university’s stance on systemic racism and on the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Black lives do matter,” said Vice President for Equity and Access Sabrina Johnson, who joined Paino yesterday as a panelist, along with UMW Police Chief Mike Hall. “I want to mention the names our leaders mention: Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd. I want their names to be in this space during this very important discussion.”

Just hours before Floyd’s first memorial service was set to be begin in Minneapolis, students took their turns onscreen to pose questions to Paino, who told them that he has lined up discussions with Fredericksburg officials, including the police chief, city manager and mayor. The university is committed to working through what happened, he said, and to maintaining transparency in communicating those findings.

Paino pledged that UMW will continue its efforts to recruit a more diverse faculty and to live by its code of community values, also known as ASPIRE. He acknowledged his intent to join in solidarity with students who planned a peaceful walk from Mary Washington to Fredericksburg’s Market Square this afternoon. The march, officially announced in a UMW email today from Student Government Association President Kyree Ford,was meant to support students of color and “to show the campus community that black lives matter and hate has no home at Mary Washington.”

UMW Introduces New Fully Searchable Course Catalog

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The new University of Mary Washington course catalog is out.

The fully searchable, online publication, available at catalog.umw.edu, has been thoughtfully consolidated to avoid waste, and includes all the bells and whistles.

With a single URL for both graduate and undergraduate programs, the new catalog features “bubbles” that pop up with descriptions drawn directly from Banner when users hover over hyperlinked course numbers. A navigation bar includes sections containing general information about UMW, specifics about fees and financial aid, and other details that apply to both grads and undergrads.

The catalog also comes with a course search option, directory of programs and A-to-Z index of topics, and is available in a PDF format that can be printed or saved.

Software provider CourseLeaf designed the publication based on a UMW style guide, after the decision to stop printing was made early last year. Administrators also made the change in order to sync the catalog with course records in Banner, meet accessibility guidelines and accommodate multiple browsers.

Led by Associate Provost for Academic Affairs John Morello, the group behind the new catalog includes Kevin Caffrey, Rita Dunston, Angie Sawyer, Evie Sherlock and Brian Ogle from the Registrar’s Office; Ben Kjar from IT; Amy O’Reilly and Ginny Irvin from the Provost’s Office; Mike Breitenbach and AJ Newell from University Relations; Jen Cirbus from Academic Services; and Provost Nina Mikhalevsky and Associate Provost for Academic Engagement and Student Success Tim O’Donnell.

Full PDFs will be posted sometime this summer, Morello said, as academic program and calendar particulars are shored up. Meanwhile, course catalogs from previous years are available by visiting catalog.umw.edu and clicking the link listed under “Archived Catalogs,” and through UMW Libraries’ Special Collections.

Q&A Session Focused on Recruitment and Retention

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UMW faculty and staff tuned in yesterday to a Zoom presentation and Q&A session centered on fall enrollment and retention in the time of COVID-19. Facilitated by Chief of Staff Jeff McClurken, the hour-long event included Vice President for Enrollment Management Kimberley Buster-Williams, Director of Undergraduate Admissions Melissa Yakabouski, Executive Director of Continuing and Professional Studies Kimberly Young and Director of Graduate Admissions Christy Pack.

Vice President for Enrollment Management Kimberley Buster-Williams

Vice President for Enrollment Management Kimberley Buster-Williams

Buster-Williams and Yakabouski, who together have worked half a century in college admissions, said that the recruitment-related woes they’ve faced throughout their careers have been trumped by unemployment rates, health concerns and other disruptions caused by the current pandemic.

COVID-19 has taken an increasingly competitive college-enrollment landscape to new heights, the administrators said, forcing them to re-imagine strategies for recruiting and retaining students, and pose innovative solutions. At the time of the talk, first-year deposits stood at slightly more than 100 less than anticipated, according to Buster-Williams. This mirrors a downward trend across the country, she said. Mary Washington, like other schools, has extended the enrollment deposit deadline to June 1.

“We find ourselves in the midst of a recruitment crisis, and the outpouring of support has been truly appreciated,” she said of faculty, staff, alumni and other members of the Mary Washington community who are pitching in to help yield a strong incoming class.

Director of Undergraduate Admissions Melissa Yakabouski

Director of Undergraduate Admissions Melissa Yakabouski

After working for years to build a 2020-21 UMW undergraduate cohort – visiting schools, attending college fairs, reading applications and more – “our entire operation went online,” Yakabouski said. Without the overwhelming support, she said, “we could not have pivoted as quickly or as well.”

Among incoming students’ top concerns, she said, are a need to connect and a desire to know if Mary Washington will be able to meet its goal of providing in-person learning this fall or if the coronavirus crisis will force courses back online.

Pack and Young said they also have been “sorting through uncertainties” to meet the changing demands of adult learners by enhancing testing and pathway options, and financial support opportunities.

Director of Graduate Admissions Christy Pack

Director of Graduate Admissions Christy Pack

Together, Pack said, the two have hosted virtual sessions throughout the past six weeks for 150 students interested in enrolling in UMW’s MBA, M.Ed., MSGA, BSN, BLS, GIS-certification and other professional development programs.

“Uncertainty means we have hope,” said Young, who is keeping a close eye on the ways in which UMW can help meet the changing needs of area industries, such as offering COVID-19-influenced courses required of educators.

Participants posed a host of questions about such topics as how other schools’ decisions impact UMW’s admissions operations and what unique enrollment strategies are being considered.

“We are making sure we’re being really brilliant at the basics,” Buster-Williams said.

Executive Director of Continuing and Professional Studies Kimberly Young

Executive Director of Continuing and Professional Studies Kimberly Young

In answer to Professor of Chemistry Nicole Crowder’s question on how the entire UMW community can continue to support this crucial effort, Yakabouski suggested being responsive to inquiries from prospective students and their parents, and sharing innovative ideas.

“Recruitment isn’t just about the four of us on this panel,” Young said. “It’s about all of us.”

Watch the May 20 Q&A session on YouTube.

Paino Addresses Faculty/Staff Concerns in Live Chat

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President Paino spoke to faculty and staff yesterday in a live online forum designed to address questions and concerns that have surfaced throughout the past weeks as the University community has dealt with the coronavirus pandemic and worked to adjust to a “new normal.”

On the heels of a similar live student Q&A session, hosted on Zoom and YouTube, Paino answered more than 20 questions from employees in departments across the University. He covered a range of issues, from plans for students’ return to campus and admissions yield strategies to budget concerns and telework situations.

“Going through this, we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves and our operations moving forward,” Paino said. “I think that this will probably cause us to have a lot of deep conversations about our work in a variety of ways that we weren’t expecting just a month ago.”

Paino said he remains optimistic that students will be back on campus for the start of the fall semester and that he is putting together a task force to think through how that might work.

Provost Nina Mikhalevsky and Executive Director of Human Resources Beth Williams joined Paino in the live chat, answering questions related to their respective areas. Together, they addressed concerns about how altered operations have impacted students, how the overall UMW landscape could change, and the importance of community-wide contributions to admissions efforts.

Paino praised faculty for their ability to make a quick change from in-person to remote teaching and urged all employees to take time to care for themselves, both physically and emotionally.

“I think the thing that I’m most gratified by is that I get to work, even if it’s remotely, with such amazing people, and that has lifted my spirits,” he told Procurement Services’ Michelle Pickham, who joined the conversation to ask about Paino’s personal well-being.

“Even through the challenge and uncertainty of these times, I get to work with … people like yourself and others on campus who have given me such encouragement and such a sense of optimism that we’re going to meet this challenge and make it through.”

Hear the live Q&A session in its entirety on YouTube.