Category: Newsletter Latest News

More than 85 global microfinance partners have joined the University of Mary Washington in the Month of Microfinance. Throughout the month of April, students at UMW and other participating colleges, universities and high schools will host and participate in campus events related to providing financial services to low-income people who would otherwise be unable to get assistance.

The Two Dollar Challenge, part of the Month of Microfinance, raises awareness and funds for poverty-related causes.

A grassroots movement founded at UMW, the Month of Microfinance (MoMF) is in its second year. This year, dozens of international partners are supporting MoMF, including Kiva, Whole Foods Market’s Whole Planet Foundation and Accion. The program highlights local and global events with the goal of providing a value-driven and positive impact for clients. MoMF facilitates connections between students and the microfinance community through conversation and learning. Muhammad Yunus, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, advocated for microfinance principles in a recent video.

“Many of the poor don’t have access to financial services and we’re really trying to change that,” said Laura Dick, a senior anthropology and economics major and member of the MoMF executive board.

As a part of MoMF, a group of UMW students will participate in the Two Dollar Challenge from April 8 through 13. The Two Dollar Challenge, founded by Associate Professor of Economics Shawn Humphrey in 2007, is designed to raise funds and awareness for poverty-related causes. The Two Dollar Challenge also will occur at other campus communities across the country. Funds raised during the Two Dollar Challenge will go towards La Ceiba, a UMW-based collegiate microfinance institution founded by Humphrey that provides financial, social and educational support to communities in El Progreso, Honduras.

“We’re passionate about what we’re doing” said Dick. “We really believe that it’s not just our intentions that matter, but the effects of our actions.”

For more information about MoMF and a full schedule of events, visit http://monthofmicrofinance.org/.

The University of Mary Washington Debate Team duo of juniors Colin McElhinny and Patrick MCleary rank fifth in the country going into the 2013 National Debate Tournament. The 67th annual National Debate Tournament, held through Monday, April 1 at Weber State University, brings together the top debate teams from across the country for five days of competition.

Colin McElhinny (left) and Patrick McCleary are ranked fifth going into the National Debate Tournament.

McElhinny and McCleary are in the top five alongside teams from Georgetown, Northwestern, Harvard and Wake Forest.

“Regardless of what happens over the next four days of competition, it is essential that we pause to acknowledge that their body of work this academic year has been deemed by their peers to be exemplary,” said Tim O’Donnell, professor of communication and director of debate at UMW.

Debate Coach Adrienne Brovero and Assistant Debate Coach Judd Kimball work closely with McElhinny, a political science and economics double major, and McCleary, a political science major.

During the opening ceremony of the tournament, O’Donnell received the Lucy M. Keele Award for his outstanding service to the debate community.

As the UMW director of debate, O’Donnell has coached the university’s nationally ranked intercollegiate policy debate team to win the American Debate Association National Championship in 2009 and four other times since 2001. He has received the association’s Robert Lambert Coach of the Year Award for Excellence and Service in Intercollegiate Debate. He was awarded the National Debate Tournament’s George Ziegelmueller Award in 2010.

To follow the team’s progress at the tournament, follow @UMWDebate on Twitter.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont has received a 100-year-old painting on long-term loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The painting, “In The Studio,” is the highlight of a special exhibition in Belmont’s Studio Gallery, along with two early studies for the painting and a related photograph.

In the Studio, (Gari Melchers and Hugo Reisinger), Gari Melchers (American, Detroit, Michigan 1860–1932 Falmouth, Virginia), 1912

Artist Gari Melchers painted “In The Studio” in 1912 at the peak of his career. The painting depicts the artist at his easel with prominent German businessman, art patron and friend Hugo Reisinger. Reisinger worked with Melchers on a number of cultural exchanges including contemporary art exhibitions between Germany and the United States. Reisinger’s son gave “In The Studio” to The Met in 1956.

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 the museum website at http://garimelchers.umw.edu.

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News release prepared by: Michelle Crow-Dolby

University of Mary Washington Associate Professor of Psychology Miriam Liss will discuss the link between attachment parenting techniques and feminism in an interview scheduled to air on the “With Good Reason” public radio program. The show, “Humor Works,” will air beginning Saturday, Feb. 23.

Miriam Liss

The interview will focus on the 2012 study “Feminism and Attachment Parenting: Attitudes, Stereotypes, and Misperceptions” by Liss and her colleague Mindy Erchull. The study, based on a survey of hundreds of self-described feminists and non-feminists, shows that attachment parenting techniques, like co-sleeping, breastfeeding and carrying a child in a body sling, are more popular with feminists than non-feminists. The study also reveals that people hold stereotypes about the ‘typical feminist,’ when in fact those stereotypes aren’t true.

Liss, a licensed clinical psychologist, is an expert on gender issues and autism and developmental disorders. She received the UMW Outstanding Young Faculty Member Award in 2005 and was a finalist for the SCHEV state award in 2006 and 2009. Her research has appeared in numerous journals including the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines. The 2013 study “Helping or Hovering? The Effects of Helicopter Parenting on College Students’ Well-Being” and the 2012 study “Insight into the Parenthood Paradox: Mental Health Outcomes of Intensive Mothering,” both co-authored by Liss and her colleague Holly Schiffrin, garnered international media attention.

Liss earned a Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Connecticut and a bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University.

“With Good Reason” airs weekly in Fredericksburg on Sundays from 1-2 p.m. on Radio IQ 88.3 Digital. To listen from outside of the Fredericksburg area, a complete list of air times and links to corresponding radio stations can be found at http://withgoodreasonradio.org/when-to-listen/.

“With Good Reason” is the only statewide public radio program in Virginia. It hosts scholars from Virginia’s public colleges and universities who discuss the latest in research, pressing social issues and the curious and whimsical. “With Good Reason” is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

University of Mary Washington Associate Professor of English Gary Richards will discuss images of the U. S. South in Broadway musicals during an interview scheduled to air on the “With Good Reason” public radio program. The show, “The Gospel Roots of Rock and Roll,” will air beginning Saturday, Feb. 16.

Gary Richards

During the program, Richards will argue that despite the popularity of musicals like Porgy and Bess and Showboat, musicals with southern themes tend to have a negative view of the region and don’t reflect its diversity today. As part of the program, Longwood University professor Chris Kjorness will discuss the legacy of gospel musician and singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Richards, who serves as chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, is an expert on southern literature and culture, American fiction, contemporary drama and sexuality studies. His book Lovers and Beloveds: Sexual Otherness in Southern Fiction, 1936-1961 was named Choice Outstanding Academic Title in 2005. He has written several book chapters, including most recently “Everybody’s Graphic Protest Novel: Stuck Rubber Baby and the Anxieties of Racial Difference” in Comics and the U.S. South. His articles and essays have been published in Journal of American Studies, North Carolina Literary Review and Mississippi Quarterly, among other publications.

Richards earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University (San Antonio). His understanding of various southern cultures draws in part on his years of residence in several major southern cities, including Dallas (1969-1987), San Antonio (1987-1991), Nashville (1991-1997), New Orleans (1997-2008), and now Fredericksburg.

“With Good Reason” airs weekly in Fredericksburg on Sundays from 1-2 p.m. on Radio IQ 88.3 Digital. To listen from outside of the Fredericksburg area, a complete list of air times and links to corresponding radio stations can be found at http://withgoodreasonradio.org/when-to-listen/.

“With Good Reason” is the only statewide public radio program in Virginia. It hosts scholars from Virginia’s public colleges and universities who discuss the latest in research, pressing social issues and the curious and whimsical. “With Good Reason” is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.