At the end of each spring semester, UMW faculty gather to approve the graduates and recognize colleagues who are retiring from their dedicated service. Departmental tributes chronicle their time in the classrooms and labs, with committees and their communities, as leaders in undergraduate research, and in their areas of study. In spring 2024, UMW recognized seven faculty emeriti.
Faculty members who have served the University of Mary Washington for at least 15 years and who have attained the rank of professor or associate professor are eligible to be considered for emeritus status, which is bestowed by the Board of Visitors.
In addition, at an April 24 meeting, the University announced two annual awards. Professor of Chemistry Nicole Crowder was recognized with the Faculty Leadership Award, and Professor and Chair of Psychological Science Miriam Liss was honored with the 2024 Anderson Distinguished Professor Award.
Faculty Emeriti
Carole A. Garmon, Professor Emerita of Art
Carole Garmon received her BFA and MFA in sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University. She began teaching at Mary Washington as a senior lecturer in 1998, hired to update the sculpture area in Melchers Hall and to start – almost from scratch – a studio art program. The following year she joined the full-time faculty as an assistant professor of art specializing in sculpture, metal casting and fabrication, and art installations, and she won the Alumni Association Outstanding Young Faculty Award in 2002. In 2004 she was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor, becoming a full professor in 2010.
An internationally renowned artist, Garmon was one of only two Americans chosen to participate in the international exhibition Inspired By Rembrandt, commemorating the celebrated artist’s 400th birthday. Her work has been shown in D.C., San Antonio, New York, New Orleans, Peru, and Berlin.
In her time at Mary Washington, Garmon has served as department chair and supervisor of UMW Galleries, and served on numerous committees such as the University Faculty Council, Promotion and Tenure Committee, Academic Standing Committee, and Campus Environment Committee. In recent years, she has served as the University’s first campus display project manager.
Liane R. Houghtalin, Professor Emerita of Classics
Liane Houghtalin joined the Mary Washington faculty in 1993 as a visiting assistant professor, after receiving her M.A. and Ph.D. in classical and near eastern archaeology from Bryn Mawr College. She received her A.B. from University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She has taught Latin, Greek, classical mythology, women in antiquity, Greek and Roman archaeology, and survey in art history. She specializes in classical archaeology and ancient numismatics, and she has published coin finds from sites in Italy, Greece, and Tunisia.
During her time at UMW, Houghtalin has served on many committees including the Museum Studies Committee, University Budget Advisory Committee, and the Race and Gender Committee. In addition, she served as treasurer, vice president, and president of the Classical Association of Virginia. She received the Grellet C. Simpson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2015.
Jane L. Huffman, Associate Professor Emerita of Education
Jane Huffman began her career at Mary Washington in August 2007 as an associate professor, having previously taught at St. Andrews Presbyterian College and the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She earned an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from Virginia Tech, and an M.S. in educational media and a B.S. in history and social studies from Radford University.
Huffman taught classes in Elementary Goals and Practices, Development of the Learner and Instructional Practices, and Elementary Social Studies. Throughout her work, she kept an open mind about new and engaging teaching methods including the use of hands-on problem-based learning strategies. She integrated the use of Lego bricks in her teaching methods classes, which inspired and led to the Lego wall in the Seacobeck Makerspace.
She also served on numerous committees, including the University Academic Affairs Committee, University Master Plan Steering Committee, and the Faculty Governance Task Force. She served as department chair and as program director of advanced programs. She was the 2018 winner of the Graduate Faculty Award. In addition, she was actively engaged in leadership for many years at the state level with the Association of Colleges for Teacher Education in Virginia, where she served as the executive director and as president, and the Association of Teacher Educators.
Huffman passed away earlier in the spring semester and is awarded emerita honors posthumously.
Teresa A. Kennedy, Professor Emerita of English
Teresa Kennedy joined the faculty of Mary Washington in 1991 as an assistant professor. She was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor in 1997 and was promoted to full professor of English in 2003. She earned her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in comparative literature from The Catholic University of America. She has served as the Simpson Program in Medieval Studies director and department chair. She also served on numerous committees including the University Faculty Council, Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Committee, and the Honors Program Committee.
Her presented papers and courses span legendary topics including Grail Legends, Chaucer and Boccaccio, Global Issues in Literature, Introduction to Poetry, and Shakespeare. In addition to recent public lectures at Yale University and Manhattan College, she has been a visiting scholar at Yale University, Cornell University, the University of Padova in Padova, Italy, and the Folger Library. She was awarded the Grellet C. Simpson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 2011.
Marie E. McAllister, Professor Emerita of English
Marie McAllister received a B.A. from Yale University and a Ph.D. in English literature from Princeton University. She joined the Mary Washington faculty in 1998 as an assistant professor. She was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor in 2002, and in 2009 she earned the title of full professor. She has taught courses including Jane Austen: Film/Web/Text, Literature of Death and Purpose, Writing Workshop, and Methods of Advanced Literary Studies. With her students, McAllister also created Eighteenth-Century Audio, an online archive of recorded poetry from 1660 to 1800.
