Donzaleigh Abernathy, daughter of civil rights activists who helped launch the American civil rights movement, will give the keynote address as the University of Mary Washington celebrates the life of Martin Luther King Jr. on Wednesday, Jan. 20.

Carlos Del Toro, a member of the UMW Board of Visitors, has been elected vice president of the White House Fellows Foundation and Association. He will coordinate numerous activities, primarily leading the coordination of the White House Fellows Annual Leadership Conference.

Del Toro served as a White House Fellow from 1998-1999. He was assigned as special assistant to the Honorable Jack Lew and Sylvia Matthews, who were the director and deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and today serve as Secretary of the Treasury and Health and Human Services, respectively. As a Fellow, Carlos coordinated closely with staffs in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and Congress, and participated in the development of numerous community, media and congressional roll-out events.

Today, after a 27-year Navy career, Carlos Del Toro is president and CEO of SBG Technology Solutions, one of the fastest-growing IT service providers in the United States.

This week, UMW Men’s Basketball will face a nationally ranked opponent during its arena dedication game on Wednesday, Dec. 16, and face the College of William and Mary’s Division I team at the Kaplan Arena on Friday, Dec. 18.

On Wednesday, the team will host Virginia Wesleyan College, ranked 15^th, during Community Night at 7 p.m. in the Anderson Center’s Ron Rosner Arena, with free admission for all fans. A special ceremony to dedicate the Ron Rosner Arena will take place at halftime. UMW Admissions will be in the main lobby during the game with a prospective student raffle for winter survival gear and application fee waivers to UMW for seniors who have not yet applied.

On Friday, the team will travel to Williamsburg to play the College of William and Mary at 7 p.m. in the Kaplan Arena. Tickets are available at the door for $5. If you plan to attend, wear your UMW blue and gray and sit in the UMW fan section.

Go Eagles!

How do you stay sane during college finals? Do you A) go for a run at the Battleground, B) binge on Blackstone coffee, or C) play in a ballroom of balloons?

This finals week, our students passed the test and chose answer “C” – a ballroom of balloons.

Are you hosting a public university event during the spring 2016 semester? Submissions for the spring 2016 public events calendar are due by Friday, Dec. 11, so the calendar can be shared with local media before the university closes for break.

In the past, events have been submitted to the Office of Media and Public Relations via email. Moving forward, all events will be submitted directly to the UMW Calendar via the calendar submission form. Once submitted, the Office of Media and PR will review the events and approve them for the calendar. All events submitted MUST be marked as PUBLIC in order to be included on the “Public Events Calendar” and be sent to local media contacts and calendars.

Here’s a quick tutorial on how to submit via the form and mark your event as public: https://vimeo.com/145686661. To get started, go to http://www.umw.edu/events/ and click “Post Your Event.”

Questions may be directed to Erika Spivey at espivey@umw.edu or 540/654-1274.