December 22, 2024

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Student Affairs Pros Recognize UMW’s ‘Rock Star’ President

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University of Mary Washington colleagues have long known how committed President Troy D. Paino is to the student experience – and to the faculty and staff who work day in and day out to make it the best it can be.

UMW President Troy Paino
UMW President Troy Paino

Now, student affairs professionals throughout the Southeastern United States are spreading the news. NASPA, the organization of student affairs administrators in higher education, will recognize Paino with its Region III President’s Award for 2022 during a summer symposium in Charleston, South Carolina, June 12-15.

“This prestigious award signifies that your fellow student affairs colleagues value the contributions you are making in the field,” awards committee co-chairs Stephen M. Howard and Nicholas Hudson wrote in an email informing Paino of the honor. “It also exemplifies your hard work within the profession, your institution and NASPA Region III.”

In supporting Paino’s nomination for the recognition, UMW Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair emphasized the president’s compassionate approach to strategic planning and decision-making and pointed out, “He is, above all, a student-centered leader.” Read more.

UMW Chooses Alum to Fill Key Communications Role

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Amy Jessee ’06 will step into UMW’s Executive Director of University Communications role in June.

Amy Jessee ’06 will step into UMW’s Executive Director of University Communications role in June.

Incoming Executive Director of University Communications Amy Jessee has already mapped out her first days on the job.

As chief communicator for the University of Mary Washington, Jessee will begin by listening – to students, staff, faculty, administrators, alumni, community supporters and others with a stake in telling the university’s stories in the ways that matter most.

When she arrives on campus in late June, she won’t have to start from scratch. Jessee is a 2006 graduate of UMW, where she majored in business administration and English and earned the Colgate W. Darden Jr. Award, bestowed on the undergraduate with the highest grade-point average. She holds a master of arts degree in professional communication from Clemson University. Read more.

China-bound Graduate Focused on Global Goals

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Bailey Johnson ’21 has a gift for being where she needs to be to meet her goals.

Bailey Johnson ’21 will move to China next summer to join the Schwarzman Scholars, a prestigious graduate leadership program that will give her the opportunity to pursue a master’s of global affairs in Beijing.

Bailey Johnson ’21 will move to China next summer to join the Schwarzman Scholars, a prestigious graduate leadership program that will give her the opportunity to pursue a master’s of global affairs in Beijing.

Starting in August 2022, that will be Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. There she’ll join the newest class of Schwarzman Scholars, pursuing a master’s degree in global affairs. Johnson is among 151 scholars in nearly three dozen countries, chosen from more than 3,000 applicants worldwide for the all-expenses-covered graduate leadership program.

Schwarzman Scholars are “high-caliber individuals with open minds and limitless potential who will serve to deepen understanding between China and the rest of the world,” according to the group’s website.

Johnson fits the bill. She’s already working as a cancer researcher for the National Institutes of Health, chiefly focused on understanding metastatic traits that allow tumor cells to colonize secondary organs. She also is a fellow at the NIH Academy on Health Disparities, studying gaps in health outcomes and addressing related issues.

Classes for Schwarzman Scholars are taught in English, but Johnson brings the advantage of fluency in Mandarin – a language she started learning as a child in Columbus, Ohio. She refined those skills at Mary Washington, where she double-majored in biology and a self-designed course of Chinese cultural studies. Read more.

Urban Forester Finds Love of Nature at UMW

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Sarah Hagan, an urban forester in Lynchburg, Virginia, discovered her passion for science while studying biology at UMW.

Sarah Hagan, an urban forester in Lynchburg, Virginia, discovered her passion for science while studying biology at UMW.

The 11,000 to 12,000 trees shading the streets and parks of Lynchburg, Virginia, are a lot to keep up with. But Sarah Hagan, a 2011 University of Mary Washington graduate, has charge of them all, from roots to crowns.

As Lynchburg’s urban forester, Hagan oversees trees individually but also as an interdependent whole – the urban canopy that keeps the city healthy, vibrant and beautiful. It’s an ever-changing responsibility, varying with each season, storm, dry spell and pest. And it’s an especially pertinent position today, during National Forest Week, a celebration of America’s 193-million-acre system. Read more.

Alumnus Earns Competitive Fellowship to Teach Constitution

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2006 graduate Sam Ulmschneider (left), a global studies and history teacher based in Richmond, was recently named Virginia’s 2020 recipient of the James Madison Fellowship.

2006 graduate Sam Ulmschneider (left), a global studies and history teacher based in Richmond, was recently named Virginia’s 2020 recipient of the James Madison Fellowship.

Persistence paid off for UMW graduate Sam Ulmschneider.

The global studies and history teacher was recently named Virginia’s 2020 recipient of the James Madison Fellowship – on his fourth attempt to earn the award.

The $24,000 prize is given to just one recipient per state each year to promote outstanding teaching of the U.S. Constitution in secondary schools. It will allow Ulmschneider to pursue a second master’s degree while he continues to teach gifted high schoolers at his other alma mater, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School in Richmond.

Two of Ulmschneider’s previous fellowship applications resulted in his being named a runner-up. Undiscouraged, he kept applying, a process that included a lot of essay-writing. “I felt like my students do when they’re filling out their college applications,” he said.

His own education at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School – and the Advanced Placement credits he earned there – allowed him to focus on his academic interests almost immediately at UMW.

“The advising system was wonderful, and it’s one of the things I took away from Mary Washington,” said Ulmschneider, who double majored in history and philosophy with a minor in religion, and joined the University’s club fencing team. Read more.

Visualizing a Virus: Alum’s Art Captures Emotions of a Pandemic

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Fine-arts potter Hadrian Mendoza is shown with some of his earlier works. The 1996 Mary Washington graduate is currently working on several commissioned coronavirus sculptures. Photo Credit: Hadrian Mendoza.

Fine-arts potter Hadrian Mendoza is shown with some of his earlier works. The 1996 Mary Washington graduate is currently working on several commissioned coronavirus sculptures. Photo Credit: Hadrian Mendoza.

Hadrian Mendoza isn’t glorifying the novel coronavirus at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. But in images of the tiny particle, he sees more than fear, suffering, loss and grief.

To Mendoza, a 1996 Mary Washington graduate and internationally known fine-arts potter, viruses have long represented a fascinating intersection of danger and beauty. Starting in 2016, he began creating sculptural interpretations of viruses – his creations then were hollow spheres with sharp, spiny protrusions that served both to balance and to convey threat.

In early March, when Mendoza’s family found themselves isolating in their Arlington, Virginia, townhouse, the idea “crept back into my mind,” he said. From his makeshift front-porch studio, he conceived a sculptural version of a coronavirus. It’s less a rendering of the actual virus than a reimagining that captures the many emotions engendered by the pandemic. The result is art at its most timely, a reflection of current events and of the universal attempt to contain and control what affects us.

A business administration major in his Mary Washington days, Mendoza takes seriously the financial aspects of his artistic profession. He already has three commissions for versions of the coronavirus, all from collectors in his native Philippines, where he has held two solo exhibitions a year for 12 years.

It is satisfying, he said of his current work, “to take something negative and bring something positive out of it.” Read more.

Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteer Vows to Continue Global Service

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At their swearing-in ceremony last summer, Sebrine Abdulkadir, left, and fellow Peace Corps volunteers wear clothing handmade from traditional Botswanan fabrics. Abdulkadir’s service was cut short when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers due to coronavirus.

At their swearing-in ceremony last summer, Sebrine Abdulkadir, left, and fellow Peace Corps volunteers wear clothing handmade from traditional Botswanan fabrics. Abdulkadir’s service was cut short when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers due to coronavirus.

For Peace Corps volunteer Sebrine Abdulkadir ’19, posted in the southern African country of Botswana, the upheaval happened fast.

On a Monday morning in mid-March, she received an email saying she and other Peace Corps volunteers worldwide would be evacuated from their posts because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In three hours Abdulkadir packed what possessions she could from her house in the village of Good Hope, near the South African border. She left other belongings in the care of colleagues who had worked with her on projects to educate young people about HIV/AIDS.

By Monday evening, she was on her way to Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. And Wednesday morning she began her journey home, flying through South Africa and the United Arab Emirates before arriving in Washington, D.C.

“I didn’t really believe it till I was walking onto the plane,” Abdulkadir said. “It was stressful. I didn’t really have the chance to say goodbye.”

After a two-week quarantine upon returning to the United States, Abdulkadir has joined her mother and 7-year-old brother at home in Alexandria, Virginia. From her independent adult life and her own house in Botswana, the 22-year-old finds herself once again under a parent’s roof and contemplating her next steps. Read more.