Mulberry Tree magazine, Winter 2018

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ST. MARY’S COLLEGE of Maryland

WINTER 2018

PHOTO BY GRETCHEN PHILLIPS

UNEARTHING THE PAST: DISCOVERIES REVEAL A DIFFICULT TRUTH [ PA G E 8 ]

Giving Tuesday: A Stunning Success!

Giving Tuesday took place on Nov. 28 and it was a record-setting day for St. Mary’s College. The goal of 600 donors was easily surpassed when 1,411 donations catapulted the total amount raised to $239,589, more than $86,000 over last year’s Giving Tuesday total of $152,799. The most generous gift came

from former Associate Dean of Academic Services Don Stabile, who pledged a total of $100,000. Additional milestone pledges came from Donna L. West ’76 and Jeanne Brady Saum ’88 and Jack Saum ’89. New this year, the College’s Alumni Council $10,000 Video Challenge in which student clubs and teams shared why they love St. Mary’s College. The winning video was submitted by the varsity sailing team. View the video here: https://bit.ly/2APeIR3

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE

of Maryland

Calendar of Events Adventures in Anthropology with Emad Khalil January 31 @ 4:45 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Chris Cahill (GWU) January 31 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

W INTER 2 0 1 8 , VOL. X X X IX , NO . 1

www.smcm.edu/mulberrytree Editor Lee Capristo Design Jensen Design Photographer Bill Wood Editorial Board Karen Anderson, Michael Bruckler, Lee Capristo, Kate Cumberpatch ’17, Missy Beck Lemke ’92, Nairem Moran ’99, 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 2018 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.

Neuroscience Seminar Series with Gina Fernandez February 5 @ 4:45 p.m.

Goodpaster Hall 195 Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Wai Hom (Johns Hopkins) February 14 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106 Visiting Anthropologist Lecture with Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz February 20 @ 4:30 p.m.

Cole Cinema, Campus Center Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Dustin Reichard (Ohio Wesleyan) February 21 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106 Distinguished Scholar Lecture with Laura Ahearn February 26 @ 4:45 p.m.

Cole Cinema, Campus Center Lunchtime Artist Talk with Lydia McCarthy February 27 @ noon Glendening Annex

“Spring Awakening” directed by Mark A. Rhoda February 28 @ 8:00 p.m.

March 1-3 @ 8:00 p.m.

March 4 @ 2:00 p.m.

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall An Evening to Honor the Legacy of Lucille Clifton March 1 @ 7:30 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons Open Studio with Lydia McCarthy and Patrick Brennan March 7 @ 4:45 p.m.

The Artist House on Mattapany Road Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Nick Loehr (Va Tech) March 7 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

VOICES Reading Series with Kai Davis March 29 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture with Amy Cheng Vollmer March 29 @ 4:15 p.m.

Cole Cinema, Campus Center Lunchtime Artist Talk with Diana Abells ’11 April 3 @ noon Glendening Annex Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Michael McGowan (Smithsonian) April 4 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

“Beyond the Sunset” conceived and directed

by Amy Steiger April 18-21@ 8:00 p.m.

April 22 @ 2:00 p.m.

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall The 12th Annual Twain Lecture with comedian, actor, writer Tig Notaro April 20 @ 7:30 p.m.

Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena Admissions Open House April 21 @ 9:30 a.m.

Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena Bay to Bay Service Days April 21-22

2018 CALENDAR Spring Break-a-Sweat | April 14

Commencement May 12 @ 10:00 a.m.

Townhouse Green

Alumni athletes from the fall and winter sports head back to campus to reconnect with one another, meet the current student-athletes and enjoy their reunion games. Registration opens February 1.

Alumni Weekend June 7-10 St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Bay to Bay Service Days | April 21- 22

VOICES Reading Series Presents Writers’ Harvest with Ruth Irupé Sanabria March 8 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons

Presidential Lecture Series with David F. Sanger “Where Does America Go from Here?”

April 6 @ 7:30 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall

The Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker “Can’t Stand Election Suspense?

Why Wait?”

March 22 @ 7:30 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall

VOICES Reading Series “Knocking on the Door of the White House: Latina and Latino Poetry in Washington D.C.” April 12 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons

River Concert Series 20th Season featuring the Chesapeake Orchestra Fridays, June 22 – July 20 @ 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, July 21 @ 7:00 p.m.

Townhouse Green

Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Michael Haley (Univ. Oregon) March 28 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

GOP Strategist/Former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie “The Political Scoop” April 12 @ 7:30 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall

Governor’s Cup Yacht Race August 3-4 Annapolis to St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Alumni have organized service projects from Annapolis to the San Francisco Bay to gather together and give back to their local communities. Registration opens February 15.

Alumni Weekend | June 7-10

It’s our biggest alumni celebration of the year!

Whether it’s been 50 years, 25 years, or just a year since you’ve been back to St. Mary’s, we hope to see you this June. Registration opens March 15.

Governor’s Cup | August 3-5

Held annually in early August, Governor’s Cup Yacht Race, now celebrating its 45th running, is the oldest and longest running overnight sailboat race on the Chesapeake Bay. Registration opens on June 15.

Hawktoberfest | October 19-21

At the College’s homecoming celebration, over 1,000 alumni and parents join the current students on campus for a full weekend of activities and entertainment. Registration opens August 15.

