James Farmer Multicultural Center’s Black History Month Celebration
Healing Through History: Recognizing Our Struggles While Celebrating Our Triumphs
The story of the Black experience in the United States has fluctuated between a series of struggles and triumphs. Since arriving to this continent on slave ships, people of African descent have endured hardships and tragedies from slavery to the current mass incarceration epidemic. Despite the many generational systemic injustices, African Americans have provided groundbreaking achievements in the arts, sciences, politics, and entertainment, to name a few, to transform the global community. Join the James Farmer Multicultural Center’s celebration and recognition of these historic, triumphant moments. A full list of events can be found here.
Black History Month Keynote Speaker: Dr. Marceline Catlett, Superintendent of Fredericksburg City Public Schools
Great Lives Continues Jan. 27 with Vincent van Gogh
Painter Vincent van Gogh is among the prominent personalities featured in this year’s William B. Crawley Great Lives lecture series.
The William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series continues this evening, over Vimeo, Thursday, Jan. 27 at 7:30 p.m. with Professor of Art History Marjorie Och providing illuminating insight into the life of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The Barlow & Thomas, P.C. Lecture. The link for Thursday, January 27, 2022, for the talk on Vincent van Gogh is: https://vimeo.com/event/1713863
Vincent van Gogh lived only 37 years (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890), yet his work has had an indisputable influence on artists in the 20th and 21st centuries, perhaps to a greater extent than any previous painter in the West. And his life, while not the origin of the “suffering artist living in a garret” story, codified that fiction into a powerful narrative that haunts any parent whose child says: “I want to go to art school.”
Van Gogh was born into a family of Dutch Reformed ministers, theological students, art dealers, and artists. This family background makes Vincent like so many young men in Europe from antiquity up to that time. As the oldest surviving child of his parents — and a son who bore a family name, Vincent — it was expected that he would continue in the family’s business. Van Gogh tried his hand at each of these professions.
It wasn’t until 1881 that he turned his attention to “artist,” creating nearly 900 paintings and thousands of drawings in his remaining nine years, the most famous of which he produced from 1888 and later, including The Yellow House (1888), Bedroom in Arles (1888), The Night Cafe (1888), The Starry Night (1889), and Wheatfield with Crows (1890). These late paintings have all the trademarks of a “Van Gogh” — brilliant primary colors and evident brushstrokes in repeating patterns that seem to vibrate on the canvas. While color was paramount in his painting, a linear texture was his focus in his drawing in which he creates new techniques for suggesting different qualities of light and the variety of dark in shadows.
Vincent van Gogh, however, was not all about invention. His background, education, and opinions — many of which we can read in his voluminous correspondence — points to an artist embedded in traditions he understood, relished, and resisted. In so many ways, van Gogh offers a vision for us today of forging something new out of the old.
Upcoming lectures include: Jimmy Carter on Feb. 1, Mother Theresa on Feb. 3, Pioneer Female Aviators on Feb. 8 and Homer on Feb. 10. See the full list here.
Due to ongoing concerns regarding the COVID pandemic, the series will continue to use a virtual live-streaming platform for all lectures through at least February 3. Links to the live-stream broadcast may be found on this website. Please consult the website for updates on subsequent lectures.
PLEASE NOTE: After delivery, lectures will be posted on the website as soon as possible after they have been edited (including addition of captions), a process that may take a week or more to complete. Once lectures are uploaded, this will be indicated by an icon in the “Media” column in the lecture listings below.
Students Showcase Volunteer Spirit at MLK Day of Service
Temperatures on Saturday hovered around freezing, while remnants of a recent snowstorm dotted the University of Mary Washington campus. But inside the University Center, warmth and camaraderie emanated from students who took part in UMW’s MLK Day of Service.
Chenin Guber (left) and AJ Gluchowski make bagged lunches for Micah Hospitality Center as part of Saturday’s MLK Day of Service. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.
“During these times of isolation and challenge, it’s so great to see people come together for an important cause,” said sophomore Nathan Francis, a member of the student-run Community Outreach and Resources, or COAR.
That organization teamed up with UMW’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE) and James Farmer Multicultural Center (JFMC) to plan the event, held annually in January to commemorate the birth and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. More than 80 Mary Washington students participated in service projects, sewing scarves and blankets for local schoolchildren, sorting donations for the Bookmobile and preparing materials for a Fairy Godmother Project fundraiser for pediatric cancer. They made reusable grocery bags for the Fredericksburg Food Co-op and organized goods for the Eagle Resource Closet. A team of volunteers also braved the cold to clear tree limbs and branches along the nearby Canal Path.
