Faculty and Staff Yoga
There will be two sessions, held on Mondays from 4-5 p.m. The first session starts on January 24th.
At least six people must sign-up at campusrec.umw.edu.
$25 for each session.
James Farmer Multicultural Center presents 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Jan. 17-22
Every January, our nation dedicates time to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His prophetic words on racial injustice, voting rights, economic justice, housing discrimination and public safety are still relevant more than 60 years later. One of Dr. King’s greatest desires for this nation and world was the achievement of a “Beloved Community” that embraces full inclusivity, equality, justice and love for all. In this community, everyone is able to enjoy the richness of the land and society, and human dignity and quality of life are paramount. We understand our work of forming the beloved community is far from attainment, but must stay steadfastly committed to positive social change, freedom and justice for all to achieve this reality. Join the James Farmer Multicultural Center as we celebrate the work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Keynote Speaker: Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook
Wednesday, January 19 | 7 p.m. | Chandler Ballroom, University Center
Rev. Dr. LaKeisha Cook is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a minor concentration in Religious Studies and a Master’s of Divinity. She also earned a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University, and a Doctorate of Ministry degree as a Gardner C. Taylor fellow at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. Dr. Cook was licensed into the gospel ministry at the Antioch Baptist Church; has served as the Youth Minister at Mount Hope Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia; as Minister of Children, Youth and Young Adults at First Institutional Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona; is the founding pastor of the Imani Community Church of Tempe, Arizona; and has served in various capacities for the multi-site campuses of Saint Paul’s Baptist Church. Dr. Cook has over 20 years of experience working in non-profits, education and the African American church. As a pastor and preacher, she uses her platform to educate and empower people on social justice and racial inequities, and she is passionate about justice reform. She served as a program administrator for the Kyrene School District in Tempe, Arizona, where she coordinated, implemented and ensured the quality of intervention and prevention programs and activities outlined in the eight-million dollar Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant. She also served as the Criminal Justice Reform Organizer for VICPP and led a successful campaign that abolished the death penalty in Virginia. She is currently working as an Equity Transformation Specialist for Pacific Educational Group, Inc.
Speaking Truth to Power
Thursday, January 20 | 6 p.m. | Lee Hall Underground
If you are interested in sharing your talent, please visit bit.ly/UMWSpeakTruth or email JoAnna Raucci (jraucci@umw.edu)
There is power in artistic expression. This event will feature art, music, dance and performances from members of the UMW campus community, who have created pieces or are sharing the works of others in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and those who have led the fight for human rights and social justice. Join us in this expression of our struggles, our triumphs and our power!
MLK Jr. Day of Service
Presented with UMW’s Center for Community Engagement
Saturday, January 22 |1 p.m. to 3 p.m. | Chandler Ballroom, UC
Register here: bit.ly/MLKDayUMW
Join your fellow students to celebrate our national Day of Service on the UMW campus. The MLK Day of Service is a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of the “fierce urgency of now.” Observed each year as “a day on, not a day off,” MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities. Sign up to participate in the Day of Service at bit.ly/MLKDayUMW
Geography Grad Earns EPA ‘Rising Star’ Award
Kaitlin Kean ’19, MSGA ’21, seen here with her parents, recently received the Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘Rising Star’ award. A geography major at UMW, she now works as a program analyst and GIS training lead in the EPA’s Office of Mission Support.
Growing up, Kaitlin Kean spent mornings before school in her father’s office, poring over maps and watching him collect data as a land surveyor.
“That’s where I first learned about the field and that it was something I wanted to pursue,” said Kean, who now claims her own office where she wields sought-after expertise in geographic information systems, or GIS, for the Environmental Protection Agency.
Recently named a “Rising Star” in support of the EPA’s mission to protect human health, Kean honed her skills in the University of Mary Washington’s geography department, ranked among the top 10 in the U.S. Southeast. A bachelor’s degree, paired with a fast-track master’s in geospatial analysis – both completed at UMW – plus a pathway program with the EPA, packed a powerful punch. Now, straight out of college, as a program analyst and training lead in the Office of Mission Support, Kean’s work helps the agency protect communities from environmental hazards like lead paint and toxic waste.
A college-level GIS course she took in high school caught her attention and got the ball rolling. “My teacher told us this was a growing field,” she said, “and if you stick with it, you’ll have a job.”
That’s especially true at UMW, said Geography Chair Jackie Gallagher, where many graduates find immediate work, thanks to the robust programs of the department, which College Factual also ranks No. 5 in Virginia. Read more.