Giving Tuesday | November 27

During this 24-hour campaign, the campus community rallies together to give back to St. Mary’s on this global day of giving. Help make this the most impactful year ever!

Alumni, families, and friends of the College are welcome to all events! Register at

www.smcm.edu/alumni or (240) 895-4280

CONTENTS WINTER 2018

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE OF MARYLAND July 2017 — June 2018

F E AT U R E S

ALUMNI COUNCIL

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

PA G E 8

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 Danielle Troyan ’92, Ex-officio President

Chair The Honorable Sven Holmes

Elected Voting Members John Ahearn ’76 Jack Blum ’07 Kelsey Bush ’94 David Cribbs ’74 Donna Denny ’81 Kate Fritz ’04 Chris Holt ’86 Missy Beck Lemke ’92 Molly McKee ’10 Mary Claire McCarthy Moran ’14 Amir Reda ’11 Bobby Rudd ’13 Paul Schultheis ’98 Sara Kidd Shanklin ’11 Edward Sirianno ’82 Amanda Kellaher Walker ’01 Student Member Christian Harris ’18 Chapter Presidents Annapolis: Erin O’Connell ’91 Baltimore: Dallas Hayden ’06 Black Alumni: Nick Abrams ’99 Boston: Kyle McGrath ’11 D.C. Metro: Matt Schafle ’10 Denver: Alisa Ambrose ’85 New York: Christelle Niamke ’05 Philadelphia: Vacant San Francisco: Micah Benons ’09 Southern Maryland: Cathy Hernandez Ray ’77 Western Maryland: Kristi Jacobs Woods ’97

A Difficult Truth Commemorating the future by unearthing the past.

Vice Chair Ann L. McDaniel Treasurer John Chambers Wobensmith ’93 Trustees Carlos Alcazar Anirban Basu John Bell ’95 Arthur “Lex” Birney, Jr. Cynthia Broyles ’76 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 Lawrence E. Leak ’76 Danielle Troyan ’92 Allan Wagaman ’06, Alumni Council President Sharon Phillips ’18, Student Trustee Laura Cripps, hsmc

PA G E 1 4

Praise for the PFP [ PA G E 8 ]

On-campus internships ready students for careers.

PA G E 1 8

The Desks Project Chiko Kulemeka ’18 is out to change the world, one desk at a time.

DEPAR T MEN T S

[ PA G E 1 4 ]

2

President’s Letter

3

College News

20 Alumni Connection 28 From the Archives

[ PA G E 1 8 ]

OPPOSITE:

Kent Hall in the Snow.

Photo from the College collection

C O V E R : This drawing of the newly discovered slave quarter complex represents an effort to imagine what this landscape may have looked like at the end of the 18th century. It includes not only the quarters discovered

by College archaeologists in 2016 but quarters discovered on the west side of Mattapany Road in 1992 by Historic St. Mary’s City. Historical documents provided information on the number of enslaved laborers and, along with surviving log quarters, building dimensions. Clusters of brick, ceramics, and glass indicated quarter locations.

A cluster of iron nails suggesting a frame structure could indicate an overseer’s house. A large and unusual ditch-set enclosure could be the location of a garden or animal pen.

Gardens are also shown in association with each quarter based on evidence from Carter’s Grove plantation near Williamsburg, Virginia. George Hicks’ house was modeled on surviving mid-18th-century frame houses as well as a sketch of Hicks’ house made in 1787. The roads follow those shown on early plats while paths to the quarters were hypothesized based on artifact distributions.

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A

L ET T E R

F ROM

T HE

PR E SIDE N T

LESSONS FROM HISTORY

A

year ago we discovered and shared that st. mary’s female seminary owned slaves in 1850 (see page 28). The announcement was made at the opening of an exhibition in the Boyden Gallery that was intended to help

educate our students and the public about the College’s relationship to slavery. Part of the exhibition focused on donated shackles. While not directly tied to the College, the shackles prompted thoughtful conversation on campus about our institutional history, which was our intent. Should we be surprised that there is a connection between this institution of learning and the institution of slavery? No, but I do think some of us had privately hoped that that would not be the case. The sad reality is that during that particular period of time – in this space at this place – it was the normal circumstance.

We also learned of slaves living nearby prior to 1850 (and prior to the establishment of the Seminary), with slave quarter evidence unearthed as part of the archaeological work done in preparation for the new stadium. As the current landowners of that site, we must respect what we have found, educate people about its existence and relevance, and use the information to guide us in fulfilling our mission as a public honors college.

We have worked as a campus community to acknowledge that history, recognize its impact on our culture and traditions, and celebrate where it has brought us. Our faculty offered new courses during the fall semester to examine our relationship to slavery. Our African and African Diaspora Studies program hosted its first symposium in September (see page 5). A commemoration committee comprised of faculty, staff and students is working to commission a piece to memorialize the site of the quarters (see page 12), educate others about slave history, and respect and celebrate the resilience of those who lived there. We continue to partner with others to promote the relevance of this place in a more inclusive way.

Writer and philosopher George Santayana said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Let us be sure in this New Year, that we remember our past and celebrate our future.

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

Editor’s Note

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his issue has had me thinking about the lessons we can learn from history and also what the current generation of students can teach us to help us move toward a better future.

