Student Activities and Engagement is hosting the first ever UMW Night Market. This event will be a student vendor fair with crafts, hand-made goods, and services provided by UMW students. There are still a few spots available to be a vendor, and we would like to invite faculty and staff to join! If you would like to be a vendor, please sign up via MyUMW. If not, we encourage you to attend and support our students. The event will be from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Friday, March 10, in the Chandler Ballroom in the Cedric Rucker University Center, and there will be free tote bags and snacks! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to llester@umw.edu.
Conversations With the President, March 23
President Paino invites you to join him at a Conversations with the President session, offering an informal opportunity to share insights and engage in candid discussions that are aligned with our community values and in support of making University of Mary Washington the best it can be. Occasionally, the sessions may focus on a particular issue facing us or may include other leaders who represent areas critical to institutional progress.
- Thursday, March 23 1:30-2:30 p.m., In-person session in the Digital Auditorium of the Hurley Convergence Center
Call for Proposals: Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Undergrad Research Forum
Call for Proposals!
Please encourage students to submit their work for presentation at our annual Undergraduate Research Forum on Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. We welcome projects from all disciplines and of all kinds (original research, creative project, collaborative work). The work should be on a subject related to women, gender, and/or sexuality studies and produced for any UMW class during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Works in progress are welcome! Cash prizes awarded to this year’s outstanding presenter AND poster in recognition of student research in women’s, gender and sexuality studies.
Submit the following materials to Dr. Ray Levy (rlevy@umw.edu) via email by Friday, March 10: 1. Your name (and co-presenters names) and UMW email address(es) 2. Proposal (1-2 pages, typed, double spaced) describing original research or creative project to be presented in a 7-minute presentation or as a poster (please clearly specify if you will be doing a presentation OR poster in this proposal) 3. Equipment or technology beyond a computer you will need and will supply 4. Project title, course # and title for which it was produced; instructor, and semester/year course was taken 5. Required: IRB approval letter for research involving human subjects.
Participants will be notified of their proposal status by Monday, March 13. The forum will take place Wednesday, March 29, from 4 to 6 p.m., in Lee Hall 411. This annual forum is sponsored by UMW Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program.
Contact Ray Levy or Surupa Gupta with questions.
Michelle Pickham Named February’s Excellent Eagle Employee!
Congratulations to Michelle Pickham! Michelle is USC’s Excellent Eagle Employee for the month of February. Below is what Maxxx Dennis had to say in their nomination of Michelle:
“Michelle is one of our greatest assets on campus. She is always ready to help and in this instance managed to navigate all compliance issues with our very expensive and specific Pep Band order and get things moving within a very short period of time. Thanks to you and your team!”
Please join us in congratulating Michelle on this well-deserved recognition.
Nominate your co-workers for the Excellent Eagle Employee award! Just complete the Excellent Eagle Employee Nomination Form on our website. Winners receive a reserved parking space in the lot of their choosing for a month!
Questions? Contact Sarah Appleby, USC Recognition Committee Chair.
Faculty/Staff Accessibility Enhancement Project Focus Groups, Feb. 3 and 7
We want to hear from you! All faculty and staff are invited to join UMW’s ADA Coordinator to learn about current planning for campus-wide accessibility enhancements and provide input to help us prioritize these critical projects. There are two more opportunities available.
February 3, 2023, from noon to 1 p.m. (GW 106)
February 7, 2023, from 4 to 5 p.m. (via ZOOM)
Contact Dr. Ruth Davison at rdavison@umw.edu for more information and to request the zoom link.
In-Person President’s Council on Sustainability Meeting, Feb. 13
The President’s Council on Sustainability (PCS) will resume meeting in-person after several years of meeting virtually. The next meeting will be on Monday, Feb. 13, from noon to 1 p.m., in the Colonnade Room of the Cedric Rucker University Center. However, those wishing to attend virtually will have the opportunity to do so via Zoom.
PCS meetings are held each month of the fall and spring semester and are open to employees, students and the public. The council plans, discusses and helps coordinate ways to support sustainable-related activities at UMW. Please consider attending and sharing this information with other members of the UMW and Fredericksburg community. To attend virtually, click on the Zoom link.
Formed in the fall of 2009, the PCS consists of faculty, staff and students, and reports both to the executive vice president for Administration and Finance and the provost, playing a critical role in shaping administrative goals and objectives relating to campus sustainability. For more information on the council and how to become involved, visit the Office of Sustainability web page.
