Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently gave a U.S. Department of State program lecture entitled, “U.S. Journalism, Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Development,” in Washington, DC., for visiting Palestinian professors. The lecture was part of the Institute for International Education’s International Visitor Leadership Program and included findings from Farnsworth’s recent co-authored book, “The Global President: International Media and the U.S. Government.”
Artist’s Painting Returns to Gari Melchers Home and Studio
The Crimson Rambler, a painting unique to Gari Melchers’ body of work, will make a special appearance at the Gari Melchers Home and Studio beginning Saturday, Feb. 28 through Sunday, June 7, 2015.
On loan from private collectors, Melchers painted The Crimson Rambler at his residence in Holland sometime around 1915. The subject of the painting is an intimate view of the artist’s garden, its chief features being a rose arbor, neighboring tree and lawn statue.
“Free of other pictorial concerns, Melchers wholly gave in to the broken brushwork and chromatic possibilities of a lush garden in sunlight, rendering the sensation of a garden as opposed to a literal reproduction of one, a key objective of impressionism,” said Curator Joanna Catron. “Because of his preference for figure painting, The Crimson Rambler was to be Melchers’ first and last experiment with a pure garden portrait.”
Gari Melchers Home and Studio is a 28-acre estate and former residence of the artist Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne. The property, which is operated by the University of Mary Washington, is both a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. Located at 224 Washington St. in Falmouth, Va., a quarter mile west of the intersection of U.S. 1 and U.S. 17, it is open daily with an admission charge. The museum also serves as the official Stafford County Visitor Center. For directions and other information, call (540) 654-1015 or visit garimelchers.umw.edu.
UMW Professor Documents Local Hospital History
The storied past of Mary Washington Healthcare has been preserved online, thanks to efforts of University of Mary Washington Professor Jess Rigelhaupt.
The associate professor of history and American studies received a $25,000 grant from Mary Washington Healthcare to record oral history interviews and develop a website that covers the history of the 115-year old organization.
The website mwhchistory.com, which launched this month, currently includes more than 35 hours of interviews with longtime administrators, board members, physicians, and nurses with a wealth of knowledge about the local hospital system for the past 30 years. The project is ongoing and will record over 80 hours of interviews with over 40 people when it is completed.
Click here to view the embedded video.
“We began as an eight-room hospital, and have evolved into a not-for-profit regional system of two hospitals and 28 healthcare facilities and wellness services,” said recently retired President and CEO of Mary Washington Healthcare Fred M. Rankin III, who was interviewed for the project. “Hearing personal accounts from many who have been part of Mary Washington Healthcare’s journey through the last 20-plus years is an important part of telling the story.”
For the past two years, Rigelhaupt worked with UMW students to record interviews and edit video footage all with the goal of providing a more traditional history of the organization through the art of storytelling.
“An important goal is to have a highly accessible repository that documents the growth and expansion of Mary Washington Healthcare through the voices of the people who contributed to it,” said Rigelhaupt. “To record how they experienced what they saw, what they did and how they reflect back on it and how they’ve made meaning out of and understand the growth of the organization and the challenges that were faced.”
The largest private employer in Fredericksburg, Mary Washington Healthcare has certainly seen its fair share of growth, especially since the new hospital opened in 1993. The website includes firsthand accounts of change from a variety of employees, including Diane Brothers, who began working as a nurse at the hospital in 1986 and is now a nursing supervisor and clinical ethics specialist, and Xavier R. Richardson, who joined MWHC in 1997 and currently serves as the executive vice president of Corporate Development and Community Affairs.
“The Mary Washington Healthcare oral history website, hosted and presented by the University of Mary Washington, is a natural partnership which provides historical information, and new insights for public policy, healthcare, and regional development,” said Michael McDermott, M.D., president and CEO, Mary Washington Healthcare.
Rigelhaupt agrees.
“The project represents collaboration between the campus and the community,” he said. “As an institution for research and knowledge production, the University and this research project worked with and produced new knowledge about a pillar of the community.”
Mackintosh, Liss, and Schiffrin Publish Book Chapter on Intensive Parenting
Drs. Virginia Mackintosh, Miriam Liss, and Holly Schiffrin published a book chapter in the recently released Intensive Mothering: The Cultural Contradictions of Modern Motherhood from Demeter Press. The chapter, “Using a Quantitative Measure to Explore Intensive Mothering Ideology,” outlines the development and use of the Intensive Parenting Attitudes Questionnaire designed by the authors.
Sparks Fly on Study Abroad
Foreign exchange students find common ground at UMW.
Zhao Publishes in Journal of Management Analytics
Xiaofeng Zhao, associate professor in the College of Business, recently had his co-authored article “Analyzing the time buffer in the Theory of Constraints based lean operations” published in the Journal of Management Analytics, Volume 1, Issue 3.
Tyler Named CAC President
Ken Tyler, director of athletics, is the new president of the Capital Athletic Conference’s board of directors. He begins his two-year term in January.
Check out the full story:
http://www.cacsports.com/general_releases/gen1415/board_president_umw_tyler
Farnsworth Opinion Column in Washington Post
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, is the author of an opinion column entitled, “How Gerrymandering cost Virginia its Medicaid Expansion,” published in the Washington Post on Jan. 18. The column incorporates the results of a recent UMW statewide poll of Virginians.