History tells us that an English gentleman’s “Grand Tour” of the European continent was considered necessary to develop the mind and expand knowledge of the world (John Locke’s “Essay Concerning Human Understanding” in 1690). Two centuries later, English women were known to take the Grand Tour (provided they were chaperoned), as E.M. Forster chronicled in “A Room with a View” (1908). The Grand Tour was a rite of passage for the wealthy: it capped their formal education and marked the start of their lives as responsible adults.

Jump ahead another century and we are here with the iGen, the first generation to be raised on iPhones, who show more capacity for social justice than any generation before them. They reject the old “Grand Tour” for its elitism but embrace its modern cousin, the “Gap Year,” where a high school graduate takes a year “break” before pursuing college. Case in point: Malia Obama, who “gapped” for a year before starting at Harvard this past fall. But iGens aren’t content to rest on that break; they’re likely to volunteer, do an internship, or like Chiko Kulemeka ’18, start their own nonprofit (see page 18).

During winter break, 85 SMCM students did micro-internships to get a glimpse of jobs and careers they might like. They want results and their urgency to learn and DO compels us to help them. As we help them to discover possible career paths through internship and volunteer opportunities, fellowships, and work-study arrangements, they nudge us into the future with them.

It’s a win-win.

Lee Capristo, editor

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COLLEGE

NEWS

Named to Kiplinger’s Top 300 Best College Values

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY NEWS

St. Mary’s College of Maryland has been named to the Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list of the Top 300 Best College Values of 2018. Introduced in 1998, Kiplinger’s rankings highlight public schools, private universities and private liberal arts colleges that combine outstanding academics with affordable cost.

St. Mary’s College has been consistently named to the list since its beginning.

A Hidden Gem for Women in STEM St. Mary’s College is listed among the Top 25 Hidden Gems for Women in STEM by CollegeRaptor.com, a higher education planning tool that offers side-by-side comparisons of colleges.

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t. Mary’s College of Maryland is one of only 12 institutions selected by the Council on Undergrad-

uate Research (CUR) for its Transformations Project, funded by the National Science Foundation.

The Transformations Project will revise traditional four-year undergraduate curricula in biology, chemistry, physics and psychology by focusing on high-quality un-

dergraduate research throughout the four years of a student’s major.

Participants from institutions around the country will research and study the student, faculty,

departmental, and disciplinary influences on integrating and scaffolding undergraduate research experiences throughout the curriculum. A team of 16 faculty and staff members at St. Mary’s College are participating, including principal investigator and co-lead Sabine Loew Dillingham, director of research & sponsored programs and co-lead Christine Wooley, interim associate dean of curriculum.

St. Mary’s College dedicated The Alumni Center at Cobb House on Sept. 23. The long-standing, newly renovated building, now houses the Office of Alumni Relations and provides dedicated space for alumni and the campus community to gather.

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CO LLEG E

NEW S

HAWKTOBERFEST: GREAT FALL FUN! Led by Institutional Advancement, St. Mary’s College of Maryland welcomed more than 1,000 visitors, including nearly 700 parents, for a weekend full of festive fall activities Oct. 20-22 during Hawktoberfest. First-year student Cooper Clark ’21 (with help from his family) took top prize in the bamboo boat race.

SMCM Foundation Welcomes New Members St. Mary’s College of Maryland Foundation welcomed six new members this fall: Nicolas Abrams ’99, Tim Broas, Chris Holt ’86, Molly Mahoney Matthews, Michael O’Brien ’68, and Paul Schultheis ’98. Stepping down due to term-limits are Sherrie Bailey ’81 and Robert Waldschmitt.

John Bell ’95 transitioned to the Board of Trustees.

Nick Abrams ’99 is a certified financial planner and founder of AJW Financial Partners. He serves on several community boards in Baltimore and chairs the recently reestablished Black Alumni Chapter of St. Mary’s College. Abrams earned his C.F.P. certification from the University of Baltimore.

Tim Broas, former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, is an attorney with Holland & Hart in Washington, D.C. Prior to serving as an ambassador, he spent nearly 20 years as a partner in the D.C. office of Winston & Strawn, where he practiced as a litigation and white-collar criminal

defense attorney. Broas earned an A.B. in economics and history at Boston College in 1976 and a J.D. from the College of William and Mary in 1979.

Chris Holt ’86 is the regional president of BB&T Bank and has more than 30 years of commercial banking experience. He formerly served on the Alumni Council and co-chaired the Baltimore Business Initiative in 2013.

Holt earned his master’s degree in real estate finance from Johns Hopkins University.

Molly Mahoney Matthews served on the College’s Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2017, and as its chair from 2010 to 2013.

She is a marketing executive and entrepreneur, founding Matthews Media Group (MMG) in 1987, a full-service public relations and marketing firm, and was at the helm for nearly 20 years. Her most recent venture, JOB-IQ, offers career development workshops, individualized career counseling and coaching.

Matthews has a B.S. in psychology from Hamline University and a master’s in health communication from the University of Maryland.

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Mike O’Brien ’68 is a longtime supporter of the College and a former member of the Board of Trustees.

In February of 2010, his contributions were recognized with the naming of the Michael P. O’Brien Athletics and Recreation Center. He is president and owner of O’Brien Realty, a top realty firm nationally.

