The University of Mary Washington will host a public political debate between candidates for Virginia’s First Congressional District Monday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m.
Incumbent Rep. Rob Wittman (R) will face off against opponent Qasim Rashid (D) live via Zoom, with public viewing accessible through YouTube.
Professor Stephen Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington will moderate the event.
Join us ONLINE for the first Mary Talk of the 2020-21 academic year!
Our fifth Mary Talks season kicks off with Dr. Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and international affairs and director of the Center for Leadership & Media Studies at UMW, presenting "Late-Night Humor and the American Presidency."
Wednesday, September 16
7:30-8:30 p.m.
Online
Political humor has been a staple of late-night television for decades. The Trump White House, however, has received significantly greater attention than that of past presidents. In response to Trump’s strident politics, late-night comics have sounded key policy notes, further blurring the boundary between news and satire. Weekly humorists extend the critique with in-depth probing of key issues, while Saturday Night Live continues to tap the progression from outrage to outrageousness. Employing a dataset of more than 100,000 late-night jokes going back decades, Farnsworth will discuss how humorists have treated recent presidencies, how the treatment of Trump differs from that of previous presidents, and how the Trump era is likely to shape the future of political humor.
Note: Online viewing is the only option for this Mary Talk, as we are not conducting any in-person events at this time.
The post Mary Talks: “Late-Night Humor and the American Presidency” appeared first on EagleEye.
Professor of Political Science Stephen Farnsworth, who is also the director of UMW's Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently commented in the Henrico Citizen on the possibility of using mail-in or absentee ballots for upcoming elections.
The groups are asking for provisions such as free or prepaid postage, allowing ballots postmarked by election day to count, in addition to extending early voting periods for in-person voting. Two possible alternatives to replace voting in person are mail-in and absentee ballots, according to Stephen Farnsworth, a professor at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg who specializes in media and elections.
The post Farnsworth Comments on Upcoming Elections in Henrico Citizen appeared first on EagleEye. 
Six UMW political science and international affairs majors presented their research on February 15 at the Pi Sigma Alpha National Student Research Conference in Washington, D.C. These students, as well as more than 120 of their counterparts from around the nation, were selected to present their research at this national conference based on the importance of their scholarly work.
Pi Sigma Alpha, which has more than 700 chapters, is the nation’s only national honor society devoted to excellence in undergraduate political science. The six students selected for presentation this month marks a record high level of participation for the Kappa Upsilon chapter at Mary Washington, and represents one of the highest levels of per-capita participation for any university in the country.
The post UMW Political Science Majors Present Research at National Conference appeared first on EagleEye.
On Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m., Republican incumbent Sen. Bryce Reeves will share the podium with Democrat Amy Laufer in the race for the District 17 seat in the Virginia Senate. The 17th District Senate Debate will be held in Monroe Hall, Room 116, on UMW's Fredericksburg Campus.
The post Reeves and Laufer Debate for 17th District Senate Seat Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. appeared first on EagleEye. The University of Mary Washington will continue to host debates in the coming weeks between candidates running this November for Fredericksburg-area seats in the Senate of Virginia and the Commonwealth’s House of Delegates.
The 88th District House Debate on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m., will take place on UMW’s Fredericksburg campus in Lee Hall, Room 411. 