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international internship placements in either Seoul, South Korea, or Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, this summer thanks to Freeman Foundation scholarships and additional support from the Center for Global Engagement.

LEAHY ’61 BEHIND HISTORIC GRANT TO EXPAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENT

Saint Michael’s College students planning careers focused on the environment—or those hoping to better understand humans’ impact on the natural world—will directly benefit from federal funding included in the 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, thanks to the hard work of alumnus and now-retired Appropriations Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy ’61. The approximately $6.5 million funding—the largest direct grant ever received by the College—will ensure the continued growth and development of the College’s Center for the Environment. (See story, page 53)

Freeman Cohort Interning In Korea Or Vietnam This Summer

Sixteen Saint Michael’s College students are participating in eight-week

Jeffrey Ayres, director of the College’s Center for Global Engagement and chair/professor of political science and international relations, announced this year’s Freeman scholars in January. Ayres is traveling to Seoul and Ho Chi Minh City during the internship period this summer to meet with students and visit internship placement sites. The goal of the Freeman Foundation–supported international internship program is to increase the number of U.S. citizens with professional experience in and an understanding of Asia, its people, and its cultures.

Student Researchers

COAUTHOR PAPER PUBLISHED IN SCIENCE JOURNAL

Coauthoring a paper published in a respected science journal with their faculty mentors was a rare and valuable opportunity for 26 Saint Michael’s College student researchers to gain a résumé credential more typical for graduate students.

In early January, Professors Ruth Fabian-Fine (lead author) and Adam Weaver of the College’s biology/ neuroscience faculty published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology on the topic of neurodegeneration. The publication lists the professors’ undergraduate researchers as coauthors at the start of the paper. For undergraduates aspiring to science careers, such a prominent role and acknowledgment on a paper is uncommon, said the mentor professors—neither of whom saw their first publishing credits on such a paper until they were graduate students. Fabian-Fine said this latest shared achievement reflects a trend in the Saint Michael’s Cellular/ Molecular Research Lab to involve a steadily growing number of students more deeply in professionally significant work.

The professors and their students additionally made a major presentation in the McCarthy Recital Hall about the content of the paper as part of the fall’s Solutions for Social Impact seminar series. One longer-term goal and hope of the ongoing spider neurodegeneration research at Saint Michael’s is that it might speed breakthroughs in treating dementia and other conditions.

The grand opening for the studio was February 2, featuring several distinguished alumni back on campus for a panel discussion and open house: longtime NESN Red Sox broadcaster Tom Caron ’86, the New York Times Deputy Director of Opinion Video Jonah Kessel ’06, and former event producer for MTV Networks Clare Wool ’88. The panelists described the importance of having this type of resource on campus, saying how it will equip students from all majors with skills that will be in high demand.

The studio and equipment are made possible in part through a $150,000 grant from The George I. Alden Trust.

The research/presentation title was “Real-time Assessment of the Impact of a Virtual Reality Stress-Relieving Countermeasure on Neuroendocrine, Autonomic, and Immune Indicators of Stress,” funded by NASA’s Human Research Program Human Health Countermeasures (HHC) Element, the Vermont Space Grant Consortium, and the Vermont Biomedical Research Network. The professors have been pursuing this work for several years funded by the grants. Four students— Mackenzie Costello ’23, Madeline Van Winkle ’23, Jordyn Morey ’23, and Colby Fane-Cushing ’25—were also authors, as was recent graduate Elizabeth Marini ’22.

WOMEN’S VOICES RING OUT IN SPRING DRAMA PRODUCTION

Two one-act plays and a suffrage poem, set to new music by local musician and composer Tom Cleary, placed the voices of women front and center in the main spring dramatic production at Saint Michael’s that ran March 22-25 in the McCarthy Arts Center Theater.

Woman This & Woman That: An Evening of Suffrage Plays revisited a time when their advocacy and determination were catalysts to necessary

Professors Present Research At Nasa Workshop In Texas

Studio Grand Opening Draws Panel Of Alumni Media Notables

The College’s new Media Creation Studio is up and running, providing the campus community—and potentially, organizations beyond—with new opportunities for learning and communicating using professional-level, cutting-edge equipment, including remote-controlled cameras and a 4K digital laser projector.

Two Saint Michael’s professors on spring semester sabbaticals pursued their ongoing research into reducing stress using virtual reality, which has practical applications for NASA astronauts on space missions. Melissa VanderKaay Tomasulo of the psychology and neuroscience faculty and Dagan Loisel of the biology faculty presented their research at NASA’s Human Research Program Investigator Workshop in Galveston, Texas, in February.

The spring drama production was Woman This & Woman That: An Evening of Suffrage Plays social change: the right to vote. That same push for change exists today, including with the #MeToo movement and outcry over recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions, said director Peter Harrigan of the College’s fine arts/ theater faculty. These current events inspired Harrigan—much as timeless social issues have inspired him in some of his previous history-based productions at the College—to amplify the voices of women as a way to engage people in conversation about divisive issues and lead toward action to fight social injustice. The veteran director Harrigan is a 1983 Saint Michael’s theater graduate.

