The University of Mary Washington continues its Fulbright tradition with the recent announcements of grants for two alumni.

Emma Bathke ’21 and Olivia Foster ’23 will teach English overseas as participants in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

They are among 28 Mary Washington student Fulbright recipients since 2006, according to Professor of Middle East History Nabil Al-Tikriti and Professor of Biology Dianne Baker. Al-Tikriti and Baker are co-directors of the UMW Fulbright Committee, which works with student candidates to craft compelling applications.

Bathke, an international affairs major with a minor in business German, will travel to Germany in September to teach English. Until then, she’s working for the Library of Congress in the Congressional Research Service. Foster, a history major from Richmond, will teach English in Argentina beginning in March 2024. Read more.

University of Mary Washington Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth and Professor Emeritus of Psychology David Rettinger have received Fulbright grants to teach and share their professional expertise overseas.

Farnsworth, who directs the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at UMW, will travel to Poland to serve his third Fulbright assignment in spring 2024, during a sabbatical from Mary Washington.

At the American Studies Center of the University of Warsaw, he will teach a graduate-level course about U.S. presidential communication regarding domestic and foreign policies. He’ll also look at how presidents use direct communication and the mass media to shape public perceptions of their own characters.

Farnsworth’s Poland assignment falls under the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. It’s his third Fulbright; in 2019 he served in Malaysia as a Fulbright specialist, and in 2006-07 he held a Fulbright research chair in public policy in Canada. Read more.

The University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors approved tuition and fees for the 2023-24 academic year at its May 18, 2023, meeting. Undergraduate tuition will remain the same in the coming year. Graduate tuition will increase 3%, and the auxiliary comprehensive fee and housing and dining fees for all students will increase by 5%.

UMW’s tuition and fee rates are one part of the equation to begin the year with a balanced budget, a requirement for public colleges in Virginia. In addition, the University relies on the state budget, and in recent years has pulled in reserve funding, particularly during the pandemic when enrollment varied.

All three strategies will once again result in a balanced budget to start fiscal year 2024, overcoming a deficit of nearly $7 million. The total is due to inflationary cost increases and changes in base expenses, primarily in energy and dining charges; state-mandated increases in salaries and health insurance premiums as well as minimum wage and administrative system charges for financial, human resources and information technology services; and adjustments to revenue sources from enrollment. Read more.

First-year University of Mary Washington student Tonia Attie has been recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge (ALL IN) as part of the 2023 ALL IN Student Voting Honor Roll. This roster highlights college students doing outstanding work to advance nonpartisan democratic engagement at participating campuses.

Attie joins a group of just 175 students recognized for their voter registration, education and turnout efforts ahead of last year’s midterm elections, which saw a sizable number of young people weighing in at the polls.

A double major in political science and philosophy with a pre-law focus, Attie quickly established herself at UMW. “Having grown up in Fredericksburg, I’ve genuinely always wanted to go to Mary Washington and give back to my hometown,” she said. “As I started looking into college, I just knew that UMW would be the perfect fit for me.” Read more.

The University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation is proud to award its 2023 Book Prize to Heritage and Hoop Skirts: How Natchez Created the Old South by Paul Hardin Kapp. Heritage and Hoop Skirts is a well-researched book that examines how the women of Natchez, Mississippi, underpinned a flagging Depression-era economy through an embellished interpretation of its history. However, Kapp goes well beyond just a simple narrative describing the process but rather weaves, in a wonderfully cohesive way, a complex and compelling story involving not only the Natchez Garden Club but federal Depression-era programs like the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which contributed to this re-imagined narrative.

While preservation efforts associated with selective elements of the built environment proved successful in many instances in Natchez, they did so at the cost of further marginalizing African Americans and perpetuating the myth surrounding the Lost Cause. Far from shying away from these complex issues, Heritage and Hoop Skirts offers a critical lens through which to view these preservation efforts. This book is a timely and relevant resource for preservationists in historic towns across the South who are interested in further understanding the movement during the 1930s and acknowledging how these biases continue to shape historical interpretation and representation today.

Paul Hardin Kapp is an associate professor of architecture in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, as well as the associate director of the Collaborative for Cultural Heritage Management, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kapp also won the UMW Center for Historic Preservation Book Prize in 2013 for SynergiCity: Reinventing the Postindustrial City.

