Fredericksburg, Va. – Three individuals will be awarded emeritus status at the University of Mary Washington’s commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 12. Fredrick Davidson will be named Professor Emeritus of Business Administration; Victor A. Fingerhut will be named Associate Professor Emeritus of Political Science; and Ronald E. Singleton will be named Vice President for University Relations and Communications Emeritus.
An engineer by early training, Dr. Davidson’s interests in business include decision analysis, management science and operations research, organizational development and behavior, management intuition and creativity, and entrepreneurship. Having been self-employed as a consultant and trainer for many years, he also taught at Old Dominion University and the University of Virginia. He has been a member of the faculty at the University of Mary Washington since 1986, including a year as the acting chairperson of the Department of Business Administration.
For several summers, Dr. Davidson conducted three- to five-week residential personal growth and life planning semesters for the Association of Learning, an experimental education venture of Atlantic University. In addition he served as controller for the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) and was the program director for the A.R.E. Children’s Camp from 1972 to 1992.
Dr. Davidson is the co-editor of An Introduction to Creativity and co-author of Industrial Engineering Techniques: Handbook for Civil Engineering Operations and Problems and Models in Operations Management. He earned a doctorate and a master of business administration from
the University of Pittsburgh, after receiving a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He is a member of the engineering honor society Tau Beta Phi, the business honor society Beta Gamma Sigma and the academic honor society Phi Kappa Phi.
An expert in political theory and public opinion with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Yale University, Fingerhut has taught at Mary Washington since the late 1960s while also remaining active in politics. Through the years he has conducted polls and designed communications campaigns for a variety of political candidates, parties and labor unions, including Hubert Humphrey, Lloyd Bentsen, Paul Simon, the United Steelworkers of America, the United Mineworkers, the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Australian Party.
Recently, at the request of the State Department and other groups interested in the success of democratic political systems, Fingerhut provided volunteer briefings on the democratic process to political, labor and business leaders in many of the world’s newer democracies in Eastern Europe, Latin America and elsewhere. He also has provided volunteer help to democratic and labor groups abroad, seeking to establish democracies in countries ruled by repressive governments, such as the democracy movement in Myanmar (Burma).
In interviews on C‑SPAN, CNN, MSNBC and Fox Broadcasting, as well as national print media, Fingerhut has shared his expertise in the areas of polling, American public opinion, political campaigns, the media and politics, U.S. presidential politics, Canadian politics, the future of the American labor movement and the relationship between labor and politics. In addition, he has written articles on politics for many publications including The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Campaigns and Elections and The New Republic, as well as publications abroad.
Dr. Singleton served for a decade as Senior Vice President for Advancement and University Relations, and later as Vice President for University Relations and Communications, at the University of Mary Washington. His responsibilities included the institution’s fund raising, media relations, website, publications, marketing, community relations, alumni relations and legislative relations programs. He also served as executive director of the university’s two 501(c)(3) foundations, with assets totaling more than $45 million.
Dr. Singleton has directed communications programs at four different colleges and universities over the past 32 years, including Ferrum College, Wofford College, Shenandoah University and 20 years at UMW, earning the nation’s top awards in marketing, communications and public relations. A specialist in helping colleges and universities gain national recognition and visibility through media relations, he has worked with the producers of the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning Show, CNN, C-SPAN and others on faculty interviews featuring topical areas of expertise.
In addition, Dr. Singleton is the co-founder of the College Communicators Association of Virginia and the District of Columbia, which currently has a membership of more than 500 professionals, as well as a founding member of the Fredericksburg Public Relations Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William and Mary, a master’s degree from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate with concentrations in mass communications and higher education from Virginia Commonwealth University.