The following message is from the QEP Co-chairs:

Dear Colleagues,

Destination UMW is upon us. We will have admitted students and their families on campus to seal the deal and confirm their reasons for making UMW their choice for their undergraduate experience. Shortly after these weekends, students who accept their admission will begin to arrive on campus for orientation. It may seem strange to talk about our Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Life After Mary Washington, at these opening events, but the truth is that it can’t be too early to introduce these competencies that are so essential to life and career success. While we will refrain from bombarding students with the “after” portion of our message, there can’t be enough talk about the competencies that align with their liberal arts experience and that will shape their time here as well as who they will become after graduation.

Let’s consider meaningful connections. We want our students to actively seek to create awareness of and appreciation for meaningful interactions with others that enrich their sense of community. What better time to impress upon them the importance of engaging in this way than when they first arrive? This competency as defined for our community highlights meaningful connections grounded in our ASPIRE values that promote respect for self and others.

This QEP is about connecting the liberal arts experience to work and life and it starts with connecting to each other.

For more information on the QEP and the definitions of the competencies, please visit the QEP website.

Regards,

Kimberly Young, Associate Provost for Career & Workforce
and
Jennifer Walker, Associate Professor of Special Education | Program Director of Special Education

 

The Honors Program at the University of Mary Washington asks much from its participants. But the high-achieving, intellectually curious students admitted into the selective program say everything they do as Honors Scholars rewards their efforts many times over.

That was the overwhelming message from eight program alumni and several current participants as the UMW Honors Program celebrated its 10th anniversary Saturday, March 25, with a panel discussion, video and reception at Seacobeck Hall.

Conceived as a way to recruit top achievers out of high school – and keep them engaged and enthusiastic during their full four years at Mary Washington – the Honors Program began in the 2012-13 academic year with a goal of admitting 50 qualified students. Seventy-five signed up, recalled Professor of Chemistry and Honors Program Director Kelli Slunt, and the Honors Program has exceeded expectations ever since.

“The program is thriving, and I’m just so thrilled with all the changes that have happened in the past 10 years,” Slunt told the audience gathered in Seacobeck’s Weatherly Wing. Key to that success, she said, has been the addition of Professor of English Mara Scanlon as associate director and Kasey Morello as program coordinator. Scanlon coined the program’s motto, “Be More,” and it couldn’t be more apt. Read more.

The courses are ready and the stakes are high. The University of Mary Washington’s Dahlgren Campus awaits 125 students who will compete for a prize purse of $7,500 at the second annual High School Innovation Challenge @ Dahlgren.

The challenge, hosted by Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD), UMW, MITRE Corporation, the Fredericksburg Regional Military Affairs Council and King George Economic Development Authority, will take place March 31 through April 1.

Students from 22 schools, comprising 25 teams, will program robots to infiltrate hostile territory from the sea and navigate a challenging environment to recover a piece of gear that is critical to national security during a simulated exercise called a Special Technical Object Recovery Mission (STORM).

They come from the following public, private and governor’s high schools spanning from Richmond to Stafford and throughout the Northern Neck: Bridging Communities Governor’s School; Chesapeake Governor’s School – Bowling Green and Warsaw; Caroline, Colonial Beach, Courtland, Essex, James Monroe, King & Queen, King George, Lancaster, Massaponax, Mountain View, North Stafford, Northumberland, Rappahannock, Riverbend, Spotsylvania and Westmoreland high schools; Fredericksburg Academy; Fredericksburg Christian School and Northern Neck Regional Technical Center. Read more.

For senior biomedical sciences major Karissa Highlander, the University of Mary Washington has been the ideal place to be an athlete and a scholar.

Highlander has pursued a research-intensive undergraduate science career while also starting at center on a women’s basketball team that this year soared to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Recruited from Osbourn Park High School in Manassas by Coach Deena Applebury, Highlander visited campus and soaked in the basketball program’s close-knit atmosphere. But what sealed the deal was the chance to participate in UMW’s Jepson Scholars Program, allowing her to do chemistry and microbiology research on alternative treatments for antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis.

