When Lauren Harford and Daisy Jennings arrived at the University of Mary Washington last summer, a small gesture made a big difference. Center for International Education (CIE) Director Jose Sainz personally escorted the roommates to purchase a few English comforts – a kettle, tea and biscuits – after an unexpected doctor’s visit for Harford.

“I’m beyond grateful for the care I got thousands of miles from home,” said Harford, a University of Reading student who came from Great Britain in August to spend a year at UMW. “I knew then I’d be in good hands at Mary Washington.”

More than 50 students from across the globe – twice as many as this time last year – are studying at UMW this semester. During International Education Week, Nov. 15 to 19, we celebrate faces from faraway places – Fiji and France, Egypt and Ethiopia, Nepal and Nigeria, Scotland and Saudi Arabia. After quarantines, lockdowns and COVID protocols due to the global pandemic, they’re here to experience life at an American college. It’s an all-around cultural win.

“You can bring a piece of the world to your campus,” Sainz said, “especially at a time when domestic students are unable or reluctant to travel.” Read more.

The University of Mary Washington is a premier, selective public liberal arts and sciences university in Virginia, highly respected for its commitment to academic excellence, strong undergraduate liberal arts and sciences program, and dedication to life-long learning. The university, with a total enrollment of more than 4,000, features colleges of business, education and arts and sciences, and three campuses, including a residential campus in Fredericksburg, Va., a second one in nearby Stafford and a third in Dahlgren, Va., which serves as a center of development of educational and research partnerships between the Navy, higher education institutions and the region’s employers.