May 2, 2026

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Jane Huffman

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Jane Huffman’s former student, a CGPS grad, dropped a note to thank her for her support. Samantha Ludwig announced she had become an American Diplomat and was headed to Tripoli, Libya, to use the education skills she learned at UMW in the local schools in Tripoli and the American School of Tripoli.

New Chief of Police

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Eddie Perry has been named UMW’s new chief of police. Perry, who started work this month, is responsible for the overall operations of the police department, including forming and controlling the annual budget as well as development and dissemination of police directives. In addition, he coordinates training and fostering departmental communication.

A state employee for the past 15 years, Perry most recently served as chief of police at Thomas Nelson Community College where he directed patrol sergeants and supervised departments. He also served as a police lieutenant at Virginia State University.

Perry is secretary for the Virginia Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. In addition, he is a member of the Virginia Association of Chief of Police and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

Students Gain Honors for Mathematics Department

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Students Andrew Snyder-Beattie and Kevin Groat won an “Outstanding Presentation” award at Mathfest, the national meeting of the Mathematical Association of America. This year, there were over 150 student talks at the meeting and the MAA gave only 20 awards. Their project, “Geometric Brownian Motion, a Safe Assumption?” was completed as part of the Summer Science Institute under the direction of Dr. Julius Esunge. This is a significant achievement for both the students and the faculty advisor. Several faculty from other schools came up to Keith Mellinger after the presentation requesting details about the successful program at UMW.

Jay Harper

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Provost Jay Harper recently participated as a new member of the Army War College 5th Annual Strategy Implementation Seminar in Carlisle, Pa. He was one of approximately 71 business, government, academic, and community leaders from across the country who took part in the three-day seminar held in July. The seminar is the capstone event of the two-year distance education curriculum at the Army War College, the Army’s senior educational institution.
The principal purpose of the seminar is to enhance student learning through exposure to a cross-section of American perspectives by reaching out to community leaders across America. Each new member is assigned to one of 20 student seminar groups and becomes an active participant in seminar discussions, sharing from their own background, experience, beliefs, and perspectives on these issues.

Leah Cox

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Leah Cox, assistant dean and director of the James Farmer Scholars program, describes highlights of the program in an article in Fredericksburg Parents magazine. The feature story focuses on a rising eighth grader who wants to be a neurologist and find a cure for brain cancer. You can read the whole story at: http://www.fredericksburgparent.net/index.php/education/403-its-ok-to-be-bright-its-cool-to-be-smart

Nicole Myers

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Nicole Myers and the UMW Play Lab are still in the running for the Pepsi Refresh Challenge $25,000 grant. You can vote for the project every day through the month of August at http://www.refresheverything.com/umwautismclinicplaylab If you have not heard the exciting news about the UMW Autism Clinic and UMW Play Lab and are interested in finding out more, send an email to Nicole at nmyers@umw.edu to be placed on a listserv. At this time, she working out final details for the first Play Lab session and will be sending out application materials and information through this listserv to interested parents and agencies. Check out the UMW Autism blog at http://umwautism.umwblogs.org/.