Will Mackintosh has just completed a residential research fellowship at the American Geographical Society Library at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, where he was working with their collection of nineteenth-century American tourist guidebooks. This fellowship was part of his ongoing research project on the origins of domestic tourism in the early United States.
Andréa Livi Smith Hosts Preservation Education Symposium
Andréa Livi Smith, assistant professor and director of the Center for Historic Preservation, organized and hosted the second Undergraduate Historic Preservation Education Symposium (UHPES) on the UMW campus on June 20-22. Dr. Smith analyzed findings from the first symposium, held in 2010, culminating in an article published in the current edition of Preservation Education and Research. This second iteration of UHPES brought together faculty in historic preservation from undergraduate as well as graduate programs from around the country. Pedagogy, curriculum development, and student placement were the main topics of discussion. Findings from the second UHPES will be posted on the Center for Historic Preservation website. The event was held with the generous support of the Hofer Fund.
Robert Rycroft Attended Philanthropy Symposium
Professor and Chair of Economics Robert Rycroft attended the Philanthropy Educators Symposium on Wednesday, June 19. The symposium was sponsored by the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Doris Buffett’s Learning by Giving Foundation, and Giving 2.0 and was held at the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center on the campus of Stanford University.
The symposium brought together educators who teach experiential philanthropy courses much like the Economics of Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector course at UMW. The educators were able to discuss issues and problems associated with teaching those types of courses. Experiential philanthropy courses are found at fewer than 5 percent of the colleges and universities in the United States, however symposium organizer and keynote speaker Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen called for similar courses to become required at all colleges and universities by 2030.
Erma Baker Elected President of NACAS-East
The National Association of College Auxiliary Services-East (NACAS-East) elected Erma Baker as president during the 2013 Annual Conference held recently in Gettysburg, Pa. Baker is assistant vice president for business services and chief procurement officer at UMW.
The National Association of College Auxiliary Services (NACAS), headquartered in Charlottesville, Va., is the largest auxiliary services support organization serving higher education. Established in 1969, NACAS is a nonprofit higher education association serving auxiliary services and student support services professionals throughout colleges and universities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and Asia. The east region, of which Baker is president, encompasses 14 states from Maine to Virginia.
UMW Names Executive Director for Center for Economic Development
The University of Mary Washington today announced that Brian Baker has been named executive director of the Center for Economic Development. Baker has spent the last decade as an administrator at UMW, most recently as executive director for entrepreneurship.
In his role as executive director, Baker will oversee the UMW Small Business Development Center, the EagleWorks Accelerator and Business Innovation Center, the Engagement Program, the operations for the Virginia Business Incubation Association, as well as several contract affiliations.
During his more than 10 years at UMW, Baker has served in various roles, including head of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). In his time as executive director of the SBDC, the center served more than 3,000 small company clients and yielded economic impacts of more than $70 million in new investments, more than $81 million in new sales growth and the creation and retention of 4,670 jobs. Baker also was instrumental in bringing the Virginia Business Incubation Association to the university where it will have an opportunity to engage students and faculty in both regional and statewide small company development initiatives. Baker also has collaborated with numerous UMW students on business-related projects pertaining to market research, small company analysis and revenue analytics.
Baker serves on the Board of Directors for the La Ceiba Microfinance program, the Leadership Fredericksburg program and the University Based Economic Development Council, and is president of the Virginia Business Incubation Association. He also is a general member of the Rappahannock Economic Development Corporation and a member of the Stafford County Economic Analysis Forum and the Germanna Community College Workforce and Community Education Advisory Board.
He has been a speaker at both the International Economic Development Council and Virginia Business Incubation Association conferences on small business. In 2010, he was recognized as the Virginia SBDC State Star for contributions in business development.
Baker earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in business administration in management from Mary Washington. He holds a business analyst certification from the Virginia SBDC program hosted by George Mason University.
The Center for Economic Development, established in 2011, assists the regional jurisdictions in their efforts to promote economic development of the region. The center functions as a central point of contact to connect faculty and students with regional initiatives and businesses seeking their assistance. The center’s programs and initiatives include the Small Business Development Center, the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance, the Virginia Business Incubation Association, and student and faculty engagement projects.