FLS Highlights Great Lives Series, Returning Jan. 18
This article originally appeared in The Free Lance-Star Weekender.
Painter Vincent van Gogh is among the prominent personalities featured in this year’s William B. Crawley Great Lives lecture series, which returns on Jan. 18.
The William B. Crawley Great Lives series returns to UMW this year with a lineup of personalities who loom larger than life—and who are timely subjects for 2022. The lives of Dolly Parton, Vincent van Gogh, Ida B. Wells, Jimmy Carter and more will be revealed during the three-month series, which marks its 19th season this year.
The organizers are taking a “wait and see” strategy with the lectures. Tentatively planned to be entirely in-person for the first time in two years, the surge of the COVID-19 omicron variant has necessitated the first four lectures—all in January—be livestreamed online. They can be accessed on the program website (umw.edu/greatlives). Crawley said they will monitor the COVID situation with the hope that the subsequent 12 lectures, beginning on Feb. 1, can be in person in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium. All updates will be announced on the website.
These free lectures will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from Jan. 18 through March 10, at 7:30 p.m. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required, as are face masks, for all attendees.
The lecture series was forced online during its last two seasons due to the pandemic. And in 2021, only in-house talent was used. Crawley said UMW’s professors received rave reviews for their lectures, and “when you think about it, teachers make great speakers. They are used to crafting engaging presentations every day.” Read more.
MARY TALKS: Food Waste & 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!
A French Connection: Scholarship Established Through Beloved Professor’s Estate
Juliette Breffort Blessing came to Mary Washington in 1957 to share her worldly knowledge of all things French, including language, theater, and cultural history. Former students remember her flair for fashion, her wonderful accent, and her expert and often life-changing advice and guidance.
Juliette Breffort Blessing as featured in the 1974 Battlefield
“I first met Madame Blessing when I was a freshman in her French Civilization and Literature class,” says Kathy Liggett Leis ’69. “Thanks to her expert teaching, I became totally enamored with the subject and changed my major to French. Her faith in me was unwavering.”
UMW Professor Ana Garcia Chichester ’76 remembers Dr. Blessing as a dedicated professor and role model. “I was a French major, so I had several courses with her and benefited from her love of literature,” says Ana. “I still remember the nineteenth century poetry course I took with her. She loved to read and recite poetry to our class. Her spoken French was beautiful and she was very proud of her Parisian accent!”
Other students, including Catherine B. Elwell ’73, remember Dr. Blessing from a freshman liberal arts seminar. “It was a stimulating academic course, which I appreciated as an introduction to my campus life at MWC,” says Cathy. “I remember Madame Blessing as very friendly, warm, approachable, and lighthearted.”
A native of France, Dr. Blessing held degrees from the University of Lille, the University of Paris, and the University of Dijon. In 1982, she was honored with the Ordre des Palmes Academiques, an award from the French government in recognition of her contributions as a “distinguished academic or teacher for valuable service to universities, education, and science.” The award is one of the oldest civil honors bestowed by the French Republic.
Dr. Blessing retired from Mary Washington in 1992 after 35 years of teaching, and she was awarded the title of Professor Emerita of Modern Foreign Languages. She lived in Washington, D.C., until her passing in 2020 at the age of 94.
Always thinking of ways to help and advance students, Dr. Blessing included arrangements in her will to create a scholarship at Mary Washington. The UMW Board of Visitors recently approved the new Juliette Breffort Blessing Scholarship for French Study, which will support study abroad opportunities for a junior or senior majoring in French language.
Kathy Leis says her former professor’s passing is a profound loss. “Dr. Blessing was the pivotal force in my life. Her love of the French language became my life-long passion and set me on my life path. I truly credit her with my immensely rewarding career teaching French, an unlikely outcome for a girl from Alabama whose spoken French at the time was –charitably – appalling.”
Kathy adds, “I am who I am because of Juliette Blessing.”
For more information about bequests to support students at Mary Washington, contact the Office of Gift Planning at jclarke@umw.edu or 540-654-2064.
Read THE LOWLAND with the Mary Washington 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 The Lowland, by Jhumpa Lahiri. This book was a finalist for the National Book Award, among other honors, and appears on dozens of booklists.
From Amazon:
“The Lowland is an engrossing family saga steeped in history: the story of two very different brothers bound by tragedy, a fiercely brilliant woman haunted by her past, a country torn apart by revolution, and a love that endures long past death. Moving from the 1960s to the present, and from India to America and across generations, this dazzling novel is Jhumpa Lahiri at the height of her considerable powers.”
