Some subjects of the 21^st William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture Series are universally known – William Shakespeare, Martin Luther King Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor, for example. Others, including liberator and visionary Mary Lumpkin and spymaster Wild Bill Donovan, are less familiar.

But all are intriguing characters whose stories are bound to enlighten audiences of the University of Mary Washington’s hugely popular Great Lives series. Lectures will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from January through March 2024. All are open to the public free of charge and begin at 7:30 p.m. in Dodd Auditorium of George Washington Hall.

The 2024 Great Lives lineup was announced Tuesday evening at a gala presentation that drew about 140 community supporters, donors and sponsors to the ballroom of UMW’s Jepson Alumni Executive Center.

Series founder and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History William Crawley reminded the crowd of the program’s beginnings as an academic class focused on biography as a key to understanding history. Because prominent speakers were coming to campus, a decision was made early on to open lectures to the public. Read more.

As a high school student in Villanova, Pennsylvania, Amanda Sheward was sure of two things: She wanted to go to college in Virginia, and she wanted to swim for her collegiate team.

Those goals achieved, the University of Mary Washington junior is on to her next challenge, and it’s a big one.

Sheward will represent the United States as a swimmer at the Parapan American Games in Santiago, Chile, Nov. 17 – 26. Held every four years, the Parapan Games bring together elite athletes from North and South American countries for a multi-sport competition. The games are a precursor to the worldwide Paralympics taking place in Paris in summer 2024.

Sheward earned her spot on the U.S. team by excelling at the Citi Para Swimming World Series meet in Minneapolis last spring. She’s on the team of 19 women and 14 men, including former UMW assistant swimming coach Zach Shattuck, a 2020 Paralympian.

Like more than half of her fellow athletes on Team USA, Sheward will be making her first major international appearance in Santiago. Read more.

With the vote yesterday by the Virginia Department of Education, the Academy of Technology and Innovation at the University of Mary Washington (ATI-UMW) has been approved to open in fall 2024.

The regional high school and lab school could serve students from Stafford, King George and Caroline counties as well as Fredericksburg City Schools and potentially more areas. It pools the expertise of local school districts with the University of Mary Washington’s College of Education, creating a one-of-a-kind public high school focused on computer and data science, teaching excellence and career readiness.

“It’s exciting to be at the point where the school has been approved and is recruiting students. It’s a testament to the commitment and hard work of the many individuals across the region who have come together to create the vision for ATI-UMW, and we’re happy to be collaborating with them on this and so many other opportunities to improve K-12 education in the Fredericksburg region,” said UMW Provost Tim O’Donnell.

When the school opens in fall 2024, it will enroll up to 100 ninth-graders from the partner school districts. Students will be selected via a lottery in January. Applications opened Nov. 15 and close in early January. Current eighth-graders who are interested in computer science, data science, cybersecurity, digital design and related fields are encouraged to apply. No prior experience or courses are necessary. Read more.

When the elementary school student she was tutoring via Zoom appeared on the screen, Meghan McLees ’23 sensed something was wrong. So, she quickly switched gears, replacing the scholarly lesson she’d planned for the day with an educational game.

“We just did that the whole time, and we talked about his day,” she said of the session with a student from Stafford Junction, a nonprofit dedicated to helping families struggling with poverty. “He was having a hard time at school.”

The call was just a small part of the volunteer work she completed as a University of Mary Washington student, but it created a career path for McLees, who enrolled in a master’s program for school counseling at the University of Maryland after graduating from UMW in May. Now, in addition to a chosen profession, her penchant for giving her time to others has earned her something else – the 2023 Outstanding Young Adult Volunteer Award from the Virginia governor’s office. Read more.

Local leader Susan Coleman has received the 2023 Patricia Lacey Metzger Distinguished Achievement Award. With successful stints in the Fredericksburg-area banking and medical industries, Coleman, now a life coach, was applauded for her career journey and dedication at last week’s 29th annual Women’s Leadership Colloquium at the University of Mary Washington.

The event – a beacon of empowerment, inspiration and resilience for professional women from diverse backgrounds for nearly three decades – took place Thursday, Nov. 2, at UMW’s Stafford Campus. Named for the late Mary Washington professor who helped found the colloquium, the Metzger award goes each year to someone who upholds high standards and achieves success both personally and professionally.

Early in her career, Coleman set herself apart as a leader in the financial sector, serving in pivotal roles as a business development officer, branch manager and vice president at Wachovia Bank. Her responsibilities included overseeing branch offices throughout Richmond and Fredericksburg. Read more.

In a resounding display of civic engagement, the University of Mary Washington community turned out for Day on Democracy. Student volunteers and members of the University’s faculty and staff rallied over 160 students to the polls at Fredericksburg’s Dorothy Hart Community Center on Election Day.

Throughout the day, various activities kept the campus buzzing with democratic fervor. The UMW Votes team, stationed at the Bell Tower from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., played a crucial role in informing and assisting students on ballot races and same-day voter registration, and the Fredericksburg Trolley provided rides to the polls. The day was punctuated by a puppy petting party, sponsored by Old Dominion Humane Society, as well as free donuts, pizza and taco bowls. Read more.

A combo of choirs will come together for Sunday’s Two Roads Diverged: Fall Choral Concert at the University of Mary Washington. UMW students, faculty and staff will pool their voices and musical talents with Fredericksburg-area community members and local high-schoolers for the performance on Sunday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m., in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium. Read more.

University of Mary Washington senior Nathaniel Huff attended 19 professional theatre performances in the span of three weeks – more than most patrons see in a year – on the UMW Theatre in London trip last summer.

A theatre major, Huff grew up in a small town with limited access to his chosen field. He said that going abroad exposed him and his classmates to a wide variety of plays and musicals, including several world premieres. “There is no doubt that the productions I witnessed are influencing my work and giving me ideas on how to engage with the creative process,” said Huff, who is currently directing a play he discovered at England’s National Theatre for his senior project. Read more.

For National Authors Day on Nov. 1, the University of Mary Washington is sharing a few of the latest books from faculty authors.

From fields as diverse as English, physics and political science, these professors have penned a new collection of poetry, an exposé about the most brilliant of minds and a text that traces the evolution of late-night political humor.

Read on!

On its final stop before it heads back to Korea, the calligraphy-laced paintings of a celebrated contemporary artist are on display at the University of Mary Washington Galleries in Park Dae Sung: Ink Reimagined. Read more.