She used a game-oriented activity in her CPSC 330 course to reinforce key aspects of the Agile Software Process. The game is called “The Marshmallow Challenge” and was popularized by Tim Wujec in his TED2010 talk and can be adapted to teach important lessons about any group project activity and is applicable to courses in many disciplines.

In the game, a group of participants is given 20 sticks of spaghetti, 1 yard of masking tape, 1 yard of string, scissors and 1 marshmallow. Each group is challenged to build the tallest possible structure measured from the tabletop to the top of the marshmallow in 20 minutes.

After the activity students reflected on the lessons learned from the challenge and how those lessons relate to course content. Students mentioned the importance of communication, frequent prototyping, thinking outside the box, and understanding the constraints of materials. Consideration of these same issues is vital to the success of software projects.

“Global markets, national strategy and regional resistance: The politics of farm sector marketing reforms in India”

Surupa Gupta will present on the main arguments and findings from her book manuscript on the politics of agricultural marketing reforms in India during the last decade. Initiation of liberal economic reforms in 1991 and the proposed negotiations of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture in 2001 provided the twin catalysts for agricultural marketing reforms proposed in 2003. Although globalization played a central role in the formulation and initiation of the marketing reforms in the farm sector, the adoption and implementation of new policy are best explained by focusing on domestic politics within India. This project analyzes three central forces that have shaped the progress of reforms in this area. It begins by describing the liberal economic ideas that shaped the discourse on agricultural marketing reforms. The political discourse was dominated by the federal government and agricultural economists. It then focuses on state-level institutions within India’s federal system that played a central role in deciding which policies would be adopted. Finally, it explains how the interests of various actors – the federal government, state governments, businesses and farmers’ groups – have shaped the complex web of farm sector marketing policies that exist in India today.

Centering the Left: Civil Rights, Labor, and Progressive Politics

Jess Rigelhaupt will present the central arguments and key findings from his book manuscript, which is tentatively titled, Centering the Left: Civil Rights, Labor, and Progressive Politics. The San Francisco Bay Area’s progressive politics and culture are rooted in left-labor-civil rights coalitions, which began to emerge in the 1930s and solidified during World War II.  This historical study helps to explain how progressive politics became a defining characteristic of Northern California life by documenting the history of left-labor- civil rights coalition building in the San Francisco Bay Area from the 1930s to the 1970s.  The story examines how the left shifted to center and became part of the political mainstream. The left-labor-civil rights alliances in the Bay Area survived the McCarthy era and reentered electoral politics during the Vietnam War.  Thus, the region’s liberal politics involve far more than ideological beliefs and they are deeply rooted in social movements growing out of progressive coalitions from the 1940s.  This book helps to illuminate how electoral strategies that drew on left-labor-civil rights alliances became a key component for progressive, center-left politics that are now defining features of Northern California politics and culture.

She had her World Geography class complete a group project which required them to be travel agents and present a vacation-style trip to a particular region of the world to their classmates. In a survey course, it’s difficult to study particular places in-depth, so this project allowed my students to be the researchers and to really get to know a particular region of the world that they selected. My students were so creative they created:  Eco tours of rain forests, a cruise around the islands of Southeast Asia, one group pretended to have just come back from a study abroad trip to Brazil and shared their culinary exploration with the class, and other groups shared food from their chosen region. One student even mentioned that he was so impressed by the scenery of South Africa that he wants to travel there soon.

I was so excited to see my students really embrace this project and be able to share their research. My motto has always been: “Anyone can be a geographer, you just have to be curious about the world around you,” and through this project, they were definitely able to become geographers themselves!

Be sure to congratulate Caitlin when you see her and find out what was in her ‘Box of Awesome!

Students in his CPSC 110 class were involved in writing AI (Artificial Intelligence) for the game Connect Four.  Students practiced playing Connect Four against their AI as they wrote programming. Students then entered a class bracket tournament where each of their AI programs competed against each other. The winners of the tournament, who clearly had put forth a lot of effort received prizes.

Be sure to congratulate Ian when you see him and find out what was in his ‘Box of Awesome!

Dr. Cristina Turdean, Assistant Professor in the Historic Preservation Department received funding through the Meaningful Student Learning Micro Grant. The award supports the purchase of a museum cataloging software needed for the class project in the Museum Collections Management course. The students in this class will inventory and catalog the collections of the Mary Washington House, a property of the local non-profit organization Washington Heritage Museums. This project gives UMW students the unique chance to hone their practical skills through classroom instruction and community service.