Pick up a copy of the book and start reading–we will begin posting discussion questions on Monday, January 10. 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
Spring 2022 COVID Plan Update
Dear Students, Staff, and Faculty,
As you begin your winter break, we write to share preliminary plans for the spring semester. The ever-changing landscape of the pandemic continues to require us to be adaptable and, as such, the Public Health Advisory Working Group will continue to keep a close eye on prevailing conditions as we enter into 2022.
As a result of the University’s comprehensive approach to combatting the virus, including the high vaccination rates within our campus community, we were able to support a cautious, yet robust, fall semester of curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities. The number of COVID-19 cases on campus this fall remained manageable, despite the presence of the Delta variant and high local community transmission rates. Since the first of August, 128 members of the campus community have tested positive for COVID-19 – 109 students and 19 staff and faculty members. Forty of the 128 cases occurred before Labor Day and we saw about 20 during the two weeks after Thanksgiving. Other than these two time periods, weekly cases remained in single digits.
As we plan for the spring semester, we are heartened both by our experience this fall and by important developments in the ongoing effort to curb this pandemic. Booster vaccines are now available for everyone age 16 and over, and initial vaccines have been authorized for children who are five and older. Also, there is promising news about antiviral medicine under consideration by the FDA that may reduce hospitalization rates and severe illness.
The course of the pandemic remains unpredictable, particularly as we await more information about the emergence of the Omicron variant. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and gather medical and scientific information as it becomes available. As a result of this recent development and ongoing high rates of community transmission, a number of our established COVID-19 interventions will remain in place for the spring semester. At the same time, others will change, as needed, to meet prevailing conditions.
The following interventions will remain in place for the spring 2022 semester:
- Vaccines. At present, the University continues to require all students, faculty, and staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless an approved exemption has been submitted. All students, faculty, and staff are expected to report their vaccine status to the University. More information about this requirement and how to report your status is available in our FAQs. If you are not currently vaccinated, we strongly encourage you to get vaccinated if you are able.
- Boosters. If you are fully vaccinated, we urge you to get a booster six months after your last dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or two months after your dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Given the potential for waning protection against infection from the Delta variant and with the emergence of the Omicron variant, the CDC recommends that everyone over 16 get a booster shot when they are eligible. At this time, we are not collecting booster documentation, but we will let you know if and when that changes.
- Symptomatic Testing and Exposure Testing. The Student Health Center will continue to provide COVID-19 testing for students who exhibit symptoms that may be indicative of COVID-19. We will also continue to provide COVID-19 testing at Bushnell Hall for students, staff, and faculty who are identified as close contacts of a member of the campus community.
- Mandatory Weekly Testing. All members of the University community who are not fully vaccinated will need to participate in weekly testing for the spring semester. Unvaccinated faculty and staff will begin the week of January 3 at the Lee’s Hill clinic of Mary Washington Hospital, 10401 Spotsylvania Ave #103 (available M-F). Unvaccinated students will begin weekly testing the week of January 17 unless they did not participate in re-entry testing on January 9 (described below). Testing will continue to take place in Bushnell Hall on Mondays (if it falls on a holiday, then Wednesday) and Thursdays. Students who have schedule changes will be able to select a new weekly time from available options.
- Contact Tracing and COVID Care Support. The University will continue to conduct full case investigations for any COVID-19 case involving a member of the UMW community and will make contact with known close contacts. On-campus quarantine and isolation spaces will remain available for any residential student who tests positive or is instructed to quarantine based on their vaccination and exposure status, if they choose to remain on campus for that period. Our COVID Care team will continue to provide support to on-campus Q/I spaces with meal delivery and routine check-ins.
- Masks. With the uncertainty of the Omicron variant’s effect, we will continue to require anyone entering a University-owned or operated building, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask. We will keep monitoring conditions as well as federal, state, and local guidance to determine if and when this mandate will be lifted.
- Events. While the University has returned to as much in-person engagement as possible, it is important to recognize that the greatest risk still occurs where there are large numbers of people gathering indoors and when masks are not consistently worn. Events where food and drink are consumed are still discouraged due to the inherent risks. As you plan events that involve food, drink, and/or include non-UMW community members, consult with the Public Health Advisory Working Group (through Dave Fleming) to ensure all possible mitigation strategies are considered.