He is a past director of Southern Maryland Association of Realtors, First Federal Savings & Loan of Annapolis, Maryland Bankcorp, Inc., and one of the organizing “Plank Holder” members of the Patuxent chapter of the Navy League of the United States. O’Brien earned an A.A. from St. Mary’s College and graduated from the University of Maryland with degrees in economics and accounting.

Paul Schultheis ’98 is golf and corporate sales manager at Finch Services, a John Deere sales and service operation out of Westminster, Md. He brokers equipment sales and leasing arrangements to major professional sports franchises within the NFL and MLB. Schultheis is also a former Alumni Council president (2008-2012) and, as Alumni Council president, held a concurrent appointment to the Board of Trustees.

SMCM Makes Top 5 in USN&WR List St. Mary’s College is ranked as the nation’s fifth best public liberal arts college in U.S. News & World Report’s “2018 Best Colleges.”

St. Mary’s College also ranks 96 on the national liberal arts colleges list, public and private, 107 in best value schools, and 84 in high school counselor ratings.

The Hilda C. Landers Library was dedicated on Oct. 21, named after an alumna whose support for the College has touched the lives of nearly 2,000 students and counting.

When Landers (then Elizabeth Hilda Combs) graduated from the St. Mary’s Female Seminary in 1923, the library was located in Calvert Hall. Her philanthropy at St. Mary’s College began with a gift of $1,000. Her generosity continued year after year. Support to date from Hilda and her husband Arthur Landers’ trusts is estimated at $6.4 million.

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n late September, the Student Government Association initiated a disaster relief effort to collect non-perishable items to aid students and families devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Nearly $14,000 in monetary donations and 9,816 non-perishable items were delivered to the Pasadena Independent School District in southeastern Texas, one of the many school districts along the Gulf Coast that sustained extensive hurricane damage. Jeanne Brady Saum ’88 and Jack Saum, Jr. ’89, provided the truck and driver. Additional relief came when the College’s Board of Trustees authorized in-state tuition be made available to students from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands who were displaced by hurricanes.

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he African and African Diaspora Studies program, coordinated by Jeffrey Coleman, professor of Eng-

lish, hosted its inaugural symposium in September.

The symposium gave special attention to recently discovered evidence that St. Mary’s Female Seminary owned slaves during the nineteenth century. The symposium also examined practices designed to memorialize slavery on American college campuses. On a related note, members of St. Mary’s College’s faculty participated in the conference “Universities, Slavery, Public Memory, and the Built Landscape,” at the University of Virginia in October. Archivist Kent Randell was a speaker during the panel “Identification & Interpretation Challenges

in Researching the Enslaved.” Led by moderator Bill Roberts, professor of anthropology, the panel “Excavating Memories, Elevating Morality: Digging for Slaves at St. Mary’s College” featured Julia King, professor of anthropology and Aldom-Plansoen Honors College Professor; Garrey Dennie, associate professor of history; Christine Wooley, associate professor of English and interim associate dean of curriculum; and Iris Ford, associate professor of anthropology. See related story on page 12 and “From the Archives” on page 28.

On Sept. 29, the St. Mary’s College rowing team christened a new eightperson rowing shell named “Tuajuanda C. Jordan.” It was donated to the team by friend of the College and former Foundation Board of Directors member Dr. William “Bill” Seale. The shell is slated to be the top boat for the women’s team.

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C OLLE G E

NEW S

PRESIDENT’S NEWS

FACULTY & STAFF NEWS Adriana Brodsky, associate professor of history, delivered a public talk at Hofstra University in New York titled “Between Israel and Argentina: Youth, Gender and Politics.” The talk explored the paths taken by Argentine Jewish men and women in these politically charged times.

President Tuajuanda C. Jordan gave the keynote address at the Women in Maryland Higher Education (WIMHE) fall luncheon in Baltimore, Md. on Nov. 10. The title of her talk: “Bringing Clarity to Chaos: Reimagining 21st-Century Higher Education.” Read the address at www.smcm.edu/president.

Dr. Jordan gave the keynote address at the Career and Technology Education/Project Lead the Way Counselors’ Conference in Baltimore, Md. on October 31. Her topic: “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Read the address at www. smcm.edu/president.

President Jordan was recognized during Southern Maryland’s First Annual Women Inspiring Women conference, held in Solomons, Md. on Oct. 28. President Jordan was recognized with a 2017 Trailblazing Award for Outstanding Leadership in Advocating the Standards for Higher Education.

President Tuajuanda C. Jordan was recognized as a “Woman on the Move” by the Associated Black Charities at the annual Women on the Move Empowerment & Networking event in Baltimore, Md. on Oct. 5. The event was created in an effort to promote and focus on the responsibilities of women leaders, and each year recognizes women business leaders, women organizations, and women making a difference in the community.

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Ben Click, professor of English, gave a talk at the International Conference on the State of Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College in Elmira, N.Y. Click will return to Elmira College in May 2018 as invited speaker in “The Trouble Begins Lecture Series,” during which he will reside at historic Quarry Farm, where Samuel Clemens did most of his writing as Mark Twain.

He also gave a talk on Twain at the MLA conference in New York City.

In January, Click begins a five-year

position as editor of The Mark Twain Annual, published by the Pennsylvania State University Press. His essay, “Rhetorical Listening: Silence, and Cultural Consubstantiality in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Revisiting the Raftsman’s Episode Again, Ugh!” will be published in the spring 2018 edition. Click served as associate editor of the annual this year, and is also a member of the editorial board of “Studies in American Humor” of the Pennsylvania State University Press.

