The Leadership Colloquium for Professional Women’s December Coffee Talk will take place Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023, from 8 to 9 a.m. in the Jepson Alumni Executive Center’s Kalnen Inn Living Room at 1119 Hanover St., Fredericksburg. Street parking is available. Register for the event.

Join us at December’s Coffee Talk as we delve into Creating a Culture of Gratitude. Sometimes it feels like everything around you is a challenge. There is never enough time to get everything done. You were late on an important deadline. The negative self-talk begins and before you know it, you are finding it difficult to find goodness anywhere. If you have ever struggled with moments like these, it is important to know you are not alone. The good news is: a few intentional shifts can make a world of positive difference! During this interactive session we will share tips to shift our mindset to positive thinking and an outlook rooted in gratitude.

December’s Coffee Talk will be led by Susan Spears, IOM, President & CEO, Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Susan’s background includes more than 15 years in retail management. She joined the Chamber staff in 2004 and was appointed President of the Chamber in 2010. Susan is Leadership Fredericksburg’s founding Executive Director (2008 – present).

Susan currently serves as Secretary on the Families of the Wounded Fund Board of Directors and is a member of the Rappahannock Goodwill Industries Board of Directors. She serves on the US Chamber Foundation Institute for Organization Management Northeast Board of Regents and the University of Mary Washington Leadership Colloquium Advisory Board. She is past president of the Virginia Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (VACCE). Susan served two terms on the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

She is a member of the Rappahannock-Fredericksburg Rotary Club and Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site). Susan is a former member of Fredericksburg’s Planning Commission, Historic Preservation Task Force, Riverfront Task Force, and Memorials Advisory Committee.

Susan is a certified executive, leadership and mentoring coach. She is a graduate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Organization Management. She is a PLP graduate of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. Susan is a certified Planning Commissioner through the Citizens Planning Education Association of America. She holds a B.M. in music composition from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Susan and her husband Richard live in Fredericksburg with their two black Labradors, Theodore and Miss G.

For more information and to register, visit the Women’s Leadership Colloquium @ UMW Coffee Talk webpage.

Campus Colleagues,

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Music James “Jim” Earl Baker.

Jim joined the teaching faculty at Mary Washington in 1965, advancing to full professor, department chair, and symphony conductor. He was the founder of the College Community Symphony in 1971 which exists today as the UMW Philharmonic Orchestra. He also established the Friends of the Orchestra to buy instruments, music and fund Mary Washington student scholarships, which continue to this day. A highlight of his tenure was a performance of the Mary Washington College Community-Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York City, along with decades of inspiring students, colleagues, and concert-goers until his retirement in 2002.

As summarized in his obituary, students appreciated his practical approach and belief that music should be heard. He transcended instrumental and voice performance to include Mary Washington’s first electronic music program. An accomplished musician himself, Jim and his wife Joan, a vocalist, took their talents to Europe for many performances. He also studied with the National Symphony and several well-known conductors. As a teacher, he is noted for bringing musical performance to the public.

A Remembrance for family, friends, colleagues and students will be held at Mullins and Thompson Funeral Home at 1621 Emancipation Highway, Fredericksburg, VA, on Sunday, December 3, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Memorial contributions are encouraged for the James E. Baker College-Community Orchestra Scholarships Fund at the University of Mary Washington at the following link. http://alumni.umw.edu/bakerscholarships.

To read more, see the full obituary at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/fredericksburg-va/james-baker-11530032.

Tim

Timothy M. O’Donnell
Provost
University of Mary Washington

We have a few updates from the Center for Community Engagement as we enter the holiday season.

1. COAR’s Gift Box Drive: COAR’s annual Head Start Gift Box Drive is back this year! You can check out a gift box from COAR and fill it with small toys and necessities for 3-5 year old students in the Head Start program in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania schools. The boxes will be delivered to the Head Start programs by COAR staff during finals week. Head Start is a national child development program for children from birth to age 5, which provides services to promote academic, social, and emotional development for eligible families. In order to check out a gift box, grab a box when COAR students come by your office or stop by COAR’s table when they are tabling in the CRUC in the next few weeks. There will also be a friendly competition between buildings – visit this website to learn more. No time to fill a box? Donate to COAR’s foundation account, or take a look at COAR’s Amazon wish list.
2. Red Cross Blood Drive: The Red Cross Club will be sponsoring a Blood Drive on campus on Nov. 9^th.  Use this link and enter the code “UMW” to sign up to donate. The drive will be held in Chandler Ballroom in the CRUC from 11:00-4:00.
3. Election Day with UMW Votes: UMW Votes and their partners will be providing free rides to the polls in Fredericksburg from 9:00am – 6:00pm on Election Day, Tues. Nov. 7^th. The Fredericksburg Trolley will be on campus from 9:00am – 6:00pm to provide rides to Dorothy Hart Community Center and students can stop by an Info table at the Bell Tower to get a sample ballot or check their registration status.

The following message is from the Office of Administration and Finance:

On Thursday, November 9, the Monroe North parking lot will be reserved from 3:30 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. for employers attending Meet the Firms. 

Parking for faculty and staff will remain available in all other designated faculty and staff lots.

As a reminder:

• Accessible parking spaces are available in all open lots to any vehicles with DMV-issued accessible placards or license plates.
• The UMW Police Department provides escorts when needed and may be reached at ext. 1025. Please visit the Safety Escort webpage for more information.

For a calendar view of lot reservations visit the Parking Lot Reservations Calendar webpage. Please contact Maie Makin in Parking Management with any parking related questions: mmakin2@umw.edu, 540/654-1129.

Native American Cultural Celebration Major Speaker: Victoria Ferguson | Thursday, November 9 | 7 pm | Chandler Ballroom A/B, Cedric Rucker University Center

Victoria Ferguson is an enrolled member of the Monacan Indian Nation of Virginia. She is a graduate of Marshall University and has a background in researching science methodologies to support historical information. Ferguson has spent 25 years seeking first-person documentation and archaeological information to help explain and support theories on the daily living habits of the Eastern Siouan populations up through the early European colonization period. She has written and presented work at Virginia Tech, Washington and Lee University, Sweet Briar College, James Madison University, and at a number of archaeological conferences (Credit: Virginia Tech)

Feather Painting Experience | Friday, November 10 | 5 p.m. | The Underground, Lee Hall

This event will be a collaboration between Native American Student Association and Latino Student Association to provide an opportunity on how to paint feathers to foster community creativity.

For more information, contact the James Farmer Multicultural Center at (540) 654-1044 or umwjfmc@gmail.com. You may also visit https://students.umw.edu/multicultural/. Please email us at umwjfmc@gmail.com if you have any questions regarding disability-related accommodations.