Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and international affairs, was quoted in the article “Morrissey Confirms Run for Dance’s Senate Seat,” published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch Saturday, March 21. Read the full article at http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/article_407e4aec-26a3-5a04-ba3b-662a0d437dc3.html.
Roxann Rowley Interviewed by Ngoma Reader Magazine
Adjunct Dance Professor Roxann Rowley was interviewed for an article in Ngoma Reader Magazine, a dance journal for dance artists in the Washington, D.C. area.
Rowley was featured in “Dance Steps, Life and Visions,” a spotlight that showcases local Washington, D.C. artists.
Aminrazavi Presents at Library of Congress
Mehdi Aminrazavi, professor of philosophy and religion, presented the opening lecture at “The Persian Book Lecture Series” at the Library of Congress on Tuesday, March 17.
The lecture and book signing celebrated the completion of the five volume “Anthology of Philosophy in Persia,” which is co-edited by Aminrazavi.
McClurken Presents Digital Humanities Workshop and Plenary at Kansas State
Jeffrey McClurken, Professor of History and American Studies and Special Assistant to the Provost, presented at the Kansas State Digital Humanities Symposium, “Exploring the Digital Medium,” on Feb. 27-28.
On Feb. 27 he led a workshop, “Integrating Digital Humanities in Pedagogy: Choosing Courses, Learning Objectives and Tools,” and on Feb. 28, he presented the opening plenary, “Claiming One Future for Digital Humanities: Undergraduate Learning, Creation, & Ownership.”
UMW Represented at State Technology Conference
The University of Mary Washington was represented at the 2015 Association of Collegiate Computing Services of Virginia, an annual conference of technologists at higher education institutions around the state.
Lisa Ames, LMS Admin-eLearning Specialist from the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, co-chaired the Networked Learning Collaborative of Virginia group meeting. The group focused on advancing academic mission and learning technology activities.
Edward Gray, Systems Integration and Support Specialist from IT Support Services, presented “Remote Assistance: a Discussion” on remote assistance tools, usage, policies, and procedures. He also presented “Measuring Success: an Introduction to Metrics,” as an overview to what metrics are and how to tie them to organizational success.
Jeff McClurken, Professor of History and American Studies and Special Assistant to the Provost for Technology and Teaching Innovation, and Jerry Slezak, Director of IT Support Services, presented “A Convergence of Ideas and Technology,” as a story of UMW’s Information Technology Convergence Center.
Ray Usler, Director of IT Security and Information Security Officer, presented “NO, NO Not the Security Guy!” on the role of the IT Security Office and why everyone should be concerned with security.
Pam Lowery, Director of Technology Professional Development and HR Analyst, serves as chair of the ACCS Board of Directors.
Also attending the conference were Acting CIO Hall Cheshire, and Associate Director for Enterprise Application Services Ben Kjar, both from the Department of Information Technologies.
Nabil Al-Tikriti Facilitates Debate on Forced Migration
Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history and American studies, participated in the annual Field Associative Debate (FAD) for MSF staff serving in Athens, Greece, on March 7. Al-Tikriti is board member of the United States section of MSF/Doctors Without Borders.
The Athens team debated on issues connected to forced migration in the Mediterranean and Balkans regions — their primary programmatic focus. In the course of these debates, participants addressed questions concerning the importance of “people on the move” consisting of refugees, economic migrants, or mixed groups; the propriety of MSF providing general humanitarian relief as opposed to narrow medical assistance; the possibility of MSF providing relief in detention centers without becoming instrumentalized as part of state policy; and other issues connected to providing medical humanitarian relief to vulnerable populations on the move in the Mediterranean and Balkan regions.
Prior to this year’s FAD, Al-Tikriti went on a brief field visit to an MSF urban referral clinic in Athens, and upon his return helped the team start a FAD report, and completed a brief memo on regional operations for internal review.
Harris Co-Organizes Second World Urbanity Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia
Steven E. Harris, Associate Professor of History, recently traveled to St. Petersburg, where he attended the conference “Living Cities of the Second World,” Feb. 27 to March 1, 2015.
The conference was the third that Harris and Daria Bocharnikova (Harvard University) have organized in the past year for the Second World Urbanity project. The conference featured two days of panel discussions on the history of urban planning, architecture, and the lived experience of socialist cities, not only in the former USSR and Eastern Europe but also Latin America (Managua) and East Africa (Dar es Salaam).
In addition to co-organizing the conference, Harris presented his paper, “Soviet Airports of the 1960s: Futuristic Gateways to Socialist Urbanity,” based on his current research project about the entangled histories of Aeroflot and Pan Am. While in St. Petersburg, he had the opportunity to conduct some research at the National Library and was also invited to speak to high school students at School No. 157, where he previously taught English for a year.
Gupta Presents Paper at International Conference
Surupa Gupta, associate professor of Political Science and International Affairs, organized a panel on “Developing Countries and the World Trade Organization” and presented a paper titled “India, Food Security and the Doha Round” at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association (ISA) in New Orleans, LA, held Feb. 18-21, 2015.
ISA is the premier disciplinary association in International Relations in North America.
Buster-Williams Publishes in Recruitment & Retention
Kimberley Buster-Williams, associate provost for enrollment management, recently had her article “Managing Big Data” accepted for publication in Recruitment & Retention In Higher Education. The paper will be published in April.
Hanna’s Edited Volume Published
Steve Hanna, professor of Geography, is the lead editor of a recently published book: Social Memory and Heritage Tourism Methodologies. A part of Routledge’s Contemporary Geographies of Leisure, Tourism and Mobility Series, this volume’s chapters demonstrate methodological innovations for analyzing the process and politics of remembering and touring the past through place. Hanna also co-wrote one of the book’s chapters on using qualitative GIS to study heritage landscapes with Fariss Hodder, a 2014 graduate.