September 24, 2022

Hanna’s Research Featured in ‘Christian Science Monitor’

September 8, 2022 by
Professor of Geography Stephen Hanna

Professor of Geography Stephen Hanna

Professor of Geography Stephen Hanna’s research on how presidential sites present Black history was featured in The Christian Science Monitor. The article, “Presidential plantation shifts telling of history to let all voices rise,” explains how Hanna’s research revealed that visitors to Montpelier reported learning more about and feeling more empathy for enslaved people than at similar sites. “It made them feel like they learned more about enslavement and were able to empathize with people who suffered, survived and endured being enslaved,” he says. Read more.

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Farnsworth Talks Politics With ‘The Boston Globe’

September 8, 2022 by
Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Stephen Farnsworth

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Stephen Farnsworth

Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth spoke to The Boston Globe for an article titled “‘People are in a bad situation.’ Inflation looms large as Democrats try to hold pivotal toss-up seat.” The once-a-decade redrawing of congressional boundaries made Spanberger’s district more Democratic this year by adding communities closer to Washington and removing Republican-leaning areas farther south around Richmond, Farnsworth said, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. Read more.

Farnsworth also received several other recent media mentions, including:

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Rao Named to Richmond Forum Board of Directors

September 8, 2022 by
Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication and Digital Studies Anand Rao

Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication and Digital Studies Anand Rao

Professor of Communication Anand Rao joined the Board of Directors of the Richmond Forum this summer and will serve a three-year term to support the work of The Forum and its Speech and Debate Initiative. Rao, who serves as chair of UMW’s Department of Communication and Digital Studies, has presented at dozens of national and international academic conferences, and regularly serves as a consultant and workshop leader for academic programs in the United States. He has more than 25 years of experience with speech and debate at the high school and college level and served as a consultant on a documentary about the National Debate Tournament.

The Richmond Forum is the largest nonprofit lecture series in America and produces five programs each year. The biggest and most influential names in the world have taken the stage at The Richmond Forum, including past U.S. presidents, sitting heads of state and leaders from the sciences, arts, business and more. In 2018, the Richmond Forum created the Speech and Debate Initiative with the goal of having high-performing speech and debate activities in every public middle and high school in the Richmond region by 2025, the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s historic speech. National Speech & Debate Association Executive Director Scott Wunn recognized the importance of this initiative, stating “the Richmond Forum has the potential to spark a national trend in which independent nonprofits work closely with local school districts, statewide organizations and the NSDA to strengthen speech and debate in their communities.”

Rao has regularly contributed to Richmond area debate student workshops and this August was an invited speaker for The Forum’s inaugural coaches workshop training 25 new speech and debate coaches in the region.

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Mackintosh Appointed to Fredericksburg Area Museum Board

September 8, 2022 by
Associate Professor of History Will Mackintosh

Associate Professor of History Will Mackintosh

Will Mackintosh, associate professor in the Department of History and American Studies, has been appointed to the Fredericksburg Area Museum Board of Directors. His focuses include early American history, cultural and intellectual history, and the history of travel and tourism.

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Larus Presents Research on U.S.-Taiwan Sister City Diplomacy

September 8, 2022 by
Professor Emerita of Political Science Elizabeth Freund Larus

Professor Emerita of Political Science Elizabeth Freund Larus

Elizabeth Freund Larus, Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs and Pew David Fellow for Peace at Middlebury College, presented her research 台美姐妹城市的合作 【US-Taiwan Sister City Cooperation】in Chinese at Middlebury College. Dr. Larus found that beyond being a convenient platform for cultural exchanges fostering mutual understanding, sister city relations serves as a useful diplomatic tool. Dr. Larus found that Taiwan local governments nurture relations with rising U.S. political stars who, as future policy makers, are likely to be favorably disposed toward Taiwan.

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Retired Librarian Jack Bales Stays Professionally Active

September 8, 2022 by

A poster advertises Jack Bales’ presentation at the Brookfield Reads program of the Brookfield, Illinois, public library.

