A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
The American Red Cross will be holding a blood drive at the Stafford Campus in University Hall on Wednesday, April 9 from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. Anyone who donates blood will automatically have a chance to win a Movie Treat Basket, which will include a Regal Cinema Gift Card as well as goodies & treats associated with watching a movie at home.
If you are interested in donating, please email Kevin Caffrey (kcaffrey@umw.edu) to schedule an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome as well.
Relay for Life and CVC Team Up!
As the Coordinator for the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign at UMW, I’m very excited to share that CVC is teaming up with Relay for Life this year. Relay for Life is a wonderful opportunity for UMW students, faculty and staff to come together (along with community members) for a cause that has certainly touched all of us in some way. The funds raised by the UMW Relay for Life count towards the ‘direct giving’ component of CVC and contribute to the overall total for the campaign.
An overnight fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, Relay for Life brings people together to work toward a world with more birthdays and no cancer. Participants walk around a track for 12 hours in a symbolic gesture representing the fact that cancer never sleeps (to learn more about the symbolism behind Relay for Life, click here.) It is called a ‘relay’ because the team can walk in shifts.
In 1985, Dr. Gordy Klatt wanted to combine two things: his love for marathons and his hate of cancer; so he walked for 24 hours around a track in Washington, ultimately raising $27,000 to help the ACS fight cancer. A year later, 340 supporters joined him for the overnight event and it’s been growing ever since. Relay was brought to UMW in 2010 by Luke and Laura Ruth (both UMW Class of 2012.) Luke transferred from Virginia Tech, loved Relay there and wanted to bring the event to UMW. The first year they raised $32,000 and each year since the event has steadily grown.
Relay for Life at UMW is full of entertaining events: every hour a different event is planned to keep participants entertained, including Mr. Relay, a pageant where male students will wear dresses; Relay Idol (which needs faculty/staff judges!); pancake eating contests; and a luminaria ceremony. (General Facebook page for info: https://www.facebook.com/rflumw )
GOALS:
Fundraising goal for this year: $54,000 (currently at $17,000)
Participants: 600 (currently at 240)
Teams: 50 (currently at 40)
Survivors: 30 (currently at 14)
Faculty/Staff: 50 (currently none are signed up to participate)
How you can get involved:
Everyone is encouraged to wear as much purple clothing as possible to encourage awareness. Committee members will be tabling on Ball Circle to collect donations. https://www.facebook.com/events/228544210681766/
At 7 p.m. on Lee Hall Terrace, come to celebrate, remember or honor someone who has been affected by cancer. This will be a candlelit ceremony with music from the group BellACapella and a poetry reading. https://www.facebook.com/events/536239293160818/
https://www.facebook.com/events/694625453894068/
6 to 8 p.m. We are in desperate need of team sign-ups for this event! The tournament will be held in the AuxGym of Goolrick and anyone can make a team; registration is $5 per person. In the past, Dr. Searcy and other faculty/staff members have been on teams and we would love to have more faculty/staff involvement! Anyone interested in sign-ups should send a message to: umwrelayforlife@gmail.com. https://www.facebook.com/events/640125792702641/
Lori Izykowski and Katie Sue Van Valkenburg
The spring 2014 Career Day is almost here. Including 35 registered employers, the event is on Thursday, March 20 in the Anderson Center from 3 to 6 p.m. The event includes corporations, federal and state government and non-profit organizations looking to fill full-time and internship positions. Please remind students to arrive with resumes and dressed in business professional attire. For more information, visit http://academics.umw.edu/academicservices/spring-2014-career-day/ or call (540) 654-1010
(540) 654-1010.
Come join UMW Campus Recreation for a five-week introduction course in mindfulness and meditation!
Dates: Tuesdays, March 11 – April 8
Time: 5:30 – 7 p.m.
Location: Combs Hall, Room 4
Instructor: Bill Brooks, Manse Fields Mindfulness
You must preregister for this course. We ask that you commit to attending all five classes. To register, send an email request to ypanzhin@umw.edu. For more information, click here.
Be sure to check out this week’s Fit Tip video on how you can improve your warm-up and cool-down routines.
Campus Dining will be offering meal service during Spring Break in the Washington Diner at Seacobeck. Brunch will be served between 10 a.m. and noon and dinner will be served between 6 and 7 p.m. Meal “swipes” may not be used for meals during the break, but you may use flex, EagleOne, cash, or credit for meal purchases. The faculty and staff cost will still be $5.
