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Political Analyst and Media Expert Moderated Fredericksburg Forum

September 12, 2011 by

Fredericksburg, Va. – Stephen Farnsworth, author, political analyst and professor, served as moderator for the University of Mary Washington’s Fredericksburg Forum on Wednesday, September 28. The program, which featured political strategist Karl Rove, was held at 8 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium.

Farnsworth, an expert on media and politics, will rejoin the faculty of UMW in January to open the Center for Leadership and Media Studies on the Fredericksburg campus and to teach in the Department of Political Science and International Affairs. He taught at UMW for 13 years until 2008 and has researched elections, the mass media, the presidency and public opinion in the United States. Farnsworth is currently associate professor of communications at George Mason University.

He is the author of “Spinner in chief: How Presidents Sell Their Policies and Themselves” and “Political Support in a Frustrated America.” He also co-authored “The Nightly News Nightmare: Television’s Coverage of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1988-2004” and “The Mediated Presidency: Television News and Presidential Governance.”

A former newspaper journalist, Farnsworth received a doctorate and master’s degree from Georgetown University, a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Missouri and a bachelor’s degree in government from Dartmouth College.

Karl Rove is the Republican political strategist best known as President George W. Bush’s top advisor. He served as Bush’s senior advisor from 2000 to 2007 and as deputy chief of staff from 2004 to 2007. He oversaw the White House offices of strategic initiatives, political affairs, public liaison and intergovernmental affairs and was deputy chief of staff for policy, coordinating the White House policy-making process.

Rove is now a Fox News contributor, writes a weekly op-ed column for the Wall Street Journal and serves as a Newsweek columnist. He wrote the newly released New York Times bestseller “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight.”

Prior to serving as the architect of George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, Rove was president of Karl Rove + Company, an Austin, Texas-based public affairs firm that worked for Republican candidates, nonpartisan causes and nonprofit groups. His clients included more than 75 Republican U.S. Senate, congressional and gubernatorial candidates in 24 states, as well as the Moderate Party of Sweden.

Rove now serves on the board of trustees for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and for the Texas State History Museum Foundation. He also is a member of the McDonald Observatory Board of Visitors.
A Colorado native, he attended the University of Utah, the University of Maryland-College Park, George Mason University and the University of Texas (UT) at Austin.

At UT-Austin, Rove has taught graduate students at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and undergraduates in the journalism and government departments. He has served on the Board of International Broadcasting, which oversaw the operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, and on the White House Fellows regional selection panel. He also was a member of the boards of regents at Texas Woman’s University and at East Texas State University.

The Fredericksburg Forum brings nationally known speakers to the Fredericksburg community and the university.

For more information, contact the Office of University Events and Conferencing at (540) 654-1065.

Filed Under: College of Arts and Sciences, Top Stories, UMW News Tagged With: ,

UMW Galleries To Present Studio Art Faculty Show

August 22, 2011 by

The duPont Gallery will host UMW Studio Art Faculty Show, one of the first two exhibitions of the Fall 2011 season, from September 2 – October 7, 2011. This exhibition includes the work of three members of the University’s Art Department: Joseph DiBella, Rosemary Jesionowski, and Jonathon McMillan.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 1, 2011 from 5 – 7 p.m. in the duPont Gallery. The opening is free and open to the public.

Free street parking is available near duPont Hall, as well as designated parking spaces for gallery visitors. Check the Galleries’ website at http://galleries.umw.edu for hours. If you have any questions, contact the Galleries at (540) 654-1013.

Joseph DiBella, MPI #2, 2011, watercolor, 22 x 30 inches

Filed Under: What's New @ UMW Tagged With: , , , , ,

UMW Galleries To Present Studio Art Faculty Show

August 22, 2011 by

The duPont Gallery will host UMW Studio Art Faculty Show, one of the first two exhibitions of the Fall 2011 season, from September 2 – October 7, 2011. This exhibition includes the work of three members of the University’s Art Department: Joseph DiBella, Rosemary Jesionowski, and Jonathon McMillan.

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 1, 2011 from 5 – 7 p.m. in the duPont Gallery. The opening is free and open to the public.

Free street parking is available near duPont Hall, as well as designated parking spaces for gallery visitors. Check the Galleries’ website at http://galleries.umw.edu for hours. If you have any questions, contact the Galleries at (540) 654-1013.

