A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Small Business Development Center Director Susan Ball
Director of Small Business Development Center Susan Ball Susan Ball authored an article titled “Resources to Help You Start and Grow Your Small Business” for the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce. May is Small Business Month, and Virginia was recently named the number one state in which to operate a small business by CNBC. Read the article.
UMW Area Coordinator Laura Gilchrist-March
Area Coordinator Laura Gilchrist-March ’17 found her way back to UMW, a place that shaped her own journey, to help guide the next generation of students.
She recently appeared on the University’s PS: I Love U(MW) social media series. See the episode!
“I love my job because of the interactions I get with my students and residents—just knowing their names and saying ‘Hi’ on Campus Walk fuels my day,” she said. For her, making even a small impact on a student’s experience means everything.
Watch episodes from PS: I love U(MW) on the @marywash Instagram.
Professor of Religious Studies Mary Beth Mathews
Professor of Religious Studies Mary Beth Mathews has published a new book entitled Contentious Unions: Black Baptist Schools and White Money in the Jim Crow South with the University of Tennessee Press (2025).
The book tells the interconnected stories of three institutions (Macon’s Central City College in Georgia, Virginia Union University in Richmond, and American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville) and demonstrates that these three historically black colleges and universities used the white financial support they received to subvert the racist politics of white Baptists and white Southerners in general. In these “oppositional spaces,” Black Baptists constructed and developed ways to combat the systems that marginalized them.
Advancement Development Officer Jeremy Vaughn
Advancement Development Officer Jeremy Vaughn appeared on the Leader2Leader podcast series with Chamber President and CEO, Susan Spears who interviews some of the top community leaders in this series. Spears and guests, like Vaughn, share their insight and wisdom on making teams more effective, leveling up communications skills, and building the courage to lead during difficult times. Listen to the podcast.
Assistant Professor of Political Science Guan-Yi Leu
Assistant Professor of Political Science Guan-Yi Leu authored an article titled “Trump’s Tariffs 2.0: New Effects and Implications to Taiwan” for Taiwan Insight, the online magazine of the Taiwan Research Hub of University of Nottingham.
On April 2, 2025, United States President Donald Trump announced a policy order under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) ‘s authority and introduced a sweeping 10% universal baseline tariff on its imports from all trading partners. The Trump administration also sought “reciprocal tariffs”, with an additional rate from 1 % to 40 % on nearly 60 trading partners. This move toward a blanket reciprocal tariff has significantly raised concerns about a potential global trade war, leading to a downturn in stock markets worldwide. Read the article.
Professor of Middle Eastern History Nabil Al-Tikriti
Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti spoke about his prior experiences in Iraq with a student group at the American University in Iraq – Baghdad (AUI-B). This talk was remote on May 12 and took place as part of the AUI-B regular speakers’ series. Al-Tikriti wishes to thank AUI-B for the invitation, and the opportunity to meet with today’s Iraqi students.
In the course of his presentation, Al-Tikriti spoke about all of his direct interactions with Iraq, between 1976 and 2017, especially concentrating on his May 2004 visit to Iraq, which proved instrumental in publicizing the effects of the Anglo-American invasion on Iraqi manuscript collections and archives. That visit was later featured in his 2007 article in Library Trends, entitled “‘Stuff Happens’: A Brief Overview of the 2003 Destruction of Iraqi Manuscript Collections, Archives, and Libraries.”
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Surupa Gupta
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Surupta Gupta was quoted in a article titled “What’s behind India and Pakistan’s conflict over Kashmir, and why it’s so serious” for MSN. An excerpt from the article reads, “The origin of the recent hostilities between Pakistan and India largely dates back to 1947, when they gained their independence from British rule, according to Surupa Gupta, a professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.” Read the article.
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of UMW’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies Stephen Farnsworth
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of UMW’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies Stephen Farnsworth discussed federal job cuts and more with USAA News in an article titled “Va. GOP congressman’s scrutiny on federal cuts, job losses needs company from other Republicans.” In the article Farnsworth said, “People are getting really worried about how that affects them.” Read the article.
Professor of Historic Preservation Andréa Livi Smith
Professor of Historic Preservation Andréa Livi Smith will serve as the featured speaker at the 159th Memorial Day Observance at Fredericksburg’s Confederate Cemetery, hosted by the Ladies’ Memorial Association. The annual event will take place at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 26 at 1100 Washington Ave. In a recent article published by The Free Lance-Star, Smith described the luminaria tradition as “truly a sublime expression of remembrance.” Read the article.
Associate Professor of Sociology Eric Bonds
Professor of Sociology Eric Bonds authored an article titled “For data center sustainability in Virginia, state regulation is a must” for the Chesapeake Bay Journal. An excerpt from the article says, “Spreading out from Northern Virginia, data centers are being proposed in communities across the Chesapeake Bay region. They promise big bursts of local revenue, but they also consume huge amounts of energy and can sometimes negatively impact neighborhoods and natural areas. When data centers come knocking, what should local environmentalists do?” Read the article.