JFMC Director Marion Sanford welcomed students with a quote from Dr. King. “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” Read more.
Join us to bid farewell to Rose Maddox
Employer Relations Manager Rose Maddox
Please join the Career Center team in wishing farewell to Rose Maddox. After 11 years at UMW, she is moving on to an exciting new opportunity at the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance!
When: Friday, January 28 from 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
Where: The Colonnade Room of the University Center
Read 11/22/63: A NOVEL with Mary Washington’s Mother of All Book Clubs
We are beginning the next round of reading in our online literary group, the Mother of All Book Clubs! This club is open to anyone with a connection to Mary Washington—alumni, parents, donors, faculty, and staff. Join us!
Our next selection is 11/22/63: A Novel, by Stephen King. This book was named one of the Ten Best Books from The New York Times and also won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
From Amazon: “On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back?
In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King—who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer—takes readers on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.”
Pick up a copy of the book and start reading—we will begin posting discussion questions on Monday, February 28. You might consider supporting an independent bookstore, or you could try your local library system.
We look forward to reading with you!
All the best,
The Alumni Relations Team
MARY TALKS: Kashef Majid, “Food Waste and the World’s Stupidest Problem”
Join us ONLINE for the next Mary Talk of the 2021-22 academic year!
We will hear from Dr. Kashef Majid, professor of marketing at Mary Washington, as he presents “Stop Wasting our Food: Food Waste and the World’s Stupidest Problem.”
Why is it that we squander one-third of all food? Households in the U.S. waste thousands of dollars each year on uneaten food “because we’ve been tricked,” Dr. Majid says. In a new course called Alleviating Food Waste, Dr. Majid helps UMW students explore the root causes of unused food and how the issue can be remedied.
Wednesday, February 2
7:30-8:30 p.m. (EDT)
Online (via Zoom)
To watch the Talk online, register here. You then will receive a link to the streaming video, which can be watched live or at a later time. You also will have the opportunity to submit questions to be asked of the speaker at the end of the Talk.
We look forward to seeing you online!
Nominations for Eagle Awards Open Through March 11
Nominations for the annual Eagle Awards are now open until March 11! Click the link to nominate and learn about each award!
Governor Announces UMW Board of Visitors Appointments
The Virginia Governor’s Office announced today the appointment of two Mary Washington alumnae – Kerri S. Barile ’94 of Fredericksburg and Lisa Errickson Henry ’96 of Stafford County – to UMW’s Board of Visitors.
Barile, who holds nearly three decades of experience in historic preservation, architectural history, historic research and archaeology, is the owner and president of Dovetail Cultural Resource Group. Based in Fredericksburg, the company is a certified Economically Disadvantaged Woman Owned Small Business and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, handling preservation projects along the East Coast, from New York to North Carolina, and beyond.
Henry, who has more than two decades of healthcare marketing experience, is associate vice president of communications and marketing at Mary Washington Healthcare. Throughout her career, she has worked in strategic marketing, system branding, public relations, crisis communications, web and emerging media, call center development, corporate and community outreach, and complementary medicine practice management. Read more.
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- Kerri S. Barile ’94
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- Lisa Errickson Henry ’96
Pastor, Justice Reform Organizer to Deliver MLK Keynote
Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook, a pastor and justice reform organizer with Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, will deliver the keynote address for UMW’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on Wednesday.
Last March, Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook stood by Gov. Ralph Northam’s side as he announced that Virginia would become the first southern state to abolish the death penalty.
“Today, we turn the page in the history books,” said Cook, a Baptist minister and civil rights advocate, noting that the commonwealth once allowed the second highest number of modern-day executions in the country. This was the start of a new chapter, she said, focusing on “transforming the justice system into one that is rooted in fairness, accountability and redemption.”
Cook will share that story – how her work to end capital punishment began and where it’s going next – when she delivers the keynote address for the University of Mary Washington’s weeklong Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. Sponsored by the Office of the President, her speech will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. in the University Center’s Chandler Ballroom. Participants may also register to attend virtually.
“We are honored that the UMW community will have the opportunity to hear from this amazing leader,” said Marion Sanford, director of the James Farmer Multicultural Center (JFMC), which is hosting the celebration honoring Dr. King’s life and legacy. “Dr. Cook will undoubtedly educate, motivate and empower our students and others on social justice issues and how they too can affect positive change.” Read more.