Category: What’s New @ UMW

UMW’s Arrington Poet-in-Residence Allison Seay ’02 has received the 2012 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize in Poetry.

The award is a collaboration between Persea Books and the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Project to sponsor the annual publication of a poetry collection by an American woman poet who has yet to publish a full-length book of poems. The winner receives an advance of $1,000 and publication of her collection by Persea Books. Seay won the prize for her collection of poetry, “To See the Queen,” scheduled for publication in April 2013.

As the Arrington Poet-in-Residence, Seay teaches the advanced poetry workshop and the creative writing seminar in poetry at Mary Washington. A Midlothian, Va., native, she is the recipient of the 2011 Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship, one of the largest awards offered to aspiring poets in the United States, and two fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including Poetry, Crazyhorse and The Southern Review.

For more information, read the full news release from January 25.

Helen Alston of Charlottesville, Va., has been selected to receive the Barbara Thomas Phillips Creative Writing Scholarship for the spring semester of 2012 at UMW. The scholarship is awarded annually to a junior or senior exhibiting excellence in writing.

A senior majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing, Alston is poetry editor of the Aubade, the university’s biannual literary magazine. She also is president of the UMW Hand Percussion Club and a tutor at the Fredericksburg campus Writing Center. Alston has been an orientation leader and has been named to the Dean’s List.

Matt Paxton ’97, extreme cleaning expert featured on the A&E program “Hoarders,” will give a free lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 1. The lecture, open to students, faculty and staff with a ticket, will take place in Monroe Hall, Room 116 at 7 p.m. A limited number of tickets are still available through the Office of Career Services on a first-come first-served basis.

Paxton is the owner of Clutter Cleaner, an extreme cleaning and organizing company based in Richmond, Va. He will sign copies of his book, “The Secret Life of Hoarders,” at the event.  Limited copies will be available for purchase.

For more information, contact Katie Locke, assistant director of career services, at klocke@umw.edu or (540) 654-1272.

The Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series starts Tuesday, Jan. 24 with a lecture on Kurt Vonnegut, and continues through April. All lectures begin at 7:30 p.m. and are held in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.

A full calendar of lectures is available at http://www.umw.edu/greatlives/calendar-of-lectures/.

The Free Lance-Star highlights the lecture series in the Jan. 19 issue: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2012/012012/01192012/677222.

For the UMW Philharmonic Orchestra, the week between Christmas and New Year’s was filled with performances, trips and sightseeing as part of a tour of Italy. The 59-member group, led by Director Kevin Bartram, traveled to Venice, Florence and Rome, and performed concerts in the towns of Padua and Impruneta and in downtown Rome.

“We had such a wonderful experience meeting the Italians,” Bartram said. “They were very kind, and had such enthusiasm for music. I know that our students will cherish this experience forever.”

According to the UMW Philharmonic website, “The UMW-CSO touring program was established in 2006 as a means to offer international and cultural opportunities for our students and community musicians.” This is the third trip for the orchestra.