March 25, 2026

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Farnsworth Discusses Election on National Media

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Stephen Farnsworth

Stephen Farnsworth

Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, delivered a lecture to foreign service officers at the U.S. State Department entitled, “International News about the US: Challenges for Public Diplomacy,” on Nov. 1. The talk was drawn from his new co-authored book, “The Global President: International Media and the US Government.”

In addition, Farnsworth has been interviewed by a number of media outlets on the campaign for Governor of Virginia.

Recent interviews include:

Searcy and Rettinger Present at SACSA Conference

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Dr. Doug Searcy, vice president for Student Affairs, and Dr. David Rettinger, executive director of the Center for Honor, Leadership, and Service, presented a program on UMW’s Center for Honor, Leadership and Service at the 64th Annual Conference of the Southern Association for College Student Affairs (SACSA) in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 2 to 4.

The presentation focused on sharing strengths of the center program and its development of best practices that seek to raise the bar for industry standards in developing similar programs that create a seamless experience between curricular and co-curricular components of the University.

Searcy also facilitated a senior-level panel on campus collaboration as a tool to address student needs and support student learning, and served on a panel to discuss threat assessment and behavioral intervention teams and the models for implementing and successfully maintaining these teams that are now critical for supporting student success and persistence to graduation.

Gupta Presents on India and the Liberal World Order

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Surupa Gupta, associate professor of political science and international affairs, spoke on India’s engagement with global economic institutions such as the WTO, IMF and World Bank at a workshop titled “India and the Liberal World Order” at the Transatlantic Academy of the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

Hackathon Supports Charity

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Webmaster Curtiss Grymala and Director of Digital Communications Shelley Keith participated in an all-night “hackathon” for charity while at HighEdWeb 2013, Oct. 6 to 9, in Buffalo, N.Y. The event, in support of Ride for Roswell, had 75 participants at its peak. Information architects, content strategists, visual designers, programmers, theme developers, and WordPress experts gathered in a room from 7 p.m. until 4 a.m. to donate approximately 400 labor hours in support of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute “Ride for Roswell” website redevelopment project. Grymala was selected to lead the development team, and Keith served as project management liaison between the teams and the client to identify priorities and clarify requirements. The event was featured on local television news and in blog posts and websites.

News coverage:

Andréa Livi Smith Presents at Conferences

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Andréa Livi Smith presented at three national/international conferences in October.

  • Smith presented a paper on the urban renewal on the Eastern edge of Paris at the Association for Preservation Technology International’s annual conference, titled “Preserving the Metropolis” held in New York City.
  • Smith led a session on the links between sustainability, public health, and historic preservation at the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation held in Indianapolis, Ind. Along with Dr. Smith, Dr. Tracy Hadden-Loh, director of research at the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Nathan Holth, author of HistoricBridges.org provided context on the importance of blending the approaches for effective preservation.
Additional details about the conferences and Smith’s activities can be found on twitter at @smithpres with tags: #issotl13, #aptnyc, and #presconf respectively.