December 22, 2024

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

UMW Alum Brings Destination Imagination to Spotsylvania

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University of Mary Washington alumna Anne Roberts started and coordinated the first-ever  Destination Imagination teams at Thornburg Middle School with one of the teams ranking in an international competition.

“My students loved DI and I loved the chance to teach more open-ended, creative, and problem-oriented learning with my 19 students who competed this past year,” said Roberts, who received an M.Ed. in 2014 and a bachelor’s degree in linguistics  in 2010. “I even started incorporating some of the instant challenges into my curriculum.”

Destination Imagination inspires and equips students to become leaders and innovators through academic tournaments around the world. Students form teams in categories — including, fine arts, improv, technical/robotics, structural, service-learning, early learning, and science — and compete in regional, state and international competitions.

Roberts started three teams: a robotics/technical team, an improv team and a fine arts team. Each team, consisting of sixth through eighth graders, practiced a challenge throughout the year and then entered competitions. All three teams placed in a regional competition and two traveled to the state competition at James Madison University. The fine arts team ranked 18th at the international competition at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“To get to the regional competition, it took a lot of fundraising,” said Roberts. “We were recognized by our school and the Spotsylvania School Board on June 23rd for our efforts. We raised 100 percent of the funds for the global competition, which totaled over $7,500.”

For more information on the Destination Imagination teams, check out their website: http://thornburgdifundraiser.weebly.com/.

UMW Department of Theatre & Dance Brings Back “Always…Patsy Cline”

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In response to overwhelming and unprecedented demand, the University of Mary Washington Department of Theatre & Dance is bringing “Always…Patsy Cline” by Ted Swindley back to Klein Theatre. Performances will be July 9-12, July 16-19, and July 23-26 at 7:30 p.m., and July 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $40 for standard admission, $35 for students, senior citizens, UMW alumni, and the military and $25 for groups of 10 or more. Tickets are on sale at umw.tix.com.

Photo by Geoff Greene.

Photo by Geoff Greene.

“Never in the history of our program have we experienced such a demand for tickets,” said Director Gregg Stull, chair of the Department of Theatre & Dance and the Department of Music. “We are thrilled to be able to offer this thrilling production to the greater Fredericksburg community this summer.”

UMW’s original production ran in Klein Theatre for three sold-out weeks in February.

“Always…Patsy Cline” is based on the true story of Louise Seger, a fan of Patsy Cline, who gets the chance to meet Cline when she comes to her hometown for a show. Louise and Patsy become fast friends, bonding after the show over the troubles of life. Their friendship grew through a series of letters and phone calls that continued until Cline’s untimely death. The musical features many of Patsy Cline’s hits, including “Crazy,” “Walkin’ After Midnight,” and “I Fall to Pieces.”

Taryn Snyder as Patsy Cline. Photo by Geoff Greene.

Taryn Snyder as Patsy Cline.
Photo by Geoff Greene.

Virginia Patterson Hensley, known as Patsy Cline, was a country singer from Winchester, Va., who crossed over in the 1960’s from country and western into the pop-music charts. She died at the age of 30 in a plane crash in 1963. Ten years later, Cline became the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Her plaque in the Hall of Fame reads: “Her heritage of timeless recordings is testimony to her artistic capacity.”

“Always…Patsy Cline” features two local students in the roles of Patsy Cline and her friend and fan, Louise Seger. Senior theatre major Taryn Snyder, who grew up in Fredericksburg before moving to Rochester, N.Y., to attend high school, plays the role of Patsy. Fellow senior theatre major Emily Burke, who graduated from James Monroe High School, plays Louise. Burke is the recipient of the Susan Mulholland Breedin ’86 Scholarship and Snyder received the Debby C. Klein Scholarship for 2013-14. Both students are members of Alpha Psi Omega, the national collegiate theatre honorary fraternity.

“Always…Patsy Cline” is directed by Stull, with musical direction by Christopher Wingert. Scenic design is by associate professor Julie Hodge and costume design is by associate professor Kevin McCluskey. Lighting and sound designs are by guest artists Catherine Girardi and Anthony Angelini. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Klein Theatre Box Office at (540) 654-1111 or visit umw.tix.com.

