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Liss, a licensed clinical psychologist and one of the Princeton Review’s 300 Best Professors, is known for her energy in the classroom and her ability to engage with students.

Miriam Liss, associate professor of psychology, leads her classes in role play exercises

“I love getting students up out of their seats and getting them engaged with the material,” she said.

For example, in her personality class she has students role play Erikson’s stages.

“Students may forget a lecture about Erikson, but they will never forget the interpretative dance used to illustrate autonomy versus shame and doubt,” she said.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Liss is passionate about the independent research projects of her students. She has published more than 10 articles with student co-authors in peer-reviewed journals and has presented with numerous students at national conferences.

“Students can get such a unique experience with our faculty,” she said of UMW’s emphasis on undergraduate research.

Liss and colleague Mindy Erchull, associate professor of psychology, recently released findings of a compelling new study of their own. The research, published in the journal Sex Roles, delves into the link between feminist mothers and attachment-parenting techniques.

For Warren Rochelle, professor of English, a class is a conversation where knowledge goes both ways.

“Classes are conversations between students and the professor. Knowledge isn’t static,” he said. “We make and discover meaning in conversation, whether it is a conversation with self, with a text, and in this case, in a classroom, with those who are participating in the class. Students bring knowledge to the table, as does the professor, and then through the give-and-take of a class discussion, through responses to a lecture, through blog posts, meaning is explored and developed.”

His goal is for students to achieve mastery of the subject and feel engaged with the material. To make the coursework come alive for his students, Rochelle encourages discussions in small groups.

An accomplished science fiction writer in his own right and one of the Princeton Review’s 300 Best Professors, Rochelle’s passion for fantasy and science fiction is evident in his classes.

Jennifer Polack-Wahl, professor of computer science, leads a small group of student researchers who in just 12 months is making a sizeable impact in elementary schools in the Commonwealth and across the nation.

Polack-Wahl and the team, known as S.M.A.R.T. (Student Made Applications and Researching Technology), has created applications, or “apps,” for iPads, iPhones and iTouches specifically geared toward addressing Virginia SOL math and literacy requirements for elementary school students. This semester, the group released an app that focuses on the history of ancient Egypt. Apps on money and life science are in the works. Polack-Wahl is collaborating with the Charlottesville, Va., school district, which is using the apps, to make sure the content and format are effective. And with Apple technologymaking its way into elementary school classrooms, the S.M.A.R.T. team is adding a research component to its work.

“We are getting data to prove the technology works,” she said, since schools may be more likely to receive funding for apps with research that supports their effectiveness. “We have to show it is worth the investment.”

Polack-Wahl set up the student research program to emulate independent studies she has seen at the master’s and doctoral levels.

This semester, six students meet one or two days a week to research and develop the apps. Her goal is to give them the opportunity to do higher level work and have a hand in projects they might not normally undertake.

“It’s like a mini Ph.D. program,” she said.

(from left) Shanita Mitchell, Charnele Young, Amanda Jenkins and Amber Harris

“If I hadn’t received a scholarship, I may not have had the opportunity to go to college,” said Harris, a 2012 graduate of the University of Mary Washington.

On Saturday, May 12, she walked across the stage on UMW’s Fredericksburg campus to receive her bachelor’s degree in psychology, making her the first in her family to graduate from college.

Harris is one of four inaugural graduates of Rappahannock Scholars, a program that mentors and provides financial aid to promising underserved students from the Northern Neck region of Virginia. She and fellow graduates Shanita Mitchell, Amanda Jenkins and Charnele Young have excelled at UMW and each has carved a distinct niche for herself.

Harris has worked as an aide in the Admissions Office since her sophomore year.  She recently presented her semester-long research about the effects of family, peer and individual attitudes on satisfaction in interracial romantic relationships at the psychology department’s Psi Chi Symposium. She’s a member of the scholarship and service fraternity Alpha Mu Sigma and plans to pursue a master’s degree in human resources.

The Rappahannock Scholars program began in 2007 when Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions Rita Thompson noticed a lack of applicants from the Northern Neck region of Virginia.  The initiative aids the often difficult transition from high school to college, offering financial aid and guaranteed admission to talented students within the counties of Essex, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Lancaster, King and Queen, and Rappahannock.

“They’re amazing,” Thompson said of the graduating seniors.  “These stars pushed through when it wasn’t an easy thing to do.  They were at the very top of their class.”

Currently, the program comprises 21 students at UMW and 66 high school students.  Ninety percent of high school students in the program have continued to a four-year college.

For Shanita Mitchell of Kilmarnock, UMW gave her the chance to recognize and cultivate her passions.

She discovered dance her sophomore year and soon realized her love for the art.  Now, she is a choreographer for the Performing Arts Club, vice president of Praise Dance and assistant to the Alter Ego Step Team, where she choreographs and gives feedback to the performers.

“I’ve learned to be around different people, because I came from a small town where everyone was the same,” Mitchell said.  “Being at Mary Washington, since it was smaller, I feel like I had a lot of leeway to grow.”

An English major, she aims to become an African-American literature professor.  In fact, Thompson said Mitchell is considered by her professors as more of a colleague than a student. Mitchell plans to attend Virginia Commonwealth University next spring.

