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ast fall, i unveiled our new brand: the national public honors college. Here is how we’ve been living our new brand:
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The design and execution of the brand itself was “Best in Show” in the 34th Annual Educational Advertising Awards. •
History professor Adriana Brodsky did research in Israel on a Fulbright Award during the fall semester. Next spring, English professor Jennifer Cognard-Black will be in Amsterdam on her second Fulbright Award. She is also a finalist for Baylor University’s 2020 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, the only national teaching award – with the single largest monetary reward of $250,000 – presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching. How about that? One of the three finest teachers in the nation, right here at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.
Sue Johnson, professor of art, is one of 18 artists selected for the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation Residency Fellowship in New York. She also was chosen for a residency fellowship at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, Virginia, and a residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. •
Barry Muchnick, assistant professor of environmental studies, gave an invited talk at the annual conference of the Association of American Colleges & Universities in Atlanta, Georgia, this past January. His colleagues heard about the innovative ways civic learning is embedded within the environmental studies major here at St. Mary’s College.
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Biology majors Hannah Smith ’20 and Michael Timmer ’20 interned last summer at the National Cancer Institute and have been invited back: Smith returns to work in pediatric oncology and Timmer in neuro-oncology. •
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In a conference usually reserved for graduate students, St. Mary’s College anthropology students Justyce Bennett ’19, Lindsay Wooleyhand ’19, and Emma Hugonnet ’19 presented their St. Mary’s Project research in a session they created and directed, “Cross Disciplinary Research: Cultivating Awareness and Activism Through Collaborative Research.” The AnthroPlus graduate student conference took place at the University of Maryland College Park on Saturday, March 9, 2019. Kenna Nguyen ’18 graduated in December, a semester early. A DeSousa-Brent Scholar with a double major in biochemistry and biology and a minor in mathematics, she was one of 21 inductees to Phi Beta Kappa in March and now is choosing between medical school offers. •
Watch out, world. The National Public Honors College is going to take you by surprise.
Tuajuanda C. Jordan, PhD President, St. Mary’s College of Maryland
Editor’s Note
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ollege is a time to try things out: through coursework, study tours, clubs and activities: a fall semester club fair gives students a chance to try new things and see what speaks to them. Rose Glenn ’19 joined the Student Government Association’s programs board and now plans to go to graduate school for becoming a trained professional in student activities for higher education. She’ll use her double major in mathematics and economics for a math job to help pay for grad school. While an undergraduate and member of the sailing team, Elizabeth Graves ’95 knew she wanted to work for the Martha Stewart brand someday. She credits Adam Werblow for coaching her in working hard to achieve her goals, on and off the water. Her psychology and English professors inspired her to be curious, to develop her writing and research skills, and to present her thoughts and appreciate those of others. First-year students Chyna Landon ’22 and Charlotte Mac Kay ’22 took their first trip outside the U.S. this spring to Antigua, West Indies, for a study tour as part of their integrated inquiry into the theme of resistance, rebellion, and liberation. Their reflections of this experience and the opened lens through which they view the world, their studies, and their futures, are testaments to the power of new experiences that ignite a spark in the soul. Flames grow from sparks ignited: a club sport becomes a varsity powerhouse of national championships (sailing); a dedicated student club brings in a social justice activist with national fame (Black Student Union and their guest Brittany Packnett); a hardworking journalist on the health and beauty beat climbs to the ethereal heights of editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart Living magazine. What notions caught fire when you were a student? Are there embers still, and if so what would it take to re-ignite them? Perhaps the truest definition of a lifelong learner is one who nurtures their inner spark.
Lee Capristo, editor 2 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | spring 2019