Aminrazavi Publishes Encyclopedia Articles

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Mehdi Aminrazavi, professor of philosophy and religion, published eight articles in “The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam.” The articles are on Islamic philosophers and one school of philosophy: Ishrāqiyyūn (Illuminationists). These medieval philosophers wrote commentaries on Plato and Aristotle and introduced new ideas of their own to create a rapprochement between eastern and western philosophical thought. Here is the list of articles and their locations:

1. Mīr Dāmād, pages 35-38
2. Suhrawardī, pages 294-298
3. ʻUmar Khayyām, pages 444-448
4. Afḍal al-Dīn Kāshānī, pages 436-438
5. Quṭb al-Dīn Shīrāzī, pages 250-253
6. Sabziwārī, pages 213-215
7. Nāṣir Khusraw, pages 71-74
8. Ishrāqiyyūn (Illuminationists), pages 409-415

UMW Students and Faculty Collaborate with Dahlgren Researchers

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Eight University of Mary Washington students have received hands-on guidance this semester from mentors at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren. The students shared the results of their undergraduate research projects during poster presentations on Wednesday, April 30 at UMW’s Dahlgren campus. UMW professors Debra Hydorn, Melody Denhere and Stephen Davies collaborated with the students and mentors on four projects:
  • Statistical modeling and analysis of counts in time – using social network data, students Kim Hildebrand and Candice Benshaw analyzed the number of Twitter messages sent within a county in the U.S. during a given hour.
  • Simulation of a social network graph – students Cody Reibsome and Benjamin Blalock established a model of the collection of individuals that a member follows and the collection of individuals who are followers on Twitter.
  • String edit distance for micro-blogging text – in order to follow trends on Twitter there is a need to be able to account for misspellings. Students Jonathan Blauvelt and Anthony Bell used a distance measure to determine the similarity of tweets.
  • Citation prediction and analysis – students William Etcho and Josiah Neuberger explored methodologies for predicting the number of citations a paper or patent receives or for identifying emerging technologies.
For more information about the projects, contact Hydorn at dhydorn@umw.edu.

UMW’s M.S. in Geospatial Analysis Program Begins This Fall

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Students interested in the University of Mary Washington’s new Master of Science in geospatial analysis program will have an opportunity to meet with faculty and tour the facilities at an open house on Wednesday, May 14. The open house will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Monroe Hall, Room 346. Professor Brian Rizzo (right) works with students in UMW's GIS lab. Geospatial analysis encompasses geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and global positioning systems (GPS) to organize, analyze and display spatial information. UMW will be one of only two institutions in Virginia to offer an advanced degree focused solely on geospatial analysis. The M.S. in geospatial analysis will be an intensive 12-month program designed for both recent graduates and working professionals. The graduate degree was approved by the Board of Visitors and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia in 2013. A complete course outline is available at http://cas.umw.edu/gis/masters/. UMW’s program will require 30-course credits, which will be available through evening classes and can be taken by both full-time and part-time students. Applications for the program have a recommended filing date of June 1. For more information, contact Brian Rizzo, director of GIS programs, at rizzo@umw.edu or Steve Hanna, chair of the Department of Geography, at shanna@umw.edu.

Students Presented Work at Research and Creativity Symposium

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Hundreds of University of Mary Washington students presented their research as part of the annual Undergraduate Student Research and Creativity Symposium on Friday, April 25. The event, in its eighth year at UMW, celebrates excellence in undergraduate student research by giving students the opportunity to share their work with faculty, their peers and the public.

Students discuss their research in Jepson Hall as part of the ninth Research and Creativity Symposium.

Students discuss their research in Jepson Hall as part of the ninth Research and Creativity Symposium.

The presentations represented various disciplines, including the sciences, history, humanities, mathematics, social sciences and the arts.

Many student oral and poster presentations took place in Jepson Hall, filling the building with students, faculty and family members. Presentation topics ranged from biodegradable polymers and erosion in the Chesapeake Bay to food security and advertising.

“It’s fun learning about the real life applications of the chemistry we’ve been learning,” said Rachel Thomas, a sophomore biology major and chemistry minor who presented on alternative methods for closing wounds. “You learn more as you go, and people ask questions to really help you think about your research.”

An art student shares her work.

An art student shares her work.

Student performed original music and scenes from plays in duPont Hall, with art and art history presentations and works in Melchers.

In conjunction with the symposium, additional presentations took place across campus in the areas of English, math, history and geography.

“We hope that our research will help inspire future UMW students,” said David Chambers, a senior geography major who co-presented with junior Ray Humiston on the results of their field work on deforestation in Guatemala.

The symposium kicked-off on Thursday, April 24 with the keynote lecture “Structural Color – Origin and Evolution,” by Hui Cao, professor of applied physics and physics at Yale University.

The Undergraduate Student Research and Creativity Symposium is funded by the Class of 1959 Endowment. For a full list of student presentations, visit http://cas.umw.edu/student-research-and-creativity-symposium/.

Political Science Students Present Research at VSSA

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Three University of Mary Washington political science students presented research papers at the Virginia Social Science Association Annual Meeting at Richmond on Saturday, April 19.

The students and their papers are:

Mariah Young, “Social Construction of Target Populations: Testing the Media’s Framing during Disasters;”

Amber Reeves, “I Think This Is From the Onion: A Study in Media Credibility Using the AP Logo;” and

Colin McElhinny, “Beyond the Water’s Edge: Public Opinion and U.S. Foreign Policy.”

The students began working on these research projects in the political science research methods classes offered by Professors Chad Murphy and Stephen Farnsworth.