This year, as the sun warmed Page Terrace on a perfect fall day, MBU’s annual Founders Day ceremony brought the graduating class together with university leaders, faculty, staff, and underclassmen in a new way. The outdoor ceremony on October 8 with masks and social distancing allowed this important tradition to take place during the pandemic. It also marks a historic moment for the university, as the Class of 2021 will be the very first coeducational class to graduate from the residential program.

Laura van Assendelft, professor of political science, has received the Best Chapter Advisor Award from the national political science honor society, Pi Sigma Alpha. This award recognizes faculty members who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to their chapters and who act as dedicated mentors supporting student leaders. With 840 chapters across the country, the society awarded only four faculty members with the title in 2020.

MBU Theatre’s Unfix the Stars is like no play that has come before it. It distinctly captures the current moment in time through its story and characters, and through the way it’s made. Unfix the Stars is an original work that Granger and MBU students have created together in real time. Both the staging and the story itself occur over Zoom. The play’s characters wrestle with timely challenges from the pandemic to racial violence.

Mary Baldwin University is pleased to announce Dr. Marc Lamont Hill as the speaker for the inaugural Teague Lecture, a new annual lecture series. A TV host, author, scholar, and activist, Hill will share thoughts on “Building Community in an Hour of Chaos” at 7 p.m. on October 21. With a bold vision of the future, Hill sees social progress and the pursuit of equality depending on listening to each other while adopting a fearless attitude toward change.