November 22, 2024

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

U.S. News Ranks UMW Among Top Five Public Universities in the South

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U.S. News & World Report has ranked the University of Mary Washington’s undergraduate program fifth among public southern universities in the “Top Public Regional Universities – South” category in its 2014 edition of America’s Best Colleges. The university ranks 13th among all southern universities in the same category. Mary Washington has been ranked in the top 20 among southern universities each year for seven consecutive years. UMW is ranked fifth among public universities in the south, according to U.S. News & World Report. The listing was announced Sept. 10 in the magazine’s online edition. U.S. News & World Report bases its rankings on peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving. UMW also is named in a list of “A-Plus Schools for B Students,” for schools ranked among the top three-quarters of their peer groups in the 2014 Best Colleges rankings that admit a meaningful proportion of non-“A” students. For the full list, visit www.usnews.com. In recent years, the university has seen its academic reputation garner national recognition in numerous selective guidebooks, including Forbes, the Fiske Guide to Colleges and the Princeton Review’s 2012 edition of 150 “Best Value Colleges” and the 2014 edition of “The Best 378 Colleges.”

Virginia Living Magazine Names UMW Among Most Innovative Schools

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The University of Mary Washington has been selected as one of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s top schools of 2013 by Virginia Living, the most widely read lifestyle magazine in the state. UMW is listed among 150 of Virginia’s most innovative educational programs in the magazine’s State of Education supplement in the October issue. BADGE_final_VaLivingThe list recognizes schools for excellence and innovation in five categories, including arts and humanities, science, math, and technology, co-ops and partnerships, athletics, and capital improvements. UMW appears in the science, math and technology category for its Domain of One’s Own initiative, the capital improvements category for the new Information and Technology Convergence center, and the co-ops and partnerships category for its partnership with the Naval Surface Warfare Center. UMW’s Domain of One’s Own project is unprecedented in higher education. Starting this fall, the university provides each incoming student with the opportunity to claim his or her own personal web domain name and web hosting account. Under the guidance of UMW’s Department of Division of Learning and Technologies, students are able to define and control their online presence, managing coursework, developing e-portfolios and setting up databases that remain with them long after they graduate. UMW successfully piloted the program during the 2012-13 academic year, offering it to 400 students and faculty. Other institutions have taken an interest and are planning to emulate the project. The Convergence Center is scheduled to open in the fall of 2014. One of the biggest construction projects at UMW is a $39 million Information & Technology Convergence Center, which will serve as an “academic commons” building. The center will be a place where technology, information and teaching resources merge in a modern, energetic and vibrant environment. The four-story building, expected to open by fall 2014, will connect to Simpson Library and will contain a data center, classrooms, offices, a digital theater, media labs, a café and countless collaboration areas. UMW and the Naval Surface Warfare Center have had a long, rich history of working together, starting in World War II and continuing through the present day. Among other initiatives, NSWC provides the Fredericksburg campus with a high-resonance nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, which is used cooperatively by the chemistry department and NSWC scientists. In addition, the Navy facility sponsors internships to computer science students, and supports STEM teacher training at UMW. UMW’s Dahlgren Campus Center for Education and Research, opened in 2012, serves as an educational off-site location for NSWC and other base commands. The magazine will be available in bookstores on Friday, Sept. 6. More information about the State of Education list is available at http://www.virginialiving.com/.

UMW Among Best Colleges, According to Princeton Review

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The University of Mary Washington has been named to The Princeton Review’s 2014 edition of “The Best 378 Colleges.” The Princeton Review is a New York City-based education services company that annually publishes guidebooks ranking colleges, business and law schools. PhotographerThe annual college guide includes detailed profiles of the colleges with school rating scores in eight categories, including admissions selectivity, academics and quality of life. In its profile, The Princeton Review says UMW students applaud the small student body and class sizes for fostering close interactions with faculty members. “Students believe UMW is ‘a hidden jewel that delivers on a historical campus’ and say courses are ‘engaging and intellectually stimulating,’” according to UMW’s profile. “Overall, students agree, ‘Mary Washington is all about getting a well-rounded education while becoming a part of a great community’ and point out that ‘professors are included in that as well.’” Princeton Review 2014Only about 15 percent of America’s 2,500 four-year colleges and three colleges outside the U.S. are profiled in the book. “We base our selections primarily on data we obtain in our annual institutional data surveys,” said Robert Franek, author of “The Best 378 Colleges” and Princeton Review’s senior vice president and publisher. “We also take into account input we get from our staff, our 35-member National College Counselor Advisory Board, our personal visits to schools, and the wide range of feedback we get from our surveys of students attending these schools.  It is their opinions that college applicants often value the most, particularly on (or in the absence of) campus visits. We also work to keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character.” The full list is available at www.PrincetonReview.com.

