Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history, is currently serving as a short term observer (STO) for the May 8 municipal elections in Durres, Albania. For these elections, he is affiliated with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and will be in the country from 5-12 May, 2011.
Laurie Abeel, associate professor of Graduate Education and Program Director for Advanced Licensure, is also the State Director for Destination ImagiNation (DI), a creative problem solving program for ages four through college level. She and her state board successfully ran the April 2 state tournament, which included 97 teams from around the state, with about 1,500 people attending.
Abeel will take 41 teams from Virginia to Global Finals to be held in May at the University of Tennesee in Knoxville, where more than 1,000 teams from around the country and world will present creative solutions to DI challenges. For more information about DI, go to www.idodi.org.
Please join us in the Trinkle Hall Rotunda on Tuesday, May 10 at 3 p.m. for a reception to recognize Jane Gatewood’s 20 years of service to UMW.
Thanks to her steady and dependable leadership, the Fredericksburg campus Writing Center provided excellent assistance to scores of students on all sorts of writing tasks. She was also a valued resource for the Writing Intensive Committee and for the faculty who sought her assistance in planning and teaching writing intensive courses. To say that her contributions will be missed is an understatement. I hope you can make it to the reception to thank Jane and wish her well as she retires from UMW.
Trinkle Hall Rotunda, Tuesday, May 10 at 3 p.m.
John T. Morello
Michelle L. Howe Pearson, 2011 Colorado Teacher of the Year, spoke at the inaugural College of Education Educator in Residence Lecture and Celebration April 27 at the Stafford campus.
The social studies department chair who teaches at Hulstrom Options K-8 school marks the first Educator in Residence to speak at UMW after the program was created to celebrate graduates and give them the opportunity to interact extensively with an accomplished UMW education alum.
Pearson earned her bachelor of arts degree from Mary Washington in 1991 and has also completed graduate work and continuing education from Delta State University, Adams State College, and Colorado State University.
Kathryn Loesser-Casey, professor of biological sciences, and Debra Hydorn, professor of mathematics, gave the poster presentation “Putting BIO2010 Into Practice: A Course on the Research Process for STEM Majors” at the Association of American Colleges and Universities conference “Engaged STEM Learning: From Promising to Pervasive Practices” held in Miami in March. The poster presentation provided an opportunity for Hydorn and Loesser-Casey to share information about the UMW course, Biology 260 The Research Process, with faculty from across the STEM disciplines.