The University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation has awarded this prize annually since 1989 to the book (or books) with the most potential for positively impacting the discipline of historic preservation in the United States. In making its selection, the jury focuses on books that break new ground or contribute to the intellectual vitality of the preservation movement. Winners receive a monetary prize and are invited to give a lecture at UMW. The jury was comprised of preservation academics, professionals, alumni and a current student.

2023 University of Mary Washington Book Prize Committee:
Michael Spencer, Associate Professor of Historic Preservation, University of Mary Washington (Chair)
Christine Henry, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Historic Preservation, University of Mary Washington
Kristen Laise, Executive Director, Belle Grove Plantation
Michelle Magalong, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation, University of Maryland School of Architecture
Andrew Wilkins, Ph.D., RPA, Cultural Resource Specialist, EMPSi
Abigail Zurfluh, UMW Class of 2023, Knight Scholar, Historic Preservation, University of Mary Washington

As more than 1,000 Class of 2023 graduates crossed the stage at UMW’s Commencement to the applause of hundreds of faculty and thousands of family and friends, two students and two faculty received top-of-class honors.

Graduates Hannah Harris and Riley Smith earned the Colgate W. Darden Jr. Award for Academic Achievement for completing their degrees with the highest grade-point average (GPA) in the undergraduate program. Both finished with a perfect 4.0 GPA and are members of the UMW Honors Program and Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest honor society.

In addition, Associate Professor of Chemistry Randall Reif was recognized with the Mary W. Pinschmidt Award, for having had the greatest impact on the lives of the members of the Class of 2023, and Professor and Chair of Theatre and Dance Gregg Stull was named the first Anderson Distinguished Professor. Read more.

The University of Mary Washington is proud of every student graduating this year. UMW is committed to providing a college experience that focuses on what matters most to each individual. As this year’s seniors spread their wings to explore life after Mary Washington, read about some of UMW’s 2023 Superstars, their accomplishments and the people who make this place. Read more.

Faculty members who have served the University of Mary Washington for at least 15 years and who have attained the rank of professor or associate professor are eligible to be considered for emeritus status. This honor, by action of the Board of Visitors, is bestowed this year upon the following distinguished member of the faculty. Read more.

The newest Eagles have landed at the University of Mary Washington, as May 1 marked the annual college decision day.

For the incoming cohort in fall 2023, UMW has named two Washington Scholars and three Alvey Scholars, offering full scholarships to these exceptional students. In addition to earning the scholarships, which are renewable for four years of undergraduate studies with GPA and residential requirements, the students are admitted to the Honors Program and have access to funding for experiential learning opportunities such as study abroad and undergraduate research. Applicants are automatically considered for UMW scholarship opportunities, including these top awards, which are equal to full tuition, fees, room and board.

The Washington Scholarship is available for Virginia residents, with priority to those who apply for admission to UMW by Nov. 15. UMW’s Alvey Scholars program recognizes out-of-state students, again with priority by Nov. 15. Several Alvey Scholarships focus on STEM majors, with generous support from Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59, who has funded 12 Alvey Scholarships during her lifetime and through a transformational estate gift, leaving $30 million to the University of Mary Washington to fund scholars in science, technology, engineering and math through scholarships and undergraduate research.

Many are finalists or semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition, valedictorians and salutatorians, and show promise for providing service and leadership to the University community through extracurricular activities.

Meet the 2023 Washington and Alvey Scholars at UMW. Read more.

Cullen ’90 and Rosemary Seltzer ’91 made a perfect match when they met in college.

Recently, the alumni couple, who will celebrate 30 years of marriage this summer, made another perfect match – this time for the University of Mary Washington’s sixth annual Mary Wash Giving Day. The Seltzers sponsored a dollar-for-dollar match, up to $6,000, to inspire their fellow 1990s alums to give to the Fund for Mary Washington, which addresses the University’s areas of greatest need.

“Mary Washington will always have a special place in our hearts,” said Rosemary, whose sister, Anne Golden Danforth ’94, and daughter, Kate Seltzer ’21, are also alums. “We are delighted our match was met and can’t wait to see what the future holds for our beloved alma mater.”

They were among the 2,224 supporters – a number that includes 455 donors who made their first-ever gift – who came #TogetherUMW to raise a grand total of $621,528 on April 4 to support Mary Washington and its students.

For the first time, donors in all 50 states (plus Washington, D.C.) and seven countries participated in the 24-hour fundraising extravaganza, unlocking a $5,000 gift from Marty ’80 and Vicky Wilder ’80. A total of 2,985 gifts were made to 124 different areas across the University, benefiting academics, arts, athletics, service, career and cultural programs. Read more.