Category: What’s New @ UMW

When Audra Medve first visited Mount Vernon as a child, she was struck by the timelessness of George Washington’s home, so much so that she returned dozens of times. She never could have imagined she would be an intern at the estate decades later as a senior in the historic preservation program at the university named for Washington’s mother.

Medve enrolled at the University of Mary Washington after the Navy transferred her husband to the Washington, D.C. area in 2008.

“There are very few undergraduate degrees in historic preservation available in the United States, and when I decided to return to school I realized I lived within 30 miles of a truly wonderful program,” Medve said.

Medve’s internship is one of a dozen this spring through UMW’s historic preservation department, regarded as among the best in the nation. Each year, internships range from local preservation organizations like the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation and the Fredericksburg Area Museum, to organizations in Richmond and Washington, D.C., such as the Smithsonian Institution, and even National Park Service sites across the country.

“Given our program’s interdisciplinary basis, we see internships with organizations representing all of our fields: archaeology, architecture, museums and planning,” said Doug Sanford, professor and Prince B. Woodard chair of historic preservation.

On the first day of her internship at Mount Vernon, Medve expected to work on a door from a barn, or cellar, or maybe a back room of the first president’s estate. Much to her surprise, the manager of the project led her to one of the main doors of the mansion.

As an intern, Medve performs the duties of an assistant to the Restoration Manager Steven Mallory, with her main task to restore a door from the 1750s to its original color and condition. The process requires paint analysis of dozens of layers of centuries-old paint with the assistance of conservator and paint analysis expert Susan L. Buck.

“[Her project] is the perfect example of the blending of humanities and the sciences,” Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Michael Spencer said.

Medve is able to apply coursework from seven or eight different historic preservation classes to her internship.

“You can’t help but be in awe of all the stuff you learn,” she said.

For senior LeeAnne Brooks, her three internships have reinforced her decision to pursue a career in historic preservation.

“The hands-on experience is helping me to prepare for the job market,” Brooks said. “I love that the reality of historic preservation is even more exciting than the classroom experience led me to believe.”

This semester, Brooks is volunteering at Richmond National Battlefield Park’s Shelton House at Rural Plains Plantation in Hanover County, using infrared thermography (IRT) technology to find original features of the historic house. IRT is the measurement of surface temperature distribution through non-destructive methods, Spencer explained.

Barbara Yocum, senior architectural conservator with the National Park Service, said she is grateful for the work of UMW’s historic preservation interns at Shelton House.

“The infrared thermography study has provided valuable insights on the construction of the house that will be included in an upcoming historic structure report on the building,” said Yocum, noting that the more than 250-year-old house sustained shelling during the Civil War.

“This is a leading edge interpretation,” Spencer, who advises both Medve and Brooks, said.

Brooks explained that the process helps minimize the hidden costs associated with preservation work, allowing for a more accurate estimate of the restoration process.

“I love the hunt, the hidden stuff,” she said. “It’s like finding Waldo.”

As an adult student, Brooks’ main motivation is a career she loves. She’s well on her way with the historic preservation program.

“Here was an opportunity to work in history; to do something that I can be passionate about.  I’ve always loved historic buildings and sites, and here is a career in helping to protect some of this country’s most valuable resources – it is a natural fit,” she said.

The fieldwork projects like the ones at Rural Plains and Mount Vernon are a way for students to take lessons learned in the classroom to a new level.

“This highlights the caliber of students that are graduating,” Spencer said. “We are always thinking ‘how can we set our students on the right track?’”

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By: Brynn Boyer

The 2012 Month of Microfinance, based at the University of Mary Washington, will make its national debut this April at dozens of college campuses across the country.

The Month of Microfinance, a coalition of student-led and student-focused organizations dedicated to microfinance, is led by the founders of TDC and includes seven collegiate microfinance clubs: La Ceiba, MFI Connect, Campus MFI, Penn Microfinance, The Phoenix Fund and High School Kiva. With 42 partners, including, Kiva, Opportunity International, Accion USA, BRAC USA and Grameen America, the national movement is growing.

During April, students at participating colleges, universities and high schools will host and participate in campus events related to microfinance for increased awareness and fundraising. Each student-hosted event will focus on the definition of microfinance, the groups that benefit from microfinance and the relationship between client-centered and profit driven microfinance.

