UMW Museums Executive Director Scott Harris spoke about James Monroe at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage on October 1. In addition to surveying Monroe’s public service career, Harris paid particular attention to the president’s visit to Nashville during his 1819 tour of the southern states, which included a stay at The Hermitage. The Museum’s traveling exhibit on the tour, “Your Obedient Servant,” spent most of the last month there and was much enjoyed by visitors.
Causarano to Give Free Lecture on “Race and Education in Fascist Italy,” Oct. 11
Antonio Causarano, associate professor of education.
Antonio Causarano, associate professor of education, will give a presentation titled “Race and Education in Fascist Italy” about Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s education program. According to The Free Lance-Star, “It will focus on ‘the historical aspects of race in fascist Italy and how the ideology of race was an integral part of the education of fascist youth during the 20 years of fascist regime,’ he said.” Sponsored by the Fredericksburg-Este Association, the free lecture is open to the public and will be held on Friday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. at St. George’s Episcopal Church at 905 Princess Anne St. Read more.
Richardson Column in The Free Lance-Star
College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson
College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson’s weekly column in The Free Lance-Star discusses making changes to job descriptions. Read RETHINKING JOBS AS TIMES CHANGE.
HAVE YOU looked around your organization to see who’s doing what?
As technological changes have impacted so much in the last couple of decades, are the people in your organization “fully employed?” Here are a few things to think about. Read more.
Hirshberg Presents at Brown University
Dan Hirshberg, assistant professor of religious studies and director of the contemplative studies program
Dan Hirshberg, assistant professor of religious studies and director of the contemplative studies program, offered a lecture and a workshop for Brown University’s Contemplative Studies Initiative.
His lecture focused on “Secular Rhetoric in Contemplative Pedagogy,” which concurred with recent critiques and advocated for pluralist discourse as representative of the field’s objectives and practices. The interactive workshop introduced some of the adverse effects of technology usage and featured the practice of an original contemplative exercise, “Smartphone Dis/Connect: FOMO,” which invites participants to explore the subtle physiological and psychological impacts of smartphone alerts and notifications.
Brown University launched the first Contemplative Studies concentration (major) for undergraduates in the world and is a leader in the interdisciplinary research of contemplation across the humanities, arts, and sciences.
Whalen Publishes Essay on Computer-Generated Creative Writing
Associate Professor Zach Whalen
Zach Whalen, Associate Professor of English, has just published an article in a special issue of The Journal of Creative Writing Studies on “Creative Making as Creative Writing.” His article, “The Many Authors of The Several Houses of Brian, Spencer, Liam, Victoria, Brayden, Vincent, and Alex: Authorship, Agency, and Appropriation,” is an artist’s statement reflecting on how creating a computer-generated book like Whalen’s 2017 work The Several Houses of Brian, Spencer, Liam, Victoria, Brayden, Vincent, and Alex invites readers to reconsider the idea of what it means to be an author. Whalen’s book draws on several different databases to create an essentially infinite variation on the nursery rhyme “This is the House that Jack Built”; these databases contain the work of hundreds of contributors, so Whalen argues in this article that the novel is best considered a collaboration among many instead of the work of a single individual or computer. https://scholarworks.rit.edu/jcws/vol4/iss1/
UMW Statewide Survey Conducted by Farnsworth Generates Media Attention
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies
A new University of Mary Washington survey of Virginia voters, conducted by Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, generated extensive media attention, with reports on the survey appearing in a wide range of news outlets, including National Public Radio, the Associated Press, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, WWBT-TV, WAMU-FM, WCVE-FM, WVTF-FM,WTOP-AM, WRVA-AM, the Daily Press of Newport News, Virginia Mercury and The Free Lance-Star.
Here are a sample of the articles:
New Poll: In Virginia, Trump Trails All 2020 Democratic Candidates (NPR)
Poll Finds Majority of Virginians Support Marijuana Legalization (NPR)
Virginia AG supports legalizing recreational marijuana (Associated Press)
Biden leads Democratic presidential hopefuls in Virginia, poll finds (WTOP; Inside Nova)
UMW poll shows big leads for Trump challengers (WINA News Radio; 1061 The Corner)
Stommel Quoted in Chronicle of Higher Education Article
Jesse Stommel, Senior Lecturer of Digital Studies
Senior Lecturer of Digital Studies Jesse Stommel was interviewed for a Chronicle of Higher Education article on a company called RaiseMe that is offering students “microscholarships,” small credits towards their bill in exchange for completing tasks such as meeting with academic advisors or getting involved on campus. The article said while some colleges and universities are embracing the program, some faculty members like Stommel are a little more skeptical.
“Stommel likes that RaiseMe gives students ‘very visible and clear goalposts’ for what they should do, he said. But he worries that solutions like microscholarships can obscure the bigger student-success problems for colleges: The financial-aid system is broken, Stommel said, and students need a lot more high-touch, human support. ‘It feels a little like ‘There’s an app for that,'” he said. ‘There’s an app for retaining students — and it’s more complicated than that.'” Read more.
Richardson Column in The Free Lance-Star
College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson
College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson’s weekly column in The Free Lance-Star discusses whether to make big announcements when changes still need to be made. Read THE BOLD STATEMENT.
I HAVE spent a lifetime in higher education, first as a student, then as a professor and administrator. We are not known in higher education for our ability to make changes quickly. Most of the time, it doesn’t have negative consequences, but sometimes it can.
A business school (we’ll call it Big City U) in a very competitive market was facing a downturn in its MBA enrollments about 20 years ago. Recognizing that the curriculum was a big reason why students were not choosing their school, the faculty began talking about what they could do to solve the problem. And they talked some more. A year or so went by, and no changes had been made. Read more.
Wilson Comments on Teens Using Tik Tok to Protest School Shootings
Laura Wilson, associate professor of psychology
Associate Professor of Psychological Science Laura Wilson, an expert in the psychological effects of mass shootings, commented on the phenomenon of teens turning to social media app Tik Tok to protest school shootings.
“People have really different reactions to humor as a coping strategy, but humor can be a really healthy form of coping,” Wilson said to the upstate New York FOX affiliate. “After trauma, what a lot of people struggle with is vulnerability, and by making a joke or video about it, they think, ‘I’m taking control of this.'” Read more.
Spencer Presents Lecture for Washington Heritage Museums’ Speaker Series
Michael Spencer, associate professor and director for the Center for Historic Preservation
Michael Spencer, associate professor and chair of the Department of Historic Preservation, was the October speaker for Washington Heritage Museums’ speaker series. Spencer, who is the board chair of the Washington Heritage Museums, presented a free, public lecture entitled “Dendrochronology: Using Tree Rings to Date the Mary Washington House,” on the morning of Thursday, Oct. 3. Read more.