Category: Newsletter

The James Monroe Museum will be hosting an elegant full afternoon tea in our Memorial Garden on Sunday, June 5, from 2 to 4 p.m., in honor of Elizabeth Monroe, who was born in June. We’ll enjoy lovely harp music from Mary Triola; hear a few words about Mrs. Monroe from Heidi Stello, research associate at the Papers of James Monroe; and enjoy delicious munchies and tea served by costumed members of the Rappahannock Colonial Heritage Society. Catering will be generously donated by Sodexo, Inc.

Our space is limited and reservations are required. UMW faculty and staff can purchase tickets for the reduced price of $10/person. For questions or to make reservations, call JMM Membership and Special Events Coordinator Adele Uphaus-Conner at x1123, or send e-mail to auphaus@umw.edu.

The Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies is delighted to announce the speaker lineup for this year’s Faculty Academy. Michael Wesch, assistant professor of anthropology at Kansas State University, will be delivering the conference keynote address, “From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able: New Learning Environments for New Media Environments, on May 11 at 9:00 a.m.

In addition Amanda French, THATCamp Coordinator for the Center for History and New Media, and Tom Woodward, Director of Instructional Technology for Henrico County Public Schools, will be this year’s guest presenters. Each of them will be delivering a plenary presentation and leading a workshop during the two-day conference.

Faculty Academy is an annual event that has been held at UMW for the last 15 years. This year’s conference will be on May 11 and 12 at the Stafford Campus in the North Building. All faculty and staff at the University are invited to attend — registration is free but required!

Details about the conference, information about the speakers, and an online registration and proposal form are available at http://www.facultyacademy.org!

With the help of UMW faculty, graduate students and alumni, the 2010 statewide conference of the Virginia Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages was a success. This year’s TESOL conference, held at UMW’s Stafford campus Oct. 2, drew about 200 practicing teachers from across Virginia.

Mary Gendernalik-Cooper, College of Education dean, (left) gave the welcome address, and Jo Tyler, professor of linguistics and education, served as one of the conference coordinators. Master of Education students, alumni and faculty, including Jane Huffman, associate professor of education; Patricia Reynolds, instructor of education; and John St.Clair, director of distance and blended learning, provided on-site assistance.

The conference theme was “Rekindling Our Joy of Language Teaching.” More than two dozen presenters led workshops and served on discussion panels. As the keynote speaker, bestselling author Richard Lederer addressed the topic “A Joy Ride Through the English Language.”

To remain informed about current Information Technologies division projects and initiatives, please refer to http://www.umw.edu/doit/projects/default.php.  This information will be updated regularly.  Recent postings include updates about the Novell system retirement and exactly what is being replaced.  Other updates included FAQs about UMW’s deployment of SharePoint as well as the upcoming upgrade to Banner.

Leah Cox, assistant dean and director of the James Farmer Scholars program, describes highlights of the program in an article in Fredericksburg Parents magazine. The feature story focuses on a rising eighth grader who wants to be a neurologist and find a cure for brain cancer. You can read the whole story at: http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/index.php/education/403-its-ok-to-be-bright-its-cool-to-be-smart