Todd Eberly, associate professor of political science, co-authored with Steven E. Schier “The Trump Presidency: Outsider in the Oval Office,” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017). The Washington Times ran his essay about the book on Oct. 4. He also appeared on MSNBC on Dec. 3 offering an opinion on the tax bill and its impacts.

“Ribbons,” the newest work by professor of music David Froom, was commissioned by the National Flute Association and performed by six competition finalists at its annual convention in Minneapolis in August. This capped a busy season in which Froom’s music was performed in Salt Lake City, Boston (New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra), Washington D.C. (Smithsonian), Maryland (College Park), Virginia (International Saxophone Symposium), and Québec (Orford Festival).

The Trump Presidency, coauthored by Todd Eberly, associate professor of political science

THE ST. MARY’S WAY

David Kung, professor of mathematics, gave the keynote address “Music and Mathematics” at a conference in Panama hosted by the National Secretariat for Science, Technology, and Innovation. He also spoke about mathematics at James Madison University, St. Olaf and Carleton colleges in Minnesota, and at the University of the Pacific. This fall, Kung received the Sister Helen

David Froom, professor of music

Associate Professor of Computer Science Lindsay Jamieson, three St. Mary’s College computer science majors – Madison Jones ’18, Savannah Bergen ’18, and Jennifer Mince ’19 – and alumna Jennifer Keller ’16 attended the 2017 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Orlando, Florida. The conference is the largest gathering of women in technology, hosting over 18,000 attendees. The three St. Mary’s College students won competitive scholarships to participate in the October conference, and in addition to attending talks by Melinda Gates, Debbie Sterling, and other luminaries in the technology sector, they also earned interviews with technology firms like Microsoft, Northrup Grumman and USAA. Angela Johnson, professor of educational studies, is part of a National Science Foundationfunded multiinstitutional study of women of color students who are thriving in STEM departments at predominatly white institutions. She was recently

published in The Physics Teacher by the American Association of Teachers about challenges that women of color face.

Katharina von Kellenbach, professor of religious studies, gave the keynote address at the October symposium “(Un)comfortable Identities: Representations of Persecution” at Humboldt State University in California. Von Kellenbach’s topic: “Cleansing the Nation in Pure Conscience: Notion of Purity and of Purification.”

Charles Musgrove, associate professor of history, was published in the scholarly journal, TwentiethCentury China (vol. 42, no. 3). His article: “Taking Back Space: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Taiwan’s Democratization.”

F. J. Talley, director of the DeSousaBrent Scholars Program, has a second career as a mystery writer. In 2017, he published two books: “Take Hart: A Stephanie Hart Novel” and “Twin Worlds.” A third book “Diaspora” is set to print in 2018.

Assistant professor of chemistry Troy Townsend ’07 was a featured speaker during the TEDxLeonardtown event on Sept. 9.

His topic: “Printing the Electronics of the Future.” View his talk at https://youtu.be/ivV1w2GFcmE.

Christensen Service Award by the Mathematical Association of America Md./D.C./Va. section.

The award is named after Sister Helen Christensen, in honor of her lifetime of service to mathematics education and the section.

The work of Sue Johnson, professor of art, was included in the fall exhibition “Chasing Bugs: Insects as Subject and Metaphor” at the University of Richmond Museums, University of Richmond.

Johnson also gave an art workshop at the Lila and Joel Harnett Museum.

Elizabeth Nutt Williams, professor of psychology, co-authored “Feminist Critique of and Integration with Diagnostic and Therapeutic Treatment Models” in the “APA Handbook of the

Psychology of Women: Vol. 2.

Perspectives on Women’s Private and Public Lives,” edited by C. B. Travis & J. W. White (2017).

“Specimen Collections” (cotton stainer) 1999, hand-colored intaglio print with unique gouache and watercolor painting, image 12 x 9 inches.

St. Mary’s College | TH E MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 7

UNEARTHING THE PAST

DISCOVERIES

REVEAL A DIFFICULT

TRUTH I

BY LEE CAPRISTO AND ZOE SMEDLEY ’19 IN COLLABORATION WITH JULIA A. KING

n february 2017, the college opened an exhibition in the Boyden Gallery that included iron shackles donated to the College Archives by an anonymous donor who found them on her property in St. Mary’s County. Coupled with this tangible evidence of a past history of slavery was College Archivist Kent Randell’s newly discovered evidence that the St. Mary’s Female Seminary had once owned six slaves (read more on that on pg. 28, “From the Archives”) and the unearthing, at the new athletic stadium construction site, of remains of slave quarters.

8 | St. Mary’s College | T H E M U LBERRY TREE | winter 2018

Tim Horsely of Horsely Archaeological Prospection uses a magnetometer in the Athletic Field to search for below-ground buildings.

St. Mary’s College | TH E MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 9

UNEARTHING THE PAST AT SMCM

aldom-plansoen honors college professor and professor of anthropology JULIA A. KING led the archaeology team’s work in preparation for the stadium construction project. She had this to say about the discovery of slave quarters at the project site: “The archaeological sites we have discovered in the Athletic Field are both exciting and not that unusual at all. This is true because southern Maryland was a plantation society – a society that depended on hand labor to produce tobacco – and much of that labor was, on the larger farms, provided by enslaved labor. My students and I have recorded many of these sites, including at Newtowne Neck State Park near Leonardtown and the Josiah Henson Birthplace Site in La Plata, Maryland.”

