A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid spoke to With Good Reason radio for its current episode, “How Hot is Your Honey?” which airs through Friday, Sept. 9. On the show, Majid says that food insecurity is a problem we can solve simply by reducing food waste. “We are wasting 30 or 40 percent of what we produce and we have got line-ups of people who need food,” Majid said. “None of this makes sense.” Hear more.
Join us ONLINE for the next Mary Talk of the 2021-22 academic year!
We will hear from Dr. Kashef Majid, professor of marketing at Mary Washington, as he presents “Stop Wasting our Food: Food Waste and the World’s Stupidest Problem.”
Why is it that we squander one-third of all food? Households in the U.S. waste thousands of dollars each year on uneaten food “because we’ve been tricked,” Dr. Majid says. In a new course called Alleviating Food Waste, Dr. Majid helps UMW students explore the root causes of unused food and how the issue can be remedied.
Wednesday, February 2
7:30-8:30 p.m. (EDT)
Online (via Zoom)
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.
We look forward to seeing you online!
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid’s new course, Alleviating Food Waste, was featured on the front page of The Free Lance-Star newspaper on Nov. 6.
Majid developed the new course based on his own interest in and research on the subject of food waste, which is an environmental, social and economic challenge for the United States and the world.
“The course has a couple of goals,” he said. “I want students to be aware of how big a problem this is, and that this is a fixable problem.”
Between 30 and 40 percent of food that is produced gets wasted, Majid said—the equivalent of buying four grocery bags worth of food and just leaving one on the ground.
That waste is occurring alongside widespread food insecurity. According to Feeding America, the nonprofit that operates a network of 200 food banks across the country, an estimated 38 million Americans—including more than 12 million children—were food insecure last year.
“If we even reduced the amount of food wasted by 20 percent, we wouldn’t have food insecurity,” Majid said. Read more.
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid
Associate Professor of Marketing Kashef Majid was recently interviewed for a feature on WalletHub.com on car insurance. Majid provided insight into the ways COVID-19 has impacted car insurance companies and how these companies target consumers through celebrity endorsements.
How do you think COVID-19 has affected consumer demand for car insurance?
At a large scale, COVID-19 has harmed the economy which would trickle into demand for cars and subsequently insurance. On a more micro-level what this has done is made people more cognizant about how much they are paying for car insurance so I would expect more consumers to reevaluate how much they are paying for car insurance. Read more.
UMW students aren’t able to study abroad due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But this fall, an international marketing class is engaging in cross-cultural learning by partnering with students at a university in the Czech Republic to better understand global consumerism.
Studying abroad is as much a part of University of Mary Washington culture as bench-sitting or playing Frisbee on Ball Circle. One-third of each graduating class – about 300 students – spends time learning overseas.
Not this year.
As COVID-19 continues to sweep the globe, international travel – like commencements, reunions and all large gatherings – has been put on hold.
But the pandemic hasn’t halted cross-cultural learning at Mary Washington. This fall, an international marketing class taught by College of Business Associate Professor Kashef Majid has partnered with a university in the Czech Republic to better understand global consumerism and how certain brands and behaviors can transcend cultural differences. Connecting on Zoom, students have discussed everything from fashion fads to technology trends, discovering similarities and differences between young adults living on opposite sides of the world.
“You can study marketing trends in foreign countries all day long,” said senior Ginny Summers, “but in order to succeed in business, you need to be able to have a respectful conversation with someone from a different culture.” Read more.
Center for Community Engagement Director Leslie Martin, Associate Marketing Professor Kashef Majid and Psychological Science Professor Dave Kolar recently assisted Fredericksburg VA Main Street with a survey that will be used to develop a “Reboot Downtown! Initiative.” Running through May 11, the survey will help businesses prepare their spaces and staff for important safety considerations when Downtown Fredericksburg does reopen, although there is no set date at this time. Read more.
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.
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.