For Amanda Jenkins of Westmoreland County, the guidance and relationships she gained as a Rappahannock Scholar helped ease her transition into college.

“The Rappahannock Scholars group isn’t just about the money—the family I’ve made with the people involved is irreplaceable,” she said.

Jenkins will start a full-time position as a software engineer with an information technology company in Dahlgren this summer, an offer that came after a semester-long internship with the company while a student. Her burgeoning career and her goal of graduate school are opportunities she cultivated as a Rappahannock Scholar.

“I feel like I’m a more successful, well-rounded person because of the program and because of Mary Washington,” Jenkins said.  “It’s pointing me toward a brighter future.”

Charnele Young entered UMW a year later than the other three students and graduated a year early with a degree in psychology.  She earned college credit at Northumberland High School and took summer classes at UMW each year. In her last semester, Young tutored a boy with Asperger’s Syndrome through the Comprehensive Autism Partnership, helping him develop literal thinking and social skills.

Young plans to continue the internship, and either take courses to become certified as an applied behavioral analyst, or go to graduate school at Ball State University.

“Mary Washington has been life changing,” she said.  “It has opened plenty of doors and opportunities.”

Leslie Martin

And so are students taking the freshman class seminar taught by the assistant professor of sociology.

The students work at a local homeless shelter, assist with community dinners and tutor through programs around Fredericksburg.

This integral community involvement helps shed light on area housing issues that undergraduates tackle in Martin’s seminar, “No Place Like Home: Housing and Society.”

Martin leads discussions on housing and homelessness, using examples from her ongoing research on the rhetoric of homeless service providers.

One such discussion in her urban sociology class focused on how the presence of homeless people in the downtown area impact local businesses. The timely issue illustrates how communities address inequality and poverty, Martin said.

Martin, who has served on affordable housing and homelessness task forces, sees a connection between how agencies and other providers talk about homelessness and the solutions they believe are possible. She hopes her research can increase awareness, especially among her students, about a growing issue in their own backyard.

“They are so intertwined,” she said of her project and her classes. “Taking apart the research and the teaching is almost impossible.”

She presented a paper of her findings on Friday, April 27 at the Urban Affairs Association conference in Pittsburgh.

“This [research] has opened my mind,” she said. “It is shaping the way I’m thinking about issues in the local community. It makes me want to learn more.”

Senior Katie Rosinski won the 2012 Melchers Gray Purchase Award for her work, "Housed"

“Concept is very important to me, so I consider layers of content and what the materials and scale of the piece are saying,” she said.

Her detailed artistic process has paid off – Rosinski is a two-time winner of the prestigious Melchers Gray Purchase Award, given annually by the UMW art department.

Her most recent award is for her 3-D mixed media piece, “Housed,” that will become a part of the university’s permanent collection.

“To have my pieces now part of the permanent collection is extraordinary and very fitting,” she said. “UMW is so important to me and so I couldn’t be happier that my pieces are now living here.”

Rosinski’s success at Mary Washington comes as no surprise to Carole Garmon, chair of the Department of Art and Art History.

“From the moment Katie stepped into the halls of Melchers, she let everyone know she was serious about art, even when she hadn’t realized it for herself,” Garmon said. “Every faculty member speaks of Katie’s desire to learn and her determination to make the best art possible.”

Rosinski flourished in the close-knit environment of the art department, exploring various forms of media, talking with artists from around the world and founding the Student Art Association.

This summer, she is an intern at the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Exhibits Central model shop.

“She is truly the epitome of a liberal arts success story,” Garmon said.

O’Brien is leading an international collaborative effort called the Early English Laws Project, which aims to re-edit and translate all 150 of the early English laws issued between 600 to 1225 and make them accessible to the public through an online database.

In light of the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, the project takes a new resonance.

“This will make early law codes accessible to anyone,” he said, noting that laws like the Magna Carta have influenced some of the most important legal documents in history, including the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

O’Brien is the academic lead of the project, a collaboration between the Institute of Historical Research at the University of London and the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London.

The initial launch of the project in January marked the culmination of three years of work for O’Brien and his team. About half of the texts are completely done, including commentaries, introductions, translation and images of all of the earliest  manuscript folios.

O’Brien, who also is a visiting fellow at the Institute for Historical Research, has given talks on the project at Cambridge, London, York, St. Andrews, Cardiff, and Bangor in Wales, as well as in the United States.  He spoke most recently at a conference in Copenhagen in September to discuss some of his recent discoveries for the international project.

National Public Radio recently featured O’Brien in its food blog “The Salt” and in a radio segment on WAMU 88.5 “Virginia Scholar Opens Magna Carta to Study.”

Laura Johnson, center, assists Mckenzie.

When Laura Johnson ’12 registered for classes for her last undergraduate semester at the University of Mary Washington, she added one that wasn’t required—the Play Lab, an education course that gives students hands-on experience working with disabled students.

Johnson, who majored in historic preservation and elementary education with a focus in museum studies, thought the class would be beneficial to her as a teacher.

