FredTech and the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce invite you to The Nature of Insight: An Evening with Gary Klein on May 12 at 5:30 p.m. at The Silk Mill. Registration required by calling (540) 373-9400 or emailing sheri@fredericksburgchamber.org. Click the flyer to learn more.
Phi Beta Kappa Inducts New Members
The University of Mary Washington chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa of Virginia, recently inducted 46 students into the chapter. Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society.
Members of the Kappa Chapter of Virginia at the 2014 induction ceremony.
Phi Beta Kappa was founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776 and has since upheld the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression, sponsoring activities to advance the study of the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences. The society invites the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America’s leading colleges and universities for membership.
The UMW chapter, Kappa of Virginia, selects its members based on rigorous scrutiny of students’ academic achievements as demonstrated through grade point averages.
New members of Kappa of Virginia include:
Benjamin Blalock
Kathleen E. Busch
Danielle P. DeSimone
Danielle C. DeVille
Emily M. Farnsworth
Shannan M. Feight
Elisa Fuhrken
Tabitha Glinski
Gabriella Graham
Elizabeth Green
Charlotte Hageman
Felicia Hamn
Claire Harrington
Elizabeth Henry
Phillip Hitt
Max Huemer
Alicia Izaguirre
Katherine Johnson
Eun-Mi Ju
Anna Kania*
Erin Keener
Celeste Kelly
Jared Kline
Katie Lebling
Catherine LeBouton
Emma Leheney
Daniel Lipscomb
Ellynn Loftus
Sarah R. Marzec
Paige H. R. McKinsey
Melissa Mittelman*
Jerome M. Mueller
Sidney A. Mullis
Emma C. Oestreicher
Leanna J. Papp
Lauren I. Pettengill
Robin R. Ramey
Jordan W. Reece
Hannah W. Riddle
Alexandra M. Ritter
Brittany Scites
Brittany Simmons
Kimberly Slater
Mollie E. Welty
Margaret Wilder
Kaylee L. Wilsher
*Juniors
Important Dates from HR
Be sure to mark your calendars.
April 18: Deadline for University Recognition Awards nominations
April 23: Administrative Professional Day lunch is in the Faculty Staff Dining Hall 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. We will treat our Admin Professionals to a free lunch to say Thank You for all you do for UMW.
April 24: Take Our Sons & Daughters to Work Day
April 30: Deadline for choosing Hybrid Retirement option
May 1- 23: Open Enrollment for Healthcare. Look for information from DHRM at your home addresses and more UMW announcements
May 12: Employee Appreciation Day picnic is in Ball Circle 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Look for more details in the coming weeks.
May 12: .Summer Flex and Dress Schedule begins and ends on August 11.
Want to Support Expanded VRE Service?
The National Association of Railroad Passengers is working to bring the enjoyable and affordable VRE trains to Fredericksburg JUST FOR YOU! If the VRE Board sees that there is enough support and demand for this, it just might happen! With more vocal support, permanent weekend and expanded weekday VRE service might become reality! Fill out the pledge below to show your support.
Click Here to fill out the pledge. It will take about 30 seconds. Questions? Please contact Maxime Devilliers at mdevilli@mail.umw.edu
Leadership Colloquium @ UMW Updates
Ladies,
We’ve been busy making plans to give you ways to connect between November events. Please join us for one of the following events or take a look at our new blog so that you may be inspired for a lifetime of leadership.
- Join our team for Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build on Saturday, May 3 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Email acordray@umw.edu or call (540) 654-1242.
- Attend our Quarterly Networking Event on Thursday, May 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Stevenson Ridge. We’ll watch Sheryl Sandberg’s TED Talk on “Lean In” and discuss. The cost is $10 and includes spirits and appetizers. Click here to register.
- Check out our new blog at umw.edu/lcpw with practical leadership topics.
- Join our LinkedIn group to keep the conversations going.
Sincerely,
The Leadership Colloquium @ UMW Team
Staff Advisory Council Updates
Doug Searcy and Baldwin
Faculty and Staff Mixer, April 24
The Staff Advisory Council invites you to join your University of Mary Washington colleagues for a faculty and staff mixer on April 24 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Sunken Well Tavern.
