What's New @ UMW Archives

An Invitation to Have Coffee with the President

September 11, 2019 by jlaiacon

UMW President Troy Paino. Photo by Norm Shafer.

From the Office of the President:

Dear UMW Faculty and Staff,

Last year I launched a series of coffee talks with faculty and staff to create a direct line of communication between the President’s Office and people who lead our core educational mission. The conversations were invaluable to me as we worked collectively to shape our strategic vision, establish community values, and share the challenges and opportunities before Mary Washington.

A new series of coffee talks will kick off on Wednesday, September 18, at 9:30 a.m. in Monroe Hall, Room 111. I welcome all faculty and staff to join me for informal, open discussion of the topics of greatest interest to those who attend. Occasionally, the coffees will focus on a particular issue facing us or may include other leaders who represent areas critical to institutional progress. Additional upcoming opportunities include:

Mon., Oct. 21 10:30-11:30 a.m., Hurley Convergence Center, Room 210
Wed., Nov. 20 4-5 p.m., Stafford Campus, South Building, Room 210
Thurs., Nov. 21 2:30-3:30 p.m., Trinkle Hall, Room 207

My goal is to engage in the most transparent and direct lines of communication possible so that all members of UMW are equally informed and engaged in making the University the best place it can be. Whatever the event, I commit to candid conversation and intensive listening.

I hope to see you there. Your insights and involvement are not only welcome but also necessary for strong institutional leadership.

Sincerely,

Troy D. Paino
President

Belmont Hosts Loan from National Arts Club

September 11, 2019 by jlaiacon

Study, by Gari Melchers

A striking portrait of a woman of color entitled Study by Gari Melchers will be featured in an upcoming spotlight exhibition scheduled for October 25 through January 5, 2020. The loan is made possible thanks to the generosity of The National Arts Club, New York. The painting appears for the first time at Gari Melchers Home and Studio.

When it came to subjects of his own choosing, Melchers usually rejected conventional standards of beauty in favor of working-class types, but this well-turned-out woman, with her handsome and serene bearing, is an exception. Joanna Catron, who curates the show, says that “although Study was executed in the era of women’s suffrage, it represents a class of American Impressionist painting that perpetuates an old-fashioned view of woman as an object of beauty, or in this case, a ‘study’ in beauty, with no attempt to individualize personality.” The identity and nationality of the black model is unknown, and this is the only known instance in which she sat for the painter.

The mission of The National Arts Club is to foster public interest in the fine arts. It was founded in 1898 by a group of distinguished artists and patrons who conceived the clubhouse as a gathering place to welcome artists of all kinds, as well as art lovers. The National Arts Club took as its residence the historic Samuel Tilden Mansion at Grammercy Park, New York.

In order to build a stellar collection of American art, esteemed artists were invited to submit a representative example of their work in return for a life membership. Melchers was invited to join the NAC in 1917, which he readily accepted with his submission of Study. As the majority of the painter members of the NAC were American Impressionists, Melchers chose an example of singular beauty that could compete with the best.

The exhibition is Included with Museum admission. Contact: Joanna Catron at jcatron@umw.edu or 540 654-1841

College of Education Puts Out Call for Proposals for STREAM Conference Oct. 26

September 11, 2019 by jlaiacon

The College of Education will host our new STREAM Conference on Saturday, October 26, 2019 from 9 to 1 p.m. STREAM education takes STEM and expands it to include reading and the arts because we know those are other important ways to teach 21^st century skills to our students. We are currently putting out a call for proposals for our conference. We are looking for faculty, teachers, administrators, coaches, librarians…anyone who has innovative and engaging ideas they want to share with other educators in the area that use STREAM education to promote 21^st century skills in the classroom. Ideas for sessions include using augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, and the design process to enhance teaching and learning in schools.

There will be 3 different types of sessions for which we need presenters:

Open sessions – where participants can come in and gets hands-on experience building activities or learning skills with the help of an expert. This is a time to play and explore with new ideas.
Workshop – where participants are walked through an activity and leave with something they can take into their classroom. This is more structured than the open session.
Presentations – participants can hear about ideas and strategies that are being used in the classroom and how they can integrate them into theirs.