Cassandra Good Presents at Conference
Cassandra Good, assistant editor of the Papers of James Monroe, presented a paper titled “Making Friends, Making Gender: Friendships Between Men and Women in the Atlantic World” at the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture annual conference in Baltimore, Md., on June 15.
Reference Librarian Jack Bales Debunks Baseball Legend
Reference and Humanities Librarian Jack Bales has written an article debunking the Chicago Cubs’ famous Billy Goat Curse for ChicagoSide, an online sports magazine. The so-called curse dates to 1945, when a Chicago tavern owner was asked to remove his pet goat from the Cubs’ Wrigley Field during the fourth game of the World Series. The angry restaurateur allegedly put a curse on the Cubs, declaring that the team would never again get to the World Series. Bales, who has used original sources to disprove other baseball legends, writes that Chicago journalists not only created the story but also helped perpetuate it. With the passing of many Cubs losing seasons (and perhaps due to shrewd publicity on the part of the restaurant owner), the alleged curse has gained international renown, been the subject of several books, and become a part of Chicago and baseball folklore. Bales originally wrote about the legend for his website, http://WrigleyIvy.com, which he created while participating in UMW’s “Domain of One’s Own” faculty initiative this past spring.
Farnsworth Lectures at Boys’ State of Virginia
Stephen Farnsworth
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, delivered a lecture entitled “Virginia’s Candidate Selection Process: Examining Recent Primaries and Conventions” to the roughly 800 high school students attending the American Legion Boys’ State of Virginia at Radford University on June 17.
Roberta Gentry Presents at the National Institute on the Assessment of Adult Learning
Roberta Gentry
Dr. Roberta Gentry, Assistant Professor of Education, presented Electronic Mentoring: What is it? at the 25th annual National Institute on the Assessment of Adult Learning in Atlantic City, N.J. The theme of this year’s conference was Looking Back. Moving Forward.
Nabil Al-Tikriti Presents at Cairo Conference on Iraq 10 Years Later
During the conference, Nabil Al-Tikriti also took the opportunity to explore Cairo, the Sayyida Zaynab religious festival, Upper Egypt.
On June 3-4, Nabil Al-Tikriti offered a presentation entitled “Some Longer Term Effects of the 2003 Anglo-American Invasion on Iraqi Society” to the conference entitled Iraq – 10 Years On: Conflicts, Migrations, Futures in Cairo, Egypt. This conference brought together experts from the fields of Iraqi studies and forced migration to examine some of the lingering effects of the 2003 invasion of the country. Prof. Al-Tikriti presented both his impressions gained from a trip to Baghdad the previous month and his thoughts on the invasion’s legacies throughout a range of sectors. Organizers expect to complete an edited volume of conference presentations within the next few months. This conference was hosted by the American University in Cairo’s Center for Migration and Refugee Studies; and jointly sponsored by the Japan Foundation, Chiba University, Japan Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Here is a link to the conference program: http://iraq10years.info/wp-content/uploads/Cairo_Program2013Ver3.pdf.
Here is Prof. Al-Tikriti’s conference abstract:
“In 2003 the United States and Great Britain led a “coalition of the willing” in an invasion of Iraq which was only the latest in a long string of interventions by the two powers in the region dating back to the nineteenth century. With this contribution, I plan to examine some of the longer term effects of this particular intervention on Iraqi society and the region as a whole, as distinct from all the previous interventions as well as certain other developments endogenous to Iraqi society.
Within Iraq, I concentrate on changes in the cultural and educational spheres, extending and updating research I carried out in the years immediately following the invasion. In the cultural sphere, I ask what has befallen Iraq’s cultural patrimony since the invasion, particularly in terms of manuscript collections and archives. In the educational sphere, I examine changes in higher education and social studies textbook production since 2003.
Outside Iraq, I examine changes both to the region as a whole, as well as to the reach of U.S. foreign policy as a result of the 2003 invasion. As widely publicized at the time, American policymakers hoped to spread democracy throughout the region, transform Iraq into a base for intervention elsewhere, and demonstrate the vibrancy of an unregulated economy. My contribution will conclude with a summary overview of the success, failure, and longer term effects of such policy orientations on both the region and the United States itself.”