
UMW Students Lead Global Microfinance Movement

December 19, 2024
A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
by Brynn Boyer
by Brynn Boyer
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.
by Brynn Boyer
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
by Brynn Boyer
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.
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.
by Brynn Boyer
by Brynn Boyer
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News release prepared by: Julia Davisby Brynn Boyer
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has appointed University of Mary Washington alumna Annie K. Morris ’11 to his administration’s policy office. In her role as special assistant for legislative affairs and policy development, Morris administers the legislative tracking system, coordinates all meetings and leads and develops special projects for the Governor’s policy office.
Morris first joined the McDonnell administration in 2011 as an intern and was later appointed as the executive assistant for commerce and trade.
In 2011, Morris was named one of the winners of the national essay competition sponsored by Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society, for her essay “Persuasion and the Bully Pulpit: Expanded Evidence on Strategies of Presidential Leadership.” She was chosen for the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership’s inaugural Emerging Leaders Program in 2012.
Annie Morris works in Gov. Bob McDonnell’s policy office. McDonnell is shown giving his State of the Commonwealth Address on Jan. 8, 2013. Photo courtesy of the Governor’s Office and Michaele White.
While a student at Mary Washington, she was involved in the Student Government Association, the Student Senate and the Pre-Law Society and was named to the Dean’s List. In addition, Morris interned for Rep. Todd Platts of Pennsylvania. She was vice president of the UMW chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha and was a member of several other scholastic honor societies, including Pi Gamma Mu for social sciences, Alpha Kappa Delta for sociology and Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges.
Morris, a native of York, Penn., received a bachelor’s in political science and sociology from Mary Washington.