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News release prepared by: Brynn Boyer

Fiske College Guide Names UMW Among Nation’s Best

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For the fourth consecutive year, the University of Mary Washington is the only institution in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia named as a “best buy” in the prestigious Fiske Guide to Colleges. Mary Washington is among 41 public and private institutions designated as a “best buy,” delivering outstanding academics and the most reasonable prices. The selective guidebook features more than 300 colleges and universities. The listing was based on questionnaires sent to administrators and a cross-section of students. UMW is among 21 public and 20 private schools singled out as “best buys” in the 2014 edition of the guide. “Mary Washington has gained a reputation as one of the premium public liberal arts colleges in the country and continues to attract bright students from around the globe,” according to the Fiske Guide, which has been compiled for the past 30 years under the direction of Edward B. Fiske, former education editor of the New York Times. The Fiske Guide is available in bookstores and as an iPad app on iTunes and a web app on CollegeCountdown.com. For more information, visit http://www.collegecountdown.com/.

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News release prepared by: Brynn Boyer  

UMW Receives Accolades for Affordability

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The University of Mary Washington is listed among the top colleges and universities for affordability in two new online rankings. AffordableCollegesOnline.org (ACO) includes UMW in its 2013 rankings of the 50 “Most Affordable Colleges with a High Return on Investment (ROI)” and EducatedQuest.com named UMW to its list of 2013 “Best Buy Public Colleges and Universities.” ACO used data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and the Carnegie Classification to rank four-year, non-profit institutions based on cost and estimated ROI. UMW is No. 44 on the list. The online resource Educated Quest based its ranking of colleges and universities on several criteria, including freshman retention rate, six-year graduation rate, in-state and out-of-state tuition rates, and student indebtedness levels. UMW is one of 17 institutions on the list.

Peace Corps Ranks UMW Among Top-Producing Small Colleges

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Once again, the Peace Corps has ranked the University of Mary Washington among the nation’s top-producing colleges for alumni now serving as Peace Corps volunteers.

UMW ranks third on the Peace Corps’ list of small schools or institutions with less than 5,000 undergraduates. Currently, UMW has 21 alumni serving around the world, the Peace Corps announced on Feb. 5.

Chad Chadbourn ’06 (right) taught a small business course to high school students as part of his Peace Corps service in Costa Rica

Mary Washington has been named to the Peace Corps’ list of 25 top-producing small schools for the 10th consecutive year. In 2012 and 2011, the university placed No. 1 among schools in the same category, with 30 and 32 alumni serving in the Peace Corps, respectively.

In all, 230 Mary Washington alumni have served the 27-month commitment around the world since the Peace Corps’ inception in 1961.

For Chad Chadbourn ’06, who was a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica from 2006 to 2008, UMW fosters values and skills that fit well with the Peace Corps’ mission.

“Mary Washington really encourages students to go about developing a better global mindset,” said Chadbourn, a 2013 MBA candidate at the College of William & Mary’s Mason School of Business. “The personal initiative, interpersonal skills and communication skills through the writing and speaking intensive courses really enhance one’s ability to be a Peace Corps volunteer.”

Bethany Farrell ’11 currently serves in Morocco as a youth development volunteer.

Bethany Farrell ’11 (first row, third from right) is currently serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco

“I learned so much about myself and about the world during my time at Mary Washington, and I use that education all the time here,” Farrell said. “There are so many tolerant, respectful and open-minded people at Mary Washington, and I try to demonstrate those qualities each and every day of my service.”

For any interested students currently enrolled at UMW, the Peace Corps will hold an information session on Tuesday, Feb. 12, at 5 p.m. in Lee Hall, Room 411.