The report (“Exploring a Portion of the HicksMackall-Brome Plantation Phase I and II Archaeological Investigations for the Jamie L. Roberts Athletic Stadium Project,” by Lauren K. McMillan, Scott M. Strickland ’08, Catherine C. Dye ’17, Rebecca J. Webster ’16, and Julia A. King) summarizes the land’s history this way:

Given the history, it shouldn’t have been surprising to find evidence of slavery under the soil.

Between 1753, the year John Hicks acquired the property, and 1864, when slavery was outlawed in Maryland, the owners of St. Barbara’s Freehold tract all held slaves and, hard as it may be to hear, traded in slaves.

1643: St. Barbara’s Freehold tract granted to Mary Troughton

The 23-acre project area got the royal treatment, archaeologically speaking. In the archaeologists’ report the details of their findings were as follows:

1753: John Hicks acquires the property, incorporated into a new tract known as St. John’s with Addition Late 1700s (after War of Independence): The Mackall family acquires the property, which becomes known as the Mackall plantation for the next 60 years 1911: Most of the land around St. Mary’s City is bought and developed by the National Slavonic Society in an effort to encourage individuals of Slavic origin to settle in St. Mary’s County. Enough people came that a Slavic school was built in 1914 on the former St. Barbara’s Freehold tract.

It operated until at least 1932.

1932: The Goddard family purchases the land that was the former St. Barbara’s Freehold tract 2002: A Goddard family heir sells the land to the College

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Between July 25, 2016 and May 10, 2017, archaeologists excavated 1,357 shovel tests systematically spaced at intervals of 25 and 50 ft. In addition to the shovel testing, a geophysical survey of the project area was conducted, including magnetic susceptibility, magnetometer, and ground-penetrating radar. The shovel test and remote sensing data identified artifact concentrations and potential sub-surface features throughout the project area. This information guided the Phase II work, with 50 five-by-five-foot test units excavated in areas of greatest artifact concentration. This additional testing yielded a greater number of artifacts for interpretive purposes and revealed surviving features below the plow zone.

Several of the sites are potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, which is described as sites that have yielded or are likely to yield information about the past. The Slavonic Schoolhouse is located at the north end of the project area in a wooded area and consists predominantly of bottle glass and other 20th-century materials. A mounded area probably contains traces of the building’s foundations or its ruins. Documents indicate that it was built

top: Catherine C. Dye ’17 screens soil excavated at the slave quarter complex. middle: Scott M. Strickland ’08 pushes a ground-penetrating radar unit across the site. bottom: Modern map overlayed with buildings and roads from the period 1800-1820. Map by Scott M. Strickland ’08.

“ ...our past informs our present and our future.

We want our students — those at the College now and those to come — to learn from the evolving information we are sharing.”

ROBERT J. RYTTER

PRESIDENT TUAJUANDA C. JORDAN

in 1915 or 1916 and served a community of Slavs who had recently located to St. Mary’s City. This site could provide information about early 20th-century rural education practices and lifeways of the Slavic community.

The Slave Quarter Complex consists of concentrations of brick and ceramics dating from ca. 1750 through ca. 1815; these distributions represent traces of the earliest historic occupation in the project area.

With additional analysis, King found that the ceramic types from the slave quarter complex suggest the site was abandoned about 1815. In 1814, during the War of 1812, Vice Admiral Alexander Cochrane of the British Navy made it official pol-

icy that slaves joining the British would earn their freedom. Research shows 49 slaves fled nearby Sotterley plantation during the war to take Admiral Cochrane up on his offer.

It appears the Mackall/Brome slaves did the same thing. A list of 19 individuals was compiled after the War as part of an effort on the part of the region’s planters to get restitution for the loss of their labor force, and all of these individuals came from the Mackall plantation (also called Brome because of a subsequent owner by marriage). Research by Silas Hurry ’17 and Scott M. Strickland ’08 suggests that of these

above: Artist’s concept of the Slave Quarter Complex and artifacts archaeologists excavated from the complex between July 2016 and May 2017. top: Refined earthenware ceramic fragments. bottom: Slate pencil used to mark slate boards or other surfaces.

SMCM Archaeologists thank their HSMC colleagues, including Travis Parno, Silas Hurry ’77, and Ruth Mitchell for their assistance with the Athletic Field investigations.

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 11

UNEARTHING THE PAST AT SMCM

Observations on the “Star” Pottery Discovery FROM JULIA A. KING’S BRIEFING NOTES Two ceramic fragments are particularly intriguing, given their unusual starlike impressions; in all our digging in southern Maryland, we have not seen even one artifact like this. So you can imagine our surprise when we learned a third and a fourth ceramic similar to these two were recovered from one of the quarter sites on the west side of Mattapany (across the road from the stadium site).

It was not unusual for enslaved people to curate seemingly everyday objects to harness the power of certain symbols, like the star motif, for protection or guidance. A late 18th-century cache in the Charles Carroll House kitchen in Annapolis included one such object along with crystals, buttons, and pins. Archaeologists at the University of Maryland interpreted this cache as a way to cope with enslavement.

