Three veteran faculty members will be awarded emeritus status during the University of Mary Washington’s graduate and undergraduate commencement ceremonies on Friday, May 10, and Saturday, May 11.
Friday’s graduate ceremony begins at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium. Saturday’s undergraduate ceremony begins at 9 a.m. on Ball Circle on the university’s Fredericksburg campus.
Julie A. Hodge will be named Associate Professor Emerita of Theatre; Louis A. Martinette will be named Associate Professor Emeritus of Marketing; and Raymond B. Scott will be named Professor Emeritus of Chemistry.
The title of emeritus is bestowed on faculty members and administrators who have served the university for at least 15 years and who have attained the rank of professor or associate professor.
Julie A. Hodge
Associate Professor of Theatre Julie Hodge has been on the UMW faculty for 23 years teaching courses such as costume design, stage management and scene painting. For five years before that, she was an assistant professor of theatre at Knox College in Illinois.
At Mary Washington, Hodge has designed scenery for 44 productions, lighting for 23 and costumes for one. “When you add it up, Julie has spent more than three years in technical rehearsal at UMW,” said her chair, Gregg Stull, “three years devoted to building a program of excellence on top of her classes, professional work, advising and service to the department, college, university and community.” Also, taking into account her set work in Klein Theatre, Stull said, “Julie has built the equivalent of eleven houses.”
Hodge earned her B.F.A. from Northern Kentucky University and her M.F.A. from Indiana University. She has done a number of tie-dying demonstrations in the area, has designed furniture for a boys’ academy in North Carolina and renovated the lobby of a D.C. television station.
At UMW, she has served on countless committees ranging from academic resources to race and gender. She also has been a board member for student conduct review hearings.
Above all, Hodge has been a teacher. As Stull put it, students have left her classes surprised by what they can do. “Julie teaches and, in so doing, changes lives.”
Louis A. Martinette
Associate Professor of Business Louis Martinette has been with the university since 2004. He has taught courses in marketing and business strategy as well as leadership. Earlier in his career, Martinette spent a dozen years in marketing roles for 3M and Richmond-based MicroMagnetic. In 1992, he co-founded and served as president of The Inside Track, a fully integrated marketing and consulting company in Richmond.
Martinette, who earned a doctorate in business administration from Nova Southeastern University, brought his marketing experience to the classroom. Before becoming a full-time faculty member at Mary Washington, he taught business as an adjunct at Averett University.
After receiving an undergraduate business degree from Old Dominion University, Martinette received an MBA from Golden Gate University. He is a member of the Old Dominion University Alumni Association Board of Directors.
Beginning with his role as the first elected president of the College of Business Faculty Senate, Martinette has served on numerous University committees and a in a variety of roles, from journalism advising to curriculum review. He received the J. Christopher “Topher” Bill Faculty Service Award in 2014 and the Outstanding Graduate Faculty Teaching Award in 2013.
In applauding Martinette’s teaching ability, Associate College of Business Dean Ken Machande described him as “changing people’s lives.”
Raymond B. Scott
Professor of Chemistry Raymond Scott joined the Mary Washington faculty in 1984 after receiving a master’s degree and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati. As an undergraduate, he finished with honors in chemistry and biology from Hartwick College.
An avid piper, Scott formed in 1997 the award-winning UMW Eagle Pipe Band, which he has directed since its inception. He was a founder of what is now called UMW’s Summer Science Institute, and he served as its director from 1999 to 2012.
A member of the American Chemical Society and the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, Scott has served as chair of the Department of Chemistry and has taught a range of courses from introduction to chemistry to honors and analytical chemistry. A member of myriad university committees, he has served as advisor to the UMW Honor Council and Chi Beta Phi. In 2006, Scott was awarded the J. Christopher “Topher” Bill Faculty Service Award.
A New England native, Scott has been “the model for service at the University, college and departmental levels as well as in the larger Fredericksburg community,” according to his colleague and friend Associate Professor of Chemistry Leanna Giancarlo. Scott has played with the Fredericksburg Community Concert Band, served as a school science fair judge, been a counselor for the Boy Scouts of America Chemistry Merit Badge and served as an AP high school chemistry instructor. He is a clerk of session at Hope Presbyterian Church.
Giancarlo added: “Ray tries to make chemistry more accessible.” And, as for his outstanding teaching, she said, “he is our students’ fiercest advocate.”
