March 16, 2026

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Alumnus Shelters in Honduras to Save UMW-Born Nonprofit

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2007 alumnus Shin Fujiyama inaugurates a school built by his nonprofit, Students Helping Honduras, which he started at UMW. SHH has built 55 schools in the impoverished country, which is currently on lockdown. While much of his staff have been evacuated, Fujiyama stayed behind in Honduras to care for 24 orphaned children. Photo courtesy of SHH.

2007 alumnus Shin Fujiyama inaugurates a school built by his nonprofit, Students Helping Honduras, which he started at UMW. SHH has built 55 schools in the impoverished country, which is currently on lockdown. While much of his staff have been evacuated, Fujiyama stayed behind in Honduras to care for 24 orphaned children. Photo courtesy of SHH.

Phoning it in isn’t an option for Shin Fujiyama ’07. At UMW, he threw himself into every assignment, task and responsibility – from serving hungry students in Seacobeck to organizing a thousand-person walkathon.

Now, living in Honduras in the midst of a global pandemic, Fujiyama is focused on rescuing the nonprofit he started at Mary Washington, Students Helping Honduras (SHH). While his American and European staff were evacuated due to the coronavirus threat, Fujiyama stayed behind to care for 24 orphaned kids at a children’s home he founded. To keep his dream alive of building schools across the impoverished country, he is relying on support from former professors and fellow alumni.

“My conviction to see this through has always been strong,” said Fujiyama, who started SHH 14 years ago with sister Cosmo, then a student at William & Mary. Since graduation from UMW, he’s lived in Honduras and oversees the nonprofit, which has over 50 chapters nationwide and has seen thousands of volunteers over the years.

Then came COVID-19.

“There’s a chance Honduras will face food shortages, civil unrest and massive outbreaks of the virus,” he said. “We need to confront those challenges together.” Read more.

Evacuated Peace Corps Volunteer Vows to Continue Global Service

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At their swearing-in ceremony last summer, Sebrine Abdulkadir, left, and fellow Peace Corps volunteers wear clothing handmade from traditional Botswanan fabrics. Abdulkadir’s service was cut short when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers due to coronavirus.

At their swearing-in ceremony last summer, Sebrine Abdulkadir, left, and fellow Peace Corps volunteers wear clothing handmade from traditional Botswanan fabrics. Abdulkadir’s service was cut short when the Peace Corps evacuated volunteers due to coronavirus.

For Peace Corps volunteer Sebrine Abdulkadir ’19, posted in the southern African country of Botswana, the upheaval happened fast.

On a Monday morning in mid-March, she received an email saying she and other Peace Corps volunteers worldwide would be evacuated from their posts because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In three hours Abdulkadir packed what possessions she could from her house in the village of Good Hope, near the South African border. She left other belongings in the care of colleagues who had worked with her on projects to educate young people about HIV/AIDS.

By Monday evening, she was on her way to Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. And Wednesday morning she began her journey home, flying through South Africa and the United Arab Emirates before arriving in Washington, D.C.

“I didn’t really believe it till I was walking onto the plane,” Abdulkadir said. “It was stressful. I didn’t really have the chance to say goodbye.”

After a two-week quarantine upon returning to the United States, Abdulkadir has joined her mother and 7-year-old brother at home in Alexandria, Virginia. From her independent adult life and her own house in Botswana, the 22-year-old finds herself once again under a parent’s roof and contemplating her next steps. Read more.

UMW Celebrates Division III Week, April 13-19

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UMW Women's Basketball participates in a read-aloud with local students.

UMW Women’s Basketball participates in a read-aloud with local students.

Dear UMW Colleagues,

Last week marked the NCAA’s Division III week, April 13-19, our student-athletes are not able to practice or compete. So rather than focus on what the student-athletes and their coaches accomplish on the field or court, I will take this opportunity to recognize their incredible devotion to a key part of our ASPIRE values—engagement through service.

As you may know, our student-athletes receive no athletic scholarships whatsoever. They chose the DIII model because it combines a love of the game with the chance to concentrate on academic achievement as well. Here at UMW, our varsity athletics teams pride themselves on not just their GPAs and win/loss records, but also how much and how often they can find opportunities to volunteer for a myriad of causes and groups in the Fredericksburg area. The Eagles have been working hard all year in a friendly competition to amass the most volunteer hours, and even though their Spring seasons and service events were abruptly ended, they managed to make substantial contributions.

UMW student-athletes participate in a clean-up of the Rappahannock River.

UMW student-athletes participate in a clean-up of the Rappahannock River.