In addition to mentoring junior faculty, she served on committees for Promotion and Tenure and the Journalism Advisory Committee. She received the Donald E. Glover Faculty Award from her department and the 2016 Grellet C. Simpson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She also served as a Waple Professor from 2016 to 2018.
McAllister is an executive board member of the East-Central American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and a past president of that society. In 2004, she received that organization’s Leland Peterson Award for professional service.
Joseph M. Romero, Professor Emeritus of Classics
An alumnus of Mary Washington with a B.A. in classics: Latin, Joe Romero ’93 received his Ph.D. from Duke University in classical studies. He joined the faculty of Mary Washington in 2001 as an assistant professor. In 2006 he was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor and to full professor in 2015. He specializes in Hellenistic Greek and Latin literature, and has taught classes in Latin, Greek, Vergil, and Roman drama, including a course on Mysterium Humanum: The Uses and Abuses of Power.
Romero was named an America Council on Education fellow for the 2017-18 academic year, while he also served as interim chair of the Department of Music. In addition, he served as chair of the Department of Classics, Philosophy, and Religion. He has served as classics career advisor and faculty senator, and as a member of the University Budget Advisory Committee and Writing Intensive Committee. He has been president of the board of directors for the Greater Fredericksburg Habitat for Humanity since 2021.
Romero has been selected as the next dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Robert S. Rycroft, Professor Emeritus of Economics
Robert Rycroft received his B.A. from the College of William and Mary, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland. His career at Mary Washington spans 47 years, having been hired in 1977 as an instructor and becoming an assistant professor the following year. He was promoted and granted tenure in 1983 and became a full professor in 1989. He served on many committees during his career at UMW including the Promotion and Tenure Committee, Curriculum Committee, and Data Science Committee.
In addition, he served as advisor to the Economics Club and to Phi Beta Kappa, and as department chair and outcomes assessment coordinator. He published or co-published several books including Inequality in America: Causes and Consequences and The Economics of Inequity, Discrimination, Poverty and Mobility, now in its second edition. He has also been a contributor to The Economics Problem Solver and GRE Economics Test.
Rycroft has taught and mentored thousands of UMW students, and in honor of his dedication, guidance, and friendship, an alum has funded $50,000 in scholarship support in his name.
Faculty Leadership Award
Established in 2021, through an endowment created by the Board of Visitors, the Faculty Leadership Award recognizes a faculty member who supports the institution’s strategic vision by leading a major institutional initiative or program, or who has consistently and over time provided outstanding leadership, or who has provided engaged or effective leadership during a particular institutional transition or issue.
The 2024 award goes to a member of the UMW faculty who has done all of the above since she joined the faculty in 2008. Professor of Chemistry Nicole Crowder has proven to be a critical leader in a number of different ways. She has supported admissions efforts and been an active member of their department, taught Honors designated courses, and provided students with numerous research opportunities. She has also co-chaired the Summer Science Institute and chaired both the Academic Affairs Committee and the General Education Committee. She has led several institutional initiatives including the most recent revision to the General Education Curriculum and UMW’s reaffirmation of accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
“The latter is especially noteworthy because UMW was able to complete this two-year process, which looks at virtually every aspect of institutional operations, thanks to her steady leadership. That we received no recommendations, which is the equivalent of a perfect score, is testament to the great care and effort that this colleague brings to everything that she does,” said Board of Visitors Rector Devon Cushman ’93.
Anderson Distinguished Professor Award
The Anderson Professorship recognizes a tenured full professor who is known for a commitment to the teacher-scholar model with a passion for teaching and who demonstrates exceptional teaching, professional work, and service. The five-year appointment is made by the Board of Visitors.
“An Anderson professor is someone who excites and inspires students to excel, provides outstanding academic strength in their discipline, and who is a resource in matters of faculty development,” said UMW President Troy Paino in announcing the award.
Professor and Chair of Psychological Science Miriam Liss has been a member of the faculty since 2001 and has repeatedly demonstrated care, compassion and commitment to students as well as to the teacher-scholar ideal. She brings enthusiasm, passion and a relentless sense of hope and possibility to all that she does.
As a scholar, she has been extremely productive. In fact, according to Google Scholar, she is the most well cited faculty member at UMW, with two books, nearly 70 peer reviewed articles and book chapters, and more than 80 conference or meeting presentations. These numbers are impressive individually, but many of the publications list UMW students as co-authors or co-presenters, an obvious indication of actively involving undergraduates in scholarship and research.
Her record of service to the University and the larger community includes roles as a department chair, an active participant in many different learning communities, a trained search advocate, and a frequent committee member, who has served on both the Faculty Senate and the University Faculty Council, as well as the Faculty Affairs Committee, Community Engagement working group, and SafeZone. Liss received the Outstanding Young Faculty Award in 2005. In 2014, she was recognized by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia with the Outstanding Faculty Award, and in 2020 she received the Waple Professional Achievement Award.
This is the second of three years of the endowed Anderson Award, with Professor and Chair of Theatre and Dance Gregg Stull, who also serves as producing director of UMW Theatre, earning the Anderson Distinguished Professor Award in 2023.
UMW also bestowed emeritus honors this semester on two longtime administrative faculty members. Read the story.