Adjunct Professor of Anthropology Patricia Samford, who researches African American history using archaeology, has suggested that this motif may represent the web of Anansi, the spider, a trickster figure in African and Caribbean folklore.

In the Caribbean, Anansi is put to work as a resister, undermining the plantation system through, for example, work avoidance and self-emancipation. The motif may also represent the North Star, the star that never changes position and always points north to freedom.

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individuals, able-bodied men were probably recruited into the Colonial Marines while their families were sent to Tangier Island. Records suggest that after the War, some of these selfemancipated individuals and families ended up in Trinidad, others in Nova Scotia.

There currently is no evidence to suggest a link between the Mattapany Road site and the Seminary, but since archaeological findings show the southern location of the complex was occupied up until 1860, during the same time period as the Seminary, it is an assumption that could be made.

The Commemoration Project Of the discovery of the slave quarters at the construction site and the discovery that slaves were once owned by the Seminary, St. Mary’s College President Tuajuanda C. Jordan said, “As do all aspects of our nation’s history, our past informs our present and our future. We want our students — those at the College now and those to come — to learn from the evolving information we are sharing. We hope it will broaden their personal growth and the compassion they have for others. All that we have done and will be doing has been designed to help us to remain cognizant of the hard lessons history sometimes teaches us and to use that information to guide our collective path towards a brighter and stronger future. These sites have much to offer about African American history in Maryland.”

The College has formed a committee to commemorate the history of the people who once occupied these places. Headed by Jeff Coleman (professor of English and African and African Diaspora Studies program coordinator), and including Kent Randall (librarian and archivist), Iris Ford (assoc. professor of anthropology), Garrey Dennie (assoc. professor of history), Ellen Kohl (asst. professor of environmental studies), Christine Wooley (interim assoc. dean of curriculum), Annie Anguiera (assoc. vice president of planning and facilities), and student Jada Ward ’19), the committee has been working to develop

top: Iron shackles at an exhibition at the Boyden Gallery in February 2017. middle: Slavery Symposium in September 2017. bottom: Jeff Coleman, professor of English and African and African Diaspora Studies program coordinator and Julia A. King, Aldom-Plansoen Honors College professor and professor of anthropology at Slavery Symposium.

the general scope and character for the site. “We held internal and external focus group sessions during the fall semester,” says Coleman. “Some of the ideas generated during those sessions will help inspire our chosen artist/designer.” According to Chip Jackson, vice president for business and finance, the College is expecting to hire a design team in mid-2018 to develop the design concepts. The chosen artist will use the public input

“ All that we have done and will be doing has been designed to help us to remain cognizant of the hard lessons history sometimes teaches us and to use that information to guide our collective path towards a brighter and stronger future.”

PRESIDENT TUAJUANDA C. JORDAN

to create a design concept. During this time, the commemoration committee is expected to continue its engagement with the public. Construction/installation is expected to be completed in late 2019.

Jamie L. Roberts Stadium

Details, other construction, overview, and schedule Because of the concentrations of evidence and the desire to preserve this history as much as possible, the College revised its original construction plan for the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium. The revised plan pushes the stadium further to the southeast to largely avoid any overlap with the 18th- and 19thcentury slave quarter sites. Construction began in November 2017. According to Chip Jackson, vice president for business and finance, the new synthetic turf field (for lacrosse and field hockey) will be ready for use this spring and the grass field (for soccer) and the entire stadium will be ready for use in fall 2018. The stadium project was awarded to RAD Sports, a Massachusettsbased company with experience designing and building sports facilities for secondary schools and colleges on the east coast. Once complete, the lighted stadium will include team rooms, a

track, bleachers, a sports medicine room, press box, restrooms and concessions. Work on the stadium structure itself is scheduled to begin this winter, with a dedication planned for October 2018. The stadium is named in honor of Jamie L. Roberts, a St. Mary’s College class of 2011 economics major and three-sport star athlete who was tragically killed in June 2014 while riding her bicycle across the country in the 4K for Cancer event.

The Jamie L. Roberts family donated $2.2 million to the College, with a portion of their total donation enabling the College to complete its $2.5 million capital campaign. The Jamie L. Roberts family gift is the single largest gift in the history of the College. The completion of the campaign allowed the College to utilize more than $75 million in State of Maryland funding.

Building the stadium frees up the existing varsity athletic field for new construction, also supported by the capital campaign. In the works is a new, 52,289-square-foot academic building to house the College’s music department, a 700-seat auditorium, educational studies department, which includes the Master of Arts in Teaching program, and a multi-discipline learning commons area.

Completion for this portion of the project is planned for 2022.

top left: The design team reviews plans for the new academic building. bottom left: Artist’s rendering of the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium. above: Site plan for the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium including the proposed Commemoration site.

In 2016, St. Mary’s College of Maryland received a Stewardship Award from the Maryland Historical Trust recognizing the College’s efforts to achieve its goals for providing modern facilities for the College while serving as responsible stewards of the archaeological sites on its campus.

Thanks to Justin Foreman ’12, media specialist at the College, and the Department of Athletics, you can follow the construction project with drone technology! Stay tuned to www.smcmathletics.com and the Seahawk social media outlets at @smcseahawks for the latest on the stadium progress. 