For example, the men’s soccer team led all others in total service hours with 320.5. Off the pitch, they helped set up and break down equipment for the Make-a-Wish Foundation’s gymnastics event, served community dinners at the Fredericksburg Baptist Church, and assisted an elderly Fredericksburg resident with her move. The next closest team was men’s and women’s swimming, at 256 hours, followed by women’s basketball with 233. These teams participated in COAR Into the Streets and community dinners. But total service hours for a team is only one way the student-athletes compete. The women’s basketball team holds the record for most hours per individual student-athlete with an average of 15.52 hours. And the entire Athletics Department participated in a Capital Athletic Conference food drive during the Fall semester, collecting a whopping 6395 pounds of food to donate to the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank. That total beat the nearest CAC competitor—CNU—by almost two tons.

All teams provided volunteers for special events like blood drives, reading clinics with grade school children, cleaning up the Rappahannock River, present wrapping for COAR, and assisting with Special Olympics events. These activities build camaraderie, but they also allow the volunteers a chance to learn about the needs of the local community and take an active role in helping others.

While we’re all anxious to get back to our usual routines, I hope you’ll join me in thanking the student-athletes and their coaches for their dedication to making our world just a little bit better.

Best wishes,

Mary Beth Mathews

UMW Faculty Athletics Representative, Professor of Religious Studies

Paino Addresses Faculty/Staff Concerns in Live Chat

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President Paino spoke to faculty and staff yesterday in a live online forum designed to address questions and concerns that have surfaced throughout the past weeks as the University community has dealt with the coronavirus pandemic and worked to adjust to a “new normal.”

On the heels of a similar live student Q&A session, hosted on Zoom and YouTube, Paino answered more than 20 questions from employees in departments across the University. He covered a range of issues, from plans for students’ return to campus and admissions yield strategies to budget concerns and telework situations.

“Going through this, we’re going to learn a lot about ourselves and our operations moving forward,” Paino said. “I think that this will probably cause us to have a lot of deep conversations about our work in a variety of ways that we weren’t expecting just a month ago.”

Paino said he remains optimistic that students will be back on campus for the start of the fall semester and that he is putting together a task force to think through how that might work.

Provost Nina Mikhalevsky and Executive Director of Human Resources Beth Williams joined Paino in the live chat, answering questions related to their respective areas. Together, they addressed concerns about how altered operations have impacted students, how the overall UMW landscape could change, and the importance of community-wide contributions to admissions efforts.

Paino praised faculty for their ability to make a quick change from in-person to remote teaching and urged all employees to take time to care for themselves, both physically and emotionally.

“I think the thing that I’m most gratified by is that I get to work, even if it’s remotely, with such amazing people, and that has lifted my spirits,” he told Procurement Services’ Michelle Pickham, who joined the conversation to ask about Paino’s personal well-being.

“Even through the challenge and uncertainty of these times, I get to work with … people like yourself and others on campus who have given me such encouragement and such a sense of optimism that we’re going to meet this challenge and make it through.”

Hear the live Q&A session in its entirety on YouTube.

UMW Professor’s Online Initiative Attracts Tens of Thousands

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The University of Mary Washington is among countless educational institutions worldwide that have switched to virtual classes due to the coronavirus threat, or COVID-19. Suddenly, students are at home, and so are their teachers. The transition has been daunting for many professors, especially those who have never taught online.

Higher Ed Learning Collective But one UMW faculty member saw it as an opportunity.

College of Education Professor John Broome launched the Higher Ed Learning Collective (HELC), a grassroots, we’re-all-in-it-together kind of Facebook group for sharing high- and low-tech remote-teaching tools, sprinkled with a dose of self-care. He never imagined the Collective would gain traction across the globe in just a few weeks, morphing into a worldwide movement with over 24,000 members in more than 100 countries … and counting.

HELC already has introduced a website and YouTube channel, and dozens of universities, libraries and online learning sites are recommending the group, as is UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The Collective is creating a sense of community in a world that desperately needs one, and Broome hopes HELC will outlive the coronavirus pandemic, driving faculty to better address the diverse needs of students.

“Not everyone has access to good online or hybrid pedagogy,” said Broome, who – like so many fellow academics – was anxiously posting on social media. “We’re struggling as educators and as humans … so why not teach each other for free?” Read more.

UMW to Hold 14th Annual Research & Creativity Symposium Virtually, April 23-24

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Over the past academic year our students have been hard at work on their individual or team research and creative projects. Some of them have completed these projects as part of a course, as a capstone project, or even to achieve departmental honors recognition. Given the limitations placed on us by the current COVID-19 crisis, the University has created a virtual site for students at the University of Mary Washington to showcase their work, and for the UMW community to give them feedback and encouragement. Please visit http://umwrcd.net/ for the online application and for a list of presentations and presenters.

