August 14, 2026
Dear UMW Neighbor,
Our fall 2026 semester at the University of Mary Washington has begun, as we welcome back Eagles to our residence halls and the surrounding neighborhoods, learn of their adventures through internships and study abroad from the summer, and celebrate the fall semester.
We will welcome just over 1,000 new undergraduate students this year. This fall, we celebrate our first cohorts of the new Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Master of Science in AI in Business (MS in AI in Business) programs, and we continue to see an increase in interest and enrollments in our online MBA as well as the graduate certificate in project management hosted at the Dahlgren Campus. We also meet the first cohort of the Piscopo Rodgers Science Fellows, which have been funded through Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59 generous gift, as well as cohorts in Honors, Impact, and the Presidential Emerging Leadership Program. Many of these students will infuse their work throughout Fredericksburg, including community service, the City as Text program through our Honors classes, and undergraduate research projects. For area employers recruiting for internships and jobs, fall is a great time to connect, as registration is open now for the Oct. 1 Career & Internships Fair.
We are proud to expand our program offerings in some signature areas, including a new major in social entrepreneurship and B.S. in geospatial analysis and new minors in creative writing, food studies, and medical humanities. In addition, we’ve launched a new Bachelor of Fine Arts in performing arts with majors in acting, design and technology, musical theatre and stage management, which is part of our top ranked UMW Theatre program. I encourage you to check out a performance this year, stop by our art galleries, or attend an event at UMW. Our Eagles are back in competition at the Battleground Athletic Complex, where you’ll notice two new locker room buildings, as well as on the refinished court in the Anderson Center. As a reminder, regular season home games and swim meets are free to attend, and we invite you to cheer on the hometown team.
In addition, we are excited to share the launch of the Humanities Center, which will share more about their work this coming fall. Thanks, too, to our faculty leaders and the campus community members who envisioned the “Reimagining the Liberal Arts in the Age of AI” conference on campus this summer. If you are interested in learning more about AI, including many topics of debate, you can find video resources from the Center for AI and the Liberal Arts, attend events and conversations, and access professional development classes through Continuing and Professional Studies.
We also continue our work in digital accessibility, and we appreciate everyone’s efforts to ensure that the information we share online is accessible to all. Accessibility improvements to the in-person experience on campus have continued as well, with new ramps and configurations in Jepson and Combs classrooms, as well as Madison and Ball Halls, which are back online. A new elevator for Ball Hall is scheduled for summer 2027, and work starts in Bushnell Hall this academic year. The new theatre will start to take shape at the corner of William St. and Sunken Road, with construction scheduled for the next two years. As we make progress on the construction site, our Landscape and Grounds crew has found ways to harvest and save some of the trees that were removed to prepare the site, including functional and artistic pieces through local partnerships.
These partnerships and the place that we call home are integral to our success in higher education, and I’m thrilled to share that UMW is once again recommended in “The Fiske Guide to Colleges” and has earned four stars from Money, with our affordability, alumni outcomes, and our location in Fredericksburg standing out in the mentions. And in the Commonwealth, UMW is recognized as a top employer for interns, with four of our student interns earning honors this past year. In addition, we have four students named as Fulbright Scholars and our third Goldwater Scholar in four years. We’ve also been making headlines for a proposed medical school with Mary Washington Healthcare, and thanks to planning funding from the state, we continue conversations and next steps. Thank you for the community support of this big idea.
We have many plans for this year and the next five years, outlined in the Strategic Action Plan, approved by the Board of Visitors this spring, and now moving into action plans, thanks to the contributions and leadership of many of our staff and faculty on campus. We’ll announce more details soon, and we hope you will join us in this new momentum, as well as in a few favorite traditions as we begin the fall semester. Honor Convocation and Eagle Gathering happen this August, with ASPIRE Week scheduled for September, and Homecoming in October. Our undergraduate application for fall 2027 is open now too, and early birds in Virginia are eligible for direct admissions via the Common App, as well as full consideration for merit awards and financial aid. If you know someone who would thrive at Mary Washington, please share the opportunity. Should you have any questions, contact the Office of Admissions or visit our Fredericksburg campus and check out what’s new.
Go, Eagles!
Troy D. Paino, J.D., Ph.D.
President