Staff Advisory Council Updates
This weekend, August 7-9, is Virginia tax-free back to school weekend. Please take advantage of this and pick up a few extra items to be placed in our collection boxes for the back-to-school drive.
Nominations are still being accepted for the Larry Atkins “We Couldn’t Do It Without You” award. Follow this link to get to the nomination form.
Please contact any S.A.C. member with questions.
Textbook Rentals Now Available
Spread the news! Students now can rent textbooks through the UMW Bookstore, both in-store and online, saving both money and time. Visit www.umw.edu/bookstore to learn more.
Club Carnival, Aug. 26
All campus departments are invited to participate in the fall 2015 Club Carnival Fair! The event will be on Wednesday, Aug. 26 from 5-7 p.m. on Ball Circle. Set up for department tables will begin at 3:30 p.m., but all tables must be set by 5 p.m. for the start of the event. If you wish to host a table at Club Carnival, please login to myUMW and register at the following form: https://orgsync.com/49951/forms/152142
Please send any questions to mpetter@umw.edu
Farewell for Melina Downs, Aug. 10
Melina Downs Makes a Move
From public relations to public school
Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Probably not, if the fifth graders are the ones in Melina Downs’ classroom at Locust Grove Elementary School!
Melina, who has worked for her alma mater eight years, will be writing lesson plans instead of press releases and posting on the blackboard instead of EagleVision screens. With a freshly minted MA in education from UMW, 2015, Melina has landed a full-time job close to home as a fifth-grade teacher at the school she attended and the school her children will be attending.
For nearly a decade, Melina has been an invaluable asset to UMW, first on the Stafford campus and, later, in Fredericksburg. Our media manager, she manages to squeeze a lot into each day, including longtime and dedicated service to the Leadership Colloquium and to the Staff Advisory Council.
Many of you all across campus have been touched by Melina’s energy and smile. Help us send her off in style. Please drop by University Relations, suite 300 in Eagle Village, after lunch on Monday, Aug. 10. From 1 to 3 p.m, we will offer Blackstone coffee and delectable desserts.
UMW Families Attend Engineering-Maker Camp
University of Mary Washington kids got their first taste of 3-D printing and robotics last week when they attended an Engineering-Maker Camp at the Stafford campus.
The College of Education offered the free two-day camp to University employees’ kids where they learned about 3-D design, scanning and printing; basic wiring and circuit-building; built electronic books, paintings and greeting cards and built simple motor-powered robots, among other activities.
“The camp went very well,” said Professor of Education George Meadows, who led the camp. “I think the kids really enjoyed working with the variety of technology we were able to introduce them to.”
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- Students test the drawbots they built from motors, markers and recyclable materials. Photos by George Meadows.
Staff Advisory Council Updates
Larry Atkins Award Nominations
Nominations are open for the annual “We Couldn’t Do it Without You” Larry Atkins award. Nominations are open until Sept. 10. Please go to: http://bit.ly/1h7G8If
UMW Back-to-School Drive
The S.A.C. is currently collecting donations for the annual back-to-school drive that ends Aug. 28. In cooperation with Stafford County Schools and Apple Federal Systems, our donated school supplies will be distributed to the most needed places. Each campus will have a LARGE yellow box that will be used to store donated items and Stafford county will pick them up.
Box locations:
Fredericksburg campus — GW hall main entrance and various small boxes across campus
Stafford campus — South building
Dahlgren campus — lobby
Needed Items:
Pencils – Pens – Crayons – Paper (large rule) – Folders – binders – Glue – Glue sticks – Tissue – Colored pencils – Calculators – Backpacks
*Aug. 7 – 9 is the tax free weekend to shop for back to school items
“Go Set a Watchman” Book Discussion, Aug. 5
Join Gary Richards at the University Bookstore for a group discussion of “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper Lee on Aug. 5 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Lee Hall. RSVP by Friday, July 31 to (540) 654-1631 or books@umw.edu.
Students Present Research at Annual Symposium
Have you ever gotten exasperated while waiting to be seated at a restaurant? It’s a universal problem that has frustrated customers and owners around the globe.
Senior Evan Mays is working to help restaurants figure out what causes long wait times. The computer science major spent the spring and summer semesters collecting data at Seacobeck Dining Hall. He used information from customers’ wireless devices to estimate the number of people visiting the restaurant and the amount of time they stayed.
The research project, “Predicting Wait Times with Wi-Fi Network Traffic,” was a win for Mays, who received first place for his presentation at the annual Summer Science Institute Research Symposium on Wednesday, July 22. His mentor was Jennifer Polack, professor of computer science.
As for Seacobeck Hall, Mays has a suggestion on how the dining hall can minimize its wait times: Open a second register during peak hours.
Mays was one of 18 presenters whose research projects ranged from examining soil pollution at a mining site to analyzing the Japanese yen/U.S. dollar exchange rate.
Other winners included:
Second Place Oral Presentation: Samuel Clark, “Optimization of SELEX Parameters for RNA Aptamer Selection, Advisor: Randall Reif, assistant professor of chemistry
First Place Poster Presentation: Kristina Krumpos, “Genetically Engineering a Plasmid Expression Vector for Nuclear Localization Studies,” Advisor: Stephen Gallik, professor of biology
Second Place Poster Presentation: Taylor McConnell, “Analysis of Potential Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Native Plants at an Acid Mine Drainage Site along Contrary Creek, Virginia,” Advisor: Melanie Szulczewski, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences
UMW School Supplies Drive Starting Now
As you go out and gather school supplies for your own students, please think to pick up an extra pack of paper or colored pencils, etc. to drop in our collection boxes for Back to School Days @ UMW. The
S. A. C. is sponsoring the collection of elementary school level supplies to help needy students in the area this year. The members of the S. A. C. have been asked to put a collection box out in their area to collect items. We need all items necessary for back to school, including backpacks, tissue boxes, paper packs, pencils, colored pencils, crayons and composition books.
We appreciate everyone’s effort to support those less fortunate in our area. This program will run until the end of August.
Thanks!
Your Staff Advisory Council members