The Faculty and Staff Dining Room will close for Spring Break at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 28 and reopen on Monday, March 10.
All retail dining facilities will close at 4 p.m. on Feb. 28. The Eagle’s Nest will reopen at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 9. Naturally Woodstock will reopen at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 10.
Campus Dining is hosting a Health & Wellness Fair on Tuesday, March 11 at Seacobeck Hall between 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. Please join us for a chance to win one of many valuable door prizes, free food and product samples, free blood pressure and cholesterol screenings, massage demonstrations, and lots of great information about products and services available in our community that promote health and wellness.
Participants will include Mary Washington Health Care, Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, massage therapists, Feng Shui consultants, CAPS, UMW Health Center, Animal Communication experts, holistic health care providers, PepsiCo, General Mills, Keany Produce, and more! We will also have a “Battle of the Mindful Chefs” cooking competition at 5:30 p.m. in the Faculty and Staff Dining Room.
Admission to the Fair and Cooking Competition is free and open to the public. Faculty and Staff wishing to purchase dinner will be charged $5. Other guests will be charged the door rate of $10.75 plus tax for dinner. Each dining room will offer a wide selection of Sodexo’s new “mindful” recipes which are are lower in calories, fat, and sodium, but very satisfying and rich in nutrition, fiber and taste. Please join us!
The University of Mary Washington Theater and Dance Department will be represented by two faculty members, Beverly Mendez and Roxann Morgan Rowley accompanying eight dance students at The 2014 American College Dance Festival, March 8-11 at George Mason University. The festival provides an amazing opportunity for faculty and students to participate in workshops, classes, performances and lectures all geared to compliment dance and arts education.
“The national dance festival provides the venue for students and faculty to engage in three days of performances, workshops, panels, and master classes taught by instructors from around the region and country. The conferences also provide the unique opportunity for students and faculty to have their dance works adjudicated by a panel of nationally recognized dance professionals in an open and constructive forum.”
Along with dance/movement classes and workshops faculty and students will have the opportunity attend performances by the Joffery Ballet at the Center for the Arts as well as “Imagine…a life in Dance” facilitated by Robert Battle – Artistic Director for Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, Charlotte d’Amboise – actress and dancer, Deborah Jowitt – dance critic, author, and choreographer, Elizabeth Streb – STREB Company COMPANY and Ashley Wheater – artistic director of The Joffrey Ballet.
UMW theater and dance student, Covenant Babatunde’s choreographic work “Grave Silence” was selected to be presented in the Informal Concert during the conference, performed by students Lauren Armstrong, Sarah Joy Calpo, Mason Prince, and Edward Yates.
Dance faculty members Beverly Mendez and Roxann Morgan Rowley will also have the opportunity to teach during the conference; Ms. Mendez explores improvisation movement techniques through “Discovering Creativity through Improvisation” and Roxann Morgan Rowley examines improvisation in partnering in “Contact Improvisation, Evaluating Touch.”
Attendance for faculty and staff to The American College Dance Festival was largely due to the generous support from University of Mary Washington’s Friends of Dance Alumni Association who granted funds for their attendance.
The University of Mary Washington will host the fourth annual EdTech Conference, supported by the College of Education, on Friday, March 14 at UMW’s Stafford campus.
Be the first to know about emergencies on the UMW campus. UMW is developing a new emergency alert system. The name, UMW ALERT, will remain the same, but the new system will provide a higher level of service to the UMW community.
In the coming weeks, the Office of Emergency Management and Safety will send you an email with step-by-step instructions on creating an account in UMW Alert.
Why register?
Notification systems often see a surge in registrations during a crisis from people who missed the first emergency messages.
Registering for UMW Alert allows you to add additional contact information –cell, text, personal email– and customize your alert priorities.
Please sign up and update your profile when you are contacted.
For more information, please contact Chris Cash in Emergency Management and Safety at ccash@umw.edu.
National Security Lecture
“Confronting Reality: The Saudi-Pakistani Nuclear Nexus”
Friday, March 7, 8-10:30 a.m.
Dahlgren Campus
University Hall (Room 110)
University Advancement announces new gifts and pledge commitments:
*An alumna from the Class of 1964 has notified the University that she has made arrangements in her will to bequeath $750,000 to fund a new scholarship for students.
*An alumna from the Class of 1979 and her husband have committed $50,000 to enhance an existing scholarship and to support the amphitheater restoration initiative.