UMW President Troy Paino showed his support for both teams in a specially made Devil-Goat Day T-shirt. Photo by Tom Rothenberg.

First-year University of Mary Washington student Brianna Miles had a plan for besting her opponent in the Rocky River Log Roll challenge – keep her fleet planted and move her body just a bit. And it worked!

The giant inflatable game was one of many matches set up last week on Jefferson Square for a uniquely UMW competition called Devil-Goat Day.

“Everyone I talked to was excited about it,” Miles, who’s studying historic preservation and art history, said of the event, a tradition that dates back to the 1920s. “I’ve only been here a little while and I’m already having fun.”

Her victory counted toward the Goats’ tally in the high-energy annual contest of school spirit, where Devils, who graduate in odd years, and Goats, who graduate in even years, vie to collect the most points for participation and wins. The top-scoring team walks away with bragging rights … until the following year when Devil-Goat Day happens all over again. Read more.

As guests view the poster projects, student presenters explain methodology and answer questions. (Sam Cahill photo.)

Posters and presentations filled UMW’s Hurley Convergence Center on Friday, April 21, 2023. Complex art projects transformed the ground floor of the Cedric Rucker University Center. Music emanated from the Weatherly Wing of Seacobeck Hall, and master’s research projects on effective teaching methods stretched into the evening.

In the newly named Leigh Frackelton Classroom in Woodard Hall, a Case Competition offered bragging rights and cash awards.

It all added up to UMW’s 17th annual Research and Creativity Symposium – a campuswide celebration of all things academic – by students from all three UMW colleges, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Education, and the College of Business.

“Essentially, every building on campus has a showcase that day,” said Assistant Dean of Arts and Sciences Betsy Lewis, who leads the efforts and experience annually.

Here are some scenes from the day’s events. Read more.

First-place winner Chris Camarota, center, holds the oversized check with award sponsors and judges Craig Schneibolk, left, and Andrew Blate. (Suzanne Carr Rossi photo.)

The challenge: Take three separate California-based street-sweeping companies and combine them into one new business with the equipment, personnel, contracts and management to succeed despite potential competition from the biggest player in the industry.

That was the “case” posed in the fifth annual Case Competition, a contest in which teams of UMW business students tackle a business problem, consider obstacles and possible solutions, then present their findings orally and via projected slides. It’s a chance for them to use all their accumulated knowledge and skills, deploy their public speaking powers, and think on their feet to answer judges’ questions.

There’s a monetary reward, too – cash prizes totaling $5,000, sponsored by alumnus Andrew Blate ’04 and business partner Craig Schneibolk of the D.C.-area remodeling company Beautiful Home Services. Blate and Schneibolk started an endowed fund that eventually will cover award money for each year’s event, and they also judged this year’s contest along with business alumni Linda Blakemore ’84 and Rob Whitt ’93.

To make it to this year’s Case Competition – held Friday, April 21, 2023, in the Leigh Frackelton Classroom of Woodard Hall as part of UMW’s 17th annual Research and Creativity Symposium – each of five teams had to win a preliminary competition with fellow students in several business classes. The five teams that competed this year were well-prepared, with carefully researched solutions and polished presentations. Read more.

The University of Mary Washington dedicated the Leigh Frackelton Classroom on April 20 in honor of Professor Emeritus Leigh Frackelton (center) and the Gibbons Team Room, thanks to a generous gift from Bill, Susie and Michelle Gibbons ’16. Both spaces are in Woodard Hall, home of UMW’s College of Business. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

When Professor Emeritus Leigh Frackelton retired from the University of Mary Washington’s College of Business (COB) in 2021, the pandemic left little room for fanfare.

Rob Strassheim ’96 wanted something more for his former professor, who taught business law and accounting at the University for 35 years.

“Leigh is an institution here at Mary Washington,” said Strassheim, who now serves as vice rector of UMW’s Board of Visitors. He helped raise tens of thousands of dollars to name a classroom for Frackelton. “I felt this would be a fantastic endeavor to thank someone who has been so impactful in the classroom and in the community.”

Former students and colleagues, family and friends finally had the chance to fête the longtime faculty member, dedicating the Leigh Frackelton Classroom, as well as the Gibbons Team Room, in Woodard Hall on Thursday, April 20. Read more.

Bagpipe music will fill the air and graduates will don their brand-new blue regalia, as the University of Mary Washington prepares for its 112th Commencement, scheduled for May 6, 2023. About 1,000 graduates and their families will celebrate their academic accomplishments and student success in person on Ball Circle during the Saturday ceremony.

A livestream will be available to watch from home, as well as in several indoor viewing locations on campus, including Dodd Auditorium, Lee Hall Room 414 and the Colonnade Room in the Cedric Rucker University Center.

This year’s class includes more than 100 first-generation students who will be recognized with a white stole. Graduates in the Honors Program – celebrating its 10th anniversary this year – will don a light blue stole.

UMW students also customize their regalia by decorating their mortarboards and wearing colorful cords to signify their induction into various honor societies. These include the national senior honor society Mortarboard; the oldest national honor society, Phi Beta Kappa; the international honor society in education, Kappa Delta Pi; and an international honor society for business, Beta Gamma Sigma. Students top off their graduation-day style with academic hoods in colors that correspond to particular degrees worn over the traditional commencement gown. And while the gowns are now blue, they are also “green” – made from recycled water bottles by Virginia-based company Oak Hall.

Friends and family from the commonwealth, across the United States and around the world will be able to watch this year’s graduates make the iconic Mary Washington procession from the Bell Tower at the tip of Double Drive to the ceremony site at the center of campus. And viewers can share congratulations with all the graduates who cross the stage on Ball Circle using #UMWGrads on social media, with well wishes broadcast on site prior to the ceremony start at 9 a.m. EST.