And she’s found something else at UMW – a bonus family. When a military transfer moved her parents to California halfway through Highlander’s college career, people from both her athletic and academic spheres helped fill the void. Read more.

Students interested in becoming high-school STEM-subject teachers now qualify for up to two years of funding at the University of Mary Washington, with the establishment of the Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program at UMW. Funded by a $1.4 million five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, the Noyce Program brings a nationally acclaimed teacher preparation program to one of Virginia’s historic teacher colleges, which now excels in undergraduate education across the liberal arts and sciences.

“This NSF-funded project will create powerful learning experiences for students who want to teach in STEM fields. I am deeply grateful to the team that spearheaded this project. This will help address the serious teacher shortage in these high-demand disciplines,” said UMW College of Education Dean Pete Kelly.

UMW, in partnership with Germanna Community College, will use the NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program funds to recruit, train and retain teachers of science, technology, engineering and math in secondary schools considered high-need.

Current and future UMW students and Germanna transfer students – whether majoring in education or not – can be considered for the program, which provides up to $24,000 per student in each of their last two undergraduate years. In return for each year’s scholarship, Noyce Scholars commit to two years of teaching biology, chemistry, computer science, Earth science, math or physics in qualifying schools. Read more.

UMW’s 33rd annual Multicultural Fair is once again set to bring a taste of the world to campus on Saturday, April 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. However, because of Saturday’s soggy forecast, events and vendors that typically set up outside have been moved indoors.

Rain locations include the Chandler Ballroom and other locations within the Cedric Rucker University Center, Lee Hall Underground and Monroe 116. For more information on alternate entertainment locations, please see the Multicultural Fair FAQ page.

The fair generally attracts 5,000 to 6,000 people each year, and exemplifies the University of Mary Washington’s commitment to enhancing multicultural awareness.

Typically held in early April, the Fair provides an entire day devoted to multicultural entertainment, children’s activities, international and American food, and ethnic craft vendors.

Each year the Multicultural Student Affairs and James Farmer Multicultural Center work closely with UMW student organizations, faculty and staff in planning festivities. The University also partners with the greater Fredericksburg community, which plays an integral role in successfully implementing the fair.

Flip the Field is an experiential learning opportunity for student-athletes. However, the script is flipped. Our student-athletes are the educators. Coaches and their teams of student-athletes are engaging faculty, administrators, students and staff on their field of play by hosting immersions, clinics and friendly contests.

This event is being held in conjunction with UMW’s ASPIRE Week, a celebration of Mary Washington’s shared community values, and Division III Week, an opportunity to observe the positive impact DIII athletics and student-athletes have on the campus and surrounding community.

You do not have to be athletic to participate in Flip the Field events. Come and gain first-hand knowledge of the amount of time and effort student-athletes dedicate to the sports they love.  The event will take place Monday, April 10, through Thursday, April 13, at UMW Athletic Facilities all across campus. Just show up (see the calendar of events with locations below) or RSVP via Google forms. 

Monday, April 10, 3:15 to 4 p.m.: Join the Women’s Lacrosse team on their game field at the Battleground Complex (which is next to the baseball stadium) to learn basic stick work like how to pass, catch and shoot. 

Monday, April 10, 6 to 7 p.m.: Join the Field Hockey team on “A” field (practice turf behind the Tennis Center) to learn basic field hockey drills and small game play.

Tuesday, April 11, 2 to 3 p.m.: Join the Men’s and Women’s Swimming teams at Goolrick Natatorium (in Goolrick Hall) to learn the basics of each of the four strokes, along with drills for each stroke to learn correct technique, underwater kicks, dives, breath control and side breathing and finish with a 25 or 50 race.