Joseph DiBella, MPI #2, 2011, watercolor, 22 x 30 inches

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Keith Mellinger

June 16, 2011 by

Keith E. Mellinger, associate professor and chair of the department of mathematics, and former UMW student Jake Farinholt coauthored the article “Minimal generators for BCH codes” published in spring 2011 issue of The Pi Mu Epsilon Journal, an official publication of the national honorary mathematics society.

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Laurie Abeel

May 4, 2011 by

Laurie Abeel, associate professor of Graduate Education and Program Director for Advanced Licensure, is also the State Director for Destination ImagiNation (DI), a creative problem solving program for ages four through college level. She and her state board successfully ran the April 2 state tournament, which included 97 teams from around the state, with about 1,500 people attending. 

Abeel will take 41 teams from Virginia to Global Finals to be held in May at the University of Tennesee in Knoxville, where more than 1,000 teams from around the country and world will present creative solutions to DI challenges. For more information about DI, go to www.idodi.org.

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Kathryn Loesser-Casey and Debra Hydorn

April 28, 2011 by

Kathryn Loesser-Casey, professor of biological sciences, and Debra Hydorn, professor of mathematics, gave the poster presentation “Putting BIO2010 Into Practice: A Course on the Research Process for STEM Majors” at the Association of American Colleges and Universities conference “Engaged STEM Learning: From Promising to Pervasive Practices” held in Miami in March. The poster presentation provided an opportunity for Hydorn and Loesser-Casey to share information about the UMW course, Biology 260 The Research Process, with faculty from across the STEM disciplines.

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Jason Davidson

April 28, 2011 by

Jason Davidson, associate professor of political science and international affairs, will discuss his new book, “America’s Allies and War: Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq,” during a book forum at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 10 at 4 p.m.

The book forum is free and open to the public. Advance registration is required for all Cato events. Seating is limited. The forum also will be streamed live over the Internet. For more information, visit http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=7943.

The website says, “The United States pledges to defend our NATO allies under Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty. Why, and in what ways, do the allies reciprocate? Jason Davidson will present evidence from his unique analysis of transatlantic burden-sharing to explain why Britain, France, and Italy provide or refuse military support for U.S.-led uses of force. Sixty original interviews with top policymakers and analysts provide insight into allies’ decisions regarding the Kosovo War (1999), Afghanistan (2001), and the Iraq War (2003). Davidson shows that such decisions reflect a combination of factors such as alliance value, threat, prestige, and electoral politics. Join us for a discussion that will include recommendations for how U.S. policymakers can increase the allies’ contributions to global security, and shift some of the burdens of defense off the shoulders of American taxpayers.”

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Claudia Emerson

April 7, 2011 by

Claudia Emerson, English professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, will be inducted into the prestigious Fellowship of Southern Writers during its biennial meeting to be held during the April 14-16 Conference on Southern Literature.

Emerson will be welcomed into the fellowship alongside 11 other distinguished writers including Harper Lee, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller “To Kill a Mockingbird.” As part of Emerson’s induction, she will participate in a panel discussion of revision as an element of the writing process during the conference in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Emerson won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for “Late Wife.” She has written five books of poetry, with a sixth forthcoming. A former Virginia poet laureate who joined the UMW faculty in 1998, she holds the Arrington distinguished chair of poetry at Mary Washington. Emerson received the Donald Justice Award for poetry from the fellowship in 2009.

A highly selective organization that seeks to recognize and encourage literature in the South, the fellowship was founded in 1987 by a group of predominantly male writers that included James Dickey, John Hope Franklin, Walker Percy, Elizabeth Spencer, Robert Penn Warren and Eudora Welty.

New fellows are nominated by current members and elected by majority vote. Fellows are writers of fiction, poetry, drama, criticism and history. Most members have been fiction writers because of the powerhouse world of Southern fiction writing. However, Emerson said that is slowly changing. “As a female poet, it was harder to get in,” she said.

Members aren’t separated by their style of writing, so new ones are judged against all other Southern writers and editors, regardless of genre, Emerson said. “I’m very excited to see fellow writers and colleagues who are already in it and who are being inducted into it now,” Emerson said. “They don’t limit to creative writers necessarily.”

To be considered for membership, a writer must have been born and raised or have resided for a significant part of his or her life in the South, or have written works that in character and spirit embody aspects of the Southern experience.

