Maya Mathur, associate professor of English, recently presented the paper “Romans as Cheap as Volscians: Citizens and Servingmen in Coriolanus” at the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, which met in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 24-27.
Richards Participates in Book Festival, Conference
Gary Richards, associate professor of English, was recently a member of the discussion panel composed of contributors to The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the American South at the Louisiana Book Festival, held in Baton Rouge on November 2. He also led the One Book: One Festival discussion devoted to Shirley Anne Grau’s 1961 novel, The House on Coliseum Street. The previous month he moderated the panel devoted to war in North Carolina literature at the American Literature Association’s “War and American Literature” Symposium held in New Orleans October 10-12.
Pineda Showcases Novel at Literary Festivals
Jon Pineda, assistant professor of English, recently showcased his novel Apology at a trio of the nation’s foremost literary festivals. On October 5, he was a panelist/featured reader at the Page Turner Festival, held in Brooklyn, NY and sponsored by the Asian American Writers Workshop. On October 12, he was a panelist/featured reader at the Southern Festival of the Book, held in Nashville, TN and sponsored by Humanities Tennessee. And on October 19, he was a panelist/featured reader at the Filipino International Book Festival, held in San Francisco, CA and sponsored by the Philippine American Writers Association.
Farnsworth Discusses Election on National Media
Stephen Farnsworth
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, delivered a lecture to foreign service officers at the U.S. State Department entitled, “International News about the US: Challenges for Public Diplomacy,” on Nov. 1. The talk was drawn from his new co-authored book, “The Global President: International Media and the US Government.”
In addition, Farnsworth has been interviewed by a number of media outlets on the campaign for Governor of Virginia.
Recent interviews include:
- PBS News Hour: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec13/governor_11-01.html
- Reuters: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/race-virginia-governor-close-call-article-1.1507856
- Politico: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/virginia-governors-race-2013-contrarian-streak-could-end-99321.html?hp=r4_b1
- USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/11/04/mcauliffe-cuccinelli-virginia-governor-gender-gap/3435241/
- WTOP: http://www.wtop.com/1305/3498745/Cuccinelli-could-have-won-Virginia and http://www.wtop.com/120/3499224/The-role-of-polls-in-Virginias-race-for-governor
Procurement Services Receives Statewide Award
Members of UMW’s procurement team pose with their Supplier Diversity Pacesetter Award.
On Monday, October 28, UMW Procurement Services received the Supplier Diversity Pacesetter Award during the Governor’s 2013 Supplier Diversity Awards Program. The award was presented by Ida McPherson, director of the Department of Minority Business Enterprise, in conjunction with the Commonwealth of Virginia Procurement Forum.
The award highlights the achievements of a division or agency that has developed or engaged in an initiative during the previous fiscal year. The initiative demonstrated greater awareness of the agency’s commitment to the SWaM program, involved key leadership in the division or agency as a whole, and created a better understanding of programs in the agency that had not been fully highlighted previously. It is the goal of this award to recognize individuals who took the personal initiative to develop a program involving their agency that communicated a far greater understanding of the agency’s procurement process and commitment to the SWaM program.
While still in the early stages of a viable supplier diversity program, UMW is approaching the supplier diversity with a targeted focus. During the past year, Procurement Services:
- Co-hosted a “How to Do Business” workshop for local businesses
- Established an improved workflow for contractors to report subcontractor SWaM utilization
- Participated in the Virginia Department of Business Assistance workshop in Winchester, Va.
- Collaborated with the Small Business Development Center to promote their “Fast Track” program to expedite state registration/eligibility process to be certified
- Attended training at DMBE and hosted a visit from DMBE
- Attended the first state-wide Supplier Diversity Advocate Institute
- Selected a UMW student intern to assist in the creation of a Supplier Diversity program
- Expanded reporting efforts
- All formal solicitations include an endorsement letter from UMW VP&CFO that support utilization of small, woman-owned, minority and disadvantaged businesses
- Received support from the UMW Capital Outlay Department identifying SWaM targets with Contractors
Submitted by Erma Baker, Assistant Vice President for Business Services and CPO
Searcy and Rettinger Present at SACSA Conference
Dr. Doug Searcy, vice president for Student Affairs, and Dr. David Rettinger, executive director of the Center for Honor, Leadership, and Service, presented a program on UMW’s Center for Honor, Leadership and Service at the 64th Annual Conference of the Southern Association for College Student Affairs (SACSA) in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 2 to 4.
The presentation focused on sharing strengths of the center program and its development of best practices that seek to raise the bar for industry standards in developing similar programs that create a seamless experience between curricular and co-curricular components of the University.
Searcy also facilitated a senior-level panel on campus collaboration as a tool to address student needs and support student learning, and served on a panel to discuss threat assessment and behavioral intervention teams and the models for implementing and successfully maintaining these teams that are now critical for supporting student success and persistence to graduation.
Gupta Presents on India and the Liberal World Order
Surupa Gupta, associate professor of political science and international affairs, spoke on India’s engagement with global economic institutions such as the WTO, IMF and World Bank at a workshop titled “India and the Liberal World Order” at the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Hackathon Supports Charity
Webmaster Curtiss Grymala and Director of Digital Communications Shelley Keith participated in an all-night “hackathon” for charity while at HighEdWeb 2013, Oct. 6 to 9, in Buffalo, N.Y. The event, in support of Ride for Roswell, had 75 participants at its peak. Information architects, content strategists, visual designers, programmers, theme developers, and WordPress experts gathered in a room from 7 p.m. until 4 a.m. to donate approximately 400 labor hours in support of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute “Ride for Roswell” website redevelopment project. Grymala was selected to lead the development team, and Keith served as project management liaison between the teams and the client to identify priorities and clarify requirements. The event was featured on local television news and in blog posts and websites.
News coverage:
Anewalt and Polack-Wahl Attend Conference, Win Awards
Jennifer Polack-Wahl, professor of computer science, and Karen Anewalt, professor of computer science, attended The Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges, Eastern Region conference Nov. 1 and 2 and swept the conference awards with best faculty research paper won by Anewalt and best faculty research poster won by Polack-Wahl.
Anewalt’s paper was titled “Connecting Academic and Professional Computer Science Through Reflective Reading: A Case Study” and Polack-Wahl’s poster was titled “Service Learning: S.M.A.R.T makes Apps for Primary and Secondary Education.”
Andréa Livi Smith Presents at Conferences
Andréa Livi Smith presented at three national/international conferences in October.
- Smith participated in the Domain of One’s Own session at the International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Conference in Raleigh, N.C.
- Smith presented a paper on the urban renewal on the Eastern edge of Paris at the Association for Preservation Technology International’s annual conference, titled “Preserving the Metropolis” held in New York City.
- Smith led a session on the links between sustainability, public health, and historic preservation at the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation held in Indianapolis, Ind. Along with Dr. Smith, Dr. Tracy Hadden-Loh, director of research at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Nathan Holth, author of HistoricBridges.org provided context on the importance of blending the approaches for effective preservation.
Additional details about the conferences and Smith’s activities can be found on twitter at @smithpres with tags: #issotl13, #aptnyc, and #presconf respectively.