Category: What’s New @ UMW

The University of Mary Washington Debate Team qualified two groups of students to compete at the National Debate Tournament that began Thursday, March 29 at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. The tournament, which ran through Monday, April 2, hosted 78 teams this year, all chosen based on a competitive qualification process.  UMW has qualified for the National Debate Tournament 16 times in the tournament’s 66-year history, finishing as high as third in 2010.

Sophomores Patrick McCleary of Shrewsbury, Pa., and Colin McElhinny of Erie, Pa., qualified for the second consecutive year, placing second in the District 7 qualifying tournament, which was hosted by UMW in February.

Senior Peter Susko of Erie, Pa., and sophomore Thomas Pacheco of Baltimore, Md., comprise the second team.  Susko has previously qualified for the tournament and in 2010 reached the semi-finals. The duo finished eighth in the qualifying tournament, securing the district’s final spot for the national tournament.

Results of the tournament are available at  http://bit.ly/NDT2012.

University of Mary Washington’s Department of Music will hold auditions for its annual summer Operafest on Saturday, April 14 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in Pollard Hall, Room 304. Students who wish to audition should prepare an operatic aria or a classical song. An accompanist will be provided.

The Operafest program, now in its 13th year, is a performance-based class for serious singers of all voice types who want to expand their repertoire in opera or gain on-stage performance experience. In the fast-paced, five-week course students will learn scenes from various operas with staging and costumes. The course will culminate with opera performances on Friday, June 22 and Saturday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall, Dodd Auditorium.

Rehearsals will be held over the summer on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. beginning on Monday, May 21. Operafest can be taken as a three-credit course or audited for $300. Members of the community as well as UMW students are encouraged to audition. For more information about Operafest or auditions, call (540) 654-1012.

The Foundation would like to introduce our new staff members: Gregory A. Branner, CPA, 1985 graduate of UMW, joined us in October as the Director of Finance and Administration.   Shannon C. Williams, CPA, joined us in March as Controller.  Melinda D. Albrycht joined us in January as an accountant.  Greg came to us from the UVa Health Services Foundation while Shannon and Melinda both moved over from other positions at UMW.  Please join us in welcoming them.

On Wednesday, April 11, Dr. Laura Mentore (Anthropology) will share a presentation entitled “The Social Life of Plants in Amazonia”. The presentation will begin at 4 p.m. in Combs Hall, Room 237. Fair Trade coffee/tea and cookies will be served. This is the fifth and last talk of the year for the colloquium. Please come and join in the discussion!

On Wednesday, March 21, UMW students got an inside look at Washington D.C. and learned about leadership in the process. “Leaders of the Free World: Global Citizenship,” part of the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium, gave 10 students the opportunity to spend the day at the U.S. Capitol Building, while thinking critically about leadership and citizenship.

The group visited Rep. Rob Wittman’s office, took a tour of the Capitol building with aides from Rep. Bruce Braley’s office and talked with Rep. Jared Polis about the importance of education. The students also spoke with Rep. John Lewis for more than two hours about leading through change.

Courtney Chapman-Thomas, director of leadership and coordinator of strategic initiatives, and Anand Rao, associate professor of English and director of speaking intensive programs, accompanied the students, who ranged from freshmen to graduating seniors. The day trip was open to all students on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The next event for the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium will be a leadership discussion and project on Monday, April 2. The discussion will take place in Lee Hall, Room 411 at 6 p.m. and will be based on the topic “I serve, but do I lead?”