A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Dr. Troy Paino and Kelly Paino cordially invite you to a Holiday Gathering
December 13, 2019, 6 to 8 p.m.
Jepson Alumni Executive Center
Brompton will be open. Attire is business casual.
Please RSVP via this Google Form or by emailing EventsRSVP@umw.edu.
Holiday boxes are now available to departments that wish to fill them with non-perishable food items, as well as personal hygiene and toiletry products, for local residents in need. Give your boxes some festive flair by decorating it with your colleagues! Please leave the top of box uncovered. Employees may pick up their box from the Office of Events & Conferencing in George Washington Hall, Room 307. Please return filled boxes to the Rappahannock Grand Ballroom in the Jepson Alumni Executive Center on either Wednesday, December 11 or Thursday, December 12. Decorated boxes will be displayed under the tree at the Holiday Party. Please indicate your department on the boxes. This year’s donations will be given to Micah Ecumenical Ministries before the holiday break. Please direct any inquiries to Marissa DiMeo at ext. 1087 or mdimeo@umw.edu.
Enjoy free admission for UMW Faculty/Staff and their families (up to 5 members) at the James Monroe Museum and Gari Melchers Home and Studio from December 19 – January 5.
Enjoy 20% off your museum store purchase.
As the holidays are approaching, we are focusing this week on the Social dimension of the PCOW Wellness Wheel. Social wellness is defined as “fostering a sense of connection and belonging with others. This involves using good communication skills, respecting yourself and others, and creating and maintaining a well-developed support system.” The positive effects of building and cultivating healthy relationships with family and friends are infinite. We respond better to stress, form better habits, are more at peace and boost our self-esteem to be comfortable in ourselves and more at ease in different social settings.
UMW offers many ways for its employees to practice social wellness on campus: eat lunch with a colleague, attend a UMW-sponsored event with your family, or cheer on your students at UMW sports event with a friend! What will you do to practice good social wellness this week and during the holiday break? Share it with us on our Facebook page: UMW Wellness or Instagram: umw_wellness.
City Council member Tim Duffy (left) shakes hands with UMW President Troy Paino after the two cut the symbolic ribbon at the expanded Battlefield Athletic Complex parking lot. Photo by Karen Pearlman.
A ribbon cutting on Nov. 22 for a newly expanded parking lot at UMW’s Battlefield Athletic Complex illustrates a concerted effort by the University and the City of Fredericksburg to work collaboratively on community issues.
The project, which enlarged the lot between UMW’s Tennis Center and Physical Plant to eight times its original size, aims to ease cramped parking conditions on Hanover Street during University-hosted athletic events. It also is intended to bolster the athletic complex’s attractiveness for tournament use and support economic development opportunities.
“This lot is more than just parking,” said City Manager Tim Baroody. “It’s a partnership.” Read more.
We have a strong and resilient community. Monday was trying — and, for some, traumatic. While we have learned now, based on the quick work of University police, that the campus never was under a credible threat, we took every precaution to protect our community. I was engaged in the deliberations of our Threat Assessment Team, and I applaud the team’s swift and appropriate response.
I realize questions and concerns abound. Here are the facts: A caller left a voicemail for a UMW employee warning that an individual would be coming to campus with a firearm. That voicemail was immediately forwarded to UMW Police, and the recipient of the call likely warned those around him or her. While dispatching his officers to learn as much as possible about the situation, Chief Mike Hall convened an emergency meeting of the University’s Threat Assessment Team, a multidisciplinary group composed of members of various campus departments (faculty and staff) who respond to concerns and threats that may pose a significant disruption to the campus environment and the institution’s academic mission. This group received a briefing and quickly determined that classes and campus activities should be suspended, and all members of the community should shelter in place, until police could learn more about the threat and the person who made it.
After further investigation, police identified the caller, who indicated the threat was never intended to be taken seriously. The caller was arrested without incident and is now in jail under a $10,000 secured bond. Making a false report or threat of this kind is a felony offense.
From Monday’s situation, we have learned important takeaways. The campus community would like to have more training on what steps to take in these types of circumstances. Also, we all would benefit from a common definition of terms such as shelter in place. UMW Police are currently finalizing a video related to firearms violence, and they are planning safety awareness and training programs for campus members next semester.
Again, I want to compliment the entire campus community. Your calm adherence to safety protocols and support for one another allowed the situation to be resolved expediently. You have my pledge: I, along with members of this community, work every day to ensure the University provides a living and learning environment that is as safe as possible.
President Troy D. Paino
To all of our valued Stop Hunger Food Drive supporters:
I am really excited to share with you the results of our recently completed Stop Hunger Food Drive! The total amount of food collected was 8,054 pounds! This is simply spectacular, and we want to thank everyone who worked so hard to make this a success.
A huge “thank you” to all of the UMW athletes who tabled in front of the Giant Food Store and solicited donations in our surrounding neighborhoods, and especially to Maddie Taghorn for coordinating everything so perfectly!
We also want to thank the Staff Advisory Council, Giant Food, and the New City Fellowship Church for your wonderful support.
All of the food is being distributed to the Eagle Resource Closet and to the Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank. We received a call from the Food Bank today expressing their deep appreciation for our donations, and saying they really needed this help right now.
Again, our thanks to everyone for supporting the drive, and we look forward to doing this again, and even better, next year!
Rose Benedict
University of Mary Washington Dining Services
Safe Zone is excited to announce that we will hold our first ever social gathering for LGBTQ+ identified faculty and staff. Come out to Spencer Devon (106 George St) on Thursday, December 12th at 4pm to make new friends and spend time with wonderful people you already know! This will be an informal gathering so feel free to come whenever you would like. We would love to see you! Please email Laura Wilson at lwilson5@umw.edu with any questions.
It’s time for COAR’s annual Head Start Gift Box Drive! Each year we ask students, faculty and staff to fill boxes full of necessities and toys for children 3 to 5 years old in the Head Start programs in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania schools.
Boxes can be checked out now through Nov. 22 in the University Center Lobby from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. or in the Center for Community Engagement (Suite 320) during normal office hours, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. We can also deliver boxes to you at your office and pick them up as needed. If you would like a box delivered or picked up, please email us at coarumw@gmail.com.
All gift boxes that are checked out will need to be returned by Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 5 p.m.
Required items for the boxes are hats, gloves, scarves, small toys, coloring books, crayons and markers, and small books (all of these items will need to fit inside a shoe box-sized box).
We appreciate your continued support of service at UMW. Thank you and happy holidays!
The Women’s History Month Planning Committee invites members of the University of Mary Washington community to submit program proposals for the annual Women’s History Month Celebration!
This year’s theme is “Valiant Women of the Vote: Victories and Untold Stories.”
Visit students.umw.edu/multicultural/programs/womens-history-month/ or contact JoAnna Raucci (jraucci@umw.edu) for more information.