The University of Mary Washington will participate in Virginia250, the Commonwealth’s official commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence, with a series of events beginning Tuesday, Jan. 20, with a lecture on Paul Revere’s midnight ride.

Part of the University’s William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series, the Paul Revere presentation featuring Kostya Kennedy, author of The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night that Saved America, takes place on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium. It will examine the complex reality behind one of America’s founding legends, revealing that multiple riders participated in the crucial intelligence mission of 1775.

Two additional Great Lives lectures – one in February and one in March – will also honor the Revolutionary War era and U.S. independence.

On Thursday, Feb. 26, author Matthew Pearl will discuss the 1776 kidnapping of Jemima Boone, daughter of frontier pioneer Daniel Boone, and its impact on westward expansion during the war’s early days. Historian Brooke Barbier will give a lecture on Tuesday, March 17, about John Hancock, examining the merchant-turned-patriot who helped unite ambivalent colonists behind independence.

All Great Lives lectures are held at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium. They are free, open to the public and typically include question-and-answer sessions and book-signings.

The Piscopo Rodgers Science Fellows Program at the University of Mary Washington has opened applications to incoming undergraduate students who want to pursue research and careers in medicine, biology, chemistry, computer science, earth and environmental science, mathematics or physics. The program, which offers funding of up to $6,600 per year for four years of undergraduate study, is the only one of its kind in Virginia, offering funding and opportunities for undergraduate students that are typically only available for graduate-level degrees and advanced work in fields of study.

“This isn’t just another scholarship program – it’s a comprehensive interdisciplinary research training experience that prepares science students for graduate school and research careers while building lifelong connections with faculty mentors and fellow scholars,” said UMW Director of Sciences Lynn Lewis.

Piscopo Rodgers Fellows are involved in research beginning in their first year through a foundational research methods course and interdisciplinary shadowing of research teams. In their second year, students discover professional opportunities through a STEM career exploration seminar and engage in interdisciplinary research with other Piscopo Rodgers Fellows. Through coursework and hands-on faculty-mentored research experiences including the Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59 Summer Science Institute (SSI), students conduct research, present their work at conferences and learn to communicate complex ideas to many audiences.

Learn more about the undergraduate science fellowship.

A $3 million grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will accelerate the completion of The Papers of James Monroe.

The funding will allow the 10-volume series, an expansive resource on America’s fifth president, to be completed early – in 2031, rather than 2035 as previously slated – in time to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Monroe’s death.

The five-year grant was awarded under the NEH’s Scholarly Editions in American History: Chairman’s Special Initiative program. It will fund personnel and other expenses related to the completion of the final three volumes of The Papers of James Monroe project, administered by the University of Mary Washington’s James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library in historic Fredericksburg.

“This transformative grant is a testament to the excellent work done by staff of The Papers of James Monroe over more than three decades,” said University Museums Executive Director Scott Harris. “We are grateful for the opportunity this presents to complete the project much sooner than would have been possible otherwise.”

Read more about the NEH grant.

When Mallory Thompson ’26 was interviewed for the Rae Elizabeth Smith ’59 Washington Scholarship, she asked the committee what experiences she shouldn’t miss out on as a University of Mary Washington student.

“They told me, unanimously, that I should study abroad,” said Thompson, a senior biomedical sciences major from Spotsylvania who went on to earn the prestigious award that provides full tuition, fees, and housing and dining for in-state students. “Receiving that scholarship totally changed my college experience.”

She also recently earned the Grellet C. Simpson International Scholarship, which supported her studies during the fall semester at the University College Cork in Ireland. At this world-class research institution, she took courses in anatomy and philosophy for her practical ethics minor, along with Celtic cultural classes like Irish mythology and step-dancing, as well as a lesser known form of traditional folk dancing known as “Irish sets.”

“I’m so grateful to my donors for providing me with these experiences,” Thompson said. An aspiring physician, she joined UMW’s Pre-Health Society, volunteers with Red Cross blood drives and Mary Washington Healthcare’s emergency department and traveled with Global Medical Brigades to treat patients in rural Panama – and dances with the Performing Arts Company for fun.

Read more about student’s journey from cancer research to Celtic culture.

The free session will cover:

• The “Intern” Trap: Why treating AI like a search engine leads to workforce complacency and how to fix it.
• The Bubble vs. Reality: A clear-eyed look at the massive infrastructure spending compared to headlines about workforce changes.
• Redefining Success: Moving beyond simple time-savings (“Hard ROI”) to capture cultural innovation (“Squishy ROI”).
• The Transformation Loop: A preview of the framework needed to ensure your workforce adapts rather than stagnates.

“We are living through the largest infrastructure build-out in history, yet many companies are finding that AI adoption is yielding more ‘busy work’ than actual productivity,” said Director of the Center for AI and the Liberal Arts and Professor of Communication Anand Rao, who will lead the session. “The problem isn’t the technology—it’s the management strategy behind it.”

Read more about AI Strategy Session.

A new program aimed at placing air conditioning units in the homes of Fredericksburg area residents this summer has taken flight.

Dubbed “Eagle Air Support” by organizers, the joint effort of the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank and the University of Mary Washington will reuse surplus window air conditioners from UMW’s Fredericksburg campus.

The program will make use of air conditioning units that were once in student rooms in Russell and Marshall Halls. The two campus residence halls will be demolished this school year to make way for a new theatre as the academic home for Mary Washington’s Department of Theatre and Dance.

“As we take down two storied buildings on campus, we’ve looked for ways to salvage usable materials, including the air conditioning units, as well as items and bricks that preserve memories for alumni,” said UMW Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Capital Outlay Brian Gorham. “UMW Facilities Operations staff started with the process of removing and refurbishing these AC units to benefit the community.”

The Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank has obtained 50 of the units from the University through the Virginia State Surplus Donation Program. The units will be made available at no cost to the food bank’s member pantries for distribution to their clients in the spring and summer months.

Read more about this partnership.

We’re excited to share that in spring 2026, we plan to launch UMW’s official generative AI platform, based on Cloudforce’s NebulaONE. As an enterprise solution, across all of UMW’s core functions, this platform will be developed deliberately to support broad access to AI, enable advanced academic and pedagogical innovation, and maintain clear governance and data protections.

We anticipate that there will be numerous applications and conversations about the AI tools as they become available, so we wanted to send this preview announcement so you can factor in the tools and the toolkit to your spring courses and projects. Our implementation of NebulaONE will provide a general-purpose learning and productivity tool, available to all current students, faculty and staff. We’ll update you when the log-in access is ready.

Once it’s launched, you’ll have access to a set of generative AI tools, available campus-wide, without the need for separate purchases or log-ins. We’ll have GPT types for a variety of projects, including documents, images, data analysis and more, all through a secure, campus-managed environment for teaching, learning, research, and administrative work within artificial intelligence tools and platforms. Through training sessions, you’ll be able to advance your skills in AI in this controlled environment, while expanding the resources available in your courses. These offerings will stem from Digital Learning Services, in coordination with the Center for AI and the Liberal Arts.

We appreciate the leadership of the AI working group in bringing this project forward. This group will continue to play a central role in refining how AI is used, identifying future expansion points, and shaping best practices, ensuring it adheres to our high standards of academic integrity.

We look forward to sending the official announcement of the launch of our instance of NebulaONE in the spring semester and offering initial training sessions, access instruction and FAQs. If you have interest in being an early adopter as you return from winter break, please contact Chief Information Officer Jonathan Piersol at piersol@umw.edu or Center for AI and the Liberal Arts Director Anand Rao at arao@umw.edu.