April 6, 2026

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Davidson Pens Articles for Leading Academic Journals and National Security Publications

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Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson with his book, "America's Entangling Alliances: 1787 to the Present."

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson with his book, “America’s Entangling Alliances: 1787 to the Present.”

Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson’s article “The 2021 G20 and Italy” (co-authored with Carla Monteleone of the University of Palermo) was just published in the academic journal Contemporary Italian Politics:  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23248823.2022.2047255

An essay Dr. Davidson wrote for the national security publication War on the Rocks on NATO after the Ukraine War has also been published: https://warontherocks.com/2022/04/the-end-of-strategic-cacophony-the-russo-ukrainian-war-and-the-future-of-nato/

Sushma Subramanian Speaks About Book and Article on Podcasts

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Associate Professor of Communication Sushma Subramanian

Associate Professor of Communication Sushma Subramanian

Associate Professor of Communication and Digital Studies Sushma Subramanian has appeared on several podcasts to talk about her book How to Feel: The Science and Meaning of Touch and her article, “Who Gets the Child?,” which ran in The Washington Post.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/who-gets-the-child-with-author-sushma-subramanian/id1541360422?i=1000555549830

Al-Tikriti Hosts MAOW Conference

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Mid-Atlantic Ottomanist Workshop (MAOW) MugOn April 1 and 2, the University of Mary Washington hosted the Third Annual Mid-Atlantic Ottomanist Workshop (MAOW), organized by Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti. Participants were thrilled with the University’s hosting and will remember UMW fondly as they continue their research and careers. The “hybrid” format was a challenge at times (including a Zoom bomber), but the conference featured 23 presenters, four moderators, and roughly 50 individuals who also “zoomed” in remotely from around the world over two days. Presentations came in from throughout the USA, as well as from the UK, Armenia and Turkey. Virginia colleagues from UVA, William & Mary, JMU, Washington & Lee, George Mason and VCU attended, as well as regional colleagues from Salisbury, Wake Forest, SUNY Binghamton, Rutgers University-Newark (remote), Auburn, Florida (remote), Hopkins, Princeton, NYU and Chicago.
For further information, including conference schedule and paper abstracts, feel free to check out the conference website: https://maow.umwblogs.org/.

Singh Publishes Article “Arguing BDS in the Undergraduate Seminar”

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Department of Political Science and International Affairs Associate Professor Ranjit Singh

Department of Political Science and International Affairs Associate Professor Ranjit Singh

Political Science and International Affairs Associate Professor Ranjit Singh published a peer-reviewed article “Arguing BDS in the Undergraduate Seminar” in the Spring 2022 Review of Middle East Studies, a journal published by the Middle East Studies Association (MESA).

Singh’s article discusses benefits and approaches to teaching students about one of the most controversial aspects of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) movement seeking to pressure Israel to comply with international law and end the occupation of Palestinians. The article is based in Singh’s experience teaching a 2019 UMW seminar that largely focused on debates surrounding BDS. Despite the heated controversy, Singh argues social scientists should not shy from teaching such movements because they affect political behavior, shed light on academia and the need for interdisciplinary approaches, engage issues of professorial authority, and open a portal to the ethics of dissent in the era of Black Lives Matter.

An earlier version of this paper was sponsored by MESA’s Committee for Undergraduate Middle East Studies, and presented virtually at the 2020 annual MESA conference.

Kuykendall Returns to New College, Oxford to Speak on Gilbert & Sullivan

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The 2018 Gilbert & Sullivan panel at New College, Oxford: (l-r) Brooks Kuykendall (UMW); Benedict Taylor (University of Edinburgh); and Martyn Strachan (Edinburgh).

The 2018 Gilbert & Sullivan panel at New College, Oxford: (l-r) Brooks Kuykendall (UMW); Benedict Taylor (University of Edinburgh); and Martyn Strachan (Edinburgh).

Brooks Kuykendall, professor and chair of the Music Department, spoke at the fourth biennial conference The London Stage and the Nineteenth Century World, hosted by New College Oxford (April 6-8, 2022). As at the previous three conferences, he was on a panel of specialists of the Gilbert & Sullivan operas. For 2022, his presentation was entitled “‘The end of my capability in that class of piece’: the Gilbert/Sullivan collaboration at its breaking point.” The panel, convened by Dr. Benedict Taylor (University of Edinburgh) concerned the genre developed by Gilbert & Sullivan, which is the topic of a larger project of Kuykendall’s.

Most of Kuykendall’s research has centered around British music in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, extending beyond Gilbert & Sullivan to the music of Elgar, Stanford, Vaughan Williams, Walton, and Britten, among others; he also writes a blog on textual issues in music, Settling Scores.

 

 

Barrenechea Presents at University of Glasgow Symposium

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Professor of English Antonio Barrenechea

Professor of English Antonio Barrenechea

On April 11, 2022, Antonio Barrenechea, Professor of English, was an invited speaker at the University of Glasgow symposium “Fictional Maximalism and the Americas: New Voices, New Perspectives.” His presentation, “Literature of the Americas as Maximalist Discipline” discussed scholarly and historiographical encyclopedism in hemispheric American literary studies.

Larus Speaks at Stafford Rotary

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Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Freund Larus

Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs Elizabeth Freund Larus

Elizabeth Freund Larus, Professor Emerita of Political Science and International Affairs, was guest speaker at the March 9 meeting of the Stafford Rotary. Larus offered an account of her career path and stressed the value of mentorship. She also commented on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, claiming that fighting would likely intensify in the coming weeks.

Farnsworth Comments in the News

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Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth

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 commented on the following news stories:

Youngkin vetoes bipartisan bills while stoking political rancor (The Washington Post)

Youngkin Sprints Further to the Right with Unprecedented Vetoes and Amendments (Virginia Democrats)

Inside the budget battle (Cardinal News)

‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law (CTV News)

Liss Study Featured in USA News Hub

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Professor of Psychological Science Miriam Liss

Professor of Psychological Science Miriam Liss

Professor of Psychological Science Miriam Liss had a study featured in an article on USA News Hub, entitled, “Are you anxious, introverted or just a ‘highly sensitive person’?”

One study from the University of Mary Washington in the U.S. examined people’s relationships with their parents and their current mental health. It found that high sensitivity significantly increased the chances of developing depression for those who had grown up with poor parental care. For people in loving homes, however, high sensitivity had no effect at all. Read more.