College of Liberal Arts Musings Newsletter Spring 2021

SPRING 2021

College of Liberal Arts

musings

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MESSAGE from the DEAN

Greetings from the Mount’s College of Liberal Arts! Most of you already know how well the Mount has endured the pandemic, with wonderful leadership, successful and safe hybrid learning, cooperative and good-spirited students, and committed faculty members. I have learned to avoid blanket predictions about a return to normalcy, but the university is planning for widespread, in-person learning in the fall. Still, it’s been a grind. Cooped up, Zooming in, and plugging away, we carry on with moments of quiet desperation. My third-floor office in Bradley Hall has a glorious eastward view of the Monocacy Valley, but this year I have seldom looked past my computer screen. Yet, somehow—COVID-19 and other sickness notwithstanding— we’re having an especially beautiful Mount spring, leaving me “surprised by joy.”

These words form the title of an 1815 sonnet by William Wordsworth that is far from joyful.

It recounts the poet’s spontaneous desire to share a moment of happiness with his three-yearold daughter, only to recall she is “long buried in the silent tomb,” a thought that itself becomes “the worst pang that sorrow ever bore.” In a memoir published in 1931, however, C.S. Lewis borrowed Wordsworth’s title to describe a happier journey from atheism to Christianity.

As the title suggests, Lewis’ memoir is organized by intense, unexpected moments of joy, which he carefully distinguishes from mere happiness or pleasure. Those who experience this joy do so momentarily, in “stabs” as he calls them, leaving an intense desire for joy’s return.

Lewis holds that, unlike happiness and pleasure, “Joy is never in our power,” which explains why it is so welcome.

I experienced a joyful surprise on Easter morning in Emmitsburg’s St. Joseph’s Church.

Sitting with my family amidst other masked, socially distanced congregants, I raised my eyes to see that our lector, Mount professor Layton Field, Ph.D., and his wife Lindsey, another Mount professor, had brought to Mass their entire family of eight. Dressed for Easter and filling the front pew, they were properly masked but full of the spirit of the Resurrection. Surprised by joy, I simultaneously witnessed a beautifully growing Church and recollected similar happy occasions with my own eight-person family.

Another source of spring joy is my American Literature Survey class. Although I am an oldish professor of American lit, this is a demanding “new prep” for me. But I’m enthralled by the texts I’m teaching for the first time, such as Mary Wilkins Freeman’s “A New England Nun” and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, and learning much from old favorites, like Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-paper,” neither of which I’ve read or taught in over 30 years. Even better are the inquisitive, creative students journeying with me—deep thinkers, polished speakers, and adept writers all. Our class meets in the Horning Classroom on the ground floor of Horning Towers (another new experience for me), and a nearby splash of yellowish-orange tulips multiplies our delight.

In addition to learning from my students while teaching, I’m surprised by the joy of being a proper student again—in two different settings. The first is the university’s Catholic Intellectual Tradition Seminar, a year-long course designed to deepen the knowledge of Mount faculty members about issues, debates and doctrines impacting Catholic higher education, informing the Mount’s mission and curriculum, and illustrating the Church’s relation to the world. The seminar helps new faculty members or those not especially familiar with the Catholic intellectual tradition better integrate learning specific to their disciplines into our core curriculum. Luckily, more seasoned faculty members are able to participate so I joined the group with three other deans. This year Associate Professor of Philosophy Michael Miller, Ph.D., organizes our reading and opens our minds. We’ve studied statements about the purpose of Catholic universities, the beliefs and behaviors of today’s college students, relevant works of great literature and philosophy, excellent films, and papal documents. Our conversations

connect deeply to our work at the Mount, and I am surprised that these late-Friday-afternoon meetings have become the highlight of my week.

Equally joyful have been the two Alumni Symposium classes I have taken this year, which explore texts and themes similar to those covered in the CIT Seminar. Mount alumnus, adjunct professor, and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Chicago, John-Paul Heil has been the chief organizer. We meet each month at the Mount’s Frederick campus. Those present enjoy a delicious meal, but all sessions are available by Zoom. John-Paul is astutely matching the expertise of great Mount professors with content relevant to the Church in today’s world. In February, for example, English professor Sean Lewis, Ph.D., shared some of the religious themes in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy literature and criticism. In March, economics professor Alejandro Canadas, Ph.D., led a discussion of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato si’, which focuses on the need for a new economics and better stewardship of our world. In April, theology department chair, Paige Hochschild, Ph.D., stimulated a fascinating historical and theological conversation about Vatican II. The initial audience for the Alumni Symposium was the Advisory Board of the College of Liberal Arts. John-Paul added a few young alumni to the group this spring, but I hope to extend the invitation for coming versions to all Mount alumni and perhaps even to members of the local community. Please let me know if you’d like to join us and what you would enjoy studying.

When C.S. Lewis describes his return to Christianity near the end of his memoir, he finds himself less anxious about finding joy, explaining, “It was valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer.” Maybe our moments of being surprised by joy while enduring a global pandemic function in a similar way. We’ve experienced a trying period but will emerge stronger. We are at a good place that has survived difficult periods before, including a faculty and student body divided by civil war. We are teaching and learning from each other in a beautiful setting; we are part of a large and growing community, which has and continues to contribute valuably to our nation and world, and we share a generous foundation of hope.

This newsletter describes just some of the many reasons I am hopeful about the Mount. If you share my optimism, I invite you to give back to your alma mater in ways of your own choosing. The enclosed envelope facilitates two kinds of contributions: first, to the College of Liberal Arts Dean’s Fund for Excellence, which supports the College’s faculty, students, and programs when other means are unavailable, and, second, to a program which trains the Mount’s academic advisors according to a vocation model. Our Associate Provost, David McCarthy, explains more in an adjoining letter. I wish all of you joy-filled surprises and a recovering spring and summer. Spes Nostra!

Peter Dorsey, Ph.D., Dean of the College of Liberal Arts dorsey@msmary.edu

Dear Graduate of the Mount’s College of Liberal Arts, We hope your Easter and Pentecost Seasons have been joyful.

As you know, we at the Mount are always looking for ways to respond to the Spirit of God – to hear our call to be in service to God and our neighbors. With the help of a matching grant – Vocations Across the Academy – we are developing a program to infuse academic advising with a deeper understanding of our callings – how to identify, understand, and discern.

We are asking for your support as we embark on an ambitious effort to train our academic advisors. With the help of the grant, we have already begun a four-year training sequence.

If we can raise another $13,000, the grantor will contribute an additional $10,000. We have made good progress raising funds, but we need your help getting over the top. Any gift will make a difference and mean a great deal to our efforts.

A vocation joins a person’s gifts and talents to meet the needs of the world. We find our callings not only through work in the Church, but also in accounting, teaching, management, health care, law enforcement, parenting and home life – in any career or way of life where we find personal fulfillment and cultivate what is good, true, and beautiful.

In his encyclical on human work, Laborum Exercens, St. John Paul II tells us that “man, created in the image of God, shares by his work in the activity of the Creator.”

In God’s image, we are called to make our mark upon the world. Our good work brings forth the image of God in us and fulfills us as human beings, particularly when our efforts are for others, especially our families, but also for our customers, society, nation, and the human family as a whole.

This kind of meaningful work might have been hard to imagine when you were in college. Students at the Mount should be able to dream, create, and discern a path to a meaningful life, but these dreams can seem overwhelming to a young adult.

In exploring open questions, Mount students are assisted by academic advisors, and Vocations Across the Academy is helping to better prepare them to engage students in a holistic manner.

If you’d like to know more about Vocations Across the Academy, please email me at dmccarth@msmary.edu.

Thank you for your consideration, and may God bless you throughout the year.

Sincerely, David McCarthy, Ph.D., Associate Provost College of Liberal Arts | MUSINGS | Spring 2021

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

Mount Peacemakers

Shahanaaz Soumah and Emily Jansen University life can be hectic, even chaotic, and students at Mount St. Mary’s don’t stand on the sidelines. Two of the Mount’s most active students are nevertheless seeking peace!

More specifically, campus leaders Shahanaaz Soumah, C’22, and Emily Jansen, C’23, have chosen the Mount’s newest undergraduate major of conflict, peace and social justice, and they are already implementing what they have learned in this innovative program.

Kristin Urban, Ph.D., a recently named emeritus professor of political science, spearheaded the development of the interdisciplinary conflict, peace and social justice (CPSJ ) major, designed to enhance the Mount’s ability to graduate students who pursue “the good.” Rooted in Catholic social teaching and building upon the criticalthinking and communication skills developed in the Mount’s core curriculum, the major analyzes conflict, social justice, and peacemaking according to established theoretical models and professional standards, while developing leaders who are catalysts for social and personal change.

When she arrived at the Mount, Shahanaaz Soumah initially decided to minor in conflict, peace and social justice. She fell in love with the material and immersed herself in the program. She recalled, “I had the chance to meet Dr. Urban, and we often spoke about my research and career interests. So when she told me that she was able to establish CPSJ as a major, I told her to sign me up!”

Now, Soumah is majoring in CPSJ and double minoring in history and sociology.

A passionate advocate for social justice, Soumah has been a campus leader regarding the Mount’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. She served as an executive board member for the student-run organization, The V.O.I.C.E. (The Visionaries of Inclusive Cultural Experiences); as vice president of diversity and inclusion for the Student Government Association (SGA); and on a variety of related committees. When a racially charged incident occurred on campus last spring, Soumah was a part of a group of students who led a peaceful demonstration to the provost’s office. “All of this can be attributed to my drive and passion for social justice,” she offered, “but also what I am learning through the CPSJ major.”

Soumah also applies key elements of her CPSJ coursework to her campus role as co-coordinator of the Amnesty International program. Currently, the group is preparing to host a “Write for Rights” letter-writing event. Soumah explained that this program “focuses on activists who have been punished for standing up for change.” She and her peers seek to prevent additional unjust actions by penning letters to victims of human rights abuses and the governments who have committed them.

Emily Jansen joins Soumah as co-coordinator of the Amnesty International program on campus. Aware of the many opportunities she can pursue as a CPSJ graduate, Jansen became interested in the new major after attending a lecture offered by George Lopez, Ph.D., professor emeritus at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. An impassioned peacemaker, Lopez emphasized the importance of having an education rooted in peace. Inspired, Jansen wanted to learn more about CPSJ. “Hearing about [Dr. Lopez’s] achievements,” she emphasized, “the work he did for the United Nations, and the program he was working in at Notre Dame helped me understand the real-world implications of CPSJ as a discipline.”

Jansen’s favorite CPSJ course so far, Introduction to Conflict and Peace Studies, was

foundational. “The great thing about CPSJ is that it applies in every course you take,” she explained, “so the topics you learn about in the first class transfer everywhere,” including subsequent classes in political science, international relations, theology, interpersonal communications and sociology.

“As a CPSJ major, you’re able to see how conflict is everywhere, so that is helpful when it comes to dealing with conflict within groups of people.” ~ Emily Jansen

Like Soumah, Jansen is heavily involved outside of the classroom. President of the sophomore class, she applies many of the lessons she has learned through CPSJ to her leadership role. She explained, “As a CPSJ major, you’re able to see how conflict is everywhere, so that is helpful when it comes to dealing with conflict within groups of people.” As president of her class, she seeks to advance the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that have become a focal point of Soumah’s work. Jansen’s leadership also extends to the Women’s Fellowship for Campus Ministry, the Office of Student Activities, and Learning Services, where she serves as a peer tutor. Some of the interests of Jansen’s second major, English, are expressed by her position as community editor for The Mountain Echo, and her editorial roles for Lighted Corners, the Mount’s literary magazine, and Tolle Lege, the student journal of theology and philosophy. Jansen also writes a column for the local paper, The Emmitsburg News-Journal.

The conflict, peace and social justice major helps students move beyond the classroom with a required internship or practicum experience, and a choice of specializing in global, domestic, or interpersonal

conflict resolution. Graduating students understand what causes conflict and what brings about peace in the 21st century and are well equipped to address ethical and socio-cultural challenges to peacebuilding today. “At a time when international cooperation is more important than ever, the CPSJ major provides students with the background, training, and skills that will allow them to make important contributions in addressing real-world problems,” said Associate Professor of Philosophy Richard Buck, Ph.D., who is part of a team of faculty members from across the disciplines that supports the program. Joining Buck on the faculty team are Assistant Professor of History Elizabeth Strauss, Ph.D.; Associate Professor of Sociology Kim Hansen, Ph.D., and Associate Professor and Chair of the Sociology, Criminal Justice and Human Services Department, Jack Trammell, Ph.D. Professor and Chair of the English Department, Indrani Mitra, Ph.D., observes that the program fills a much-needed space in the Mount’s curriculum. “The CPSJ major,” she stated, “speaks directly to the University’s mission, preparing students to lead lives of significance through the work of conflict resolution and peace building at the local, national and international levels.”

As the world grapples with challenges, it needs ethical leaders more than ever.

Enthusiastic CPSJ students Shahanaaz Soumah and Emily Jansen confidently predict the program will continue to grow because it allows majors to select a track that best fits their talents, interests and career plans. Soumah has seen the practicality of the major in her personal development. “I never thought of myself as a trailblazer,” she said, “but I aim to show students how amazing this major is, and how it can be applied to just about any field.”

Soumah and Jansen are prime examples of thriving Mount students. From their rigorous work in the classroom, to their meaningful leadership positions on campus, they embody those who live out the Mount’s mission, not only to “be good” but also to “do good” in seeking peace.

College of Liberal Arts | MUSINGS | Spring 2021

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Testing the Waters Spring 2021 Ducharme Lecture

“I will be honest that when Will presented this idea, I was very, very skeptical,” admitted Associate Professor of Biochemistry Michael Turner, Ph.D., as he delivered the Spring 2021 Ducharme Lecture. Dr. Turner was describing his reaction to a plan proposed by Lab Manager and Environmental Health and Safety Officer William Wood of the School of Natural Science and Mathematics to test wastewater on campus as a way of detecting and containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In his March 10 lecture, titled “Testing the Waters: Containing COVID at Mount St. Mary’s,” Turner explained that he and Wood were members of one of seven response teams working on the Mount Safe Initiative established by President Trainor, each of which focused on how the Mount could safely and effectively return students to campus for the 2020-21 academic year.

Turner strongly believes in the value of in-person, face-to-face learning, particularly in the demanding lab work central to his department. When the Safe Teams studied the problem, Turner wondered, “Can we safely manage and contain the spread of SARSCoV-2 on campus amidst a global pandemic?” Charged with the objective of establishing “conditions for a healthy and safe campus environment” and enhancing the university’s ability “to detect and respond to a possible COVID-19 outbreak on campus,” his team developed a three-pronged strategy, which included mandatory testing before students returned, establishing quarantine and isolation spaces on campus and surveillance testing.

Despite his initial skepticism, Turner understood that the idea of wastewater sampling had some major pluses. “Hypothetically, we could essentially test all of campus, and get a building-by-building feel for where someone who is positive for the virus may be dwelling,” 6

he said. Through surveillance the Mount could control the spread even from asymptomatic individuals.

To paint a picture of the challenge the Mount faced, Turner asked audience members to picture where they were a year ago. “A year ago right about now,” he explained, “the cases were beginning to spike, the health care systems were beginning to become overwhelmed, and local and state governments were scrambling to respond.” Around the same time, the Mount sent students home and transitioned to remote instruction. To explain the steps the Safe Teams then took as they planned the transition back to in-person learning, Turner provided detailed information about the virus. In terms even those who were not scientifically inclined could understand, he described its spiked protein, its means of replicating, and the ways host cells fight against it. These descriptions explained why the Mount implemented specific safety measures to limit transmission. He added, “If we’re trying to understand

Dr. Turner and team developed a three-step process that included sample collection, sample pasteurization, and sample analysis, with a group of people assigned to each task.

how we can manage the spread of this, then we need to understand the statistics behind how this virus affects populations.” COVID-19 has a higher transmissibility rate than influenza, as well as a longer interval between the onset of symptoms and maximum infectivity.

These scientific facts and the seriousness of the challenge were key factors in deciding to test the Mount’s wastewater. There were potential obstacles, such as the uneven flow of fluid through the system, but the Safe Team believed a testing process could help keep campus operating if it worked. The team developed a three-step process that included sample collection, sample pasteurization, and sample analysis, with a group of people assigned to each task. The chemical treatment replicated RNA strands from the virus, sampled at different points in the Mount’s wastewater system, which allowed experts to detect COVID-19 outbreaks. Testers were able to identify potential hot spots and thus contain sickness in residence halls early on. When the water samples contained evidence of the disease in specific living spaces, students living there were immediately tested and those who tested positive were quarantined or sent home to learn remotely for an appropriate period.

Turner showed the audience data representing cases on campus across time and their physical locations. Not all results were definitive, but, overall, the data suggested suitable courses of action in specific instances. “What we noticed was that as spikes went up on campus, they quickly went back down,” Turner pointed out. In other words, the Mount effectively demonstrated that it was possible to control the spread of the virus on a college campus with the process the university put in place.

Turner wanted the audience to take home two lessons. The first is the importance of making plans and developing strategies based on facts: “Information facilitates inspiration,” he emphasized. Second, he argued that collaborative teams can “make difficult things doable, and seemingly impossible things not only possible, but also normal.”

After successfully keeping students on campus for an entire year, the university proved the measures that were taken by the Mount Safe Teams were pivotal in reaching that goal. “I have said this

before publicly, but I will say it again,” Turner stressed, “our university administration deserves a huge vote of thanks for their leadership, their planning, and their execution of that plan in light of all that’s happened this year.” While many universities struggled to stay open, the Mount was able to offer its students the experience of living and learning on campus during both the fall and spring semesters. This, Turner believes, would not have been possible without great leadership and the cooperation of the entire Mount community.

One audience member who was particularly impressed was Assistant Professor of Chemistry Patrick Lombardi, Ph.D., who has published in a variety of science journals. Lombardi appreciated the work that Turner and his colleagues put into the wastewater testing system.

“There are hundreds of students on campus whose hands-on learning experiences in classrooms, laboratories, and studios would not have been possible through purely remote instruction,” he said. “As a wetlab scientist, whose research cannot be conducted remotely, I owe Dr. Turner and his team a personal debt of gratitude.”

Next fall, the Mount plans to operate in conditions closer to those prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. This means that students will have a more “traditional” Mount experience. However, the Mount community will always remember that this year students were able to stay on campus amidst a pandemic thanks to the perseverance of administrators, students and talented faculty members like Turner.

The Ducharme Lecture series was made possible by a generous gift from Mount St. Mary’s alumnus Raphael Della Ratta, an English major and a philosophy minor from the class of 1992, who now serves on the Mount’s Board of Trustees and on the Advisory Board of the College of Liberal Arts.

Della Ratta founded the program to honor one of his professors, Robert Ducharme, Ph.D., a champion of the liberal arts at Mount St. Mary’s.

A teacher, researcher, and mentor, Turner holds a Ph.D. in molecular, cellular and developmental biology from Yale University and has been teaching biochemistry, molecular biology, molecular genetics, senior seminar and introductory biology in the Mount’s Science Department since 2013.

College of Liberal Arts | MUSINGS | Spring 2021

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in a classroom, those speaking were required to hold a “talking stick” (an eraser in this case) to make sure only one person speaks at a time.

This year the group met by Zoom only, and so the officers adapted to the new circumstances by using “raise hand” and “mute” buttons to accomplish the same goal.

Beyond Division: The Mount’s Discourse Society Mount juniors Lauren Dykes and Sydney Verdecchia (C ’22) are committed to advancing civilized debate at the university. Together they lead the Discourse Society, a student-led, non-partisan organization, that meets once a week to listen, debate, and discuss important issues affecting our campus and nation.

The club’s president, Dykes, a political science and sociology major, became involved because she has “always been interested in politics, but noticed that all the debate surrounding the 2016 election seemed to spark more polarization.” Her friend Verdecchia, a Spanish and human services major and the organization’s vice president, admits that before she came to the Mount she “wasn’t into politics.” “I didn’t have a lot of knowledge,” she said, “but when I was a freshman I decided I should try to listen and learn more.” Both joined a group founded in 2017 by political science and history major Philip Dudeck (C ’19).

The Society’s faculty advisor, political science professor Michael Towle, Ph.D., said the organization was originally called the “Politics Club.” He believes the group didn’t catch on in part because students can be reluctant to talk about anything political. “We have very polite students, who almost self-censor when sharing their opinions,” he explained. Towle decided that the Discourse Society’s more informal approach would work better than the Politics Club and would allow the group to evolve.

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“I’ve had very little to do with it really,” he added.

“Early on, I went to some meetings and noticed that students I had in class were directing their comments to me rather than to each other so I stopped going.” His role now is advising the officers, publicizing events across campus, and providing pizza from time to time. Other faculty members have expressed a desire to join the group, but Towle hasn’t invited his colleagues so far because the current model is working so well.

The Society meets once a week and decides by majority vote which issues they will discuss.

Towle then informs the entire student body about the next topic to make sure all interested students can attend. Club members have discussed a wide range of issues such as gun legislation, the DACA program, sexual assault, the new voting bill in Georgia, the death penalty, rules governing transgender athletes, policies surrounding COVID vaccines, and the Derek Chauvin trial. Students also debate campus issues like academic freedom, tenure for professors, racism on campus, rules for returning to the Mount under the conditions of COVID, and so on. When topics the Society discusses intersect with Church teaching, club officers have invited members of the Office of Campus Ministry to share their views. The Society welcomes students from all majors and enforces rules to make sure conversation remains civil. For example, when the group met

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Towle observed that the nation has become so divided that issues that would not have been controversial at other times, such as electric vehicles, vaccines and other diseasepreventing measures, have become “bizarrely political.” For example, saying “climate change,” rather than “global warning” can result in a heated exchange. Verdecchia believes an inflection point occurred during what she called the “unorthodox election” of 2016. “On the news we now see how much more we disagree with each other,” she said. Dykes asserts that social media has played a role. “You’re always connected in today’s world, and we can choose what we want to see on social media,” she said, “but in the real world not everyone agrees with you. Politicians don’t listen to each other, and we learn by observing them.” Towle worried that these divisions hinder dialogue. “I was concerned that college students were not having conversations about public affairs,” he said. “When they listen to those they disagree with, they have a better basis for forming and adjusting their own opinions. This is really important for civic development.”

Dykes and Verdecchia are leading Mount students beyond today’s divisions by stressing the skill of listening. “There’s a real need to understand each other,” Dykes reflected, “to talk to each other as adults, which also prepares you to be in the workforce. We don’t care where you are on the political spectrum.

We want to hear what you think--not judge you about your beliefs.” She admits that some of the things said during meetings “make us uncomfortable,” but she finds “it’s okay to disagree; we can leave the room and still be friends.” Verdecchia agreed: “We need to see more of that in our country,” she said.

The format is working because the Society, now in its fourth year, is thriving even during a pandemic. Towle said he is “proud that [Dykes and Verdecchia] been able to keep it going,” under such difficult circumstances. It’s hard to argue with that.

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The BIG Debate: Sports Controversies

Any historian will tell you that studying history requires debate. Without healthy debate, it is difficult to get to the root of important events, how they affected those living in the past, and how they impact today’s world. In his newest course, Chair of the History Department Gregory Murry, Ph.D., is applying this idea to an understudied area of history: sports controversies. Sports Controversies in History asks students to research events that had a wide cultural impact. Then they will take sides and debate each topic, creating a perfect course for sports fans with a passion for history.

“I was watching a few episodes of ESPN’s First Take,” Murry explained.

“And I realized ‘Wow, there’s a lot of history here.’” The critically acclaimed television series features panels of ex-athletes and sports pundits who spend the hour-long time slot debating current and past sports topics. Avid fans appreciate the lively conversations that take place between experts, but a historian like Murry recognized the historical context that was embedded in the topics discussed. “I was thinking about how elements like contingency, context and even prediction change the meaning of each particular event,” he stated.

“Almost always, First Take raises questions of causality, which got me thinking how much history is rooted in sports debates.” Murry began planning Sports Controversies in History from there, and he taught the course for the first time during the spring semester.

The course includes incidents of cheating, violence, institutional corruption, geopolitics and activism by athletes. Throughout the semester, students examined issues such as gender equity and the U.S. women’s national soccer team, Colin Kaepernick and the Baltimore Ravens, Pete Rose’s lifetime ban from baseball, the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan scandal, the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics

and Muhammed Ali’s refusal to be drafted during the Vietnam War. In addition to researching such topics, participants are tasked with teaching their classmates in the debate format. “The course is set up so that sometimes students will be debating and sometimes they will be judging,” Murry explained. While some students try to persuade the rest of the class from separate sides of a formal debate, those who are not debating will weigh the evidence and vote the side that is most convincing.

Murry challenges his students to suspend their own hindsight about each controversy. He said, “In order to understand what people thought at the time [of an event], a lot of historical research involves pretending not to know things that you know.” The historian used the example of the Big Ten Conference’s reversing its decision to cancel the football season during the COVID-19 pandemic. Murry stated that the information we had at that time impacted the general public’s opinion about college sports returning. Our subsequent knowledge impacts how we view the issue currently.

As with most history courses offered at the Mount, students were taught the five Cs of historical thinking: context, causality, contingency, complexity and change over time. At semester’s end, they enhanced their ability to “think historically” by examining controversial moments in 20th and 21st century sports.

In addition to chairing the Department of History since 2018, Murry serves as the Mount’s Director of Academic Programming. He earned a Ph.D. from Penn State University in 2009 and held a Fulbright research fellowship to Italy in 2007-08. His primary scholarly areas are the relationship between religion and politics, historically based games, and early modern Europe, including Renaissance Florence. The author of The Medicean Succession: Monarchy and Sacral Politics in Duke Cosimo dei Medici’s Florence (2014), he is preparing a second book titled Divine Right and the Consent of the People in Sixteenth-Century Europe.

College of Liberal Arts | MUSINGS | Spring 2021

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Whether we play video games on our phone while we wait in line or enjoy Xbox with friends, gaming looms large in the lives of 2.7 billion of the world’s people and permeates our culture. This trend is expressed in the growing phenomenon of esports, where gamers compete in a variety of settings and across different gaming platforms. Mount St. Mary’s University introduced esports to campus last fall, allowing interested students to practice with each other and test their skills against other universities in a well-supported, healthy environment.

As director of the program, Hamer saw firsthand how gaming culture was growing on campus and decided to propose the minor.

Throughout the course of study, students will learn about a growing industry that continues to create many jobs. “The minor is going to be relatively broad and will be housed in the College of Liberal Arts,” Hamer said. “It will examine games from a media-studies perspective, a business perspective, and a philosophy perspective to help students gain a better understanding of how they function.”

Courses in the program will cover board games, card games, role-playing and historical games, video games, as well as esports. Games will be examined as cultural artifacts and as systems designed to create specialized experiences.

In 2019, the university hired Russell Hamer to develop and coach in the program. Hamer, who earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Marquette University and is about to release his first book, Understanding Kierkegaard’s Parables, recently expanded the esports program by introducing an academic minor, esports and gaming, just approved by the Mount’s faculty.

Hamer is excited about the prospect of what a gaming minor could bring to the Mount. With the widespread use of computer games and the growth of esports, he believes the program will be well received by students who wish to dive more deeply into an activity that engages them as well as an industry with many career opportunities. “The video game industry is larger than the music and television industries combined,” he exclaimed. “If students want to move into these huge and growing industries, there’s a lot of space.”

A New Phenomenon Esports at the Mount 10

During the fall semester, Hamer offered Streaming Practicum, a course which taught Mount students how to announce and broadcast live video games and other streamed events. This semester he taught ESGS 200 Video Games and Society, a useful starting point for the minor. The course covers realism and immersion, narrative, diversity and representation, emotions, ethics and violence. Studying these topics creates an understanding of gaming and esports as cultural phenomena. Video Games and Society joins ESGS 300 Game Mechanics and Systems as a foundation for the minor. Beyond these two courses, students may choose from an intriguing list that includes courses in business, communication, computer science, sociology, psychology and history. Hamer observed that student interest is strong: “We didn’t get Video Games and Society added until after advising week, but a full class signed up this semester.”

Because the program is being housed in the College of Liberal Arts, students from different

disciplines may efficiently complete the game studies minor. Hamer said he “wanted to put together a minor that allowed students who have an interest in e-sports to be able to pair that with a variety of majors.” For example, students in business, communication, computer science and sports management may count some of their major courses toward the minor.

The esports and gaming minor not only gives students opportunities to learn more about the gaming industry, it also opens opportunities for them to get involved with the growing esports program on campus. Last fall, the Mount introduced esports as a premier sport and transformed the building formerly known as “1808” into a state-of-the art gaming studio and classroom. If you walk into Purcell Hall now, you will find team members practicing or students and their friends meeting up for a friendly game.

Even those who have not declared the minor or are not participating as athletes can produce livestreams and complete other academic projects through the esports program.

Current senior communication major Katie Schisler, who has produced livestreams for the program this year, has witnessed the growth of esports on campus. “Overall, it’s a great outlet for students who occasionally need a break from their studies,” she said. “The program also provides student-leadership opportunities as well as opportunities to learn more about the industry.” Schisler is confident that esports and the new gaming minor will convince prospective students with an interest in gaming as a career to come to the Mount.

Assistant Director of Residence Life Brent Johnson has assisted the esports program this year. As a coach, his top priority is to make sure his athletes are succeeding in their academics. “Once that priority is settled,” he stated, “students can focus on fun and social activities.” Johnson and Hamer also emphasize the importance of being good teammates and opponents. Johnson explained, “We want to ensure that students from other schools leave our matches with a sense that they’ve just played against opponents who respect them, and everyone has had an enjoyable experience.”

With the introduction of the gaming minor and the growing nature of esports at the Mount,

Purcell has become a space where students can come together and bond over a shared interest. “The program provides a place for people to build community and find a sense of belonging, which is a necessity for a great college experience,” Johnson emphasized. “The environment is welcoming and inclusive for everyone, and people can find common ground regardless of their ethnicity, gender, or religion.”

If you have any questions about the gaming minor or the esports program, contact Russell Hamer at r.a.hamer@msmary.edu.

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religious generation in American history.’” In the second seminar, faculty participants will apply what they have discovered to teaching and learning at the Mount, particularly in the core curriculum.

Mount Historian Curtis Johnson Named Delaplaine Professor President Timothy Trainor, Ph.D., recently named Professor of History Curtis Johnson, Ph.D., the next Delaplaine Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities at Mount St. Mary’s University. The professorship honors “excellence in teaching and scholarship,” and those who hold it are expected to “contribute to curricular development and teaching, particularly in the core curriculum.” Johnson succeeds Susann Samples, Ph.D., a professor of world languages and cultures, who just completed a successful term as Delaplaine Professor on the theme of the black diaspora in Europe.

Occupants of the endowed chair lead in successive summers two seminars with Mount faculty members. During the professorship’s final year, the holder expands the theme through undergraduate courses and public events. Established in the mid-1990s, 12

the award was funded through a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) matching gift program. Generous local Mount benefactors George and Bettie Delaplaine made the private gift, which the NEH matched to establish the award.

As Delaplaine Professor, Johnson will study the rising tide of secularization in American society, particularly as it relates to Generation Z. Johnson observed that “Multiple public opinion surveys have demonstrated the rapid secularization of Generation Z nationally” and “Mount Saint Mary’s reflects national trends” to some degree. Johnson sees value studying the causes and impact of these national trends and then exploring with faculty colleagues how a Catholic university like the Mount should respond. He said, “The first summer, we will examine why the current generation of college students is ‘the least

Johnson, who came to the Mount in 1985 with a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, is extremely well qualified to lead this initiative.

He stands tall in a Mount faculty long known for teaching excellence. Emmy Jansen, C ’23, an English and conflict, peace and social justice major, called Johnson “one of my favorite professors at the Mount. Anyone who says history is boring has not taken a class taught by him!” Praising the “expertise and enthusiasm” her professor demonstrated in his Manhood in America course, Jansen said, “the concepts he taught me have become relevant in every course I’ve taken since.” She also marveled how he formed “a group of unengaged students into a team that thirsted for the knowledge he had to offer, simply because he radiates ideals that are the cornerstone of academia.”

History and philosophy major Joseph Myron, C’22, admired how Johnson “grasps multiple, critical aspects of history in his teaching” in ways that “encourage students to see history beyond something that merely happened in the past, but as something greatly influencing the present.” Myron added, “His knowledge and teaching style have been very helpful in my academic growth.”

Johnson combines teaching excellence with a distinguished scholarly record. History Department Chair and Director of Academic Programming, Gregory Murry, Ph.D., stated, “Students and faculty at the Mount know Curt Johnson as a beloved and engaging teacher, as well as a generous mentor and colleague. What is perhaps less well known (because Curt is not naturally one to brag about his accomplishments) is that he is also an influential figure in the field of American religious history with several important books and articles to his name. We are very lucky to have him leading the Delaplaine on this important and relevant topic.” In addition to penning numerous articles and reviews, Johnson has published two books on the role of religion in American society, Islands of Holiness: Rural Religion in Upstate New York, 1790-1860 (1989, reprinted 2012), and Redeeming America: Evangelicals and the Road to Civil War (1993).

Johnson’s third book, forthcoming in November 2021, The Power of Mammon: The Market, Secularization, and New York State Baptists, 1790-1922, meshes well with the theme of secularization that will be the focus of the Delaplaine seminars. While studying the records of more than 40 Baptist churches and almost 20,000 believers in New York state, Johnson “kept making discoveries that contradicted much of the established historical literature.”

He found that women played important roles in Baptist church governance in the 1810s and that the evangelistic revivals of the 1830s were not nearly as successful as previous historians claimed. “Eventually,” he said, “I realized these findings were only a part of a much larger story: that the market economy and its associated distractions were the primary forces secularizing Baptists and their churches in the long 19th century.” Always meticulous and thorough about collecting and analyzing data, Johnson employed innovative statistical measures to support his conclusions.

In addition to developing extraordinary expertise in teaching and scholarship, Johnson has generously accepted many roles in service to Mount St. Mary’s. He chaired the history department; he directed the American Experience program; and he currently leads our America in the World program. He also served on the important Tenure, Rank and Awards Committee, the Undergraduate Academic Committee, and the Middle States Self-Study Steering Committee, among many others. In 2011, he received the Class of 1950 Memorial Award for service to the university, and in 2017 he received the John Richards Award for Teaching Excellence, the Mount’s top teaching honor.

When asked about his long tenure at Mount St. Mary’s, Johnson recalled, “When I interviewed here for a history position in 1985, the search committee asked me why I wanted to teach at the Mount. I told them that I wanted to teach at an institution that took religious ideas seriously. I continue to see that as one of the Mount’s strengths.” And, certainly, having professors like Johnson is one reason why the Mount is so strong.

Scholarly Highlights from the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts

Joshua Brown, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology, published with co-author Alexus McLeod Transcendence and Non-Naturalism in Early Chinese Thought (Bloomsbury, 2020). He also published Balthasar in Light of Early Confucianism (University of Notre Dame Press, 2020).

William Collinge, Ph.D., professor emeritus of philosophy and theology, published “Ludato Si’: A Teacher’s Perspective” in Catholic Rural Life 63.1 (2021): 12-13.

Jack Dudley, Ph.D., associate professor of English, published “Beckett, Atwood, and Postapocalyptic Tragicomedy” in NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 54.1 (2021): 104-119.

Jamie A. Gianoutsos, Ph.D., associate professor of history, published The Rule of Manhood: Tyranny, Gender, and Classical Republicanism in England, 1603–1660 (Cambridge University Press, 2020). She recently received fellowships from the Renaissance Society of America, the American Philosophical Society and the Folger Shakespeare Library to work on her next book, tentatively titled, The “Propagation of Liberty”: Marchamont Nedham and the Classical Republican Tradition.

Joshua Hochschild, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, published “Practical Wisdom and the Literary Imagination: Wendell Berry, C. S. Lewis, and the Promise and Limits of Social Theory” in Perspectives in Religious Studies 48.1 (2021): 15-30.

Elizabeth Holtry, M.F.A., professor of visual art, is exhibiting four works in Bug Invitational, a show at the Delaplaine Arts Center featuring insect-inspired artworks created by local and regional artists and marking the Spring 2021 emergence of the 17-year cicadas.

Jessy Jordan, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, published “On the Transcendental Structure of Iris Murdoch’s Philosophical Method” in the European Journal of Philosophy (April 2021), online version: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejop.12655.

Mary Catherine Kennedy, Ph.D., associate professor of communication, published “Vatican City” in The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society 1 (2020): 1840-1841.

Sean Lewis, Ph.D., associate professor of English, published “Ottawanta, Our Lady of the Field(s), and the Persistence of Legend in American Catholicism” in U.S. Catholic Historian 38:2 (2020): 23-46. Catholic Review Radio interviewed Lewis and Robert Miola, Ph.D., professor of English and classics at Loyola Maryland University, about “Catholic Themes in Shakespeare” on April 26, 2021: http://bit.ly/cr-radio-042521.

Jordan Loveridge, Ph.D., assistant professor of English and communication, published “The Practice of the Progymnasmata in the Middle Ages: Ancestry and Probability in Alan of Lille’s Anticlaudianus” in Practicing the Progymnasmata: From Ancient Times to Present Days, ed.

Pierre Chiron and Benoit Sans (Rued’Ulm, 2020): 203-17.

Sarah Scott, Ph.D., professor of English and director of the Honors Program, published “‘modern for the times’: Lording Barry, Christopher Marlowe, and Ovid” in Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 60.2 (2020): 374-364.

Jack Trammell, Ph.D., chair of the Sociology, Criminal Justice and Human Services Department, published with co-author Guy Terrell Civil War Richmond: The Last Citadel (The History Press, 2021).

Barrett H. Turner, Ph.D., associate professor of theology, published “The Law of Nations as Developing Moral Law: Two Interpretations of Ius Gentium in the Thomist Tradition” in The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review 84:3 (2020): 339-93.

College of Liberal Arts | MUSINGS | Spring 2021

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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT “In a workaholic culture that grows daily more all-consuming, the liberal arts are as necessary as ever for a flourishing human life.” These are the words of Olivia Prevost, Mount junior and philosophy major, who also minors in theology, music, and English. President of the Mount’s Philosophy Club, she also loves to paint and is an accomplished performer on the Irish fiddle. Without a doubt, hers is a life “of significance in service to God and others.”

Living Significantly through the Liberal Arts Olivia Prevost

Both of Prevost’s parents encouraged her liberal arts journey. Her mother, Kathleen, who holds a master’s degree in English, was Olivia’s primary teacher as she homeschooled through high school. Her father, Robert, is a philosophy professor at Wingate University in North Carolina. When it came time for Olivia to choose a college, it was important that she pick a university that would nurture her Catholic faith. “I knew the Mount was a place that took the Catholic faith seriously, and that was really important for me,” she explained. After touring campus, she knew she could grow spiritually at the Mount while receiving a meaningful education from a strong university.

The Mount was also an ideal place to develop her musical talents. “I loved music when I was growing up.” She recalled taking violin and piano lessons and performing in the church choir, saying she “always loved singing.” Then, she said, “I picked up the fiddle at age fifteen and haven’t put it down since.” After coming to the Mount, Prevost joined the Chorale, directed by Andrew Rosenfeld, DMA, and found the “open access and welcoming environment amazing for me personally.”

She also took courses in strings, percussion, and music history. Studying abroad in the Mount’s semester-long, Dublin program furthered her passion for traditional Irish music. She deepened her knowledge of Irish culture, studied her instrument in the country of its origin, and had the pleasure of playing in Irish pubs. “The opportunity to play the folk music that I have been studying in the authentic environment was amazing for me,” she said, “and the study-abroad experience in general gave me a wider perspective about the diversity of the world and life in general.”

The Mount’s Visual and Performing Arts Department also helped Prevost develop her talent for visual art, which she has appreciated for as long as she can remember. A painting class offered by Mount art professor, Elizabeth Holtry, M.F.A., helped Prevost understand that “our vision goes deeper than just what our eyes see.” Continuing to paint in her spare time, she now works with the goal of “seeing people and things with an eye for beauty that transcends the blatant organization of objects.”

While Prevost’s father is a philosopher, she did not fully engage with that subject until her first year at the Mount, when she searched for a major by exploring a variety of courses. “As it turns out,” she recalled, “all of the courses that I was interested in during that time were philosophy courses.” This year she served on the editorial board of the Mount’s student theology and philosophy journal, Tolle Lege, an experience she described as an “amazing opportunity that has allowed me to critically analyze my fellow students’ works and wrestle with a variety of original and engaging topics.” Philosophy also opened her eyes to beauty in other disciplines.

“As a philosophy major,” she explained, “I am particularly positioned to help other students

encounter the liberal arts in a new and deeper way.”

Studying the liberal arts also allowed Prevost to see how academic inquiry can impact your life. “The majority of skills that you will need to be successful include critical reasoning, communication, and finding your sense of purpose,” she offered. “When a university teaches the liberal arts, it does not simply pass on technical skill in writing or performance. A true liberal arts education nourishes the totality of the human person and protects her against the ceaseless demands of productivity.” While she understands the

this prize is awarded every year to a rising sophomore, junior or senior who submits an essay which best articulates the author’s “dedication to lifelong learning and critical investigation in and outside of the classroom, and who participates in extra-curricular work or work-study activities that leverage a liberal arts education.” Because all Mount students receive thorough training in the liberal arts by virtue of their participation in the university’s sequenced and integrated core curriculum, all rising students are eligible.

In her scholarship-winning essay, Prevost reflected on the education she is receiving.

“Since coming to the Mount, I have been incredibly blessed by passionate professors who are willing to invest in me and help develop my vision,” she said.

“Through the lens of the liberal arts, they have opened my eyes to the wonders of the world and have given me a language to articulate its beauty.” Drawing on the work of German philosopher Josef Pieper, she adds, “My liberal arts education has given me a point of view from which ~Olivia Prevost I can see the whole world, not merely as a mush of mindless mechanisms endlessly churning out paychecks, but as a unified whole meant to be enjoyed, rested in and desire for a technical degree, she believes ultimately transcended by a reality that runs liberal arts majors effectively prepare students deeper than anything conceived in the world for the real world, particularly those who enter of total work.” college without “a specific job in mind.”

Since coming to the Mount, I have been incredibly blessed by passionate professors who are willing to invest in me and help develop my vision.

Prevost recently received two major prizes at this spring’s Academic Awards Ceremony. The first of these, the Della Ratta Award, goes to a junior “who exhibits the highest standards of liberal learning through breadth and depth of study” with “exceptional abilities of critical and creative thinking, and fine moral character.”

Prevost also won the Gadamer Liberal Arts Scholarship. Established in 2015 by T.J. Rainsford (C’95) and Lisa Rainsford (C’96),

With a year left before she graduates, Prevost will continue to take advantage of all the opportunities the Mount offers. She has already begun thinking about continuing her philosophical studies in graduate school, but she plans to take a gap year to pursue mission work.

Until that time, she is resolved “to contribute to the liberal arts in any way that I can.”

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Did you know that the Mount’s Career Center has a number of services for alumni?

Here is some of what we provide: 1. Resume and cover letter help.

2. Interview assistance.

3. Resources to help you in your search for opportunities.

The Mount’s Career Center is upgrading its career-services platform to Handshake, a comprehensive, remote-friendly service connected to over 400,00 employers including every Fortune 500 Company. Please contact the Career Center for more information about this exciting change.

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We are available for phone, SkypeTM or email consultation. Call 301-447-5202 or careercenter@msmary.edu.