Dr. Suzanne Sumner, Professor in the Mathematics Department, received funding on behalf of Project Kaleidoscope’s faculty workshop to remind faculty how difficult it is for students to learn something completely new and different.

Faculty can submit an application until December 12th (11:55pm) to participate in the Faculty-centered initiative.  Apply here

Professor Rosemary Jesionowski was awarded a Speaker Grant to bring Artist Jeff Baij to UMW from April 17-19, 2013.  Baij will virtually collaborate with student enrolled in ARTS 104: Digital Approaches to Fine Art this spring semester.  This semester-long collaboration will culminate in an on –campus visit where he and the students will ultimately finish the artwork(s) produced.  As Baij is a digital media artist, the resulting work will most likely exist online in a variety of webspaces.  For a preview of Baij’s work, please visit here.

Jon McMillan, Assistant Professor in the Art and Art History Program received funding to attend and present “Bioforms,” his solo exhibition at the National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts’ Annual Conference in Houston, Texas this March.  Conference submissions are evaluated in regard to merit, the presenter’s expertise in the area, and a general interest in providing a balanced and inclusive program for members. Please congratulate Jon in being a ‘concurrent independent exhibition to show his own artwork to a huge gathering (over 6,000 attendees) of educators, artists, gallerists, and collectors.  As an attendee of the conference Jon on will have an opportunity to learn about contemporary trends in both pedagogy and creative expression in Ceramic Education and Art Making.

Dr. Marcel Rotter received funding to support two experiential learning experiences. One was a “German Immersion Day” held at Hayfield Manor on October 27, 2013.  For this whole day immersion experience students with varying levels of German experience (beginners to advance majors) spent the day together engaged in a variety of activities (art, songs, cooking, theater).The second was for his Freshmen Seminar, “Representations of the Holocaust in German and U.S. Cultures.”  Dr. Rotter arranged a trip to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. on September 27, 2012. Students had the opportunity to spend time with Manya Friedman (Moszkowicz) a Holocaust survivor.

Professor Carole Garmon in the Department of Art and Art History has received funding to purchase equipment to teach students how to use their cell phones, iPods, and iPads to both create and edit their works for two new courses: ARTS 381: Video and ARTS: 381: Going Low Tech with Technology offered this upcoming spring/summer semesters. From an art historical standpoint, since the development of the Portapack video camera in the early 60’s, artists have gravitated to the latest in technology to create art experiences.  Nam June Paik, Vito Acconci, and Laurie Anderson are but a few of the artists responsible for this interest in computers, video cameras, iPads, and now smart phones.  At the end of the Spring semester purchased equipment will be returned to the Center for faculty to check out on a semester basis.

Dr. Miriam Liss, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology was awarded funding to purchase iClickers.  Iclickers are radio frequency devices that allow students to respond to questions posed by the faculty.  Iclickers have the possibility of transforming larger lecture classes into continuous interactice classes where faculty can get instant feedback on student understanding and student opinon of lecture topics.  Student interactive systems have been found to increase student engagement and enjoyment of lectures (Hoekstra & Mollborn, 2012).

Professor Rosemary Jesionowski was awarded a Speaker Grant to bring Artist Jeff Baij to UMW from April 17-19, 2013.  Baij will virtually collaborate with student enrolled in ARTS 104: Digital Approaches to Fine Art this spring semester.  This semester-long collaboration will culminate in an on –campus visit where he and the students will ultimately finish the artwork(s) produced.  As Baij is a digital media artist, the resulting work will most likely exist online in a variety of webspaces.  For a preview of Baij’s work, please visit here.

Dr. Steve Greenlaw received funding to attend the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) conference being held in Denver, Colorado this February. ELI is a community of higher education institutions and organizations committed to the advancement of learning through the innovative application of technology.  UMW has a long involvement with this organization, which has informed the creation of UMWBlogs, and more recently, the UMW Online Learning Initiative, which will be starting its third faculty cohort in 2013.

Dr. David Toth, Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department has been awarded a Box of Awesome for his submission.

Students implemented a simple adventure game as part of a 3-week project in his Computer Science 1 course. Their program reads in a maze with monsters and treasures from a file text. The player then crawls through the dungeon battling monsters while trying to collect treasures and find the exit.

Be sure to congratulate David when you see him and find out what was in his Box of Awesome!

Golda is the new Director of Leadership in the Center for Honor, Leadership and Service team. His role is to coordinate the development and delivery of leadership training and instruction on campus. He works with faculty, staff and students to help them develop a better understanding of leadership, how it impacts their lives and how they can improve their personal leadership skills.