Tamara Garrett ’23 arranges boxed macaroni and cheese, cans of soup and packaged snacks on shelves. With the fall semester underway at the University of Mary Washington, she wants to ensure that the Gwen Hale Resource Center (GHRC) is fully stocked.

“Most people don’t like to ask for help, but we want students to know that no matter what they need, Mary Washington has resources available for them,” said Garrett, who graduated in May. Now working on the UMW campus as part of AmeriCorps, she’s focused on alleviating food insecurity among college students.

Years in the making, GHRC began on a much smaller scale to address that very issue, thanks to a caring UMW administrator who noticed students who didn’t have enough to eat. Members of the Mary Washington community banded together, donating funds totaling $9,000 to open and operate a two-room food pantry in the attic of Lee Hall in 2019, joining other public and private colleges and universities across Virginia that have developed similar programs. Committed to carrying out Gwen Hale’s legacy, the University renamed the space in her honor after she passed away in 2021. Read more.

It was only 5 a.m. when Matt Serafin and his parents drove away from their home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, headed for Matt’s first year at the University of Mary Washington.

If Tamara and Bob Serafin felt any anxiety about taking the older of their two children to college, Matt wouldn’t have known. Once settled in the car with a semester’s worth of possessions, he went right back to sleep.

When the Serafin family arrived at UMW, they and hundreds more students, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents and other helpers found the unloading process running smoothly.

This year’s entering class numbers 770, with another 260 transfer students. But several student groups had arrived on campus days early to participate in pre-semester activities, and returning upperclass students will move in this weekend. So first-year move-in day – Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023 – was chill both figuratively and literally. Read more.

A liberal arts and sciences education is more valuable than ever.

That’s what University of Mary Washington President Troy Paino confirmed to an auditorium full of faculty and staff during the annual welcome-back presentation ushering in the 2023-24 academic year. The state-of-the-university address, held August 21, 2023, in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium, covered record-setting fundraising efforts, campus construction, the student experience, life after Mary Washington and more.

“We have alumni, we have friends, we have donors who are so invested in the work we are doing here at Mary Washington,” said Paino, referencing record-breaking fundraising efforts, with more than $21.3 million in gifts and pledges raised during the 2022-23 fiscal year. That number was bolstered by a portion – $6 million – of a transformational $30 million gift from alumna Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59, the largest donation in UMW’s 115-year history.

The funding will help ensure continued student success, Paino said. Among recent accolades, UMW students have received two prestigious Goldwater awards within the past three years and claimed last year’s honor scholar of the year award for both Virginia and West Virginia. The incoming fall 2023 class – numbering just over 1,000 with transfer students included, and boasting an average GPA of 3.75 and SAT score of 1244, and more honors students than ever before – promises to be just as successful. Read more.

One Small Step, powered by StoryCorps, is coming to UMW this fall 2023 to record conversations on campus. The opportunity is open to the campus community and the greater Fredericksburg region, from the University of Mary Washington to Richmond, one of the anchor communities. Read more.

UMW’s Latino Identities Month Kick-off Celebration will take place Friday, Sept. 15, at 4 p.m., in front of Lee Hall. Rain location: Chandler Ballroom, Cedric Rucker University Center.

Join us for an exciting event filled with food, music, and craft vendors! Meet our vibrant community as we kick off this celebration of togetherness and cultural diversity. You will connect, celebrate, and support local artisans as you Indulge in a delightful array of delicious food, groove to the rhythm of lively music, and explore unique crafts from talented vendors. See you there!

Find more information and the entire Latino Identities Month schedule on the James Farmer Multicultural Center website.

The University of Mary Washington has been awarded a three-year, $345,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant for continued publication of The Papers of James Monroe.

The grant, among those announced Aug. 15, 2023, will support the preparation for publication of Volumes Eight and Nine of a projected ten-volume series of Monroe’s papers. Since 1989, UMW researchers have collected, transcribed, annotated and published documents bearing on the life and legacy of Monroe, the nation’s fifth president. Seven volumes have been published to date. Read more.

The University of Mary Washington’s Krista Rodgers is the Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference nominee for 2023 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

The NCAA Woman of the Year program was established in 1991 and honors the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service and leadership of graduating female college athletes from all three divisions. To be eligible, a nominee must have competed and earned a varsity letter in an NCAA-sponsored sport and must have earned her undergraduate degree by Summer 2023. Read more.

The University of Mary Washington is accepting nominations for the Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2023-24. If you would like to nominate a former Eagle great, please use this form: https://www.umweagles.com/hall_of_fame/form. Former athletes must have completed their eligibility no later than 2013 to qualify for this year’s class.

The 27th annual UMW Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 18, 2024 at the Cedric Rucker University Center at 4:00 p.m.

Help Welcome New Students as they Move In! 

Move-In is fast approaching, and Residence Life and Housing would like to invite you to be part of Move-In Crew! Join current students and our Residence Life and Housing team in welcoming our first-year students to our campus community. 

As a part of our Move-In Crew, you will: 

• Assist first-year and transfer students and their guests in unloading belongings from their cars to their new Residence Halls
• Greet and welcome students and their guests as they arrive to campus 

All volunteers will receive a Move-In Crew T-shirt!  

As a part of Move-In Crew, you will be asked to attend a brief training on August 22 and assist with First-Year and Transfer Student Move-In on August 23 from approximately 6:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you can only work for a few hours on the 23rd, that’s okay too!

Lunch will be provided to anyone volunteering for the full move-in period. 

If you are interested in joining us and ringing in the school year with a successful Move-In Day, please reach out to Area Coordinator Lucy Clark at lclark6@umw.edu.