William J. Frawley was the seventh president of UMW, appointed in July 2006.
Prior to his arrival at UMW, Dr. Frawley was noted as an accomplished scholar, professor, and administrator. Holding a doctorate
from Northwestern University and a master's from Louisiana State University, both in linguistics, he authored or edited dozens
of publications in his field and served as a faculty member and administrator first at the University of Delaware and then
at The George Washington University. He served as the Dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences at GWU before accepting
the presidency at UMW. He also served on the board of the Center for Innovation in Public Service and represented the Linguistic
Society of America on the Consortium of Social Science Associations.
Dr. Frawley's tenure at UMW was brief. He was dismissed by the Board of Visitors in April 2007.
This collection includes material encompassing the search for a new president beginning in 2005, through President Frawley's
brief tenure as president, and ending with material relating to his separation from UMW in 2007. The bulk of the collection
is content from President Frawley's inauguration, composed largely of congratulatory certificates and correspondence between
members of various planning subcommittees. The collection also includes correspondence composed and received during Dr. Frawley's
time as UMW President and administrative subject files that incorporate departmental reports, memos, working papers, official
photographs, and speech writing material.
The collection is arranged into 5 series: (1) Presidential Search, (2) Inauguration, (3) Administrative Files, (4) Correspondence,
and (5) Separation. Materials are arranged chronologically within folders, except in the case of the certificates in Series
2 which are arranged alphabetically.