Please share with educators who you believe would be great potential presenters. We are looking for presenters from all different subjects and grade levels. They can go to https://sites.google.com/view/coestreamconference/home for more information and to fill out the call-for-presenters form. We will be taking proposals until September 20, 2019. Presenters will be notified by September 27, 2019 if their proposal was accepted for this year’s conference.

Please contact Kristina Peck, Director of Clinical Experiences, at (540) 654-1351 or kpeck@umw.edu if you have any questions.

Barnes & Noble Bookstore Grand Opening

September 11, 2019 by jlaiacon

Barnes & Noble and University of Mary Washington invite you to celebrate the grand opening of the campus bookstore! On October 3, 2019, from 12-2 PM, join us in a variety of activities and chances to win prizes, and welcome bookstore manager Cameisha Chin. There will be:

A scavenger hunt
Prize drawings every half hour
Learning stations for textbook ordering through Faculty Enlight

Ms. Chin can be reached at cchin2@umw.edu.

Belmont Hosts Talk on Debt to the Musical Past

September 9, 2019 by jlaiacon

Gari Melchers Home and Studio hosts Musical Borrowings: Tribute or Plagiarism? a talk on the intriguing history of parodies, tributes, and highway robbery in music, presented by UMW Professor of Musicology Brooks Kuykendall, on Sunday, October 27 in the Pavilion at Belmont, 2 p.m. Admission is free of charge.

“Music is always about other music—perhaps sometimes too much so,” Kuykendall states, citing Handel, whose reputation is blighted because of his “indebtedness” to other composers. Kuykendall echoes T. S. Eliot in the contention that “good composers borrow; great composers steal,” adding that sometimes an allusion to other music is integral to a new artistic statement; sometimes it’s just funny. Kuykendall will share imagery and audio examples in his exploration of “borrowings” from Handel to Pharrell, via Puccini and Peter Sellers.

Brooks Kuykendall is professor and chair of the UMW music department. He received his Ph.D. in Musicology from Cornell University, and his research has concentrated on British music in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, in particular Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Walton, and Gilbert & Sullivan. He blogs on musical textual issues at www.settlingscoresblog.net.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio is a 28-acre estate and former residence of the artist Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne. The property, which is operated by the University of Mary Washington, is both a Virginia Historic Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. Located at 224 Washington St. in Falmouth, Virginia, a quarter mile west of the intersection of U.S. 1 and U.S. 17, it is open daily with an admission charge.

Center for Community Engagement Formal Launch Sept. 9

September 5, 2019 by jlaiacon

The Center for Community Engagement will have a formal launch on September 9. The featured event is a talk by Dr. Andrew Seligsohn, president of Campus Compact, which supports higher education institutions across the nation as they work to increase collaborative relationships with their communities and support their students to commit to lives of active citizenship. Dr. Seligsohn’s talk will be held in the UC’s Chandler Ballroom at 4 p.m., followed by a reception and open house in the Center for Community Engagement suite (Suite 320, University Center). For more information about the launch or CCE, please visit https://academics.umw.edu/communityengagement/.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio Awarded $15,000 by Stafford Tourism

September 4, 2019 by jlaiacon

Gari Melchers Home and Studio will host Art After Hours on Thursday, September 26 from 6-8 p.m. GMHS received $10,000 from Stafford Tourism for the program, as well as another $5,000 for its group marketing program.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio has been awarded $15,000 in tourism sponsorships by Stafford County. The sponsorships were made available as part of Stafford County’s tourism policy and program.

Established in December 2018, the program invites profit and nonprofit organizations to design programs or events that encourage visitors to Stafford. GMHS’s group marketing program received $5,000 in tourism sponsorships, while its Art After Hours Expanded events received $10,000.