Tune in on the livestream starting at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 6.

UMW students participated in a six-day event to recognize ASPIRE, an acronym that stands for Mary Washington’s core values. Pictured here, from left to right: newly elected SGA President Jaylyn Long ’24, who conceived the idea for ASPIRE Week; current SGA President Joey Zeldin ’23; Martina Pugh; Conner Rogers; and Carlos Nunes. Photo by Sam Cahill.

From the moment University of Mary Washington students become Eagles, they’re guided by a set of values called “ASPIRE.”

The acronym, which stands for traits like accountability, respect and engagement, is so key to UMW, thought junior and Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President Jaylyn Long, that the values – and students’ commitment to them – could use a little refreshing. Her solution, ASPIRE Week, a six-day celebration representing each attribute, débuted this spring. Packed with educational opportunities, tabling events, banner signings and more, the week and its themes allowed other campus organizations to integrate their own functions into each day.

“I really enjoyed the support from campus partners,” said Long, now the newly elected SGA president. “It created a deeper connection among student leaders.”

Here’s how she spelled out the week. Read more.

Bill Leighty

Bill Leighty has served two Virginia governors as chief of staff, shared moments with the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and Tom Hanks and enjoyed the satisfaction of a career promoting the common good. Now he and wife Marti Leighty, a professor emerita at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, are helping students from their alma mater begin their own public service careers at the state level.

Both former members of Mary Washington’s Board of Visitors, they’ve begun the William H. Leighty ’78 and Martha Kearns Leighty ’75 Fellows Program.

The endowed fellowship will encourage University of Mary Washington juniors and seniors to intern with state legislators, public officials or state agencies. Students from any major can apply for the program, which will provide a $5,000 stipend and up to six academic credit hours for a semester-long or summer internship.

To kick off fundraising for the fellowship endowment, the Leightys have made a $50,000 philanthropic commitment. They’re also donating proceeds from Bill Leighty’s just-published book, Capitol Secrets: Leadership Wisdom From a Lifetime of Public Service, a memoir packed with anecdotes and insider details about getting things done at the highest levels of state government.

The Leightys were on campus Thursday, April 13, for a daylong introduction of the fellowship and an advance opportunity for members of the UMW community to obtain the book, which was officially released the next day. Events included a master class in public service, a panel discussion with alumni who serve at the local and state levels, and an evening reception and book-signing. Read more.

UMW’s ‘Dear Colleagues: Title IX Exhibition’ traces the 50-year history of Title IX, which prohibited discrimination based on sex at federally funded institutions of education. The exhibit will remain on display through the end of April for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.

The University of Mary Washington is showcasing a half-century of Title IX history this April in recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Offices across campus came together to create two Simpson Library cases spotlighting the 1972 law prohibiting discrimination based on sex at federally funded educational institutions. Since then, Title IX has expanded its reach, from addressing inequities for women and girls to providing protections from sexual assault and harassment, and considering bias based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

Nowhere has the movement unfolded faster than on college campuses.

UMW’s “Dear Colleagues: Title IX Exhibition” traces the 50-year journey, from the story of the legislation’s inception to the mark it has made at Mary Washington, where events stressing the need for education, advocacy and prevention take place throughout the year. Featuring mementos from campus functions like Denim Day, the Red Sand Project and Take Back the Night, the display also pays tribute to Title IX trailblazers, the movement’s inherent connection to women’s athletics and more. Read more.

The newest members of UMW’s Kappa of Virginia chapter of Phi Beta Kappa pose at Mary Washington’s Heslep Amphitheatre. Phi Beta Kappa membership is a prestigious honor, with chapters existing at just 10 percent of America’s colleges and universities, and fewer than 10 percent of students at each of those schools being selected for membership.

The newest members of the nation’s oldest academic honor society celebrated their induction recently, as UMW’s Kappa of Virginia chapter announced its 2023 Phi Beta Kappa Society cohort.

“These are among our most outstanding junior and senior students, all of whom have demonstrated particular strength in both the disciplines and methods of the liberal arts and sciences. We’re tremendously proud of these wonderfully accomplished students,” said Kappa Chapter President, Professor of English and Department of English and Linguistic​s Chair Jonathan Levin.

The induction ceremony on Sunday, April 2, featured a keynote by Virginia Poet Laureate Emerita Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda ’69, an honorary Kappa of Virginia member. Her reading included Monarch Butterfly, inspired by her own work with her husband to establish a habitat for the insects, and meant as guiding words to the newest inductees.

It concludes with “Let me be a leading light; a luminary, destined to survive.” Read more.

UMW senior Hannah Harris has been named Scholar of the Year by the Virginias Collegiate Honors Council. A biochemistry and English literature double major, she is headed to medical school in the fall.

In its 10 years’ existence, the University of Mary Washington’s Honors Program has frequently been recognized for excellence. But one accolade was elusive: having a student earn the Virginias Collegiate Honors Council Scholar of the Year award.

That milestone is now achieved. Hannah Harris ’23 is this year’s winner of the top award for collegiate honors program students in Virginia and West Virginia. The VCHC presented the award at its annual conference, held April 14 and 15 at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.

UMW Honors Program co-directors Kelli Slunt, professor of chemistry, and Mara Scanlon, professor of English, nominated Harris for the VCHC Scholar of the Year award with high confidence that she could win.

A biochemistry and English literature double major headed to medical school in the fall, Harris had lived the Honors Program ideals of academic excellence, leadership and intellectual curiosity for four years at UMW. But she faced keen competition for the award from finalists representing nine other colleges and universities.

In mid-March, Harris learned she would receive the honor – finding out on the fourth anniversary of the Destination Day event at which, as a high school senior from Botetourt County near Roanoke, she’d committed to attending UMW as an Honors Program student. Read more.