Filiz Tabak joins the University of Mary Washington July 10, 2023, as dean of the College of Business.

Organizational leadership isn’t just a scholarly discipline for Filiz Tabak. It’s also a specialty she has successfully practiced over the past 28 years in the College of Business & Economics at Towson University – as a faculty member, graduate program director, department chair and, most recently, acting associate dean.

Now Tabak brings that expertise to the University of Mary Washington, where she’ll become dean of the College of Business (COB) starting July 10.

She already has a plan for her first few months on campus – to learn the strengths, experiences and passions of the faculty she’ll lead and the UMW students she’ll help educate. At the same time, she plans to connect with the COB Advisory Board, the deans of UMW’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Education, and others in the campus community, “to see what we can accomplish together.” Read more.

Olivia Foster (left), a 2023 alumna, will teach English in Argentina, and Emma Bathke (right), a 2021 alumna, will teach English in Germany, both via the Fulbright Student program.

The University of Mary Washington continues its Fulbright tradition with the recent announcements of grants for two alumni.

Emma Bathke ’21 and Olivia Foster ’23 will teach English overseas as participants in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

They are among 28 Mary Washington student Fulbright recipients since 2006, according to Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti and Professor of Biology Dianne Baker. Al-Tikriti and Baker are co-directors of the UMW Fulbright Committee, which works with student candidates to craft compelling applications.

Bathke, an international affairs major with a minor in business German, will travel to Germany in September to teach English. Until then, she’s working for the Library of Congress in the Congressional Research Service. Foster, a history major from Richmond, will teach English in Argentina beginning in March 2024. Read more.

Stephen Farnsworth (left) will head to Poland in spring 2024 to teach a graduate-level class in presidential communication under the Fulbright Scholar program. Professor Emeritus of Psychology David Rettinger will travel to Nepal as a Fulbright specialist.

University of Mary Washington Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth and Professor Emeritus of Psychology David Rettinger have received Fulbright grants to teach and share their professional expertise overseas.

Farnsworth, who directs the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at UMW, will travel to Poland to serve his third Fulbright assignment in spring 2024, during a sabbatical from Mary Washington.

At the American Studies Center of the University of Warsaw, he will teach a graduate-level course about U.S. presidential communication regarding domestic and foreign policies. He’ll also look at how presidents use direct communication and the mass media to shape public perceptions of their own characters.

Farnsworth’s Poland assignment falls under the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. It’s his third Fulbright; in 2019 he served in Malaysia as a Fulbright specialist, and in 2006-07 he held a Fulbright research chair in public policy in Canada. Read more.

As guests view the poster projects, student presenters explain methodology and answer questions. (Sam Cahill photo.)

Posters and presentations filled UMW’s Hurley Convergence Center on Friday, April 21, 2023. Complex art projects transformed the ground floor of the Cedric Rucker University Center. Music emanated from the Weatherly Wing of Seacobeck Hall, and master’s research projects on effective teaching methods stretched into the evening.

In the newly named Leigh Frackelton Classroom in Woodard Hall, a Case Competition offered bragging rights and cash awards.

It all added up to UMW’s 17th annual Research and Creativity Symposium – a campuswide celebration of all things academic – by students from all three UMW colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, and the College of Business.

“Essentially, every building on campus has a showcase that day,” said Assistant Dean of Arts and Sciences Betsy Lewis, who leads the efforts and experience annually.

Here are some scenes from the day’s events. Read more.

First-place winner Chris Camarota, center, holds the oversized check with award sponsors and judges Craig Schneibolk, left, and Andrew Blate. (Suzanne Carr Rossi photo.)

The challenge: Take three separate California-based street-sweeping companies and combine them into one new business with the equipment, personnel, contracts and management to succeed despite potential competition from the biggest player in the industry.

That was the “case” posed in the fifth annual Case Competition, a contest in which teams of UMW business students tackle a business problem, consider obstacles and possible solutions, then present their findings orally and via projected slides. It’s a chance for them to use all their accumulated knowledge and skills, deploy their public speaking powers, and think on their feet to answer judges’ questions.

There’s a monetary reward, too – cash prizes totaling $5,000, sponsored by alumnus Andrew Blate ’04 and business partner Craig Schneibolk of the D.C.-area remodeling company Beautiful Home Services. Blate and Schneibolk started an endowed fund that eventually will cover award money for each year’s event, and they also judged this year’s contest along with business alumni Linda Blakemore ’84 and Rob Whitt ’93.

To make it to this year’s Case Competition – held Friday, April 21, 2023, in the Leigh Frackelton Classroom of Woodard Hall as part of UMW’s 17th annual Research and Creativity Symposium – each of five teams had to win a preliminary competition with fellow students in several business classes. The five teams that competed this year were well-prepared, with carefully researched solutions and polished presentations. Read more.

Bill Leighty

Bill Leighty has served two Virginia governors as chief of staff, shared moments with the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Tom Hanks and enjoyed the satisfaction of a career promoting the common good. Now he and wife Marti Leighty, a professor emerita at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, are helping students from their alma mater begin their own public service careers at the state level.

Both former members of Mary Washington’s Board of Visitors, they’ve begun the William H. Leighty ’78 and Martha Kearns Leighty ’75 Fellows Program.

The endowed fellowship will encourage University of Mary Washington juniors and seniors to intern with state legislators, public officials or state agencies. Students from any major can apply for the program, which will provide a $5,000 stipend and up to six academic credit hours for a semester-long or summer internship.

To kick off fundraising for the fellowship endowment, the Leightys have made a $50,000 philanthropic commitment. They’re also donating proceeds from Bill Leighty’s just-published book, Capitol Secrets: Leadership Wisdom From a Lifetime of Public Service, a memoir packed with anecdotes and insider details about getting things done at the highest levels of state government.

The Leightys were on campus Thursday, April 13, for a daylong introduction of the fellowship and an advance opportunity for members of the UMW community to obtain the book, which was officially released the next day. Events included a master class in public service, a panel discussion with alumni who serve at the local and state levels, and an evening reception and book-signing. Read more.

UMW senior Hannah Harris has been named Scholar of the Year by the Virginias Collegiate Honors Council. A biochemistry and English literature double major, she is headed to medical school in the fall.

In its 10 years’ existence, the University of Mary Washington’s Honors Program has frequently been recognized for excellence. But one accolade was elusive: having a student earn the Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Scholar of the Year award.

That milestone is now achieved. Hannah Harris ’23 is this year’s winner of the top award for collegiate honors program students in Virginia and West Virginia. The VCHC presented the award at its annual conference, held April 14 and 15 at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

UMW Honors Program co-directors Kelli Slunt, professor of chemistry, and Mara Scanlon, professor of English, nominated Harris for the VCHC Scholar of the Year award with high confidence that she could win.

A biochemistry and English literature double major headed to medical school in the fall, Harris had lived the Honors Program ideals of academic excellence, leadership and intellectual curiosity for four years at UMW. But she faced keen competition for the award from finalists representing nine other colleges and universities.

In mid-March, Harris learned she would receive the honor – finding out on the fourth anniversary of the Destination Day event at which, as a high school senior from Botetourt County near Roanoke, she’d committed to attending UMW as an Honors Program student. Read more.