Other COVID-19 interventions will be adjusted as necessary to meet prevailing conditions on campus, including the following:
- Re-Entry Testing. We have coordinated with the Virginia Department of Health to provide PCR testing to our students on Sunday, January 9, 2022 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. All residential students as well as any student who is not fully vaccinated will be expected to participate in this testing event. Vaccinated off-campus students will also be able to participate, based on availability. All individuals expected to test will be sent more detailed instructions to their UMW email. Concerns about complying with the reentry testing expectation should be directed to covidtesting@umw.edu.
- Mask Exemptions. During the course of the fall semester, a committee was formed to review mask exemption requests for the variety of performances that occurred on campus. This committee will continue to review any request for performers, speakers, and special events to be exempt from the indoor masking requirement. The requester must be able to demonstrate that the performance or task is significantly inhibited by the use of a mask.
- Fitness Center Changes. The staff at Campus Recreation worked over the course of the fall semester to develop a plan that would allow for limited mask removal during active exercise within the Fitness Center. After a thorough review, the plan was approved and will be communicated with all individuals accessing the Fitness Center. It is our hope and goal to increase use of this important wellness resource by removing a potential barrier to exercise. We will evaluate any impact to our COVID mitigation and adjust if necessary.
- Stricter Enforcement of Non-compliance. While the majority of our campus community has put forth a good faith effort in complying with COVID-19 related policies, procedures, and expectations, we did observe a marked increase in non-compliance of mandatory testing and indoor masking, particularly at the end of the semester. As such, the public health team is working to establish clearer expectations and consequences to be upheld in the spring semester.
- Recommitment to ASPIRE Values. It is not lost on us that everyone is tired of COVID-19 and the ongoing restrictions and expectations. There are also some who do not agree with the mitigation strategies at UMW, and we do not expect to make everyone happy. We saw increased reports of faculty and staff (including student staff) being met with hostility as they attempted to enforce these policies. The mistreatment of any individual at UMW, however, will not be tolerated; it simply isn’t what it means to be an Eagle. We all have to be in this together to maintain a physically and mentally healthy campus community, and it is our expectation that you treat others with dignity and respect, even when you are upset or disagree. Reports of these types of incidents will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct (for students) or Human Resources (for employees) and will be resolved through the respective processes.
We hope you have a wonderful winter break and we very much look forward to your return in 2022. Stay heathy, Eagles!
Jeffrey McClurken, Chief of Staff & UMW COVID Director
David Fleming, Assistant Dean for Residence Life & Housing, COVID Monitoring & Tracing Coordinator, Chair of Public Health Advisory Working Group
Belmont to Host Home for the Holidays
Belmont, the historic home of artist Gari Melchers and his wife, Corinne, will celebrate the season, with decorations on view through Jan. 2, 2022. In the 1920s, the Melchers took great delight in festively decorating their elegant country house during the holidays.
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- In the 1920s, the Melchers took great delight in festively decorating their elegant country house during the holidays.
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- The interior decorations were arranged by Belmont Assistant Director and Curator Joanna Catron using Mrs. Melchers’ journal entries and archival materials to inspire the look and warmth of the welcoming home.
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- This year’s exterior decorations are provided by the Sunlight Garden Club.
Although Gari Melchers divided his time between his commercial headquarters in New York City and his Virginia retreat, neighbors could always count on finding him at home during the yuletide season. He was sure to have dragged friends and family from the city to an old-fashioned Christmas feast, with fresh turkey raised at Belmont and Maryland crab soup specified by his Baltimore-born wife.
The interior decorations were arranged by Belmont Assistant Director and Curator Joanna Catron using Mrs. Melchers’ journal entries and archival materials to inspire the look and warmth of the welcoming home. This year’s exterior decorations are provided by the Sunlight Garden Club.
“Home for the Holidays” is included with museum admission. GariMelchers.org
Take your holiday cookie decorating skills up a notch!
Want to take your cookie decorating skills to the next level (or just have some fun)?!
Get into the holiday spirit with us and former UMW staff member Ameeta Rajagopal, the owner/operator of Ameeta Bakes. This cookie extraordinaire will lead us in a virtual cookie decorating lesson from the kitchen in recently renovated Willard Hall.
We’ll supply the recipes and tips, and you’ll join us via Zoom from the comfort of your own kitchen. Bake your cookies in advance so you can follow along with the decorating!
Thursday, December 16
6:00-7:00pm (EST)
Online (via Zoom)
When you register, the confirmation email will include links to Ameeta’s Holiday Baking Packet with recipes, tips, tricks, and more to help you prep for the class.
We can’t wait to see you online!