The Peace Corps ranks its top volunteer-producing schools annually according to the size of the student body. The rankings are calculated based on fiscal year 2012 data as of September 30, 2012, as self-reported by Peace Corps volunteers. A complete list of colleges and universities can be viewed at Peace Corps’ Top Colleges.

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News release prepared by: Marty Morrison and Brynn Boyer

Kiplinger’s Magazine Rates UMW Among Nation’s Best Values

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The University of Mary Washington is listed among Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s “100 Best Values in Public Colleges” for 2013.

The university ranks fifth among Virginia’s best values and 53rd out of 100 four-year public institutions nationwide when comparing tuition costs, according to the February 2013 issue of Kiplinger’s. The list is available online at www.kiplinger.com/links/college.

UMW students study for final exams outside the Woodard Campus Center

“We applaud this year’s top 100 schools for their efforts to maintain academic standards while meeting the financial needs of their students,” said Janet Bodnar, editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

The magazine selects the best values from a pool of nearly 600 public four-year colleges and universities, using data provided by Peterson’s. The editors rank the schools based on measures of academic quality, including admission and retention rates, student-faculty ratios and four- and six-year graduation rates, as well as on cost and financial aid.

Other Virginia schools on the in-state “best-value” list include the University of Virginia (2), the College of William and Mary (4), James Madison University (20) and Virginia Tech (28).

UMW has appeared consistently on Kiplinger’s best value list since 2006, and continuously ranks high in selective college guidebooks.

UMW Lauded for Efficiency in New U.S. News List

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U.S. News & World Report has recognized the University of Mary Washington among the top universities for its efficient use of resources and ability to provide a high quality education. Using the operating efficiency measure, the university ranks third among universities in the “Regional Universities – South” category. The listing was announced in a recent online edition of the magazine. U.S. News & World Report took into account how much a school spends per student on instruction, research, student services and related educational expenditures. The list is based on operating efficiency, defined as a school’s 2011 fiscal year financial resources per student divided by its overall score in the 2013 Best Colleges rankings. “Schools that are featured on this list are doing a good job in managing their financial resources relative to other schools that may have larger state funding, higher tuition, or larger endowments,” according to the U.S. News & World Report website. UMW ranks sixth among public southern universities in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2013 edition of America’s Best Colleges, and 16th among all southern universities in the same category. Mary Washington has been ranked in the top 20 among southern universities each year for more than five consecutive years. For the full list, visit http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2012/12/06/which-highly-ranked-universities-operate-most-efficiently.

Washington Monthly Ranks UMW Among Top Master’s Universities

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The University of Mary Washington has been rated 12th among master’s universities in the nation by the Washington Monthly magazine.

In its annual “College Guide and Rankings,” the publication ranks schools based on their contribution to the public good. The criteria includes social mobility that encompasses recruiting and graduating low-income students; research that produces cutting-edge scholarships and Ph.D.s; and service that encourages students to give back to their country.

For the full news release, please visit http://www.umw.edu/news/2012/08/27/washington-monthly-ranks-umw-among-top-masters-universities/.

Forbes Names UMW to America’s Top Colleges List

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For the fifth year in a row, the Forbes.com online news magazine has recognized the University of Mary Washington as one of the nation’s top universities.

In the annual list of “America’s Best Colleges,” UMW ranks 66th out of 100 institutions that Forbes deems “The 100 Best Buy Colleges.” Overall, UMW ranks 243rd out of the 650 undergraduate institutions that the magazine considers the nation’s best. UMW rose more than 45 spots from last year’s overall ranking of 291.

The list is compiled in conjunction with the Center for College Affordability and Productivity (CCAP), which rates the undergraduate institutions based on the quality of the education provided and how much their students achieve. The CCAP ranks only the top 15 percent of the nation’s more than 4,000 colleges and universities.

According to Forbes.com, the list is based on the following five categories: post graduate success, which evaluates alumni pay and prominence; student satisfaction, which includes professor evaluations and first-year retention rates; debt, which penalizes schools for high student debt loads and default rates; four year graduation rate; and competitive awards, which rewards schools whose students win prestigious scholarships.

The full list is available at http://www.forbes.com/top-colleges/.