The Eagle Has Landed
The eagle strikes again! This time, the eagle landed on Doug Searcy’s desk. Watch out, you could be next! Click here to find out more.
Larry Atkins Award
The deadline for nominations for the Larry Atkins Award is today at 5 p.m.! Please take a minute to give a shout out to your teammates who go above and beyond and set a positive example for the rest of us. Click here to access the form.
Fourteen Students Inducted into Pi Mu Epsilon
Fourteen students have been inducted into the University of Mary Washington chapter of Pi Mu Epsilon, the national mathematics honorary society:
Jonathan R. Blauvelt
Samuel G. Carolus-Hager
Michelle F. Craft
Christopher A. Dingus
William A. Etcho
Mattson C. Fields
Kimberly D. Hildebrand
Christopher A. Hunt
George A. Marché
Jerome M. Mueller
Emily P. Nykorchuk
Christina I. Panagopulos
Maureen E. Sunderland
Rachel E. Youmans
Melody Denhere, assistant professor of mathematics, and Liane Houghtalin, professor of classics, were inducted as faculty members of the society.
Student to Spend 10 Months in Germany
Michael Crawford (left) is pictured here with his thesis advisor Stephen Davies, associate professor of computer science.
University of Mary Washington senior Michael Crawford will travel to Leipzig, Germany later this year thanks to a competitive scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Services, known as DAAD. Crawford will work alongside scientists to study how cow grazing affects plant biodiversity of grasslands.
Crawford will work from October 2014 until July 2015 at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in the Department of Ecological Modelling for a scientist named Volker Grimm.
In working for Grimm, Crawford will work to simplify an existing ecological simulation that details how certain plants grow or do not grow in conjunction with cow grazing.
“To illustrate, a slow growing plant that tastes very good to cows will, in aggregate, perform poorly versus plants that grow quickly and taste bad. After some time, it will go extinct,” said Crawford.
While graduate student Felix May showed how the model correctly reproduces reality, Crawford’s job will be to tease out what sub-processes enable it to do so.
“By doing so, we’ll be able to better see the grand design driving this environment and, furthermore, perhaps, take what we learned and apply it to different areas,” Crawford said.
DAAD is the largest German support organization in the field of international academic cooperation, and is a private, federally and state funded, self-governing national agency of the institutions of higher education in Germany. The scholarship is a similar award to a Fulbright scholarship, but is only for Germany.
The organization awards competitive, merit-based grants for use toward study and research in Germany at any of the accredited German institutions of higher education.
Your Fifth Year: How College Graduates Can Discover and Live Their Dreams
Robert Azzarito, director of the Campus Christian Community, will sign copies of his recently published book on Wednesday, April 23, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the University Bookstore, Lee Hall. Titled Your Fifth Year: How College Graduates Can Discover and Live Their Dreams, the book offers advice on post-graduation options. For more information contact the Bookstore at 654-1017.
News from Human Resources
Leadership UMW:
New this fall …LEADERSHIP UMW… our very own professional development program for UMW employees. Leadership UMW will pilot its first cohort of 12 faculty and staff in September 2014. Participants will complete self- and multi-rater feedback assessments, establish development plans, learn how to motivate and improve team performance, learn the inner workings of UMW, and partner with a senior-level UMW mentor. Make an investment in YOU! Applications are now being accepted.
Visit the Leadership UMW page for more information and the online application.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: APRIL 15, 2014
Mark Your Calendars:
- Administrative Professional Day: The University will provide a complimentary lunch to our administrative support professionals, on Wednesday, April 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Faculty Staff Dining Hall. Supervisors are encouraged to send their administrative support professionals for their free lunch.
- The Administrative Professional Seminar Program at Germanna Community College is April 24. While each department would be responsible for the registration fee for their employee(s), because of our ever increasing attendance, UMW will receive a $18 discount per person ($71 rather than $89). In order to receive the discounts please write UMW for Chapter Name on the registration form. The fee includes the day’s events as well as a continental breakfast and boxed lunch. The registration deadline is April 15. Here is the PDF form: 2014 Admin Prof Seminar Program.
- Annual Employee Appreciation Day on Monday, May 12 – more details to come!