Join fellow faculty and staff members in celebrating longtime Dean of Students Cedric Rucker, who retires this month, at the “Cedric Rucker University Center Naming Celebration” on Sunday, June 5, at 11 a.m., on the front steps of the University Center at the Ball Circle entrance. Cedric Bernard Rucker has made immeasurable positive impacts on thousands of students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff and the local community during his 33-year career working at Mary Washington, serving 23 years as Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life and 10 years as Associate Dean of Student Activities, as well as in numerous other roles. Read more.

The University of Mary Washington’s New Student Orientation welcomes all incoming first-year and transfer students and their families to campus. The Division of Student Affairs and the Orientation Staff are committed to making students and their families feel welcomed, involved and connected to the University. At Orientation, students meet other incoming and current students, register for academic courses and learn more about the UMW campus, policies and traditions.

First-Year Orientation Dates for 2022 are as follows:
Session 1: June 13-14
Session 2: June 16-17
Session 3: June 21-22
Session 4: June 23-24
Session 5: June 27-28

Read more about UMW Orientation.

The numbers are officially in! Last month, the University of Mary Washington community came together on Tuesday, April 5, in celebration of the fifth annual Mary Wash Giving Day, a 24-hour fundraising extravaganza to support UMW students, faculty and programs.

Now that all online, mailed and phoned-in contributions have been counted, the day’s official results show that this year’s total broke previous Giving Day records: $670,811, from 2,882 gifts made by 2,093 supporters, including 479 first-time donors.

Generous donations were made by alumni, parents, faculty, staff, students and friends to 122 different areas across the University, including academic, arts, athletic, service, career and cultural programs. “It really highlights how broad interests are at Mary Washington,” Director of Annual Giving Shelby Orlando ’14 said. “Our supporters can give anywhere their passion lies.” Read more.

For Rob Strassheim ’96 and his wife, Sarah Gildersleeve Strassheim ’01, the idea to honor one of their favorite faculty members began with a passed note. Not in class, Rob says, but during a meeting nearly a decade ago about naming classrooms in Woodard Hall, now home of University of Mary Washington’s College of Business, or COB.

“I remember it vividly,” says Rob, who serves on UMW’s Board of Visitors. He recalls slipping a piece of paper to his wife with the name of someone who made a tremendous impact on both of their lives and professional careers: Professor Emeritus of Business Galen deGraff.

But the contents of that note didn’t stay secret for long. The couple soon embarked on a fundraising effort to name a classroom after their former professor, who taught business courses, primarily finance, for over two decades at the University until he retired in 2015. COB recently dedicated the Galen deGraff Classroom, thanks to generous gifts made by Mary Washington alumni, friends and former colleagues. The Strassheims also led a fundraising campaign to create an endowed scholarship in Dr. deGraff’s name to help recruit out-of-state students who plan to major in business.

“Dr. deGraff and the University of Mary Washington changed my trajectory,” says Sarah, now global chief financial officer for Merkle, a worldwide customer experience management company. “As a professor, he saw something in me that I didn’t have the confidence to recognize in myself.” Read more.

Keegan Kearl tapped out calculations on his cellphone while Christopher Ashley and Rodrigo Alexander Veliz hunched over a laptop. All three, along with their Spotsylvania High School teammates, were intent on making a robot do their bidding.

The teens were among more than 70 students representing 12 districts – from Richmond to North Stafford, and throughout the Northern Neck – at last weekend’s début Innovation Challenge @Dahlgren, conceived as an annual event. Fredericksburg Christian School took home the top prize – $3,000, a ginormous trophy and a year’s worth of bragging rights – in the two-day robotics-style competition aimed at boosting STEM learning.

“This is an opportunity to show how important these skills and capabilities are,” University of Mary Washington College of Business Lecturer John Burrow told the competitors at the start of the contest, held at UMW’s Dahlgren Campus. “Your goals are important to the nation, the region and the community.” Read more.

University of Mary Washington alumna Kianna Davis ’13 was in her Westmoreland Hall second-floor room, a year away from graduation, when she created her first-ever meme.

Within 24 hours, the image she shared of a young, fresh-faced Justin Timberlake – emblazoned with a now famous play on the song lyrics to It’s Gonna Be Me – had earned tens of thousands of social media interactions. Even her friends, family and fellow Eagles were sharing it, unaware that Davis had made it.

“I had been planning my busy April calendar and posted it as a joke to my friends,” said Davis, who majored in business at UMW and helped plan concerts and other campus events through Giant Productions and the University Programming Board. Still a dedicated fan of Timberlake’s former boy band, *NSYNC, she “had no idea what the meme would become.” Read more.