Category: Professional Notes

Cathy Finn-Derecki, Curtiss Grymala, and Jim Groom — UMW’s web team and UMW Blogs architect  — gave a presentation on the philosophical and strategic drivers behind the new UMW Web site on October 15, 2011 at the 3rd annual edUi Conference in Richmond. The presentation, entitled “University Web Site to University Web Life” talked about how the new system paves the way for a growing integration between the external image of the University and its real-time academic activities online. Also presented were the specific WordPress tools developed exclusively at UMW for scaling WordPress for multiple networks. The ideas were well-received and sparked lively discussion regarding free speech, censorship, and the changing nature of higher education online branding in the open environment of today’s web.

Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Great Lives Lecture Series, has an article in the October issue of Writer’s Digest magazine. The article, “Wish You Were Here,” satirizes the supposed glamour of a published author’s life. The issue is available at http://www.writersdigestshop.com/product/writers-digest-october-2011-pdf-issue/.

Shields will appear at the National Press Club’s 34th Annual Book Fair and Authors’ Night on Tuesday, November 15 in connection with his new biography, “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life.” He also will appear at the Miami International Book Fair and at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C. in November.

Cate Brewer, visiting instructor of theatre and dance, recently filmed an episode of “Twisted Fate,” formerly known as “The Day That Changed My Life,” to air on Lifetime Networks this fall.  People who have encountered dramatic incidents, from accidents to miracles, are at the focus of the six-part, one-hour series.

UMW mathematics major Kathryn Dillinger won second place for her poster presentation at the Shenandoah Undergraduate Mathematics and Statistics (SUMS) conference held at James Madison University on Saturday, October 29.  Her poster, titled Profiting with Options Using the Black-Scholes Equation, details her work completed during the Summer Science Institute of 2011 under the guidance of Dr. Leo Lee.

W. Brown Morton III, UMW professor emeritus, has been elected Vice-Chair of the recently formed Loudoun Heritage Commission, a body created by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors to address matters of natural and cultural heritage in Loudoun County.

Brown Morton will also present a paper, “Beyond History:  Success and Failure in Historic Preservation,” on Friday, October 28 at the Master Builder Dialogues: Preserving America presented by The Carpenters’ Company of the City and County of Philadelphia in collaboration with Drexel University and the National Park Service.