University of Mary Washington
The University of Mary Washington is a coeducational, state-funded, four-year liberal arts college in Fredericksburg, Virginia about 55 miles north of Richmond and 50 miles south of Washington, DC. The college has about 3500 students and is about 70% female.
Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women, the college was renamed Mary Washington College in 1938 after Mary Washington, mother of the first president of the United States of America, George Washington. Most of the architecture on the Mary Washington campus can be described as neo-classical, Georgian, or Jeffersonian (because of its similarity to Thomas Jefferson's design of the University of Virginia). In 1944 the college became associated with the University of Virginia as that institution's undergraduate liberal arts college for women. Following the University's transition to coeducational status in 1970, the Virginia General Assembly reorganized Mary Washington College in 1972 as a separate, coeducational institution.
Academic departments at UMW include Art and Art history; Economics; Historic Preservation; Political Science and International Affairs; Biological Sciences; Education; History and American Studies; Psychology; Business Administration; English, Linguistics, and Speech; Mathematics; Sociology and Anthropology; Chemistry; Environmental science and Geology; Modern Foreign Languages; Theatre and Dance; Classics, Philosophy, and Religion; Geography; Music; Computer science; Health and Physical education; and Physics.
In 2003, the college was in the process of moving to university status to simplify and streamline administration of the undergraduate campus in Fredericksburg and its graduate/professional school, the James Monroe