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Presentation, Feb. 6
The UMW chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (the nation’s oldest honor society) is hosting a visiting scholar February 6 to 7. Professor Joe Francisco of the University of Pennsylvania will give a general talk on acid rain—and related climate change and environmental injustice issues—on Monday, Feb. 6, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the HCC Auditorium. His talk is free and open to the public.
“A Fresh Look at the Chemistry Behind Acid Rain”
Joseph S. Francisco is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Earth and Environmental Science and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Francisco’s research focuses on understanding chemistry in the atmosphere at the molecular level. This work has led to important discoveries of new chemistries occurring on the interfaces of cloud surfaces. He currently serves as executive editor of the Journal of the American Chemical Society and on the Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his B.S. from University of Texas at Austin, and Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was a Research Fellow at University of Cambridge and a Visiting Associate in Planetary Science at California Institute of Technology. Professor Francisco is past President of the American Chemical Society, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, as well as the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
In this talk Prof. Francisco will review the traditional acid rain mechanism and introduce a new mechanism for acid rain that relies on the photochemistry of sulfur dioxide (SO2). He will show how this new chemistry can be an important ingredient in fully understanding how acid rain is formed, but not yet considered, by current atmospheric models. Sulfur dioxide has been proposed in solar geoengineering as a precursor of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) aerosol, a cooling agent active in the stratosphere to counter climate change due to the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse carbon dioxide. Considering the introduction of SO2 in the stratosphere, the photochemistry of this molecule is critical to assessing whether strategies to mitigate climate change are feasible by injection of SO2.
Prof. Francisco will also share personal stories of environmental injustice from his youth, growing up in the Houston area of Texas—home to numerous oil refineries—and how acid rain adversely affected his health and that of other underprivileged citizens in the region.
ChatGPT Discussion, Feb. 8; RSVP by Feb. 3
The following message is from The Center for Teaching and Digital Learning Support:
Please join us to learn how UMW colleagues are responding to Artificial Intelligence (AI), specifically ChatGPT, this spring. The Center for Teaching and Digital Learning Support will facilitate the hour-long discussion, beginning with a panel briefly sharing their current strategies. The panel will be followed by an open discussion with audience questions. Opportunities for continued resource sharing and conversations will be offered at the meeting’s conclusion.
ChatGPT: What is Happening at UMW?
Wednesday, February 8, 4 to 5 p.m.
Monroe 116
We are interested in hearing from colleagues with a range of approaches, from academic integrity statements to incorporation of AI use and evaluation in assignments. If you would like to join the session, either as an audience member or panelist, please complete the RSVP form by Friday, Feb. 3.
Atkins Award Nominations for ‘Unsung Heroes’ Due Feb. 3
Each year, through the presentation of the Larry Atkins Staff Awards, the University Staff Council recognizes UMW employees who provide exemplary service to the University and who are the unsung heroes of our offices. Larry Atkins was one of the first employees to receive the “We Couldn’t Do It Without You Award.”
The USC is now accepting nominations for the Atkins Award. Any administrative faculty, wage and/or classified employee may be nominated by any other member of the University community. Three UMW employees will be selected (one from each of the above classifications).
The deadline for submitting nominations for the awards is noon on Friday, Feb. 3, 2023. The 2022-23 Atkins Award winners will be announced at a special event to take place later this spring.
See the list of all past award recipients.
For questions regarding the nomination process, please contact Sarah Appleby.
Rarely Seen President Theodore Roosevelt Portrait by Gari Melchers Included in New Smithsonian Exhibition
The 1908 portrait of Theodore Roosevelt by Gari Melchers appears next to a statue of a Tang Dynasty bodhisattva at the National Museum of Asian Art.
As part of the Freer Gallery’s centennial celebration, the portrait painted by American artist Gari Melchers of President Theodore Roosevelt is now on view at the National Museum of Asian Art’s exhibition, “Freer’s Global Network: Artists, Collectors and Dealers.”
“Gari Melchers Home & Studio, which houses the largest collection of Melchers’ work in the world, is excited about Melchers’ work reaching audiences on a larger scale in Washington, D.C.,” says Executive Director of University of Mary Washington Museums Scott Harris.
Related articles
Why the U.S. Rejected—Then Embraced—a Detroit Industrialist’s Rare Collection of Asian Art, Smithsonian Magazine, December 16, 2022
Painting a President, Gari Melchers Home and Studio blog post
Theodore Roosevelt’s Portrait by Gari Melchers, White House History Quarterly