A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Assistant Professor of Theatre Marc Williams
Assistant Professor of Theatre Marc Williams appeared on an episode of the With Good Reason radio show titled “Spring Break.” During his segment, which kicked off the show, Williams, who teaches an FSEM on the topic, talked about the 80% of Americans who have visited Disney World in Florida and how it has both shaped and been shaped by American identity. Listen to the segment.
Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of Political Science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently presented a lecture, “The State of the U.S. Presidential Election,” as part of the University of Warsaw’s American Studies Program Spring Colloquium. Dr. Farnsworth is serving in Poland as a Spring 2024 Fulbright Distinguished Scholar.
Other recent media mentions for Farnsworth include:
So, Is the Potomac Yard Stadium Deal Dead? (Washingtonian Magazine)
In order for the deal to progress this year, Youngkin would need to propose an amendment to the budget bill, which the chambers would then vote on at the April 17 session or call a special legislative session. But Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington—and a longtime Virginia General Assembly watcher—said it was unlikely such a move would be successful. “Trying to add the stadium deal to the legislature’s budget plan only means that the Senate would reject that project again,” Farnsworth told Washingtonian. “The governor wants a legacy, and the Democratic majorities can just wait him out—he only has one more session as governor after this year’s session concludes.” Read more.
Trump Wins Prince William: Examining his decisive victory in the deep-blue county (Potomac Local)
Donald Trump won his first victory in Prince William County during a dual Presidential Primary on Super Tuesday, March 5, 2023. Read more.
Biden, Trump Look to Secure Party Presidential Nominations (CTV News)
“Absolutely, the obstacles of the nomination and renomination of Trump and Biden are settled, so the delegates should add up to fifty plus one by the time the counting is done tomorrow,” said Stephen Farnsworth. Read more.
Dave Fleming, Assistant Dean of Residence Life and Housing and Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs
Dave Fleming, American College Personnel Association, Diamond Honoree, Class of 2024
The Diamond Honoree Program, established in 1999, is a way for those that care about students – and the research, scholarship, and programs that promote student development and success – to help advance our association’s efforts. Diamond Honorees are “Championed” by dedicated individuals who recognize their specific contributions and choose to raise funds in honor of each Diamond Honoree’s outstanding and sustained commitment to higher education through student affairs and student development. Those funds are then utilized to help sustain the ACPA Foundation in its support of the research, scholarship, and programs that advance our field as a whole.
Within ACPA, Dave has served on the Mid-level Community of Practice directorate, as NextGen faculty, and as a member of the Presidential Task Force on 21st Century Employment in Higher Education. He attributes much of his professional approach and success to the transformative experience of the Donna M. Bourassa Mid-Level Management Institute. Read more.
Elizabeth Freund Larus, Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Pacific Forum
Taiwan
Elizabeth Freund Larus, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs and Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Pacific Forum, offered commentary to international media on Taiwan’s 2024 Presidential and Legislative elections:
U.S.
Larus also commented recently on Vietnam News on Super Tuesday. Larus said there would be little change in voters’ support for Biden and Trump between Super Tuesday and Election Day because voters are already well aware of the candidates’ weaknesses. The only place where the campaigns have left to influence voters are in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and maybe Nevada, Arizona and Georgia. Trump needs to pull out all the stops in Michigan where Biden is vulnerable to the Arab American vote. Larus also indicated that Trump has picked up support from Black and Hispanic voters since 2016 and 2020. In recent polls in 6 swing states (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), 22% of Black people would vote for Trump, up from 8% in 2016, and 42% of Hispanics said they would vote for Trump, up from 29% in 2016. View the segment.
Reference and Humanities Librarian Emeritus Jack Bales
Jack Bales’ vocation for more than 40 years was assisting students, faculty, and staff in Mary Washington’s library. His avocation, research and writing, was always an important part of his life as well, and now that he’s retired, the Reference and Humanities Librarian Emeritus happily stays busy with these interests. Bales continues to present Zoom PowerPoint programs to baseball groups and public libraries around the country on his true-crime narrative and tale of baseball history, The Chicago Cub Shot for Love: A Showgirl’s Crime of Passion and the 1932 World Series (History Press, 2021). He is an active member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and has presented several Zoom programs on assorted baseball topics. He is also an occasional moderator of a SABR book discussion group devoted to the sport during the nineteenth century.
Bales has always liked to focus on topics about which little has been written, as he enjoys digging around in primary, original sources and uncovering new information that sheds light on the historical record. While working on his 2019 book, Before They Were the Cubs: The Early Years of Chicago’s First Professional Baseball Team, he read about Lewis Meacham, a Chicago Daily Tribune sports editor who helped William Hulbert of the White Stockings (the team now known as the Chicago Cubs) found the National League in 1876. Very little was known about Meacham, but Bales tracked down invaluable material in both newspapers and Chicago and Vermont archives. He gave a PowerPoint presentation, “The Mysterious Lewis Meacham: The Untold Story of William Hulbert’s Right-Hand Man,” at a SABR meeting and also wrote an essay on him for the organization’s peer-reviewed Biography Project, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/lewis-meacham/
Bales said that it took many months of research, as most of what was published was inaccurate, including a fictitious Civil War record. “You know you are going to have a rough time of it,” he recently observed, “when biographical sources for the person you are writing about provide assorted birth dates, various names, two birth places, two burial spots, and even two entries in the popular website “Find a Grave,” both of them incorrect.”
Bales hosted the annual convention of the Horatio Alger Society in Fredericksburg in 2021, 2022, and 2023. He will host it again this May. Among the persons attending will be Michael Dirda, the weekly book columnist for the Washington Post.
Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jared McDonald
Assistant Professor of Political Science Jared McDonald shared his expertise with media, earning recent mentions, including:
Assistant Professor and Archaeology Director Katherine Parker
Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Katherine Parker’s work with UMW students to locate Mary Washington’s grave continues to catch media attention.
Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication and Digital Studies Anand Rao
Anand Rao, Chair of Communication and Digital Studies, attended the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) meeting in Vancouver, Canada, to share research on the development of AI tools to support the teaching of argumentation and debate. He and his co-authors had a poster presentation at the AAI Conference’s AI4Education Workshop titled “Augmented Debate-Centered Instruction: A Novel Research Agenda for Responsible AI Integration in Education.” The paper argues for a debate-centered model of instruction that addresses concerns over assessment and AI reliance while helping students develop critical, durable skills. With presenters from around the world, the workshop focused on bridging innovation and responsibility in AI research. Collaborating organizations at the workshop included Google Research, DuoLingo, OpenStax, Princeton University, Berkeley – University of California, Rice University, Jinan University, and the University of British Columbia.
A copy of the paper is available at https://www.debaterhub.com/aaai
Dean of Admissions Melissa Yakabouski
Dean of Admissions Melissa Yakabouski shared tips on the college search, paying for college, changes in FAFSA and writing an application with Town Talk radio show host Ted Schubel. Listen to the segment, which was also shared by the Fredericksburg Free Press.
Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies Stephen Farnsworth shared his political predictions with Washington, D.C.-based radio station WTOP. In the segment, titled “Primary in Virginia,” Farnsworth said, “I think Nikki Haley will do better in Virginia than she will do in most of the other states on Super Tuesday.”