Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently gave a Washington lecture “Foreign Policy Formulation: Journalism, Public Opinion and Divided Government in the U.S.” as part of the U.S. State Department’s Institute for International Education Visitor Leadership Program for International Journalism. The talk included findings from his recently published co-authored book, “The Global President: International Media and the U.S. Government.”
Santa at Brompton, Dec. 13
President and Mrs. Hurley invite your family to visit with Santa Claus at Brompton on Saturday, Dec. 13 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Sign up at president.umw.edu/santa-claus by Wednesday, Dec. 10.
Tickets for James Farmer Scholars Night at the Washington Wizards, Dec 5.
The James Farmer Scholars program is hosting a Wizard’s night, on Dec. 5 at the Verizon Center.
The Washington Wizard’s will play against the Denver Nuggets. We are opening the tickets to all members of the UMW community.
The cost is $60 per person. All are welcome. Great seats. There is a section just reserved for the University of Mary Washington James Farmer Scholars Program.
Tickets may be purchased and picked up from Aries Wilson in GW 312, by Thursday at 5 p.m. Please call X2119 if interested.
Leah Cox, PhD.
Special Asst. for Diversity and Inclusion,
Title IX Coordinator, JFS Director
Office of the President
University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
540-654-2119
Singh Presents at National Conference
On Nov. 22, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Ranjit Singh presented a paper titled “Teaching Social Media and Middle East Studies” to the annual Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference in Washington, D.C. His paper addressed three common pedagogical challenges Arab studies instructors face as they incorporate social media into their courses. Singh then outlined a classroom exercise, inspired by the work of Hamada bin Amar, a well-known Tunisian hip hop artist, that takes advantage of the language barrier that normally exists between students and Arabic social media content.
Singh’s presentation was part of a six-person, interdisciplinary academic panel on “Social Media and Pedagogy of Middle East Studies” that he organized for this year’s national conference. The panel was sponsored by MESA’s Committee for Undergraduate Middle East Studies, which Singh helped found several years ago. The Committee is dedicated to addressing the particular needs of Middle East studies faculty and programs oriented towards serving undergraduates. Its programs focus on sharing information and ideas about pedagogy, student research and other areas of specific concern.
Nabil al-Tikriti, Associate Professor in the UMW Department of History and American Studies, served as panel chair.
McClurken Featured on With Good Reason
An encore presentation from the University of Mary Washington’s Open and Digital Resource Conference, moderated by Jeffrey McClurken, professor of History and American Studies, aired on the “With Good Reason” public radio program from Nov. 29 to Dec. 5.
Audio files of the full program and its companion news feature are available at http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2014/11/the-future-of-higher-education-2/
First take: Echoes of Bush in Obama’s immigration speech (USA Today)
Battleship
Strategic Resource Allocation Reports
To the UMW Community,
I am pleased to announce the release of the administration’s response to the recommendations of the Strategic Resource Allocation Task Forces. Since the task force reports were completed last spring, a substantial amount of consideration has been given to the various recommendations.
Due to the complexity of the reports and the potential impact upon multiple departments, programs, and offices of the University, crafting a comprehensive response has been quite challenging. While we had all hoped to find more substantial savings to reallocate through this process, we nevertheless received many excellent, strategic recommendations and I am providing the administration’s response to those recommendations here.
As we have worked though our responses, we have been actively listening to the UMW community to solicit reaction and input and we have engaged in discussion with those areas potentially impacted. At the same time, we also have been dealing with the need for significant immediate budgetary reductions due to the impact of the state’s fiscal problems and our institutional enrollment challenges.
The work of the Task Forces has been very valuable in helping us determine where resources should be directed and where we may realize some cost savings and greater efficiencies. As you will note in the administration’s responses, additional planning and effort will be necessary to implement particular recommendations. In addition, realizing many of the more substantial recommendations will depend upon our ability to achieve our enrollment goals. It is also important to note that the work of the Strategic Resource Allocation Task Forces will help to inform the development of our next five-year strategic plan.
I appreciate the time and effort of those who served on the task forces and I thank the entire UMW community for its engagement in this process.
Wishing each of you, and your loved ones, a very happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.
Sincerely,
Richard V. Hurley
President
SRA Academic Final Response
SRA Support Task Force Report Introduction
SRA Support Task Force Report Response
Taking on Twitter
UMW students team with Dahlgren scientists to conduct research.
Sallie Washington Braxton Named Excellent Eagle Employee
Congratulations to Sallie Washington Braxton, Associate Dean of Advising Services for the College of Business, who has been selected as the Excellent Eagle Employee for the month of December. A parking spot of her choosing has been reserved for her through the end of the month.
Here is what a coworker said about her:
Sallie came to the Fredericksburg campus (for the second time) in the fall of 2012 to serve as the professional advisor for ALL business students. She did an awesome job for two years and then, when Janet Cropp retired this summer and her position was frozen, we asked Sallie to take on advising the graduate students (and remaining BPS students) as well. Janet’s position was eliminated about two months ago and Sallie continues to advise ALL business students. Her workload is ridiculous, but as a team player, she has cheerfully and faithfully done a terrific job.
She is most deserving of being named an Excellent Eagle Employee.
To nominate someone who you believe is an Excellent Eagle Employee, send an email to Priscilla Sullivan (psulliva@umw.edu) with Excellent Eagle Employee in the subject line. In your email, be sure to list the person’s name, department, job title, work location (with the most convenient parking lot), and of course, the reason why you believe they should be recognized. Please spread the word to other employees about this wonderful opportunity to recognize a co-worker(s).
You may now also go to the Staff Advisory Council’s site and click on the Excellent Eagle tab to make a nomination: http://sac.umwblogs.org/excellent-eagle/.