Applications are through the Google form on this website under the tab Applications. Student submissions will be due by midnight April 17, 2020. The Virtual Symposium will begin, here on this site, on April 23, 2020 and continue through midnight April 24, 2020.

Stream UMW Theatre’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ Online

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When in-person classes were suspended on March 12, walking away from Much Ado About Nothing was heartbreaking; we had to step away from weeks and weeks of work, much of which we knew would never be seen by anyone but us. We are grateful that the UMW administration took decisive steps to keep all of us safe and well amidst so many unknowns; what remains most important is that you, your loved ones, and our greater world do everything we can to flatten the curve of the pandemic and emerge strong and healthy.

And yet, even in this time when we find ourselves apart from one another, we continue to believe in the power of theatre to nurture and inspire ourselves and our community.

Our students will be performing Much Ado About Nothing after all—ONLINE! Mark your calendar—April 16, 2020, from 7:00 – 8:00 pm—just two weeks away! REGISTER HERE.

Our entire department has come together to ensure that our students are engaged, connected, and seizing every opportunity to learn and grow, even when distance keeps us apart. Our performance of Much Ado is but one example of how we continue to teach and learn as a community of educators, artists, and students.

There are so many reasons why this project is important to all of us. Much Ado is the final production Helen Housley will direct for us as she anticipates retirement at the end of this year after two decades of teaching, directing, and serving as our vocal coach for dozens of productions. The same is true of Marilyn Wojdak, our costume shop supervisor, who is also retiring in May having brought a breathtaking level of excellence and professionalism to the shop in her 13 years with us. More than two dozen students have been rehearsing the play in the weeks prior to leaving campus and eight students have senior projects connected to Much Ado. Finally, it’s Shakespeare! We always celebrate the opportunity to bring his work to life.

We are thrilled at the prospect of getting to share our work with you as we wrap up our season. Different than planned, fairly abridged, and not onstage in Klein Theatre (but performed in bedrooms and living rooms across several states), Much Ado, nonetheless, will showcase what we do best—students finding themselves in the work, strengthening their skills, growing their capacity to contribute to our community, and readying themselves for life after UMW. 

Please join us. Our students need your support right now. With so much uncertainty in our world, I want them to know that we are all there for them. Will you celebrate their work with me?

Wishing you good health and strength every day,
Gregg Stull
Producing Director

 

REGISTER HERE.

UMW Digital Puzzles and Coloring Pages

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Need to relax for a minute or two? The Office of University Relations and Communications has just the thing for you – online jigsaw puzzles – featuring gorgeous springtime images from the beautiful UMW campus – and printable coloring pages! Visit https://advancement.umw.edu/universityrelations/creative-services/just-for-fun/. Check back as we add more fun things to do.

 

Join Mary Washington’s ‘Mother of All Book Clubs’

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Looking for a way to stay connected to other alumni during this challenging time? Join our new online literary group–the Mother of All Book Clubs!

Alumni will read and collaborate via a Facebook group. The Facebook group is private, so only approved members will be able to see posts or participate in the discussion. This is designed to be an informal and low-pressure group–read along with us and chime in on the discussion as much or as little as you like.

Our first selection is “Educated: A Memoir,” by Tara Westover. This was UMW’s Common Read for 2019, so we’ll be reading the same book that all incoming freshmen read last fall.

Pick up a copy of the book and start reading–we will begin posting discussion questions about Part 1 on Monday, April 20.

You might have a local small-business bookseller you like to support, and that’s great! But if you are in a shutdown area and need the book shipped, here are some links to larger providers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Target.

We look forward to reading with you!

 

All the best,

The Alumni Relations Team

Mary Talks: Eric Gable on ‘An Anthropology of Art’

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Join us ONLINE for the next Mary Talk of the 2019-20 academic year.

Next in this year’s series is Eric Gable, professor of anthropology and recipient of the 2018 Waple Faculty Professional Achievement Award at UMW, presenting “An Anthropology of Art: Images and Objects from a Cross-Cultural Perspective.”

Professor Gable’s lecture distills his current book project, which delves into anthropology’s long-standing fascination with art and what it reveals about human equality and difference. The lecture is based on an ongoing study of Western art museums and how primitive art–particularly African–has been interpreted therein, and will include material on artistic practices among the people of West Africa and Indonesia, where Gable conducted field research.

Wednesday, April 22
7:30-8:30 p.m.
Online

To watch the Talk online, register here. You then will receive a link to the streaming video, which can be watched live or at a later time. You also will have the opportunity to submit questions to be asked of the speaker at the end of the Talk.

Note: Online viewing is the only option for this Mary Talk, as we are not conducting any in-person events at this time.

We look forward to seeing you online!