Category: What’s New @ UMW

American political activist and author Angela Davis will serve as the 2012 James Farmer Visiting Lecturer and Black History Month Keynote speaker at UMW. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will take place Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.

The lecture is sponsored by the James Farmer Visiting Professor Committee and the AT&T Student Leadership Colloquium. For more information, contact Courtney Chapman-Thomas, director of leadership and strategic initiatives, at (540) 654-1665.

For more information about Davis, read the press release from Thursday, Feb. 9.

Justin Doyle ’08 aims to make the University of Mary Washington a better place for bicyclists.  So the Virginia Commonwealth University master’s degree candidate is developing a bike plan for UMW for his culminating project in urban and regional planning program.

“I wanted to give back to UMW in a way that I feel passionate about,” he said. “Bicycling is a passion of mine. Since UMW has never developed a bicycle plan, it was a great opportunity.”

Some UMW students already use bicycles on a daily basis, but more might use them if a bike plan was in place, said Doyle.

He wants faculty, staff and students’ input on how to deal with the challenges of creating a bike program.

Doyle has developed an online survey and hopes to collect 400 to 500 responses. The survey, available until Feb. 17, is open to current UMW faculty, staff and students. He will hold a focus group session for faculty, staff and students on Tuesday, Feb. 14 from 3 to 5 p.m. in Woodard Campus Center.

He plans to use the results of the survey and focus groups to make recommendations to UMW Facilities Services specifically related to improving campus bicycle facilities.

“The university has no comprehensive look at bike use and what we could do to support that,” said Joni Wilson, director of landscape and grounds. “This is a real opportunity for us. As an alumnus, he has knowledge of the [UMW] campus after being here for four years. Partnering with him is a win-win.”

Although the project is still in the planning phase, Doyle hopes that elements from the plan will be implemented at the university in the future.

The bike plan survey is available through Feb. 17 at http://umwbikeplan.wordpress.com/.

For more information, contact Justin Doyle at justindoylerva@gmail.com

Inside Higher Ed lauds UMW’s online learning initiatives in the article “5 Foundational Principles for Course Design,” originally published on Thursday, Feb. 2. The article specifically highlights UMW’s five foundational principles for course design as an example for other institutions of higher education.

“I know no better example of the potential for online courses to open up a wider conversation about teaching and learning than the work currently being done by the University of Mary Washington in their Online Learning Initiative.”

The full article is available online at http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/5-foundational-principles-course-design#.TzEiUCw5_UE.email.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont is featured in the February 2012 issue of the New England Antiques Journal. The article, “Art, Love and the House of their Dreams: The Virginian Home of Artist Gari Melchers,” shares the history of Gari and Corinne Melchers’ home and includes photos of the building and grounds.

Welcome back to the spring 2012 semester!  Please click on the link below to view a special message for UMW faculty and staff.

http://president.umw.edu/umwcommunity/

Best wishes,

Rick Hurley
President