Emerson said members also include historians, editors, biographers and critics, which is a unique trait for the fellowship. “It’s sort of a broader consideration of what it is to be a ‘writer’,” she said. “I’m excited and honored and always interested in being a part of something that’s trying to promote good writing.”

Emerson also is excited about attending the conference, where she will interact with many writers whom she admires. “I imagine there will be a couple of good parties where you can put on your party dress and meet people you’ve admired forever,” she said.

The fellowship holds its biennial meetings during the Chattanooga Arts & Education Council Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga, where the fellowship’s archives are held at the University of Tennessee Lupton Library. At their meeting, the fellows elect new members, bestow awards on established and emerging writers, and deliver readings and lectures.

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Jason Davidson

March 30, 2011 by

Jason W. Davidson, associate professor of political science and international affairs, had the column “America’s Allies and Libya: Why Coalitions Make Sense” published March 30 in the Aspen Institute Italia’s foreign affairs journal.

Read the column at http://www.aspeninstitute.it/aspenia-online/article/america%E2%80%99s-allies-and-libya-why-coalitions-make-sense.

In addition, Davidson has the book ”America’s Allies and War: Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq” scheduled for release in April by Palgrave Macmillan. 

Visit http://us.macmillan.com/americasalliesandwar to learn more about the book, which is especially relevant in light of the unrest and war in Libya.

The publisher’s summary says, “Why do Britain, France, and Italy provide or refuse military support for U.S.-led uses of force? This book provides a unique, multiple-case study analysis of transatlantic burden-sharing. Sixty original interviews with top policymakers and analysts provide insight into allies’ decisions regarding the Kosovo War (1999), Afghanistan (2001), and the Iraq War (2003). The cases show that neoclassical realist factors–alliance value, threat, prestige, and electoral politics–explain allies’ decisions better than constructivist factors–identity and norms. The book briefly covers additional cases (Vietnam, Lebanon, the Persian Gulf War, Somalia) and concludes with recommendations for increasing future allied military support.”

In Patricia A. Weitsman’s endorsement, the Ohio University political science professor writes, “Jason W. Davidson’s exceptional book is a must read for scholars and policy makers interested in knowing why states put troops in harm’s way for the benefit of their allies.  Davidson’s masterful explanation of burden sharing is essential knowledge for students of history and politics, as well as decision makers crafting strategy for the future.”

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Emile Lester

March 24, 2011 by

Emile Lester, assistant professor of political science and international affairs, wrote a March 21 guest blog post for the Washington Post about whether religion can be taught in public schools. He finds hope for improving civil discourse on religion through an innovative course offered in the Modesto, Calif., public school system. Check out Lester’s blog post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/political-bookworm/post/a-path-to-religion-in-the-classroom/2011/03/08/ABwNKy7_blog.html.

In addition, Lester has the forthcoming book “Teaching about Religions: A Democratic Approach for Public Schools,” which is due for release soon by the University of Michigan Press. Visit  http://press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do;jsessionid=96706B2E5A1D7240FDFF52E73627E189?id=2180004 to learn more.

The publisher’s summary of Lester’s book says, “Frequent news stories about the debates waged between secularists and religious conservatives have convinced most Americans that public schools must choose between promoting respect for religious minorities and respecting the interests of conservative Christians. As a result, public schools fail to teach students about the meaning and value of protecting religious liberty and consequently perpetuate mistrust across the cultural divide, further empower extremists, and obscure the fact that most Americans of all religious backgrounds share a commitment to basic democratic principles.”

“In response, the public schools in the religiously diverse and divided community of Modesto, California, have introduced a widely acclaimed required world religions course. Drawing on groundbreaking research on the creation of and response to the Modesto course as well as on political philosophy, Emile Lester advocates a civic approach to teaching about religion in public schools that at once emphasizes respect for all views about religion and provides a special recognition of conservative Christian beliefs.”

Charles C. Haynes, the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center senior scholar, writes in an endorsement, “This provocative and timely book challenges Americans to rethink what it means to take democracy and religious freedom seriously in public education. Emile Lester takes the reader beyond culture war conflicts rooted in religious divisions and offers bold, new solutions for addressing our differences with fairness and robust toleration. Instead of battlegrounds, he argues, public schools can and should be places that include all voices in ways that prepare citizens to engage one another with civility and respect. “Teaching about Religions” is essential reading for all who care about the future of public schools—and the health of American democracy.”

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