Taking place on September 26 from 6-8 p.m., the next Art After Hours features live music by a local band on the lawn. Guests can take a stroll through the gardens and grounds, tour the art galleries and enjoy local food trucks, beer and wine. The event is free, but registration is required. For more information, please visit https://www.garimelchers.org/news/calendar-of-events/.

Tickets on Sale for UMW Theatre’s The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised]

September 4, 2019 by jlaiacon

UMW Theatre presents The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised]
By Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield
September 19-29, Pay-What-You-Can Preview September 18

A company of actors storms the stage and takes on the Bard of Avon—37 plays and 154 sonnets—in a 97-minute madcap romp through the entire canon (but not the one you studied in English class). Fasten your seatbelts and hang on for dear life as you take one of the wildest and goofiest rides in the theatre. The Bard may be rolling in his grave, but you’ll be rolling in the aisles for The Complete Works of Shakespeare, abridged, revised.

“If you like Shakespeare, you’ll like this show. If you hate Shakespeare, you’ll love this show!”
—The Today Show

“Wildly funny. Masterful!” —The Los Angeles Times

Tickets will be made available online, over the phone and in person at the Klein Theatre Box Office starting September 5, 2019. The Klein Theatre Box Office is open Monday – Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm.

28th District Senate Debate Tonight at UMW’s Stafford Campus

September 4, 2019 by jlaiacon

The University of Mary Washington will host four debates in the coming weeks between candidates running this November for Fredericksburg-area seats in the Senate of Virginia and the Commonwealth’s House of Delegates.

The first, the 28th District Senate Debate, will take place this evening, Thursday, Sept. 5, inside University Hall at UMW’s Stafford Campus, 121 University Boulevard.

Two area House race debates will follow. The 28th District House Debate on Wednesday, Sept. 18, and the 88th District House Debate on Friday, Sept. 20, will take place on UMW’s Fredericksburg campus in Lee Hall, Room 411. On Tuesday, Oct. 29, the 17th District Senate Debate will be held in Monroe Hall, Room 346, also on the Fredericksburg Campus.

All four debates will begin at 7 p.m.

Incumbent Sen. Richard Stuart, a Republican, will square off against Democrat Qasim Rashid, as they contend for the Virginia Senate seat in District 28, which covers parts of Spotsylvania, Stafford, Prince William, Westmoreland and King George counties.

Stuart, a lawyer who grew up in Virginia’s Northern Neck, is a military veteran who worked as Westmoreland County Commonwealth’s Attorney. He chairs the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee, vice-chairs the Courts of Justice Committee, and serves on the Finance, Commerce and Labor and Rules committees. Rashid, a human rights lawyer and the author of multiple books, has worked to promote interfaith dialogue. He is vying to become the first Muslim American elected to the Virginia State Senate.

Mary Talks: The Chinese Dream and the New Silk Road

September 4, 2019 by jlaiacon

Join us (on campus or online!) for the first Mary Talk of the 2019-20 academic year.

Dr. Elizabeth Larus, professor of political science and international affairs and a 2019 Fulbright recipient, will present “The Chinese Dream and the New Silk Road.”

The Chinese Dream is Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s goal of national rejuvenation with the aim of restoring China to its historical place as a great power. To help meet this goal, China is building a New Silk Road to expand its commercial and political influence and to have a more prominent status and role in global affairs. Some analysts see the project as an effort to remake the global balance of power, and as the costs of the proposed project have skyrocketed, opposition has grown in some participant countries.

Wednesday, September 11
7:00-8:30 p.m.
Digital Auditorium,
Hurley Convergence Center
On Campus

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. The lecture will end at approximately 8 p.m., allowing time for a Q&A session with Professor Larus. Please join us for light refreshments at the conclusion of the program. This event is free, but registration is requested so we will know to expect you. If you haven’t already, register today!

You can attend this Talk either in person or online! To attend on campus, click “Register to Attend in Person” below. If you instead would like to view the Talk online (either live or at a later time), click “Register to View Online,” and you will receive a link to view the online video.

We look forward to seeing you either on campus or online!

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