New Finance Minor Pairs Well With Many Majors

Students can build upon foundational business knowledge or find a unique combination with another major and a minor in finance—a new offering in the Saint Michael’s Business Administration and Accounting Department.

Students interested in finance have pursued a combination of major and minor programs in business administration, accounting, and economics. The new finance minor encompasses and builds upon what those students have successfully learned and applied in careers for years, but now there is an official minor designation, said Steve Doyon of the business and accounting faculty.

Xinting Zhen, a business faculty finance professor, said the new minor focuses on practical applications using real financial and market data. Minor requirements include classes in financial accounting, finance, international finance, investments, and money and banking. New courses—in equity valuation, for instance—are part of plans for the future as this program grows.

MAY STUDY TRIPS HEAD TO QUEBEC, IRELAND, DENMARK, WALES

Each year Saint Michael’s College offers a handful of faculty-led academic study trips to unique locations around the globe. With the knowledge that students may not be able to study abroad for an entire semester, the College offers academic study trips as an intensive alternative that still provides invaluable experiences. These trips are a great way for students to integrate their theoretical knowledge from the classroom with the perspective of a new culture or region abroad.

This summer students traveled to Quebec City, Ireland, Denmark, and Wales to explore topics including language immersion (Quebec), biological field studies (Ireland), business and public policy (Denmark), and environmental sustainability (Wales).

BIODIVERSITY CRISIS: MCCABE WEIGHS SOLUTIONS TO SPECIES LOSS

What happens when certain species disappear from the Earth, and what can we do to prevent that from happening?

Those questions were at the center of a presentation by biology professor Declan McCabe titled “The Biodiversity Crisis and What We Can Do about It,” on April 18 in the McCarthy Recital Hall during Earth Week 2023. Throughout the presentation McCabe aimed to equip attendees with ideas for managing the worldwide biodiversity crisis in which we find ourselves— exploring both individual choices and international policies that could make a difference. There is no “us and them,” McCabe said, as he explained the wide impact that species losses can have on the world. “Humans and nature are one, and we sink or swim together. … We have caused the problem, and we must take ownership of the solutions.”

McCabe also discussed the number of solutions applied on Saint Michael’s campus to illustrate the straightforward actions that all humans can take to reduce biodiversity loss and rehabilitate habitats. The program was part of the ongoing seminar series “Solutions for Social Impact”—all viewable via livestream.

Federal Funds Boost Faculty Research Trio Over Five Years

Three Saint Michael’s College professors learned in May that their research into Vermont stories about restorative justice and response to the COVID-19 pandemic will receive funding for five years as part of the $20 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant that they applied for with colleagues from the University of Vermont and several other institutions.

Usa Today

Physics Professor Alain Brizard, one of the foremost experts on nuclear fusion in the world, spoke to USA Today in December about a huge advance in the field of nuclear fusion: the first time a nuclear fusion reaction has ever resulted in net positive energy. The entire process produces “an order of magnitude” less radioactive material than a nuclear power plant that splits atoms through fission, he said.

The New York Times

Prior to the British coronation, History Professor Jennifer Purcell was interviewed by the New York Times about Queen Camilla and what this moment in British history meant for the wife of the new king.

Bbc Radio

History Professor Jennifer Purcell, a British historian who has expertise in the royal family, traveled to the U.K. for the coronation to observe the

Professor Krista Billingsley (criminology/anthropology) is principal investigator (PI) for the Saint Michael’s group within the overarching project called RII Track-1: Harnessing the Data Revolution for Vermont: The Science of Online Corpora, Knowledge, and Stories (SOCKS).

In that lead role among the Saint Michael’s trio, Billingsley will oversee festivities with the group Mass Observation and collect information for an upcoming book. She spoke about her impressions with BBC Radio.

Vermont Public

Professor Ari Kirshenbaum, who has been studying the effects of cannabis on people’s motor skills, recently published new findings through the American Psychological Association about the approximate amount of time a person could be impaired after ingesting the substance. He spoke to Vermont Public’s Mitch Wertlieb about these findings.

LOCAL 22/44 NEWS

Two local television stations, including Local 22/44 News (which broadcasts in Vermont and New York), covered an art class that touched on an important social issue through a poster project: mental health. The project was based on a national mural project called, “You Are Not the project and focus on stories of community related to restorative justice, while Professors Candas Pinar (sociology) and Patricia Siplon (political science/public health) will focus on stories of community related to COVID-19 mitigation measures. was used to create the “You Are Not

These Saint Michael’s faculty will each receive five years of funding that will include three student research assistants for each year from 2023 through 2028. Their Saint Michael’s–based research, “Stories of Community in Vermont,” investigates the relationship of Vermonters’ sense of community to their participation as volunteers in state-led processes of restorative justice and their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alone.” Finished posters, which each interpret that message through art, have been hung around campus.

For more about these stories, visit smcvt.edu/magazine.