Nearly 100 students from the University of Mary Washington presented research findings at the Fifth Annual Research and Creativity Day on the Fredericksburg campus in April. Students, who represented 28 areas of study, showcased their research about topics ranging from the plight of women in Afghanistan to the effect of acid mine drainage on sediments and soils of Contrary Creek, Va.

Two University of Mary Washington Mock Trial Team members were honored recently at the American Mock Trial Association National Championship in Washington D.C.

The James Monroe Museum will hold an open house on Saturday, April 30 to celebrate the 253rd anniversary of James Monroe’s birth and the newly renovated Memorial Garden. The event, which is free, will be held from 2 to 4:30 p.m.

When Fredericksburg police officers were called to a parking lot dispute, the officers were lucky to have University of Mary Washington junior Joel Carrillo on hand to translate-and help resolve the quarrel involving a Spanish-speaking couple.

University of Mary Washington junior Rachel Luehrs is one of only 10 students selected from a national pool of applicants to receive a prestigious SHEAR/Mellon Undergraduate Fellowship.

Alexandra Rutherford, psychology professor at York University, will give the keynote lecture "Science, Social Change and Psychology: Why History Matters" on Friday, April 22 at 4 p.m. during the University of Mary Washington’s 26th annual Psi Chi research symposium in Chandler Hall, Room 102.

Caressa Cameron, winner of the Miss America Crown in 2010, will perform with the University of Mary Washington Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday, April 16. The concert, which is part of the William M. Anderson Jr. Celebrity Series, will be held at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall, Dodd Auditorium.

A 1972 alumna of the University of Mary Washington has made a $1 million bequest to encourage and support UMW students seeking to study abroad. The donor, who asked to remain anonymous, wishes to enhance opportunities and resources for international education, while increasing the percentage of undergraduate students who study abroad or participate in international learning experiences.

Claudia Emerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and English professor at the University of Mary Washington, has been selected to receive a prestigious fellowship awarded by the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

Fifty years ago this May, 13 people boarded a bus in Washington, D.C. The Freedom Riders, as they are called, challenged segregation on buses and in waiting rooms throughout the South. Some of those riders are using their experiences to motivate students today – to show them that the actions of one person can make a difference.