Associate Professor Helen Housley, Theatre and Dance, was recognized as an outstanding volunteer by the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital on April 25, 2015. Housley was presented with the Honor Pin for her work in organizing, under the sponsorship of the Department of Theatre and Dance, a series of Theatre Arts Week-ends for Girl Scouts. Since 2002, over 100o Girl Scouts (ages 11-18) and their leaders have visited the UMW campus, participating in theatre-related workshops led by theatre students, and enjoying a UMW Theatre production. Several of these Scouts have subsequently enrolled at and graduated from UMW.
Larus Offers Lecture at National Taiwan University
Elizabeth Freund Larus, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, offered a lecture “US Rebalancing to Asia and the China Challenge,” at the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University in Taipei on April 24.
Larus Participates in World Book Day
Elizabeth Larus, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, read excerpts from To Kill a Mockingbird in celebration of the UNESCO World Book Day, April 18 at the National Central Library, Taipei, Taiwan.
Greenlaw Honored by OpenStaxCollege
Steven A. Greenlaw was recently honored when OpenStaxCollege, an affiliate of Rice University in Houston, named a conference room after him. OpenStax is the preeminent publisher of free, open source textbooks for introductory college courses. They currently have introductory texts in Physics, Biology, Anatomy & Physiology, Chemistry, Statistics, Precalculus, U.S. History, Psychology and Economics. By the end of 2015, they expect to have 25 books.
Greenlaw was one of their first authors. He recently conducted a statistical analysis comparing the use of OpenStax’ economics text against the commercial text, and found there to be no statistical difference in student learning in his course. If you teach one of these introductory courses, you might want to save your students money and consider adopting an OpenStax or other open text.
Fallon Publishes Research on African Languages
Paul D. Fallon, Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, published his chapter “Coronal ejectives and EthioSemitic borrowing in Proto-Agaw” in the Selected Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, edited by Ruth Kramer, Elizabeth C. Zsiga, & One Tlale Boyer.
Fallon’s paper examines the historical reconstruction of Proto-Agaw (PA, also known as Proto-Central Cushitic), the ancestral mother tongue of the languages Blin, Xamtanga, Kemantney, and Awngi, spoken in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Previous work on Proto-Agaw by David Appleyard claimed that ejective consonants in PA are attributable to borrowings, mostly from neighboring EthioSemitic languages. Expanding his earlier examination of velar (back of tongue) consonants, Fallon argues that coronal (tongue-tip) consonants must also be reconstructed for PA and provides 25 examples of native roots and 19 borrowings, and analyzes 18 other unclear cases. This study contributes to a more precise reconstruction of PA and a deeper understanding of the lexical strata and borrowings between Agaw and EthioSemitic.
The publisher, the Cascadilla Proceedings Project, is both open access online and publisher of library-quality bound printed volumes.
Gupta Writes Policy Brief for Think-Tank in Washington D.C.
Surupa Gupta, associate professor of Political Science and International Affairs, was invited to write a policy brief for The East-West Center, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.
Gupta’s piece, “Slow Pace of Reforms Inhibits US-India Agricultural Trade,” was published online as part of their their Asia Pacific Bulletin series on April 21, 2015. A link to the piece can be found here.
Anthes Earns Doctorate of Education
Dre Anthes, director of graduate admissions, successfully defended her dissertation and will receive her doctorate in Education in Leadership from Virginia Commonwealth University on May 9.
Anthes also will be leaving UMW to take a position as the director of admissions at Fredericksburg Academy. Her last day in the office is May 5.
Gately to Premiere Two Compositions
Doug Gately will be Artist-Composer in Residence in Kill Devil Hills, N.C. on April 27 and 28. He will perform and premiere two of his Concert Band compositions. Doug will be working with UMW Alumnus and Band Director, Hollie Writtenberry Lewis.
Long Performs Composition
Professor of Music David Long’s band piece, “Their Finest Hour” will be performed by the Mid-Atlantic Wind Symphony on Sunday, April 26, at 7: 30 p.m.
The performance will take place at the Susan & Donald Reed Theater of Fredericksburg Academy. The Mid-Atlantic Wind Symphony is conducted by Aaron Noe.
Turdean’s Students Host Exhibit at Dahlgren
Senior students in Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean’s Museum Design and Interpretation class hosted an exhibition, “The Road to Desegregation in King George County, Virginia,” at UMW’s Dahlgren Campus.
The exhibition provided the historical context of African American education in King George. Students recorded oral histories, interviewing Ralph Bunche alumni and others who had involvement in the historic school.
A full news article about the exhibit can be found here.