Tuesday, April 11, 2:15 to 3 p.m.: Join the Men’s Lacrosse team on “A” field (practice turf behind the Tennis Center) to learn how to pass, catch and shoot, instructions on how to dodge and play “3x” (a non-contact 3-on-3 version of lacrosse with soft balls and mini nets). 

Tuesday, April 11, 3 to 4 p.m.: Join the Baseball team at V. Earl Dickinson Stadium at the Battleground Complex for a tutorial on throwing, fielding and hitting. 

Tuesday, April 11, 3 to 4 p.m.: Join the Esports team in the Esports Arena (University Center 306) to learn how our Esports competitive teams warm up for their matches, learn what goes into an effective practice week and practice a hands-on skill of warming up using the computer application software Aim Labs. 

Tuesday, April 11, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Join the Women’s basketball team on Goolrick court (in Goolrick Hall) to participate in a free throw competition, 3 man weave with layups, up and under, reverse layups and 10’ jumpers.

Tuesday, April 11, 4 to 5 p.m.: Join the Volleyball team in the Anderson Center for a skills demonstration and play an intermixed game with some of the players.  

Wednesday, April 12, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Join the Men’s Soccer team on C Field (next to the tennis center) for a dribbling, passing and kicking tutorial.

Wednesday, April 12, 4 to 5 p.m.: Join the Rugby team on the Rugby field to learn passing skills and participate in a version of flag rugby.

Thursday, April 13, 3 to 4 p.m.: Join the Esports team in the Esports Arena (University Center 306) to learn how our Esports competitive teams warm up for their matches, learn what goes into an effective practice week and practice a hands-on skill of warming up using the computer application software Aim Labs. 

Thursday, April 13, 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.: Join the Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams in the Indoor Tennis Center for a tennis clinic and pickleball tutorial (if you have your own rackets and/or paddles please bring them. There are a limited number of loaner rackets available.)  

Thursday, April 13, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.: Join the Softball team at their game field for a tutorial on throwing, fielding and hitting.

Dear Colleagues,

As we gear up for implementation of the Quality Enhancement Plan, Life After Mary Washington, many of you are wondering what role the competencies play in our conversation with students about life after they graduate from UMW.  Think of the competencies as a new part of our university vocabulary that can be used to describe the connection between their academic and co-curricular activities and their life’s next chapter.

What we’ve learned from our recent research is that our students can benefit from more clarity in how they communicate their academic and co-curricular experience as they seek entry to graduate school, service, or the world of work.  Making these connections between classroom assignments, a student leadership position, or an athletic team can be difficult, and we can be here to help.

Faculty, please consider any existing assignments you have and how they may align with the competencies.  For instance, an assignment that requires students to work in a team to solve a problem may align with the teamwork competency.  This assignment could be marked in canvas or your syllabus with the “teamwork” graphic icon.

To make this process easy and give you the most flexibility, the icons are available in the Canvas Commons.  Special thanks to Miriam Liss in the Department of Psychology for suggesting that we make the icons available in Canvas for easier access.  Jerry Slezak and the team from Digital Learning Support were able to place the icons in Canvas Commons for anyone in the UMW Community to access and use in course and co-curricular communications.  The directions to access Canvas Commons after logging into Canvas are:

1. Click on the “Commons” icon at the bottom of the toolbar on the left side of the Canvas window
2. Search for “UMW QEP”
3. The Icon page should be visible as the first choice – click on it to view it
4. To download icons from this page, right click the icon image and choose “Save Image As…” from the menu that appears
5. Alternately, Faculty could download this page directly to any Canvas course they like which would import all the icon files into the “Files” area of their course.

We hope this will make things easier for all of us to incorporate the competencies into our work with students.  For more information on the QEP and the definitions of the competencies, please visit the QEP website.

Regards,
Kimberly Young, Associate Provost for Career & Workforce
Jennifer Walker, Associate Professor of Special Education | Program Director of Special Education