Dedication Set for UMW Campus

March 01, 2012

The new campus of the University of Mary Washington was built to support the naval facility at Dahlgren, but its impact is expected to reach well beyond the base.

With multiple higher education institutions offering courses there, UMW's Dahlgren Campus Center for Education and Research "opens up tremendous opportunities" for the region, said Mark J. Safferstone, executive director of the campus.

"I think there's going to be great synergy between universities and the defense community, and the base and the community at large," he said.

The 27-acre campus just outside the Naval Support Facility in King George County opened last month. In addition, the Dahlgren campus was formally dedicated.

The $20.4 million, 42,000-square-foot facility with a green roof includes 19 classrooms as well as study rooms and individual workstations. It also has a 2,800-square-foot multipurpose room with theater seating for up to 220 people.

So far, about 140 students are enrolled at the center, primarily taking distance-learning courses offered by four universities through the Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program, or CGEP, and the Naval Postgraduate School. The Naval War College also holds classes for its fleet seminar program.

The engineering courses are offered by George Mason University, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech using video teleconference technology as part of the collaborative CGEP program.

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