Various research and writing projects continue to keep Reference and Humanities Librarian Emeritus Jack Bales busy.  After his true-crime narrative and tale of baseball history, The Chicago Cub Shot for Love: A Showgirl’s Crime of Passion and the 1932 World Series, was published in 2021, he began presenting Zoom PowerPoint programs to baseball groups all over the country.  Library organizations soon followed, including an in-person PowerPoint presentation and book-signing for the Quincy, Illinois, Historical Society in April this year.  The public library of Brookfield, Illinois, selected the book for its 2022 Brookfield Reads program, and on Aug. 13, Bales spoke before local residents, answered questions and signed books.

Bales has published three books on southern author Willie Morris, and a week after his trip to Illinois, he was in Jackson, Mississippi, signing books and discussing Morris’s life and works at the Mississippi Book Festival.

Bales is an active member of the Society for American Baseball Research and is working on a Zoom program for SABR’s Nineteenth-Century Speakers Series.  The title is “Beer Beats Them: The Chicago White Stockings’ 1886 Season and the End of a Base Ball Dynasty.”

Bales hosted the annual convention of the Horatio Alger Society in Fredericksburg in 2021 and 2022.  He will host the convention again in 2023 and will present a PowerPoint program on Albert Payson Terhune, the author of numerous popular stories about dogs that were published in the 1920s and 1930s.

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Landphair Addresses Student Support in ‘Inside Higher Ed’

August 25, 2022 by
Vice President of Student Affairs Juliette Landphair

Vice President of Student Affairs Juliette Landphair

Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair spoke to Inside Higher Education for a story titled “Counselors Join Cops to Help Students in Crisis.” The piece explored the ways colleges and universities are supplementing departments with mental health counselors for students who are struggling emotionally. The article highlights UMW’s initiative to provide students with access to counseling support after business hours to reduce the decision-making role of police during such crises. “Mental health concerns have now become one of the top few priorities for institutions in a way that you just didn’t see—I think student affairs professionals would say it was 15 years ago, but not presidents, and now presidents are saying it,” said Landphair, who chaired a working group last summer on the university’s response to mental health crises, which led to the after-hours counseling support and other changes. Read more.

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Grothe Pens Opinion Piece on Area’s Urban Heat Islands

August 24, 2022 by
Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe

An opinion piece by Assistant Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences Pamela Grothe Pamela Grothe, titled “Commentary: Urban heat islands make climate change worse,” ran in The Free Lance-Star on Sunday, Aug. 21. Along with her co-author, Adam Lynch, a river steward with Friends of the Rappahannock, Grothe wrote: Little was known about Fredericksburg’s urban heat islands until this summer, when our two organizations, the University of Mary Washington and Friends of the Rappahannock, partnered on a comprehensive heat-mapping campaign, tracking heat in the city and surrounding counties. Read more.

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Rettinger Talks Academic Integrity With ‘Times Higher Ed’

August 24, 2022 by
Professor of Psychological Science David Rettinger

Professor of Psychological Science David Rettinger

Professor of Psychological Science and Director of Academic Integrity Programs David Rettinger spoke to Times Higher Education for a story titled, “Zero cheating is a pipe dream, but we still need to push academic integrity.” In the article, Rettinger and Erica Price Burns, who leads the research practice at Whiteboard Advisors, offer key points for institutions to consider when creating systems that encourage academic integrity among students. Read more.

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Antwi Shares Expertise on Invasive Spotted Dragonfly

August 24, 2022 by
Assistant Professor of Biological Science Josephine Antwi

Assistant Professor of Biological Science Josephine Antwi

Assistant Professor of Biological Science Josephine Antwi contributed to an article titled, “Should You Worry About the Invasive Spotted Lanternfly?” published by Very Well Health. “It’s spreading like a wildfire, so it’s pretty concerning,” Antwi said. Read more.

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