Category: What’s New @ UMW

The University of Mary Washington chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa of Virginia, recently inducted 51 students into the chapter.  Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society.

Phi Beta Kappa was founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776 and has since upheld the principles of freedom of inquiry and liberty of thought and expression, sponsoring activities to advance the study of the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences. The society invites the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America’s leading colleges and universities for membership.

The UMW chapter, Kappa of Virginia, selects its members based on rigorous scrutiny of students’ academic achievements as demonstrated through grade point averages.

New members of Kappa of Virginia include:

Brent Arehart

Sarah Bergstresser

Elizaveta Blasser

Erin Boggs

Taylor Bono

Ethan Bottone

Kelly Brown

Morgan Brown

Brittany Byrd

Kevin Cherniawski

Gemma Cohen

Jennifer Crystle

Rita Daniel

Sarah Decker

Mariela DeMaio

Katherine Diemer

Emma Eggers

Rachel Eiker

Natalie Fraize

Abigail Gellene

Amy Gerrard

Melissa Getz

Emily Gibbs

Ryan Green

Emily Hodder

Lauren Holt

Casey Howren

Eric Knapp

Devin LaMoy

Dane Lawhorne

Cooper Lawton

Courtney Lynn

Colin McElhinny

Sarah Mendelsohn

Kathleen Nelson

Julia Pannewitz

Amanda Parker

Alexis Pennings

Hannah Ridenour

Charlotte Rodina

Candice Roland

Bryanne Salazar

Kandra Selby

Elizabeth Storey

Leah Tams

Erin Taylor

Chiara Tornabene

Derek Whitaker

Alexandra Wolfson

Susi Woofter

Rebecca Wright

As part of UMW’s Do One Thing campaign, the Sustainability Office encourages faculty, staff and students to consider a more sustainable way to drink coffee:

Six University of Mary Washington economics majors recently participated in the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ Economics Scholars Program hosted in Dallas, Texas.

Seniors Marissa Yoder and Matt Cronin both participated on the peer review board for the conference. Cronin also presented  his research. Juniors Taylor Knight and Luke Mendelsohn presented their research papers.

Junior Nicole Nunez served as a paper discussant, and junior Roxette Sklavos  as a session chair.  Margaret Ray, professor of economics and director of the UMW Center for Economic Education, served as the faculty sponsor.

The Economics Scholars Program, ESP, is designed to foster the involvement of undergraduate economics students in all facets of economic research. The cornerstone of the ESP is the annual ESP Conference. Since 2007, student scholars and faculty from institutions across the U.S. and Canada have come together to share undergraduate student-initiated or student–faculty co-authored works, ideas about the role of undergraduate research in the curriculum and the challenges and concerns of undergraduates who conduct research.

The UMW Entrepreneurs Club, EagleWorks, and the University of Mary Washington Small Business Development Center joined together to encourage startups among members of the University of Mary Washington student community in a program called the Eagle Startup Challenge. The finalists are Anthony Seippel, Patrick Byrne and Chrophe Perdu (team), Seamus Hooban and Andy Leonard (team), and Daniel Shapiro. They will give pitch-style presentations and announce the winners on April 24, 2013.

The UMW Entrepreneurs Club is a partnership with the University of Mary Washington Office of Entrepreneurship and Business Development in suite 400 in the Eagle Village Executive Offices.Visit the web page at http://economicdevelopment.umw.edu/umw-entrepreneur-club/  for the latest updates.

Four University of Mary Washington political science students presented their research papers at the annual meeting of the Virginia Social Science Association, VSSA, in Richmond on April 6. The students were selected to present through a statewide undergraduate social science writing competition.

The selected students and their papers were:

• Senior Taylor Brannan, “Moral Issues: The Impact Religiosity has on Public Opinion on Abortion”

• Junior Anna Boning, “Race, Age, and Trust in Government”

• Sophomore Benjamin Hermerding, “Class in Modern America: How Perceptions of Social Standing Affect Perspectives On Politics”

• Junior Colin McElhinny, “Partisanship and Foreign Policy: Measuring Public Support for U.S. International Leadership”

Students prepared their papers last fall in Political Science 391, Research and Writing in Political Science, taught by Dr. Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies.