Mulberry Tree magazine

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE of Maryland

WINTER 2019

+ access lead with an edge it uncommonly worth be here+

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THIS IS

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ST. MARY’S COLLEGE

of Maryland

W IN T ER 2 0 1 9 , VOL. X L , NO . 1

www.smcm.edu/mulberrytree Editor Lee Capristo Design Jensen Design Photographer Bill Wood Editorial Board Karen Anderson, Michael Bruckler, Lee Capristo, Molly McKee-Seabrook ’10, Gus Mohlhenrich, Karen Raley ’94, Kelly Schroeder Publisher Office of Institutional Advancement St. Mary’s College of Maryland 47645 College Drive St. Mary’s City, Maryland 20686

The Mulberry Tree is published by St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Maryland’s public honors college for the liberal arts and sciences. It is produced for alumni, faculty, staff, trustees, the local community, and friends of the College.

The magazine is named for the famous mulberry tree under which the Calvert colonists signed a treaty of friendship with the Yaocomico people and on the trunk of which public notices were posted in the mid-1600s. The tree endured long into the 19th century and was once a popular meeting spot for St. Mary’s College students.

The illustration of the mulberry tree on the cover was drawn in 1972 by Earl Hofmann, artist-in-residence when St. Mary’s College President Renwick Jackson launched the magazine.

Copyright 2019 The opinions expressed in The Mulberry Tree are those of the individual authors and not necessarily those of the College. The editor reserves the right to select and edit all material.

Manuscripts and letters to the editor are encouraged and may be addressed to Editor, The Mulberry Tree, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 47645 College Drive, St. Mary’s City, MD 20686.

Photographs and illustrations may not be reproduced without the express written consent of St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

CONTENTS WINTER 2019

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE OF MARYLAND July 2018 — June 2019

F E AT U R E S

ALUMNI COUNCIL

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

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Executive Board Allan Wagaman ’06, President Alice Arcieri Bonner ’03, Exec.Vice President Ryan McQuighan ’05, Vice Pres. of Operations Angie Harvey ’83, Secretary Thomas Brewer ’05, Parliamentarian Geoff Cuneo ’10, Treasurer Kate Fritz ‘04, Vice Pres. of Chapter Activities

Chair The Honorable Sven Holmes

Elected Voting Members John Ahearn ’76 Jack Blum ’07 Kelsey Bush ’94 Kate Fritz ’04 Hans Lemke ’93 Molly McKee-Seabrook ’10 Mary Claire McCarthy Moran ’14 Lauren Payne ’09 Amir Reda ’11 Kevin Roth ’93 Bobby Rudd ’13 Paul Schultheis ’98 Sara Kidd Shanklin ’11 Edward Sirianno ’82 Student Member Sophia Macek ’19 Chapter Presidents Annapolis: Erin O’Connell ’91 Baltimore: Marie Snyder ’10 Black Alumni: Nick Abrams ’99 Boston: Marina Carlson ’12 D.C. Metro: Rosa Trembour ’11 Denver: Alisa Ambrose ’85 New York: John Haltiwanger ’10 Philadelphia: Lisa McQuighan-Jordan ’05 San Francisco: Micah Benons ’09 Southern Maryland: Cathy Hernandez Ray ’77 TFMS Alumni: Tammy Swanson ’93 Western Maryland: Kristi Jacobs Woods ’97

This Is Our Story Meet five current students who embody the essence of The National Public Honors College.

Vice Chair Ann L. McDaniel Treasurer John Chambers Wobensmith ’93 Secretary Lawrence “Larry” E. Leak ’76

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Trustees Carlos Alcazar Anirban Basu John Bell ’95 Arthur “Lex” Birney, Jr. Cynthia Broyles ’79 Peter Bruns Donny Bryan ’73 John Bullock Peg Duchesne ’77 Susan Dyer Elizabeth Graves ’95 Gail Harmon The Honorable Steny Hoyer Capt. Glen Ives, usn Retired Danielle Troyan ’92 Allan Wagaman ’06, Alumni Council President Justin Hoobler ’19, Student Trustee Laura Cripps, hsmc

LEAD with an Edge How does an institution go about developing a new curriculum? Associate Dean of Curriculum Christine Wooley explains the process.

DEPAR T MEN T S

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President’s Letter

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College News

21 Alumni Connection 28 From the Archives [ PA G E 2 0 ]

C O V E R : Current students Taylor Wigglesworth, Nathan Yalung, Khalid Balogun, Rose Young and Andrew Messick tell their stories. In doing so, each exemplifies one of the five chapters of the College’s new brand.

OPPOSITE:

An early snow in November 2018 sent College staff member Gretchen Phillips out with her camera.

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A

L ET T E R

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F ROM

T HE

PR E SIDE N T

e at St. Mary’s College of Maryland believe in the power of a liberal arts education that not only equips students with the skills needed to secure a job, but equally as important, equips them with life skills that

are applicable for the present and the future. It is part of our promise as Maryland’s public honors college.

This issue features the debut of our new brand, The National Public Honors College.

We are the first public honors college in the nation, and our outcomes demonstrate that we are the best.

St. Mary’s College’s mission is challenging – liberal education excellence that is accessible and affordable. Yet, we are succeeding. Alumni and friends of the College have been and continue to be cornerstones of our success in a myriad of ways such as by mentoring students in professional work settings, by sharing their expertise in networking events like Bookbag to Briefcase, and by demonstrating their faith in this institution and its students on Giving Tuesday in increasing numbers every year. This year, we boasted record Giving Tuesday numbers of more than 1,000 donors deep and nearly $287,000 strong.

Our students are diverse. They come from unique backgrounds and seek different paths. What connects them all? Passion. A desire to do their part in defining what it means to be a successful and impactful human being. Our dedicated faculty and staff are the linchpin of all that we do, the individuals who our students remember long after they graduate and return to their beloved campus as alumni. Our new hallmark curriculum, Learning through Experiential and Applied Discovery (LEAD), will further enhance our teaching and learning by giving students a career-ready edge within a liberal arts framework with skills employers tell us they want now. In the coming months, be on the lookout for ways you can get involved in our LEAD efforts and proudly tell our story.

As we begin the year anew, know that there is fresh energy at St. Mary’s College. A renewed spirit. A drive to reach higher, go further, and shine brighter, enabling us to lead today, tomorrow, and well into the unforeseeable future.

Tuajuanda C. Jordan, PhD President, St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Editor’s Note

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ince antiquity, explorers have relied upon Polaris, the North Star, for celestial navigation. Since 1840, St. Mary’s (Female Seminary, Junior College, College of Maryland) has navigated on a pair of touchpoints that continues to shape its course: to be public and to provide a challenging liberal arts education.

In 1848, the St. Mary’s Seminary’s Board of Trustees stated that it would offer “as liberal and extensive [a] course of study as the highest standard of female education requires … [and to] diffuse its blessings to as numerous a portion of the community as possible.”

In 1990, J. Frederick Fausz concluded in his “Monument School of the People: A Sesquicentennial History of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 1840-1990” that this institution “has kept faith with its unique heritage and founding philosophy on its original, historic campus – a significant site of constant reminders that the past is present for the future.”

When President Jordan took office in 2014, she chartered her own course for the College, calling it a time of “rebirth.” She challenged the campus community to build upon the College’s charter as the state’s only public honors college and the first of its kind in the nation. While her specific calls to action are new, with an increased focus on issues such as inclusion, equity, and better integration between theory and practice, they are actions that align to the touchpoints from 1840.

The students profiled in this issue exemplify St. Mary’s College at its enduring best, from Khalid Balogun ’20 – NCAA Division III All-America soccer player who expects the most of himself on and off the field – to Rose Young ’20 – a mother who works three jobs while earning her degree and knows that one day she’ll be an imagineer for Disney World – they are the spirit and the inspiration for us all.

Lee Capristo, editor

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COLLEGE

NEWS

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY NEWS

Thank You for Your Support!

On Giving Tuesday, we surpassed our goal of 1,000 donors with nearly 1,400 giving $286,885.95. Each donation adds value to our students’ St. Mary’s College experience. A very special Thank You! goes to Professor Don Stabile who donated $100,000 when we reached 1,000 donors and to the SMCM Alumni Council, which provided over $17,000 in awards to the student clubs and varsity athletic teams that participated in the video contest.

Congratulations to the Women’s Lacrosse Team for winning the Giving Tuesday Alumni Council Challenge, taking in a collective $3,500 in awards (1st place in the Blue Ribbon Bonus category with $2,000, and 2nd place in the team competition with $1,500). Special recognition goes to the Sailing Team and Best Buddies Club for earning the most donor votes for the Alumni Council Challenge, earning each group $3,000.

Hall of Fame Inductees is Highest Number Ever

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he 2018 Hall of Fame class is the largest-ever in its 28-year history with 10 inductees. Six of them were inducted on October 19 as part of the Hawktoberfest celebration – the College’s version of homecoming: Lauren Carrier ’09 (Crownsville, Md./Old Mill), Sophia Esparza ’10 (Silver Spring, Md./ Montgomery Blair), Alex Franz ’11 (Catonsville, Md./Cardinal Gibbons), Rachel Hotchko ’10 (Yakima, Wash./A.C. Davis), Steven Mull ’78 (Parkville, Md./Parkville), and Emily (Richards) Rolen ’08 (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook). Three others – sailors Elizabeth Graves ’95 (Milwaukee, Wis.), Liza (Hughes) Hall ’98 (Annapolis, Md.), and James Thieler ’91 (Northfield, N.J.) – were inducted on November 30 as part of the annual SMCM Varsity Sailing Team Alumni Regatta for the Stephen P. Sparkman Trophy, more familiarly known as the Possum Bowl. Jamie L. Roberts ’11 (Rockville, Md./The Barrie School) – the final member of the 2018 inductees – will be honored posthumously as a Hall of Fame Legend as part of the dedication of the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium Complex. Possum Bowl photo by Tom Brewer.

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CO LLEG E

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SMCM Well Represented at National Meeting

Marine Microcosm Lab Hosts Open House

St. Mary’s College of Maryland was well represented and received at the second annual meeting of the Council on Undergraduate Research Transformations Project (CUR-T), funded by the National Science Foundation. The St. Mary’s College team attending the conference included Geoffrey Bowers, assistant professor of chemistry; Sabine Dillingham, director of research and sponsored programs; Nathan Foster, assistant professor of psychology; Cynthia Koenig, associate professor of psychology; Pamela Mertz, professor of chemistry & biochemistry; Kelly Y. Neiles, assistant professor of chemistry; and Christine Wooley, associate dean of curriculum.

On December 2, the St. Mary’s College of Maryland Marine Microcosm Lab created by Professor Emeritus of Biology Walter Hatch hosted its first open house. With an open invitation to coral reef enthusiasts throughout the mid-Atlantic region, St. Mary’s College student aquarists Colin Cassady ’19, Ava Chrisler ’20, and Nhu Chau ’20 showed off their hard work in maintaining the huge aquarium system and propagating corals and other reef fauna in captivity. The Marine Microcosm Lab remains the only tropical marine system of its scale and complexity at an undergraduate institution in the United States.

The CUR Transformations Project aims to understand and incorporate successful strategies to integrate high-quality undergraduate research (UGR) throughout four-year undergraduate STEM curricula.

St. Mary’s College’s contribution to this ambitious nation-wide endeavor focuses on undergraduate research integration in the disciplines of psychology and chemistry & biochemistry, and has a committed team of 16 faculty and administrators working toward this goal.

New Scholarship Fund Created St. Mary’s College of Maryland announces the new Patuxent River Science & Technology (PRS&T) Consortium Scholarship Fund.

Envisioned and championed by AMEWAS, this scholarship fund is the result of a collaboration among six local government contracting companies and aims to ensure some of Southern Maryland’s brightest students can afford college.

Through investments from consortium members, AMEWAS, Bell, DESI, Resource Management Concepts (RMC), Sabre Systems, and Zenetex, the scholarship fund will provide six STEM-focused students from St. Mary’s, Calvert and Charles Counties with financial support as well as a conduit for internships, mentoring, and professional development that could ultimately benefit the Southern Maryland workforce.

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The Marine Microcosm Lab created by Professor Emiritus Walter Hatch hosted an open house

Accolades Confirm SMCM a Top Educational Value

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t. Mary’s College has recently received several accolades.

St. Mary’s College is ranked #6 among Best Public Liberal Arts Colleges by U.S. News & World Report (2019), #28 Among Top Liberal Arts Colleges by 2018 Washington Monthly College Guide, #1 in Peace Corps Volunteers among small colleges, listed among Best 384 Colleges by the Princeton Review (2019). The College is also included in the 2019 Fiske Guide to Colleges, Money’s 2018-19 Best Colleges, and Forbes Best Value Colleges (2018), recognized as a 2018-19 College of Distinction, and ranked among the Best Colleges of Maryland by Schools.com.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland also is ranked no. 4 among the Best Colleges and Universities in Maryland for 2018 in College Consensus and has been listed as a 2019 Hidden Gem by CollegeRaptor.com, a higher education planning tool that offers side-by-side comparisons of colleges. St. Mary’s College was included in both the United States and Northeast listings.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland has been recognized by The Student Loan Report for creating an environment in which graduates can leave campus with a limited amount of student loan debt. Specifically, St. Mary’s College ranked #1 when it came to lowest student debt figures in the state of Maryland and ranked #135 out of all 1,080 institutions analyzed in the United States and #70 amongst all similar public schools.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland is ranked fifth among 399 most environmentally responsible colleges according to The Princeton Review. The education services company known for its test prep and tutoring services, books, and college rankings features St. Mary’s College in the 2018 edition of its free book, the Princeton Review Guide to 399 Green Colleges and its ranking of “Top 50 Green Colleges.”

the Ella Sheppard School of Music in Chicago. Reginald Robinson is an internationally recognized pianist, recording artist, and educator. Theodis Rodgers, Jr. is a jazz pianist.

PRESIDENT’S NEWS

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resident Tuajuanda C. Jordan presented the 2018 President’s Trailblazer Award on September 6 to The Patuxent Partnership (TPP) led by Bonnie Green ’74.

The award was created by President Jordan in 2015 to honor those individuals or enterprises whose actions are notable “firsts” in the history of the College.

St. Mary’s College and TPP have enjoyed several long-term partnerships furthering the advancement of education and programming, including an educational partnership agreement with Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) and the College that advances scientific research and fostered academic growth in science, mathematics, technology, and engineering.

Additionally, TPP’s Applied Physics Endowed Fund promotes research, internship, and professional development opportunities through collaborative efforts between the College, NAS Patuxent River, and the DoD community in Southern Maryland.

Other initiatives include STEM-ING, designed to introduce middle school girls to careers in STEM disciplines, and forum and programming collaboration for St. Mary’s College’s Center for the Study of Democracy.

Previous St. Mary’s College Trail-

blazer recipients include Trustee Donald “Donny” Bryan ’73, honored in 2015 as the first African American student to graduate from St. Mary’s College’s four-year program.

In 2016, President Emeritus Edward T. “Ted” Lewis received the honor as the one who shepherded the “public honors college” moniker and the unique funding mechanism through the state legislature. In 2017, Julie Croteau ’93 received the Trailblazer Award for being the first female to make the St. Mary’s College’s Division III team as a freshman and the first female to play NCAA baseball in the men’s league.

In October, President Jordan was inducted into the Cosmos Club, a private social club for individuals distinguished in science, literature and the arts, a learned profession, or public service.

On December 6, President Jordan delivered a keynote “If…with a CEO Twist” at the Inaugural CoopLew Making a Path to the Top: Preparing CDOs to Become CEOs Conference.

On December 7, President Jordan received the Southern Maryland Minority Chamber of Commerce 2018 Education Excellence Award.

On October 3, President Jordan welcomed Sir Rodney Williams, Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda, to campus. The purpose of the visit was to initiate a partnership with the College to provide cultural exchange, including student internships and other opportunities for collaboration. His Excellency was accompanied by his wife, Lady Sandra Williams, and his son, Brent Scotland, along with Maryland Secretary of State John Wobensmith and Barbara Paca, cultural envoy to the Ministry of Culture in Antigua and Barbuda. On November 5-6, President Jordan was a guest to Sir Rodney Williams and Lady Sandra Williams in Antigua and Barbuda.

President Tuajuanda C. Jordan has been named a 2018 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. According to the AAAS, President Jordan was awarded in the education section “for creativity and innovation in bringing research experiences to first-year undergraduate students and for leadership in inclusive excellence in higher education.”

President Jordan hosted Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Native American scholar and poet N. Scott Momaday on November 15. The event was co-sponsored by the VOICES Reading Series and the Theater, Film, and Media Studies department.

On September 27, the Office of the President presented From Mozart to Monk, a piano concert featuring performances by Geo Cooper, Reginald Robinson, and Theodis Rodgers, Jr. The packed house heard three musical segments of approximately 20 minute each, and spanning genres from classical to ragtime to jazz. Jeff Silberschlag, professor of music, moderated the event. All three performers hail from Chicago, Illinois. George “Geo” Cooper, Jr. is a world-class pianist and composer. He founded

For the 2018-19 academic year, President Jordan is mentoring American Council of Education (ACE) Fellow Doria Stitts. The ACE Fellows Program is a higher education leadership development program preparing senior leaders to serve American colleges and universities. Stitts is associate provost and dean of University College and Lifelong Learning (UCLL) at Winston-Salem University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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C OLLE G E

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FACULTY & STAFF NEWS Professor of English Jennifer Cognard-Black presented a talk about the cultural work of recipes and gave a reading from her anthology of the literatures of food, “Books that Cook” at the St. Mary’s County Arts Council’s First Friday event in Leonardtown, Maryland on November 2.

Professor of Economics and Landers Endowed Chair in the Liberal Arts Asif Dowla’s article “Climate Change and Microfinance” published in Business Strategy and Development, was one of the journal’s top 20 most downloaded papers among articles published between July 2016 and June 2018.

In fact, Dowla’s article received some of the highest downloads in the 12-months post publication.

Angela Draheim ’03, academic program support coordinator and web specialist for the psychology department, represented the Zeta Chapter of Maryland at the 45th Triennial Council of Phi Beta Kappa held in Boston, Massachusetts.

During the South Atlantic District meeting there, she was reelected as a board member representing Maryland. Draheim, who was initially elected to the district board at the 44th Triennial Council in 2015, is the current vice president and immediate past president of the Zeta Chapter of Phi Beta Chapter which was established in at St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 1997.

Jeffrey Eden, assistant professor of history, has recently published the book, “Slavery and Empire in Central Asia” (Cambridge University Press, 2018). The book is an in-depth study of the slave trade that spurred the Russian conquest of Central Asia.

During the 59th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society in New Orleans, Louisiana, in November, assistant professors of psychology Nathan Foster and James Mantell presented research that had been conducted with the help of St. Mary’s College student Mohammed Azimi Vahdat ’18. Hannah Madden ’19 and Rebecca Faubion ’19, also presented on a directed research project they worked on with Mantell.

Assistant Professor of Psychology Gili Freedman was recently published in The Journal of Social Psychology.

The article, titled “Engaging in Social Rejection May be Riskier for Women,” looks at whether women have more to fear than men when thinking how they will be perceived if they socially reject others. Freedman’s research applies backlash theory to examine how women are perceived for engaging in social rejection.

David Froom, professor of music, was a panelist for District New Music Coalition at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in September. In October, his latest composition, “Hidden Motives,” was published by the American Composers Edition and premiered at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

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Associate Professor of Anthropology and Aldom-Plansoen Professor Liza Gijanto was recently named an associate editor for “Historical Archaeology,” the official journal for the Society of Historical Archaeology (SHA). She was invited to serve based on her expertise in African Historical Archaeology.

An academic paper coauthored by Joanne Goldwater, associate dean for retention and student success at St. Mary’s College, and Ross Conover, director of institutional research and assessment at Hood College, was accepted for publication and presentation at the National Symposium on Student Retention, taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah. The paper, entitled “Building Collaboration on a (Small College) Budget,” highlights the struggles small institutions can have when faced with small budgets and limited personnel in managing retention and meeting the needs of the students and their families.

Former Provost Dana Greene has a new book, “Elizabeth Jennings: The Inward War” (Oxford Univ. Press, 2018). The book is a biography of Elizabeth Jennings, one of the most popular, prolific and widely anthologized lyric poets of the late twentieth century.

Mary Grube, associate director of budgets, earned the Rising Star Award from the Eastern Regional Association of Physical Plant Administrators (ERAPPA) during its annual conference in October. Grube also was elected vice president of professional development for that association. In November, she was elected treasurer of the Maryland/D.C. chapter of that same organization.

Both terms are for two years.

Research by Assistant Professor of Psychology Ayse Ikizler ’07, titled “Discrimination, religious and cultural factors, and Middle Eastern/Arab Americans’ psychological distress,” was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (2018). In the article, Ikizler investigates the moderating role of religiosity (strong religious feeling or belief) in the link between religious affiliation and ethnic discrimination and also the roles of religiosity, ethnic identity, and family connectedness in the relations between ethnic discrimination and psychological distress.

Ikizler is co-founder and president-elect of the American Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Psychological Association.

Professor of Art Sue Johnson held an exhibition titled “Ready-Made Dream,” at the Ridderhof Martin Gallery of the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, from October 25 – December 2. The exhibition featured floor-to-ceiling vinyl panels and decals that Johnson has designed— transforming the gallery into the interior of an ideal, modern home.

Katherine Koch, assistant professor of educational studies, presented at the EMS World Expo held in October in Nashville, Tennessee.

Koch, who is a paramedic as well as an assistant professor, spoke on assessing, treating and transporting patients with special needs.

THE ST. MARY’S WAY

Jeffrey Lombardo, visiting assistant professor of biology, presented an invited talk at the joint meeting of the Entomological Society of America, the Entomological Society of British Columbia, and the Entomological Society of Canada, in Vancouver, Canada. The talk focused on research that was recently published in the journal Oecologia, and was featured in a number of national and international news outlets. The talk was titled “Effects of Temperature on the Population Life Stage Structure and Phenological Synchrony of a Tree-killing Bark Beetle.” This work highlighted the influence of climate change in altering the geographic distribution, and potential outbreak dynamics, of one of the most economically important forest pest insects in the country.

Jessica Malisch, assistant professor of biology, gave an invited research seminar at Towson University on November 13. The seminar focused on research conducted in Malisch’s research laboratory at St. Mary’s College. Her related research was recently published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, entitled “Stress-Induced Hyperglycemia in White-Throated and White-Crowned Sparrows: A New Technique for Rapid Glucose Measurement in the Field.”

Linden McBride ’03, assistant professor of economics, has been published in The World Bank Economic Review. The article, titled “Retooling Poverty Targeting Using Out-of-Sample Validation and Machine Learning” examines how proxy means test (PMT) poverty targeting tools have become common tools for beneficiary targeting and poverty assessment where full means tests are costly.

Seabird McKeon, visiting professor of biology, has been named the natural history special initiatives coordinator for the Ecological Society of America. In this national role, McKeon will be championing the role of natural history clubs and organizations on college campuses, and launching the National Biodiversity Championships in the summer of 2019. An expert on global biodiversity and evolutionary ecology, McKeon teaches coastal ecology at St. Mary’s College.

Students working with McKeon this past fall documented more than 750 species of animals, plants, and fungus on campus and in the surrounding area. A mobile phone app called “iNaturalist” makes the recorded observations available for citizen science projects worldwide.

The “Biodiversity of St. Mary’s College of Maryland” project on

iNaturalist can be found here: https://www.inaturalist.org/ projects/biodiversity-of-st-marys-college-of-maryland and will be continued in the spring. McKeon also is co-host, with professional nature guide Lev Frid, of “The Naturalist Podcast.”

Adjunct Professor of Anthropology Henry Miller presented “Deciphering the Architecture of Henry Coursey’s My Lord’s Gift” to the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs on October 13. Coursey’s plantation, dating ca.

1655 to 1750, was discovered during golf course construction at Queenstown, just past the Bay Bridge on the Eastern Shore in 1990.

Professor of Biology and Steven Muller Distinguished Professor of the Sciences Jordan Price’s research, previously published in the Royal Society Journal “Proceedings B,” was featured in the print edition of National Geographic’s December edition. Price’s research focuses on how among passerine birds, a group which includes more than half of all avian species, most species build open cup-shaped nests.

A minority build more elaborate roofed structures. His study shows that, contrary to previous assumptions and despite their relative rarity, roofed nests were constructed by the common ancestor of all modern passerines. Open cup nests evolved multiple times independently during early passerine evolution on the Australian continent, eventually becoming the most common nest type across the world today.

Jordan Price, professor of biology

On September 15, Associate Professor of Philosophy Michael Taber presented “What Do Magnets, Souls and Blood Have in Common?

Early Greek Accounts of Nature” at Salisbury University during its new Philosophy Saturdays series.

At the International Leadership Association meeting in Palm Beach, Florida in October, Professor of Psychology Libby Williams presented with colleagues from James Madison University, George Washington University, and Deakin University Australia on their research “Authentic and Sustainable Leadership: An International Qualitative Study of Leaders.”

Economist and Professor of the College Don Stabile recently had a book published titled “Macroeconomic Policy and a Living Wage: The Employment Act as Redistributive Economics, 1944–1969” (Palgrave Macmillan Publishers, 2018).

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PHOTO BY BILL WOOD

Khalid Balogun ’20 celebrates a 1-0 thriller over Salisbury on October 31, 2018 that advanced the men’s soccer team to the CAC finals. They were ultimately defeated in the finals by University of Mary Washington, 0-1.

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THIS IS

OUR STORY A

s the national public honors college, we believe that rigorous, relevant, and experiential education should be accessible to everyone with the talent, ambition, and potential to do the work. Our liberal arts honors education prepares students for 21 st century careers and lifetime success. The five students in the pages that follow exemplify the chapters of our brand essence.

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THIS IS OUR STORY

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PRESTIGE ACCESS Nathan Yalung ’21 was like a turtle, retreating into its shell when frightened.

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Nathan Yalung ’21

H

e grew up in Accokeek, Maryland, attending St. Peter’s Catholic School from kindergarten through grade eight, with pretty much the same 30 kids in his class each of those nine years. When it was time to start high school, every one of his classmates went to North Point; he alone, based on his home address and unusual school district lines, was assigned to Oxon Hill. “I knew no one in a school with 1000 students. It was a very big life change. My freshman year of high school I was very quiet.”

And then it happened again when he chose St. Mary’s for college – he was the only person in his Oxon Hill High School class to enroll. Was it panic all over again? “Yes, I’m not going to lie. It was another life-changing experience.”

Yalung joined the DeSousa-Brent Scholars Program at St. Mary’s College and came to campus during its Summer Bridge program.

The program gives students a two-week taste of college, complete with classes, homework, schedules, and roommates, but with a full support network to help them get ready for being in college. “That’s when I met most of the friends I have now,” he says. “Meeting those people really helped me settle in.”

F.J. Talley, the director of the DeSousa-Brent Scholars Program, recalls that Yalung “came in as a somewhat shy high achiever and put forth tremendous effort during Summer Bridge to prepare himself for St. Mary’s.”

“My first year here, I was that quiet guy who stayed in his room all the time,” admits Yalung.

“But in the spring semester, I got a letter on my door saying that someone had nominated me to apply to be a resident assistant. I was really interested and decided to come out of my shell and apply. From then on, opportunities started showing themselves to me.”

His training from the professional staff of the Office of Residence Life was a 10-day structured training program for the 50+ resident assistants. As part of that training, Yalung was introduced to the many resources on campus that he might need to utilize to help his residents as well as himself. Lauren Hannaford, assistant

director of residence life, commends Yalung for implementing collaborative programs for his community in Dorchester Hall, including a public speaking workshop and a mindfulness program. “He’s made himself available to his residents when needed for extra support,” she says, “and in general is a friendly face for all in his building.”

“The residence life staff have really helped me with my confidence and with my academic career,” says Yalung. “Now I’m trying to lead by example, to be consistent. I’m trying to help freshmen, especially, to get out there and get involved. I say, ‘Don’t just stay in your room playing video games.’ Students are scared; they don’t know how to put themselves out there. I give them advice, talk to them, listen to them. I have lots of one-on-one interactions. Those are very important. I’m RA to 12 students but I’m there for everyone in the building. It goes with the job.”

“I’ve told a lot of my residents to join DB [DeSousa-Brent], especially those students who don’t have many friends. I just wish that more incoming freshmen knew about it because it really helps. The DB program has a lot of social events; it’s a really good way for students to connect and meet other people.”

Yalung is an economics major who will likely minor in both math and business. He admits that the hardest part of the major right now is understanding the readings. “It’s a subject that takes a lot of time and effort. Understanding the principles of microeconomics is tough. I won’t lie, one bad grade can have me doubting

my whole choice of this major, but I just have to keep at it. My calculus professor last year told me I should have a really good math background if I want to major in economics. So, I continue to work on that math background to strengthen my economics skills.”

What’s the most fascinating aspect of economics? Yalung says it’s how the factors of an economy can be understood, utilized, and implemented in everyday life. “There are tradeoffs in every decision we make. We give up one thing in order to achieve another,” he says. “More importantly, one decision can lead to several different changes. I can and will utilize this in the future if I become a business owner.”

Outside of his school friends, Yalung’s family is his biggest source of strength. “My mother and father are my biggest motivators. They’re immigrants from the Philippines. They work really hard. One day I want to give back everything they’ve given to me. They are why I lead by example.” He looks to his younger brother, Jacob, when he’s stressed out. “He can make me laugh,” says Yalung. He credits his cousin Jorelle for helping him with college applications and giving him advice and support.

“She’s studying to become a doctor. She’s leading the way for me.”

Yalung is interested in serving in the military after college. “I’ve always been interested in the military and what it does for this country,” he says. “I’ll get there one day. Maybe the Air Force – I’d like to fly. Not the Navy: I don’t like the sea!” 

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LEAD with an Edge

See page 20 for more about LEAD.

12 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

Rose Young ’20

I

n a conversation with Rose Young, you are likely to hear her say the words “awesome, amazing, insane, cool.” She likes to stay busy, which is a good thing because she is everywhere. Angela Johnson, professor of psychology, describes Young as “utterly fearless.”

On making her own opportunities: “Mostly, I just go around and say: ‘I have a résumé and I’m really interested in x, y, or z: do you know anyone who can do that?’ I go to Professor [Josh] Grossman a lot because he’s really connected.

“I got hired as a teaching assistant (TA) for both math and physics. Since I’m an education minor I get credit for being a TA, plus it’s a realistic experience. Jumping back and forth between math and physics TA work is fine: I can help students learn the concepts once and apply them in both classes. I want to teach in high school so this is good, practical experience.”

On research, internships, and her trip to London: Professor Angela Johnson has a grant titled, Centering Women of Color in STEM. It’s through the National Science Foundation and funded through 2020. She hired two students to help with the research, data collection, analysis, and presentations associated with the research findings. Young is one of those two students; Liz Mulvey ’20 is the other. The project has identified three schools (St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Queen Mary’s University in London, and Notre Dame of Maryland University) that do well with undergraduate women in physics persisting through graduation. Their research aims to uncover why that is true and what other schools can learn from these examples.

“When Angela came back from her first trip to London and said she wanted to go back and take Liz and me to help her, the first thing that came out of my mouth was, ‘I think I have to ask my Mom! “We went to Queen Mary’s University of London to interview students. I went up to them and said, ‘Hi. I’m from America. We’re doing a study.

Would you like to participate?’ The first one was the hardest but after I’d done a few interviews, they got easier.

“We were asking about their experience there, what support did they have, what could their university do better. They were very surprised to hear that their school was diverse and had a high measure of

success for women in physics. Most students there stay in the program and graduate.

“We’re now analyzing the data, the transcripts, and trying to determine what they’re doing to have such high success with student retention and graduation in physics.

“We presented our research at AAPT (American Association of Physics Teachers) this past summer in Georgetown (in Washington, D.C.). That was my first public presentation and it was awesome!

It was me, Liz, and Angela. My paper was published and that was just an insane experience. The grant allows us to present at physics, math, and computer science conferences. This year we’ve applied to present at two different math conferences.

We’ll also present at a computer science conference sometime in the future.

“This research work will also turn into my St. Mary’s Project (SMP). I’ve already gotten math credit, physics credit, directed research credit so far. It’ll turn into my SMP because I also did a separate, smaller project by myself of parents in undergraduate physics who’ve persisted to graduation. I’m a parent in physics; I have a son. Angela was able to connect me to one other person, and through the public presentations that we did, my connections have grown to 16. I set up some interviews and got data that I analyzed to find some characteristics that helped and some that could use work [at our institutions].”

On working in the Office of Financial Aid: “My best friend was a Federal Work Study student in the Office of Financial Aid and then I was offered a job there too. I’ve since become a peer mentor with a financial aid counseling certification.

With that, I can answer financial aid questions over the phone. It’s been really beneficial to me to have to know all those deadlines. Deadlines are killer in financial aid. I get so many people who come in to the office and have missed all the deadlines or haven’t ever filed a FAFSA and that’s money!

“We’re a family in financial aid – just come in and visit. I’m always telling students that.”

On coming to St. Mary’s College: “I came to St. Mary’s College in sixth and seventh grade for Math Girls Day. They were the best days ever. I still have the certificates. They’re pink, they have sunflowers on them; I keep them on my desk and I look at them all the time. One of the math teachers showed us how we could write an algorithm to figure out, on an I-pod shuffle, how to have song one go in the first spot, song two go in the second spot, and it was math but it was so practical. I mean, I could do it at home! It was really cool and really fun.

“I didn’t really choose St. Mary’s for college; it chose me.

“I wanted to go to Clemson. I went and visited a class and there were 600 people in it. I asked my mom, ‘how do you even ask the professor a question in such a big class?’ and my mom said, ‘You don’t.’ I thought, ‘Oh, no.’

“Then Professor Grossman emailed me my whole senior year. ‘Hi Rose, I saw in the newspaper that you applied to St. Mary’s. It’d be so nice if you came to visit. Please let me know if you’d like to meet sometime.’ I don’t know how he knew about me at that point. (He had seen in the local paper that she was the recipient of the local chapter of NAACP’s academic scholarship and that she’d applied to SMCM to study physics, so he wrote to her.)

“He’s like my guardian angel. Before I came here, he had already picked out my classes, settled my AP credits, and connected me with Professor [Angela] Johnson.”

On being a minority woman in STEM: “It’s really easy to look at movies, posters, and see only the white man in a lab coat. You’re in a class trying to be a scientist and it’s hard to imagine yourself there when the signals around you don’t support it.

“On the first day of physics here, they had Professor [Angela] Johnson come in and speak to the class about how it is an environment that’s open to all people.

“Being so male dominated, it’s more common for men to speak out and be louder. Sometimes I just sit back and let other people ask questions for me.

I have to remind myself to speak up and say when I’m confused.” 

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UNCOMMONLY

WORTH IT 14 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

Taylor Wigglesworth ’22

F

By Zoe Smedley ’19, English major and Professional Fellowship Program intern in Office of Integrated Marketing

ROBERT J. RYTTER

or as long as she can remember, Taylor Wigglesworth ’22 has wanted to be a teacher. When choosing a school, it was important that she study in an environment that would allow her to pursue those dreams to the fullest and set herself up for a career as an elementary school teacher. Of course, the education department is not the only reason that Wigglesworth chose St. Mary’s College as her home for the next four years. Among her reasons, the campus ranked at the top, along with the environment she says she found inside the community: “Anybody you meet on campus, they say hi, good morning, how are you. Everyone is so kind. I felt like I had a family here.”

One of the biggest appeals of St. Mary’s College came from the education department’s immediate placement into school classrooms. As Wigglesworth explains, “I think it’s really important that people who think that they want to get into the field of education get into a classroom as soon as possible.” Not every school offers the opportunity to work directly in a school setting in a student’s first year. It is far more common for students to wait until senior year or later to be placed in a classroom.

Wigglesworth feels fortunate to have the opportunity to get into a classroom in her first year. “I’m really excited,” she says, “for any opportunity to be around kids and practice the profession that I want to do for the rest of my life is just amazing to me.”

This positive attitude is something that Wigglesworth exemplifies in so many ways, and it’s not surprising that she only had good things to say about the College. She highlighted the environment on campus as one of her favorite aspects of St. Mary’s.

Wigglesworth described her interactions with the staff, with her friends, citing everyone as friendly and welcoming. She says, “If you want a place where you know you will have friends, you will have a place to fit in, this is the place to come. I’ve only been here for a semester now, but it definitely feels like home.”

Her initial exposure to the College community stemmed from the volleyball pro-

gram. The coach approached her as a potential recruit for the class of 2022. She explained that at first, she was unsure that St. Mary’s College was the place she would end up. Despite these initial uncertainties, she came on a visit, and once she visited the campus and got to know the team, she “knew that this was the place for me.” After only one semester on campus, she says that when she isn’t in the classroom or on the court, she’s usually hanging out with her team. She describes her teammates as practically sisters. But being a student athlete is far from just fun and games. Although Wigglesworth loves her team, she also talks about the difficulties of being a student athlete. One of the largest difficulties she cites is time management. “It’s a lot of nights doing homework on the bus on the way home from games,” she admits, “or when I want to be taking a nap, I have to be studying for a quiz. It’s a lot of preparation in advance, but it’s all worth it.”

Wigglesworth initially planned on majoring in psychology. Now, however, she says that she will most likely major in sociology. This switch in majors has not changed her long-term plan to be an elementary school teacher, but it was interesting to hear about the impacts it might have on her St. Mary’s Project. She’s interested in a project on education or education reform, using her love of teaching and her sociology major to look into dif-

ferent areas of education reform that could have large impacts on classroom teaching. Education has impacted the way in which she interacts with her sport as well.

Wigglesworth’s experience with the sport and her passion for teaching have led her to consider coaching volleyball, whether it be at a club or high school level. She is working with one of her teammates this semester to coach a club team in the St. Mary’s area.

No matter what she ends up doing, whether it is on the court or in the classroom, Wigglesworth has no shortage of motivation. She says, “I want to put myself in the best position I can be to be successful.” She remembers what her end goal is, to become a teacher, and works hard to achieve that goal. On the court, she says that it is important to her that she puts her team first. “I work as hard as I can to ensure that we will be successful, that’s what makes it worth it to me,” she says. “It keeps me motivated, keeps me disciplined. keeps me focused on the goal ahead.” She works hard to remember the bigger picture and give 100% so that she can achieve the goals that she has set for herself. With the environment surrounding her and the opportunities available to her as both a volleyball player and a future educator, Wigglesworth is confident not only that she will be able to pursue her dreams, but that she will achieve them. 

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BE HERE. BE PROUD. BE YOUR BEST. 16 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

5 Things you Need to Know About

Khalid Balogun ’20

By Zoe Smedley ’19, English major and Professional Fellowship Program intern in Office of Integrated Marketing

1

He turned down Division I soccer.

Balogun’s decision to come to St. Mary’s College was multi-faceted. Not only was he considering what school academically would be the best fit for his future, he was also considering the best place for him to continue his soccer career. During the recruitment process, University of Maryland College Park offered him a spot on their roster. Although he always knew he wanted to play soccer at the collegiate level (“My sister played collegiate soccer and I’ve wanted to play soccer my whole life,” he says, “so playing soccer in college was like a no-brainer”), he was unsure that a Division I program like the one at UMD was the right fit for him. Balogun credits much of his decision to come to St. Mary’s College to men’s soccer Coach Alun Oliver ’04, a former St. Mary’s player himself. As a mentor, Oliver “is doing more than just teaching the team how to be better soccer players,” Balogun explains, “he mentors you as a person as well, on top of the soccer side of things.” Although Balogun admits that Division I has its benefits, he truly believes that Oliver has made him a better player and that he will only continue to improve throughout his time here.

2

He grappled with new study habits.

When he first started at St. Mary’s College, Balogun was confident in his studying habits. He thought that the strategies he’d used in high school would work just as well for college classes as long as he worked hard.

However, he quickly realized that wasn’t the case. “College is a lot of free time,” he says. “Classes here are at the most two, two and a half hours long, so you have a lot of the day to get your stuff done and it’s very easy to just relax and not do anything.” As someone who spends a lot of time with his

friends, he often finds himself at the docks in the spring or hanging out with his teammates playing video games. While these things highlight the close relationships and incredible campus that Balogun loves so much, they also present opportunities to put off doing work. Luckily, he says with a laugh, he realized quickly that he needed to make some changes to his study habits. He likes to think that he has improved on that since coming to SMCM.

3

It’s not easy to be a student athlete.

When asked about the hardest part of being a student-athlete, Balogun’s answer was quick and certain: time management. Between classes, homework, practices and games, his schedule is constantly shifting around to accommodate all of the different tasks he has to complete. With numerous away games, homework gets finished on the bus, and when it comes to class scheduling, there are some classes that he just can’t take because the timing interferes with too many practices or games. It is important to remember, he emphasizes, “I’m a student first and an athlete second.” While soccer is very important to him, he is ultimately here to get his degree.

4

He is driven to overcome challenges & be his best self.

When it comes to motivation, Balogun has multiple sources. For soccer, he hopes to go overseas after obtaining his psychology degree; this means he must work hard and be constantly improving his game. For him, soccer has always been his passion. His goal is to be as good as he can possibly be at his sport. He also emphasizes how much he enjoys being part of a team. All of them are competitive, working to improve themselves and each other. There is an atmosphere in which everyone is expected to give 100 per-

cent. As Balogun puts it, “We expect the best out of each other. I expect the best out of myself.”

On the academic side of things, Balogun works hard to be the best student he can be for himself. When it came time to choose his major, he explained, “I’ve always been interested in how our brain and mind works, so psychology was an easy choice for me.” With a continued interest in psychology, his desire to learn more about the subject keeps him working hard in and out of the classroom.

His parents also expect a lot of him and he works hard to live up to both personal and familial expectations. One of the things he cites as a continued motivator is that the professors challenge him to know the material in class. “It’s not one of those things where you can just glide by,” he says. He enjoys being challenged, and truly believes that St. Mary’s College is pushing him to be the best that he can be.

5

Where you’ll find him after May 2020.

After graduation, it’s unclear where exactly Balogun is going to end up. His main goal is to go overseas to play soccer. Ambitious, but certainly not impossible. He continues to work hard to improve his game so that when the time comes he will be able to make that a reality. No matter what he does, soccer is likely to impact his career choice. If he doesn’t play overseas, he says he can see himself working with athletes. His psychology degree would allow him the freedom to pursue a multitude of career options, but he also says that it’s important to him that he is able to help people. Whether this ends up coming to fruition through a career in sports psychology or through another path, such as a high school counselor – well, only time will tell. 

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THIS IS OUR STORY

TAILORED for you

18 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

Andrew Messick ’19 Q A

Q A

How did you end up at St Mary’s College of Maryland?

What led you to become president of the Student Government Association?

“I don’t share this story with very many people: By the time I applied to St. Mary’s College, I’d applied and attempted to go to five other colleges.

“My first year here I didn’t do anything except for classes. During the second year, I helped my friend, who was the SGA club coordinator. When she left to study abroad, I became club coordinator. Then I ran for student senator and did that. Then I ran for president and no one ran against me, so here I am. My high school self would never have done that.

I went to Massachusetts Maritime Academy first. I’d always thought I wanted to do that.

I got there and I realized I didn’t want to be there. It was really hard for me to admit I’d spent four years planning for it and then in three days decided it’s not right for me. It was three days but it felt like forever.

I came home, and went to a community college nearby, but the professors and students didn’t care about anything. It was awful, so I stopped going and worked full time for a year or two at a refrigeration company in Easton, Maryland. I’d worked there in high school; lots of commercial stuff (supermarkets). I remember working on New Year’s Eve: I had my arm down a drain as the clock struck in the new year. Happy New Year!

Next, I applied to Frostburg. I got in, registered for classes, and then got more and more nervous as it drew time to go. I withdrew before I started.

Then I applied to University of New Orleans because I wanted to do naval architecture.

They told me “We can’t accept you because your GPA is awful.” Turns out I had failed all my classes at that community college. No one had told me that I needed to withdraw: I’d just stopped going to classes.

So, I went to another community college which was a great place. Then I applied to Salisbury and St. Mary’s College and chose SMCM. I came in as a first-year student because all of those false starts hadn’t earned me enough credits to start as a sophomore.”

Messick will spend the spring semester taking elective classes in scuba, sailing, and the Soviet Union.

Q A

What makes history so special?

“I never thought about doing something with history until after I got to SMCM and had a class with Professor [Christine] Adams. After that one class, I switched from psychology to history.

All the history faculty are great. I hate to speak so generally but it’s honestly true. It may take them a week or two to get to know your name but then they’ll know you by name for years whether or not you have a class with them.

My favorite class was World War I class with Professor [Gail] Savage, who is also my St. Mary’s Project adviser. She started the class by saying, ‘Here’s the picture of the person we’re talking about. This is the year he was born; this is the year he died; he was 17.’ It wasn’t just war, it was people. It was almost heartbreaking.

I’m not a big fan of American history or the 1960s but when I saw that Professor [Charles] Holden was offering a class on 1968 I decided to take it. I’ve had a lot more fun with it than I thought I would.”

I’ve grown a lot socially and professionally. Being SGA president has helped me network a lot and learn how to help other people. That’s the story of being SGA president: helping others. Every week it’s something new.

For the past two years, the SGA has done hurricane relief efforts. The first year, I’d signed up for an hour. Then when they really needed help, I went and stayed for two days. That was a lot of fun. We were trying to organize a box that was five feet high and the only way to do it was to jump into the box and move things around and by doing that we made it so we could actually fill the whole box. I like logistics.”

Q A

What is your five-year plan?

“Good question. I’ve been applying to jobs: maritime analyst; deckhand for Army Corps of Engineers; intelligence analyst for Navy and Marine Corps. There’s a naval theme to my life, I don’t know why. My family has a thing for civil service. It’s just something we do. Maybe a PhD in history? I don’t know.”

Having completed his St. Mary’s Project during the fall semester (on the cause and aftermath of the crash of a British airship in 1930), Messick will spend the spring semester taking elective classes in scuba, sailing, and the Soviet Union. 

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THIS IS OUR STORY

QA &

Q&A with Christine Wooley, associate dean of curriculum and associate professor of English

L

EAD (Learning through Experiential and Applied Discovery) is the name given to the new curriculum being developed by the St. Mary’s College faculty. With pilots set to begin in the fall of 2019, LEAD improves the College’s position against regional competitors and takes advantage of the College’s small size. It capitalizes on the faculty’s engagement with undergraduate education and the institutional history of collaborating in order to create innovative curricula.

Christine Wooley, associate dean of curriculum and associate professor of English, has been on the front lines of LEAD since discussions started in December 2017.

Q A

How does the process of developing and implementing a new curriculum work?

We started by assessing what we currently do and looking at what our peer and peer aspirant institutions are doing. We surveyed faculty, current students, accepted students who chose another institution, and alumni to find out what was working and what areas needed more support.

This let us develop a pretty good list of components that we knew the LEAD curriculum would need.

We asked the faculty to vote on these proposed components in April 2018, and we were thrilled to get unanimous support for what was, at that point, an outline for a revised curriculum.

20 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

This vote also charged the provost to assemble a summer working group to take the components endorsed by the faculty and create a detailed curricular proposal. This group of faculty and staff – the Core Design Workgroup, led by Professors Dave Kung (chair) and Aileen Bailey (vice chair) – had its first meeting in May and has worked steadily since then to transform ideas and concepts into a structured curriculum. We presented a working draft in August and have been soliciting feedback and refining our proposal all fall.

Once the faculty approves the curriculum, we’ll start piloting elements of the new curriculum, and eventually we’ll write catalog copy and a proposal for the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC). We’re confident that we’ll be able to show that our new curriculum satisfies MHEC’s requirements, even if some of what we’re proposing departs pretty dramatically from the standard “cafeteria model” of general education, in which students satisfy distribution requirements by picking from a list of classes offered that count for a particular area.

Q

What outside agencies influenced the SMCM faculty’s thought processes in developing aspects of the new curriculum?

A

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has been an invaluable resource for the College from the beginning of these discussions. The association’s materials on general education provided a set of criteria based on best practices that we used to evaluate our current curriculum and imagine new possibilities. And last spring, the College applied to send a team of faculty and staff to the AAC&U’s annual summer Institute on Integrative Learning and Signature Work. We were excited when our team was selected to attend, and our experience there really helped us flesh out the details of the

LEAD curriculum. Seeing other schools taking on this same work – and succeeding! – also gave us confidence as we finalized our proposal.

In addition, we are very aware that the LEAD curriculum has the potential to make us more competitive for grants from foundations that are interested in funding the kinds of curricular changes we’re putting in place.

Q A

What is the most important thing that LEAD provides?

LEAD builds on the strengths of our current curriculum and makes what’s most powerful about a student’s breadth of learning more intentional – that is, the connections among academic disciplines in relation to questions that matter to them, and the connections between such academic experiences and the work they will pursue after graduation.

Q A

What are the immediate next steps in adopting and implementing LEAD?

Once the faculty votes on the proposal, we can start thinking about how best to present the LEAD curriculum to students, prospective students, and their families. Our proposal includes changes to the first-year seminar and an option for students to satisfy their curricular breadth requirements by taking a set of thematically connected courses. We’ve also developed a sequence of creditbearing professional literacy courses that culminate in the Honors College Promise: a guaranteed opportunity to undertake an internship or research experience. Under the new curriculum, we’ll be helping students to explore their career interests, to get ready for new professional experiences, and, in the most powerful ways possible, to show employers how their liberal arts education has prepared them for the workforce and the world. 

ALUMNI

CONNECTION

1950s Ann Brittingham Suthowski ’57 has been elected to the Wicomico County, Maryland, school board. This is the first time that residents of Wicomico County have ever voted for school board members as they were previously appointed by the governor. Ann will be the only woman serving along with six men. This gives her the distinction of being the first woman ever elected to this school board.

1970s James Johnson ’75 retired on June 15, 2018 after 35 years working as a biostatistician/ pharmacokineticist developing new medicines. John and his wife are traveling and volunteering in mission work with the UMC NOMADS across the United States.

1980s Dave Hean ’82 and John Enright ’84 were part of a soccer team that captured the National Championship title in Bellingham, Washington – National Veterans Cup “Curmudgeons International FC” for men over 55 years old.

In summer 2018, Nancy Finn ’88 studied desert and marine landscapes through ecological and social field methods in Baja.

Nancy, a science and social studies teacher at Little Miami Junior High School, lives in Morrow, Ohio, and is a graduate student in Miami University’s Global Field Program.

1990s Meredith Davis ’92 recently completed a doctorate degree in Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University and is employed by Rhodes College as the associate dean of students.

Meredith resides in Memphis, Tennessee.

Lisa Cariaso Kiorpes ’93 is a biology and biotech teacher at North Point High School and the 2016 recipient of the EPA Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Education.

Besides teaching students to become stewards of the environment, she also does environmental outreach in the Charles County, Maryland, area.

Heather Whittington Stang ’94 is excited to announce the second edition release of her book, “Mindfulness & Grief: With Guided Meditations to Calm Your Mind and Restore Your Spirit” (CICO Books).

Heather majored in art history at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and says it inspired her use of expressive art reflections to help people with grief.

Jack Levenson ’98 has started a new position as relationship manager at New Energy Equity in Baltimore, Maryland.

2000s Kristin Effland ’02 has published “A Web-based Resource for Promoting Equity in Midwifery Education and Training Towards Meaningful Diversity and Inclusion.” She is a licensed midwife in Bellingham, Washington.

PHOTO BY BILL WOOD

CLASS NOTES

Bryan Garey ’88 has been named vice president for human resources at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

During the halftime of the Seahawk women’s basketball game against Gallaudet on December 8, Nairem Moran ’99 was presented with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Stewardship Award for her dedication and hard work for and on behalf of student-athletes at SMCM over her career. After an 11-year tenure in sports information for St. Mary’s College, Nairem joined Susquehanna University on December 18 as the Riverhawks’ director of athletic communications. L to R: Hannah Krauss ’19, Kelbey Egerland ’20, Alyssa Leventer ’19, Nairem Moran, Sydni Thacker ’19, Max Groen ’19.

Jayson Williams ’03 has been named the chairman of the board of directors for Pride of Baltimore Inc., the nonprofit organization that owns and manages the tallship, Pride of Baltimore II. Jayson is president and CEO of Maryland Strategic Consulting in Baltimore, Maryland.

Kate Fritz ’04 is a 2018 Daily Record Leading Women Honoree.

All honorees are 40 years or younger and are selected on the basis of professional experience, community involvement and a commitment to inspiring change.

Kate is executive director for the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. Natalie Friend Wilson ’04 is a bankruptcy attorney with Langley & Banack Inc. in San Antonio, Texas. She began legal practice in 2007 after graduating from the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law. She was recently awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by Texas Lawyer for her significant contributions to the legal profession. Natalie has also been a 40

Under 40 recipient by the San Antonio Business Journal and a Bexar County Women’s Bar Association Belva Lockwood Award winner.

Lisa Carey ’05 is currently assistant director of the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Special Education at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

Hannah Gribble ’05 has published her latest book in her urban fantasy series (Steel Empires Book 4: Steel Time). It was published on September 6.

Julie E. Hocker ’05 is commissioner on disabilities at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Kristin Gray Burke ’06 has started a new position with the foreign materiel program for the Office of Naval Intelligence, where she has worked for more than a decade.

Ethan Robert Elliott ’06 is research technologist at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena,

California. He recently was part of NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) experiment. The experiment produces ultracold atoms known as Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) at the International Space Station. These BECs reach temperatures just above absolute zero, the point at which atoms should theoretically stop moving entirely. This is the first time BECs have ever been produced in orbit.

Allan Wagaman ’06 has been promoted to project lead business/financial manager for the U.S. Navy.

Kimberly Johnson Wedlock ’06 is employed as a quality assurance specialist II for Sera Care Life Sciences Inc. and resides in Frederick, Maryland.

Molly Claverie ’07 has been promoted to digital video manager at Public Broadcasting Service in Gaithersburg, Maryland. She has a master’s degree in cinema studies from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2019 | 21

ALUM NI

C ONNECT ION

Josh Larrimore ’07 has been promoted to lead technical writer at Intralox. He works in Odenton and lives in Upperco, Maryland.

Jenalee Coster ’08 is currently completing a thoracic surgery residency at Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Heart Institute and resides in Houston, Texas.

Nathan McCurdy ’08 is counsel to the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review (AELR) at Maryland General Assembly, Department of Legislative Services, in Annapolis, Maryland.

He earned his law degree from University of Maryland.

Avideh Mayville ’09 has received her PhD from George Mason University this year.

She earned her master’s degree from American University. Avi is currently working for the lead quality assurance and mentoring program for American Corporate Partners, working and residing in the greater NYC area.

Henry Scott, Jr. ’09 is senior financial analyst at Deloitte in Arlington, Virginia. He completed his MBA in May 2018 from the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business.

2010s Taylor Burgdorf ’10 is sustainability manager at HiTECH Assets LLC in South Portland, Maine. He earned his MBA in 2018 from the University of Southern Maine. Taylor resides in South Portland, Maine.

Cheryl Corwin ’10 has started a new position as associate director of data science at Columbia University in New York City. She is currently working toward her master’s degree in applied analytics at Columbia University.

Matthew McMahon ’10 is lecturer at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and a research economist for Forensic Economic Services in Los Angeles, California. He is a doctoral candidate in economics from Claremont Graduate University, where he earned his master’s degree.

Dan Schell ’10 has started a new position as marketing and communications coordinator at Cape Light Compact JPE in Barnstable/Yarmouth and resides in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

fiancé Christopher Goodman ’04 in Rockville, Maryland.

Administrators (NASFAA) in the Washington, D.C. area.

Camille Campanella Botts ’12 is an MBA candidate at Duke University – The Fuqua School of Business in Durham, North Carolina.

Jennifer Roth ’13 is working at EN Engineering. She currently lives in Baltimore City, Maryland.

Thaise Brower ’12 is secondary mathematics teacher at Hayah International Academy.

Sasha Goluskin ’12 is now talent management manager at Circle, working in the Greater Boston area. Her work focuses on organizational development.

Shauna Strauss ’10 is assistant director of career development, programming and outreach for master’s degree students in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

Shelby Jones ’12 is program director at Parent Possible and is living and working in the Denver, Colorado area. Shelby completed her master’s degree in applied developmental psychology in 2016.

Phil Alsop ’11 is inventory manager at Temescal Wellness in Baltimore, Maryland.

Suzanna Vaughan ’12 is a master’s degree candidate at King’s College, London.

Kelsey Ekker ’11 is assistant registrar at Manhattan School of Music.

Christopher Bing ’13 is a cybersecurity reporter at Reuters in Washington, D.C.

Aubrey Mirkin ’11 recently started a new position as attorney at Calleton, Merritt, De Francisco & Bannon LLP and resides in Pasadena, California.

Emily Burdeshaw ’13 is account manager at SpeakerBox Communications in Washington, D.C. She is also Facebook Ad and Hubspot Inbound certified, DINFOS Public Affairs qualified and a registered yoga instructor.

Amir Reda ’11 is an assistant vice president of U.S. Intermediaries at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore, Maryland.

Rosa Trembour ’11 joined Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC as a litigation associate in October 2018. Her practice focuses on labor and employment disputes and insurance coverage matters. Previously Rosa litigated class action cases in federal and state courts and clerked for Judge Ann B. Frick in Denver District Court. Rosa is also the current alumni chapter president for the Washington, D.C. metro area. She lives with her

22 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

Yasmina Hussein ’13 is an MBA candidate at Georgetown University McDonough School of Business.

Thomas Kenny ’13 has started a new position as privacy law clerk at DLA Piper in the D.C. metro area. Thomas graduated from Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in 2018.

Margot O’Meara ’13 is credentialing analyst and webinar producer at National Association of Student Financial Aid

Christiana Sabett ’13 has earned a master’s degree in applied mathematics, statistics and scientific computation from the University of Maryland College Park. She is currently employed by the Department of Defense.

Allison Berg ’14 is an environmental scientist at National Environmental Solutions. Inc. and is living and working near Atlanta, Georgia. Allison is currently working on a master’s degree in environmental engineering and science through the Johns Hopkins School of Engineering for Professionals.

Amanda Bobbitt ’14 has started a new position as senior account executive at Fiona Hutton & Associates and is living and working in the greater Los Angeles, California, area.

Peter Boyd ’14 has started a new position as entrepreneur associate at TAG – The Acceleration Group and is also the founder of Top Rock Labs, both in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

Naomi Garcia ’14 edits and prepares all submissions for the Johns Hopkins University SAIS China Studies Review Journal.

Steven Gentry ’14 has recently joined the St. Mary’s College library, archives, and media center. Steven will be working with Kent Randell as archives technician in Calvert Hall.

Michael Harp ’14 has been promoted to senior software engineer at ThreatQuotient in Mt. Airy and resides in Catonsville, Maryland.

Anastasia Keramidas ’14 is senior marketing associate at Lyft. Anastasia also runs a wellness blog @LandOfPleasantEating that she has turned into a business.

Alex Lenovitz ’14 is senior associate at RSM US LLP/ independent network of global independent audit, tax and consulting firms. He is located in Baltimore, Maryland.

Brendan McFall ’14 works with Northland Controls and is the new chair of its RISE committee, committed to increasing Security Industry Association’s reach to young security professionals.

Rebecca Quick ’14 is grants manager at International Rescue Committee in Erbil, Iraq. She earned a master’s degree in applied anthropology from the University of Maryland in 2016.

During that program Rebecca completed an internship field assignment and research project with World Bank’s involvement with human rights and the contributions of anthropology to the discourse.

William H. G. Sokolove ’14 is a law clerk at Covington & Burling LLP. He currently resides in Washington, D.C. Rebecca Warner ’14 is communications officer at Sunlight Foundation in Arlington, Virginia. Her work focuses on writing, editing, and digital communications.

Patrick Aylward ’15 has started a new position as marine service coordinator at Cooley Marine Management LLC. Nathan Blumberg ’15 is grant & proposal logistics manager at Leonardtown Grants LLC. Peter Boyd ’15 is the founder of and software developer at TopRock Labs in the Washington, D.C. area. His mission for

this business is to continually build and foster great technology that helps people experience a better life.

Fatima Dainkeh ’15 started a new position as racial justice senior coordinator at YW Boston.

She currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

Serra Erbas ’15 is a psychology research assistant in the Decision, Attention and Memory Lab at the University of Maryland.

Allison Kenyon ’15 is a registered nurse at University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus in Baltimore, Maryland.

Elizabeth Mosher ’15 is working as administrative resident at MedStar Health and is in a master’s degree program for administration through the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Alice Mutter ’15 has started a new position as judicial law clerk at District Court of Maryland, District 6, Montgomery County.

Bryan Pelkey ’15 has started a new position as associate scientist at BioReliance in Rockville, Maryland. He currently resides in Mount Airy, Maryland.

Heather Sessomes ’15 is a patient services call center representative at Gladstone Psychiatry

& Wellness and works in Baltimore and resides in Finksburg, Maryland.

Rebecca Thayer ’15 recently completed a master’s degree in library and information science at the University of Maryland and is employed by the College of Charleston as an LGBTQ project archivist. Rebecca resides in Charleston, South Carolina.

Patrick Watson ’15 is senior team lead at Freedom Mortgage in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ben Weiss ’15 recently started a new position as assistant project manager at GCS/SIGAL. He works and resides in the Washington, D.C. area.

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Robert Witkop ’15 is working in emergency management services at CDR Maguire Inc. in Newport, Rhode Island.

Maryland Science Center in Manchester, Maryland.

Aman Afsah ’16 is regional field director for the Democratic Party of New Mexico.

Burkely Hermann ’16 is a graduate assistant while enrolled in a master’s degree program in library and information science at the University of Maryland.

Jordan Cartwright ’16 is assistant director of admissions communications at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

Jessica Konecke ’16 is case manager at National Center for Missing and Exploited Children located in Washington, D.C.

Lauren Cawley ’16 is working as project assistant at Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in Washington, D.C. and is enrolled in a paralegal studies program at George Washington University.

Sara Parkinson ’16 is attending the University of Delaware, working on her PhD in energy and environmental studies.

Hannah Dickmyer ’16 is external programs educator at

Justin Rattey ’16 is attending Georgetown University where he is working on his PhD in philosophy.

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St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2019 | 23

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Willow Smith ’16 is case manager for Community Access in New York City.

Garrett Snoops ’16 is sales project manager at Charles H. Hodges & Son Inc. and a Splash Associate for Splash City Golf, both in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sarah Stayer ’16 has been promoted to residential learning coordinator at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Sarah earned her master’s degree in student affairs in higher education from Miami University of Ohio.

Allura Warden ’16 lives in Spain and is currently employed as a language and culture assistant through the Auxiliares de Conversa program through the Ministerio de Educaciόn, Cultura e Deporte.

Ellen Airozo ’17 has started a new position as program coordinator at Soccer Without Borders in the Washington, D.C. area and specializes in youth development, grant writing, event planning, social media and volunteer management.

Eric Arcadia ’17 is software engineer at The MIL Corporation in Lexington Park, Maryland.

Matthew Bieler ’17 is employed as a Youth Development Finance Assistant II for First Pic Inc. and resides in Bowie, Maryland.

Anna Duke ’17 is assistant shift manager at RAINN, the largest non-profit, anti-sexual violence organization for the Department of Defense Safe Helpline, working in the Washington, D.C. metro area and resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Lawrence João Haavik ’17 is project assistant, Central and West Africa team (Francophone programs) at the National

Democratic Institute (NDI) in Washington, D.C.

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Martín Herdoiza ’17 has started a new position as communications assistant to United States Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

Sydney Larkin ’18 is a graduate assistant to the women’s soccer program at Salisbury University, where she is enrolled in the master of arts in teaching program for Spanish language teaching.

Phillip Scassero ’17 is currently attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland for a graduate degree in international security studies.

Adriana Spriggs ’17 has launched her career as an entrepreneur as CEO at Blade Management Concepts Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio.

Alessandro Burlew ’18 is a student athlete with Soccer Management Institute in both Florence, Italy and Örebro, Sweden.

Mackenzie Cooper ’18 is an on-deck member of the marketing department for Vineyard Vines and resides in Bermuda.

Cody Dorsey ’18 is a graduate intern for AFT, assigned to the Office of Government Relations and Political Departments and works in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Cody is also enrolled in a master’s degree program in public policy through University College Dublin.

Arielle Gross ’18 is employed at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as a public health associate and works in Boulder, Colorado.

Kelsey Hancock ’18 is outdoor program specialist at Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, Washington, D.C. Minjee Kim ’18 is program lead at C2 Education and an intern at the Pediatric Psychology Lab at the University of Maryland Baltimore County while attending graduate school in clinical mental health counseling at

24 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

MARRIAGES

& UNIONS Doug Palmer ’99 [1] married Zulmarie Franco-Ramirez on May 5, 2018 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and celebrated in Rincon, Puerto Rico. The couple spent their honeymoon traversing through Argentina.

They met while both working at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.

Elsa Reeth ’18 worked with the Clinical Case Reports Healthcare series conference, the 7th International Conference on Clinical and Medical Case Reports in Sydney, Australia.

Micah Rubin ’18 is software development engineer at Philips.

Micah resides in Baltimore.

Justin Bates ’06 [2] married Nadia Mostovych on July 14, 2018 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Alumni in the wedding party were groomsmen Colin Woods ’06, Blake Mobley ’05, Mark Allegrini ’05, Matt Duda ’05, Greg Maly ’05, and Nathan Graham ’06. Alumni guests included Mia Woods ’04 and Wes Sawyer ’06. The couple honeymooned in Bali and Australia. Justin is a senior project manager at McCormick Taylor.

They reside in Baltimore, Maryland.

Rebecca Sherman ’18 is events & venue assistant manager at Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture Inc.in Washington, D.C. area where she is responsible for assisting with the management of Park venues, booking, scheduling event staff, and coordinating with renters/ vendors during Park events.

Kyle Van Winter ’18 completed the corporate analyst training program which is part of the executive training program for First Data and is now a corporate data analyst. He works in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Kimberly Johnson Wedlock ’06 [3] married William Wedlock on September 7, 2018 in Frederick, Maryland. The couple honeymooned in Asheville, North Carolina, and they currently reside in Frederick, Maryland.

Isabella Wolf ’18 is the alumni services coordinator at West Point Association of Graduates and lives and works in the greater New York City area.

Nashra Zaman ’18 is legal team specialist for DLA Piper, working in the Washington, D.C. metro area and is enrolled in the Harvard Business School Credential in Business Analytics, Accounting and Economics program.

WE LAUGH WE LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Andrea Gesumaria Greenfield ’09 [4] married Brandon Greenfield on June 17, 2018. The ceremony took place in Chevy Chase, Maryland, at the Woodend Sanctuary. Brittany Pope ’09, Kaila Gerald ’09, Autumn Thomas-Brown ’10, and Erin Staples were bridesmaids.

Other alumni in attendance at the wedding included Lauren Ross ’09, John Ross ’09, Eleanor Koerner ’09, Scott Zuke ’09, Mayet Matungulu ’09, Luke Henninger ’10, and Raevynn Williams ’10.

Two weeks after the wedding the couple moved from Silver Spring, Maryland, to Iowa City, Iowa, for Brandon’s child psychiatry fellowship. Andrea reports that they keep their Maryland pride cheering for

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AARON AND ARIANA THOMPSON PHOTOGRAPHY

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the Orioles whenever possible and pretending their kayak is a sailboat.

Gordon “Mike” Selckmann ’10 and Elise Kielek Selckmann ’12 were married on October 21, 2018 in Wales.

Alumni in the wedding party included all of the residents of the 2010 residents of Boone 4.

The couple spent their honeymoon in Gdynia, Poland, and are now residing in Myersville, Maryland.

Korinne Buckwalter Super ’12 [5] married Peter Super on April 27, 2018. The ceremony took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The married couple went camping for their honey-

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moon. Alumni in attendance at the party were Alexa Milroy ’12, Kwen Benjes ’11 MAT ’12, Kathleen Tatem ’12, Molly Dougherty ’12 MAT ’13, and Laura Bruffey ’12. They currently reside in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Julia E.S. Malanka ’12 [6] married Alexander Gardullo on September 8, 2018 at the Cloister’s Castle in Lutherville, Maryland. Alumni in the wedding party were groomsmen Kyle Jernigan ’11 and officiant/groomsmen Peter Francis Workman Sparklin ’11. Invited alumni wedding guests included Jamie Phillips ’11, Allison Bailey ’12 and Rowan Copely ’11. They were

ASON DENSON PHOTOGRAPHY

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CAROLINE LOGAN PHOTOGRAPHY

KRISTEN CAPALDI CREIGHTON PHOTOGRAPHY

KIRSTEN GETZ

ERIN KELLEHER PHOTOGRAPHY

HAPPY LITTLE LIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

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Leanne Gradijan ’13, Simone Campbell, ’13, Sarah Platt, ’13, Sarah Minkoff ’12, Jennifer Kunze ’12, Blair Dugan ’11, Linda Turner ’11, Lauren Schaefer ’13, Meg Pultz ’14, Amanda Hilson ’15, Joshua Kaminsky ’13, Eugene Hammond ’14, Ana Villela ’16, Glenna Wong ’14 and Roxanne Andoh ’15. The couple spent their honeymoon in Belize.

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engaged on October 12, 2016 in front of a certain hobbit hole in Matamata, New Zealand.

The couple met originally on MardiGreens in 2011 and have lived in Maine and Australia before settling in Mt. Vernon, Baltimore. Julia works for Hungry Harvest. Alexander works for Money Map Press and teaches sailing at Baltimore County Sailing Center. They plan to honeymoon in Scotland next year.

Madeline Montgomery Eastman ’12 [7] married Lee Eastman on September 1, 2018 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Madeline is currently a PhD student at Brown University School of Public Health and

Lee is an illustrator. The couple lives in Rhode Island with their cat, Clementine.

Rachel King Blewett ’13 and Ronald “Zach” Blewett were married in the summer of 2018.

Christiana Sabett Gill ’13 and Michael Gill ’15 were married on September 16, 2017.

The ceremony took place in the Bethany Community Church in Laurel, Maryland. Alumni in the wedding party included Esraely Seyum ’09, Kelton Tummer ’16 and Gabriel McKinney ’17 as groomsmen.

Additional alumni attending the wedding included Megan O’Hern-Crook ’13, Alyssa Weber ’13, Jonathan Weber ’13,

Danielle Krause Haig ’14 [8] married Bill Haig on August 11, 2018. The ceremony took place in Baltimore, Maryland, and alumni in the wedding party included Amanda Bobbitt ’14 as maid of honor and Claire Kortyna ’14, Stephanie Payton ’14 and Erin O’Connor ’14 as bridesmaids. The couple lives in Alexandria, Virginia, where Danielle is a special education teacher and Bill is a small business owner.

Stephanie Schultz Shaughnessy ’14 and Michael Shaughnessy ’14 [9] were married on July 14, 2018 in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and their wedding coordinator there, Sondra Meinhardt ’86, just happened to be an alumna!

The wedding party included Rachel King ’13 and Kristin Seymour ’14 (bridesmaids) and Josh Stine ’14 (best man).

Other alumni who attended the event include Kelsey Wirtz Udoff ’14, Virginia Williams Stoffer ’13, Bobby Stoffer ’14, Haelee Pettingill Cohen ’15, Colleen McDougall ’14, Allison Steffens ’13, Amy Brakebill ’13, Nick Kipke ’14, Molly Malarkey ’14 and Johanna Rambo-Colyer ’14. The couple spent their honeymoon in New Zealand.

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2019 | 25

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BIRTHS&

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Jemile Safaraliyeva Kelderman ’15 and Harry “Keene” Kelderman ’15 [10] were married on July 27, 2018 at the Belvedere Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Alumni in the wedding party were Maura Glascock ’15 (maid of honor), Sarah Lock ’16 (bridesmaid) and groomsmen included Cyrus Chimento ’15, Gabriel Jensen ’15, Graham Martin-Poteet ’15 and Bryan Pelkey ’15.

Alumni in attendance included Kevin Akhlaghi ’14, Serra

HANNAH LEHIGH PHOTOGRAPHY

ADOPTIONS

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Erbas ’15, Kelsey Abernathy ’15, Eva Shpak ’15, Jeff Crum ’15, Eli Sherlock ’15, Drew Belsinger ’15, Amy Maenner ’15, Patrick Montague ’15, Michelle DiMenna ’15, Lauren Rost ’15, Kristina Borst ’15, Atabak Akhlaghi ’15, Molly Shepherd ’15, Jori Barley ’15, Andrew Murti ’16, Meg Marcelli ’16, Max Beker ’16, and Taylor Akhlaghi ’16. The couple spent their honeymoon in the Bermuda Islands.

Nicole Jackson-Wolf ’15 and Jake Jackson-Wolf ’15 [11] were married on September 2, 2018 at Antrim 1844 in Taneytown, Maryland. Alumni in the wedding party were Michael Woollen ’14, Patrick Aylward ’15, Will Faison ’15, Jaclyn Grigg ‘15. Alumni in attendance included Mallory Kwiatkowsk ’08, Sydney Hunter ’14, Laura Andre ’15, Demara Austin ’14, Anuli Duru ’14, Serra Erbas ’15, Bryan Pelkey ’15, Teresa Padgett ’15, Cyrus Chimento ’15, Megan Ritter’15, Abby Trumpy ’15, Rebecca Matthews ’15, Nadda Warshanna ’15, and Sarah Woods ’15. The couple spent their honeymoon in Hawaii.

Nicholas Hathaway ’00 [1] and Annie Hathaway welcomed a son, Haddon Nicholas, on June 11, 2018 in Bel Air, Maryland. Nick and Annie completed 10 years of ministry at Liberty Church PCA in Owings Mills before Nick was called to serve as associate pastor at New Covenant Presbyterian in Abingdon, Maryland, in the fall of 2017. Haddon is welcomed by his siblings Aiden, Sophia, Clipston, Martin, Cosette and Annelise. In addition to preaching and pastoring, Nick enjoys helping Annie homeschool their children.

Dave Elseroad ’01 [2] and Marie Elseroad welcomed a son, Liam Henry, born on November 30, 2017 in Nyon, Switzerland.

Big brother Finn is four years old. Dave runs a global public health advocacy program for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The family resides in Nyon, Switzerland.

Jessica Costantino ’04 [3] and Joe Costantino welcomed son, Vincenzo, to their family on July 28, 2018. Big sister Domenica is so happy about him.

Maggie Low Church ’05 and Ben Church ’04 [4] welcomed a son, Sonny Delacroix, on July 4, 2018. He joins big brother Wilder. The family resides in Glen Arm, Maryland.

Erica Tokar ’05 and Matthew Stone ’04 [5] welcomed a daughter, Madeline Mae Tokar Stone (Maddie), on August 1, 2018. The family resides in North Potomac, Maryland.

Caitlyn Quinn Sarna ’08 [6] and Christopher Sarna welcomed a son, Callum (Cal) Arthur, born July 6, 2018. Cal joins big sister Harper Moher, age four. Caitlyn is an intelligence and emergency management analyst for Argonne National Laboratory. The family lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Micah Benons Morgan ’09 [7] and Gareth Morgan welcomed a daughter, Anna Drayson, on July 18, 2018. The family resides in the San Francisco Bay area.

Alexandria Wenger Besore ’10 [8] and Warren “Rick” Besore ’08 welcomed their son Cade Paul, born on June 17, 2018. The family resides in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jordan Gaines Lewis ’11 [9] and Christopher Lewis ’10 welcomed a son, Russell Christopher, born on September 16, 2018. The family resides in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

MAURISA MACKEY PHOTOGRAPHY

Elaine Bucknam Clarke ’16 [12] married Michael Clarke on April 21, 2018 in Providence, Rhode Island. The couple currently resides in New London, Connecticut.

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26 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

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Andrew Marshall Turner ’06 of Brandywine, Maryland, died in November 2018. Family and friends celebrated his life on November 6 at Brinsfield Funeral Home in Charlotte Hall, Maryland. Andrew was a lifelong resident of Brandywine, Maryland.

He graduated from Gwynn Park High School, where he played hockey, baseball and soccer.

During his time as a student at St. Mary’s College of Maryland he played rugby and earned his bachelor’s degree. Later Andrew completed a master’s degree from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. An educational fund has been established for his two young sons.

within the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena is named in his honor.

Gary Smith ’73 of Clinton, Maryland, died in October and a celebration of his life was held on October 20, 2018 at Kingdom Hall in Clinton, Maryland.

FRIEND OF THE COLLEGE

Penny Jane Nickerson ’76 of Milton, Delaware, died in August 2018 after a long illness.

A celebration of her life was held in the fall. The family recognized the very special care that Penny Jane received from the Milton Fire Department and asked that donations be given to the department in her name.

Ed was a successful basketball coach at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and amassed a record of 107-64 with an impressive win/loss of .626 percent. He led the team to finish second in the Potomac Intercollegiate Conference during the 1969-70 season – the College’s first year competing with other four-year institutions. During the 1970-71 season, the team earned a 20-5 record, finished third in the conference, and finished second in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics District 19 playoffs. In the 1971-72 season, he was that district’s Coach of the Year. And in 1990, he was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions. Ed chaired the Athletics and Recreation Center Honorary Committee in 2004, which led the effort to raise significant funds for the athletics endowment. With these successes, The Ed Cole Court

Ed and Pat have five children: Bill Cole (Ann), Hal Cole, Cindy Cole Pototsky (Mike), Caren Cole Carven (Jay), and Trish Cole (Susan Grier); nine grandchildren: Heather, Cole, Trey ’10, Blake, Katie, Alex, Christy, Ethan, and Garrett; and four great-grandchildren: Julia, Charlotte, Rosemary, and Mayaan. Ed is also survived by his brother Kenneth Cole of Indiana, sister Ellen Burnett of Virginia, and many nieces and nephew.

IN MEMORIAM

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John Andrew “Jack” Bowes ’72 of Tall Timbers, Maryland, died on September 27, 2018.

Jack was a lifelong resident of St. Mary’s County and a graduate of Little Flower School, St. Mary’s Ryken High School and also attended St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Jack worked as a handyman and groundskeeper at Jubilee Farms and assistant manager and framer at Bowes Books, both located in Leonardtown, Maryland. He also retired from Dyson’s Hardware Store, located in St. Inigoes, Maryland, after many years as manager.

Mary Alice Jenkins ’92 of Damascus, Maryland, died on August 3, 2018 after suffering since March 2016 from a brain injury. Mary Alice was born in Iowa City, Iowa, graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and majored in human development at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. For many years, she served as the director of The Children in the Shoe child care center in Bethesda.

Hal Edwin “Ed” Cole, Sr., of Lexington Park, Maryland, died on October 27, 2018.

Ed was an avid world traveler and he and his wife Pat founded Cole Travel, now operated by their daughter Cindy Cole Pototsky. That love of travel spurred Ed’s efforts to enable St. Mary’s College students to take advantage of study abroad programs and to enable athletic teams to travel to national competitions. In addition, he helped make it possible for faculty to travel to national and international conferences. St. Mary’s College’s Cole Cinema in the Campus Center is named in honor of Ed and Pat.

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2019 | 27

F RO M

T H E

ARC H I V E S

WERE WE ALWAYS POISED TO BE A NATIONAL PUBLIC HONORS COLLEGE?

By Kent Randell, College archivist and assistant librarian

The origin story of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, now the National Public Honors College, extends back to 1840, when the legislation creating St. Mary’s Female Seminary was signed into law. In this instance, “Seminary” indicated that it would be a non-denominational state boarding school, and not a school for religious instruction, as it is commonly referred to today.

The first Board of Trustees was very eager to get started on their ambitious project, where the level of excitement in the room, even in the context of dry meeting minutes, is palpable. If anybody asks the following question -- When did St. Mary’s College of Maryland decide to focus on the public liberal arts with high educational standards?

-- the answer stretches back to January 1846, shortly before the first classes were held, when the Board of Trustees stated that they would: “Secure teacher talent to compete with the best established female Seminaries of the State, and offer as liberal and extensive [a] course of study as the highest standard of female education requires … [and to] diffuse its blessings to as numerous a portion of the community as possible.”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, use of the word “liberal,” or even the phrase “liberal arts,” to describe what we think of, in modern times, as a liberal arts education, dates back to the 1300s, and the passage above is not anachronistic.

28 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2019

The Board’s statement also confirms that there was never a time in the school’s history when it did not have a public focus. The early years of the Seminary were marked by instability, and the school did not stabilize, financially, until 1868, when the State of Maryland approved 10 scholarships. As discussed in an earlier Winter 2016 Mulberry Tree piece concerning the fact that the Seminary was always a place to receive a serious and classical liberal arts education, and never a “Finishing School,” M. Adele France wrote in the College’s 1926 course catalog that: “The State [now] maintains 27 full scholarships – one from each County and four from Baltimore City. ... Clothes for school wear should be simple and neat.

There is no occasion for elaborate costumes and décolleté gowns are not permitted.”

In other words, we have been a public liberal arts institution with high educational standards since our inception.

Another time of instability for the College occurred from 19681971, when the development of a four-year curriculum and movement away from a twoyear junior college, happened to coincide with widespread national student unrest. During this time of strife, J. Frank Raley, former chairperson of

the Board and namesake of the College’s dining hall, stayed the course and doubled down on the public liberal arts, and said it best in his vision statement of February 1971: “The institution can lead the way and set strong intellectual standards and at the same time must purposefully seek out those students who have unrealized potential but, because of inheritance, social background, or color may not go to college. … [I]f such a policy were effected, [it] would be not the mechanics of status, buildings or programs, but the full commitment to the needs of our democratic society and most important of all, to the humanist objective of the value of man.”

Read the whole vision statement document at this link: http://smcm.cdmhost.com/ cdm/singleitem/collection/p4105coll4/ id/1901 above: M. Adele France (front row, second from left) with Seminary students in 1935. left: J. Frank Raley, former chairperson of the Board and namesake of the College’s dining hall

Calendar of Events Martin Luther King, Jr. Prayer Breakfast January 21 @ 8:00 a.m.

Great Room, Campus Center

Annual Reeves Lecture February 25 @ 8:00 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons

“Eyes on the Prize” Series Episode with facilitated discussion January 22 @ 6:00 p.m.

Cole Cinema, Campus Center

Artist Talk: Lori Rubeling Human-Centered Design Research Practices and Case Studies February 27 @ 4:45 p.m.

Glendening Annex

VOICES Reading Series with Laurie Foos January 31 @ 8:15 p.m.

Cole Cinema

An Evening to Honor the Legacy of Lucille Clifton March 1 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons

Neuroscience Seminar Series with Jessica Mong February 8 @ 2:45 p.m.

Goodpaster Hall, Room 195

Annual WGSX Colloquium 20th Anniversary March 20-22 Cole Cinema

Neuroscience Seminar Series with Nathan Smith February 18 @ 4:45 p.m.

Goodpaster Hall, Room 195

Double A Cabaret March 23 @ 8:00 p.m.

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall

10-Minute Play Festival, “Humanizing Histories: Short Plays About Resistance” (Ticketed Event) Conceived and coordinated by Amy Steiger February 20-23 @ 8:00 p.m.

February 24 @ 2:00 p.m.

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall $4/6 general admission. For reservations, contact the Box Office@smcm.edu or 240-895-4243 VOICES Reading Series with Sami Miranda February 21 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons Admitted Students Day February 22 Campus-wide

Artist Talk: Alyssa Salomon March 25 @ 4:45 p.m.

Glendening Annex VOICES Reading Series with Alumni Readers Clare Hogan and Mary Adelle March 28 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons Neuroscience Seminar Series with John Casachahua March 29 @ 2:45 p.m.

Goodpaster Hall, Room 195 Presidential Lecture Series with Jamaica Kincaid March 29 @ 7:30 p.m.

Reservations Required Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall Admitted Students Day April 5 Campus-wide

Admissions Open House April 6 @ 9:30 a.m.

Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena VOICES Reading Series with a student-selected poet Introduced by Student-Selected Reader Fellow Simonne Francis ’19 April 11 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons The 13th Annual Twain Lecture (Ticketed Event) with Roy Wood Jr. April 12 @ 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: www.smcm.edu/twain-tickets Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena Artist Talk: Parran Collery April 17 @ 4:45 p.m.

Glendening Annex “Stick Fly” (Ticketed Event)

By Lydia R. Diamond Directed by guest artist Denise Hart April 17-20 @ 8:00 p.m.

April 21 @ 2:00 p.m.

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall $4/6 general admission For reservations, contact the Box Office@smcm.edu or 240-895-4243 Awards Convocation April 19 @ 3:00 p.m.

Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena Bay to Bay Service Day April 20 Join a project site near you: www.smcm.edu/events/bay-to-bayservice-day/project-sites Commencement May 11 @ 10:00 a.m.

Townhouse Green

Alumni Weekend June 6-9 Mulberry Music Festival, Act 1 June 14 @ 6:00 p.m.

Townhouse Green River Concert Series featuring the Chesapeake Orchestra June/July Townhouse Green 8th Annual Chesapeake Writers’ Conference (by application) June 23-29 Seahawk Orientation, Advising & Registration June 26, 27, & 28 @ 9:30 a.m.

Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Patuxent Defense Forum Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy and The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars July 18-20 The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. Governor’s Cup Yacht Race August 2-3 Fall Orientation & Welcome Week August 29 – September 7 @ 3:00 p.m.

Townhouse Green Piano Festival by the River with Beverly Babcock, Brian Ganz, Eliza Garth August 30 - September 2 Schedule at www.smcm.edu/events/ piano-festival-by-the-river/ Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall

Non-profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Permit #10001 Leonardtown, MD

Your seat awaits you … PHOTO BY

Alumni Weekend is June 6-9, 2019.