“I think it is fair to say that a significant number of microfinance practitioners are asking themselves some tough questions today: Are we value-driven or profit-driven? Are we a movement or an industry?” said Shawn Humphrey, associate professor of economics at the University of Mary Washington and founder of TDC. “By claiming the month of April for microfinance clients around the world, the student microfinance movement will bring attention to the importance of client-centered microfinance. In this approach, the well-being of the clients of microfinance is paramount.”

For details about Month of Microfinance goals and activities, read the press release from Monday, March 12. The group hopes to have 1,000 followers on Facebook by April 1.

The undefeated UMW women’s basketball team will host the sectional rounds of the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament in Fredericksburg on Friday, March 9 and Saturday, March 10. On Friday, George Fox University will take on Bowdoin College at 5 p.m., with Mary Washington facing Lebanon Valley College at 7 p.m. On Saturday, March 10, the two winners will meet with a trip to the Final Four on the line.

The seventh-ranked UMW team beat Messiah College in the second round of the tournament on Saturday, March 3.

Tickets for each day will cost $7 for adults and $4 for students. Senior citizens and all UMW faculty, staff and students with a valid I.D. will be admitted free of charge.

The University of Mary Washington Galleries will present the exhibition “Making an Impression: Prints from the Permanent Collection” from Friday, March 16 through Friday, April 27 at Ridderhof Martin Gallery.

The opening reception for “Making an Impression” will be held Thursday, March 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Ridderhof Martin Gallery. The exhibition will highlight prints from the UMW Galleries’ permanent collection of art, which includes works by Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall. The exhibit and reception is free and open to the public.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the UMW Galleries will feature two lectures that will take place in Combs Hall, Room 139.

Eric Denker, senior lecturer in the education department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., will present the lecture “Ink, Wood, Copper Stone: Identifying the Techniques of Prints,” on Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m.  The presentation will focus on the origination, duplication and originality of prints and will include techniques and tools used in printmaking.

On Sunday, April 1 at 2 p.m., Gregory Jecmen, associate curator of old master prints and drawings at the National Gallery of Art, will present “Renaissance Innovations in Color Printing and Etching.” The talk will focus printing woodcuts in color and the intaglio technique of etching. Jecmen’s presentation is based on a future exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, “Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540.” Both lectures are free and open to the public, but pre-registration is highly recommended to ensure adequate seating.

A UMW administrative faculty member and two alumni will speak at the 18th annual Virginia Festival of the Book, to be held March 21 through 25 in Charlottesville. Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series and Kelly Cherry ’61 and Matt Paxton ’97, will participate in readings, discussion sessions and presentations.

Charles J. Shields will participate, along with two other authors, in the discussion session “Literary Icons – Their Lives, Their Works: Vonnegut, Tolstoy and E.B. White” on Friday, March 23 at 4 p.m. in the University of Virginia (UVa) Bookstore at 400 Emmet Street South. Shields also will give his presentation “And So It Goes” for students at two local high schools on the same day. Shields is the author of the first biography of Kurt Vonnegut, “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life’’(2011). In addition, he is a co-founder of Biographers International Organization (BIO), an organization that promotes the professional interests of practicing biographers.

Kelly Cherry, Virginia Poet Laureate, will appear in the festival’s opening ceremony on Wednesday, March 21 at noon in the McIntire Room of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, located at 201 East Market Street. Later that day, Cherry will participate in a poetry reading from her book “Hazard and Prospect: New and Selected Poems” (2007) with other poets at 4 p.m. at UVa Harrison Institute / Small Special Collections on the UVa Central Grounds. Cherry is a recipient of the University of Mary Washington’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, among many others. She is Eudora Welty Professor Emerita of English and Evjue-Bascom Professor Emerita in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Matt Paxton, author of “The Secret Lives of Hoarders” (2011) and featured cleaning expert on A&E’s television show “Hoarders,” will appear in the session “Memoirs: How We Cope,” discussing coping with personal biological and psychological issues. The session will be held Saturday, March 24 at noon at the City Council Chambers on 605 East Main Street.

A full schedule for the book festival is available at http://www.vabook.org.