“You can’t control who comes into your classroom,” she said.  “As a teacher, you’re responsible for giving every student the best education that you can, so I thought it was part of my responsibility as a teacher.”

Nicole Myers works with Matt Hioos

The Play Lab, in its third semester at UMW, is a parent resource and clinic for children with developmental delays, such as autism and intellectual disabilities. Bolstered through community donations and grant awards, the course has been cited as a model program by Virginia Commonwealth’s Center for Autism Excellence.

UMW students spend seven weeks in the classroom learning strategies to effectively handle children with disabilities, and then incorporate those techniques in five-week sessions in the Play Lab with the children.

Johnson was among 12 UMW students who worked with 13 children. She was one of two undergraduates in a class of mostly graduate students and teachers who wanted to learn more about working with students with disabilities.

But the range of classroom dynamics wasn’t an obstacle for Johnson.

“It was really kind of daunting at first, but we all came together to work as a team,” Johnson said.  “It just makes me excited to collaborate in the future with other teachers.”

During each session, the children rotate through four different rooms designed to target specific sensory, communication and motor skills.

“It really sets the kids up to want to communicate with each other, so they’re feeling comfortable, their bodies are feeling comfortable, and so that they are primed to communicate on their own,” said Nicole Myers, associate professor of education and coordinator of the program.

Parents appreciate being able to connect with another parent who has a child with special needs and receiving additional resources to what the school system provides, Myers said.

Students compile data collected throughout the semester and provide parents with a comprehensive resource packet, detailing strategies that worked well for their child in certain situations.  The information later can be used to help write the child’s Individualized Education Plan, or IEP.

But the Play Lab isn’t just a resource for parents or a learning tool for students—it’s a place for the children to have fun.

“I think what the kids like is the social component,” said Myers.  “They’re learning, but it’s all play to them.”

Heather DeCou, a licensed counselor who joins Myers in staffing the Play Lab, agrees that the social component is one of the most important, for the children as well as their parents.

Said DeCou: “I think many of the parents are looking for an opportunity for their kids to make friends.”

– By Anne Elder ’12

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More than 30 UMW students, along with Associate Professor of Economics Shawn Humphrey, participated in the annual $2 a Day Challenge, an experiential learning exercise aimed at raising awareness and funds for poverty-related causes.

For a week at the beginning of April, they lived in a self-made structure on Ball Circle and spent only $2 each day on food and other expenses. In the process, they hoped to raise more than $2,000 for La Ceiba, a microfinance institution, while shedding light on poverty issues.

The $2 a Day Challenge, founded by Humphrey, is in its sixth year at UMW. The program is part of the larger TDC organization, which also includes the Month of Microfinance movement and the Poverty Action Conference. This year, several other universities, including Wake Forest and Elon, are holding $2 a Day Challenges.

Shirin Afsous (right) is assisting Leila Asadi with human rights research

When Afsous learned that human rights activist Leila Asadi wanted help with research on gender and sexuality issues, Afsous jumped at the opportunity. Asadi is visiting professor at UMW this semester, where she’s continuing the research she began in the Middle East.

Although hundreds of UMW students study abroad every year, undergraduate research like Afsous’ work with Asadi provides a way for students to make global connections without ever leaving the Fredericksburg campus.

In Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, Afsous explained, research has shown that, in some cases, girls as young as 12 years old are engaged in prostitution rings. Some girls may see it as their only way out of poverty.

Asadi, herself, fled Iran after one of her friends was arrested in connection with their presentation before the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women a little more than a year ago. She came to UMW through a program called the Scholar Rescue Fund, part of the Institute for International Eduction committed to academic freedom.

As part of the research, Afsous examined the language in various legal systems surrounding sex trafficking, prostitution and women’s rights.

Afsous emphasized that although finding a solution to the problem of sex trafficking may be difficult and that reading case studies of abused women with no clear way to help them is frustrating, research like Asadi’s provides an important starting point.

“We need to get the word out,” Afsous said.

Her research has received a positive reaction.

“Most people think it is good that we are talking about a taboo topic,” she said.

Asadi, who teaches a seminar this semester about the contradictions between human rights and the feminist approach in Iran, agreed that sharing a holistic view of the issues is paramount.

“Shirin as a Muslim woman is willing to find a way to come at the challenges from a positive approach,” Asadi said.

Although Afsous’ portion of the research culminated at the end of the spring semester, she hopes others will have the opportunity to work alongside Asadi.

“Working with Leila has been eye-opening,” Afsous said. “She has introduced me to an area of law I never would have considered before. UMW is so lucky to have her.”

The experience was so influential for Afsous that she decided to start a research project of her own – “Women in Islam” – based on what she has learned in Asadi’s class.

“My project focuses on a reinterpretation of the Quran to show that there are human rights for women, certainly with many gray areas,” Afsous explained.

For Professor Mehdi Aminrazavi, Afsous’ research mentor and co-director of the Leidecker Center for Asian Studies, the project delves into the complexities and interpretations of human rights in Islam.

“The challenge of a project like Shirin’s is how to interpret and contextualize Quranic law in modern times,” Aminrazavi said.

Afsous presented her research at UMW’s Research and Creativity Day on Tuesday, April 17.