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 13

The Professional Fellowship Program:

A PFP is a Valuable Thing

BY LEE CAPRISTO, EDITOR

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ince 2010, the College has funded the Professional Fellowship Program (PFP), a student-employment initiative whose purpose is to provide on-campus internship opportunities for students to develop professional skills. Funding is competitive, requiring that interested office and department employers submit a fellowship proposal (and, if funded, an end-of-fellowship assessment).

The supervisors whose proposals are selected have designed internships that develop student skills in: • Oral and written communication • Information literacy • Critical thinking and problem-solving • Organizational ability • Analytical reasoning and quantitative analysis • Teamwork, leadership, and interpersonal skills Supervisors dedicate time for ongoing training to develop the student’s skills, and outline a plan to give the student fellow a high level of responsibility, applying professional skills in a manner that benefits the broader campus community or the world off-campus.

To date, 232 PFPs have been funded. With a yearly potential of 360 work hours per student, the program has provided more than 83,000 hours of work to the College by these students. With the Strategic Plan goal to graduate prepared, responsible, and thoughtful global citizens, the primary objective toward that goal is to expand the variety, number and efficacy of internships and micro-internships to enhance the competitive advantage of students’ postgraduate and employment experiences.

The experiences the students have had are as varied as the offices and departments supervising them. This is a sampling, sharing the perspectives of the supervisors, the students, and the graduates who are now employed in a field connected to that PFP experience. “

Historic St. Mary’s City with Captain William Gates, maritime curator The goal of the program was to provide hands-on skills in maintenance and education using a historic ship in a museum context. While Elizabeth Brown ’17 [1] worked primarily with Shipwright James Knowles and Waterfront Education Supervisor Joseph Greeley, assisting with the maintenance and exhibition of the Maryland Dove and the two small craft exhibits, she also participated in planning for a new exhibit on underwater archaeology as well.

Elizabeth gained experience in both practical ship maintenance skills of painting, varnishing, ropework, and carpentry. In addition, she learned to present information orally to live audiences – to “interpret” in a museum or park setting. After her experience in the PFP program, Elizabeth is now well-prepared to take entry or mid-level positions in museums, educational sailing, or in outdoor education.

Elizabeth’s work in the fellowship program provided much needed labor for the Museum during a very difficult contraction in state budgets, helped fulfill our mandate to provide education and training to diverse audiences, and helped complete much-needed maintenance work on the Maryland Dove and other Museum exhibits. The supervisors

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and the program were grateful for the opportunity to work with the eager minds and strong hands of a new generation!

Rebecca Prasher ’12 (physics and mathematics) did a St. Mary’s Project to build a virtual replica of the Maryland Dove to test the stability of the colonial vessel. It won the Geneva Boone Award for Outstanding St. Mary’s Project.

Videography with Justin Foreman ’12, digital media specialist and Lee Capristo, director of publications The students began their PFP experience by diving into an unfamiliar non-linear editor, Adobe Premiere Pro CC, an industry standard software for video editing. The students spent over two weeks working with Justin Foreman and online training modules offered through Lynda.com to gain an understanding of the software. They also studied scripting for short documentary and commercial work. In addition to these courses, the students also worked with Adobe After Effects, another industry standard software for composing motion graphics. These were the tools they’d use when it came time to put together the images they shot using the Black Magic pocket cinema camera, a professional camera often used in conjunction with much larger cinema grade sensors in the film industry. This camera is 100% manual and complex.

he thing I enjoyed most about the PFP at the Dove was the chance to do work that was both physical and mental. I enjoy working outdoors and working with my hands, and being at the Dove gave me plenty of opportunities to do both. However, I also like learning and teaching, and I was given the opportunity to do that as well. I have known how to sail and worked with boats for years, but I had never had an experience working on a square-rigged ship, so I learned new information every day. Also, I was able to pass that information, both about the ship and about the history of the original Dove, on to others, both children and adults, which I enjoyed separately from the physical work. That experience is one reason that I have been looking into educational jobs other than traditional teaching; I like educating, and I also like working with my hands, and I would love to find a career where I can continue to do both.”

ELIZABETH BROWN ’17, MAT ’18

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he PFP internship has given me the ability to get hands-on experience before entering the workplace.

The program has also given me the opportunity to let my creativity shine. I get to work collaboratively on projects with people who are professionals in their field. The best part about this is that it is a learning opportunity as much as it is a work one.”

KEVIN GLOTFELTY ’19 (TFMS) [2]

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y favorite thing that I’ve gained from my PFP experience would have to be gaining experience in creating a promotional product from start to finish.

Working on these one minute one major videos I’ve learned how to work with a team of individuals to create a final product that reflects everybody’s best interest... I think ultimately this experience will prove useful to me in the job market because it shows potential future employers that I have the skills and experience to work with clients to create professional quality promotional media.”

DIRK DUPRE ’19 (TFMS, religious studies) [3]

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y fellowship has changed my life. Between the staff, students, and alumni, I have worked with incredible people and made some long-lasting connections. I truly would not be as well prepared for a career without this experience.”

IZZY WOLF ’18 (economics) [4]

PFP is directly related to his full-time work as a broadcast animator at TBC, a full-service advertising agency in Baltimore, Md. His film “One Way Town” won the best Experimental/Animated film category at the Kew Gardens Festival of Cinema in 2017.

Washington Program The students spent much time learning the basics of this camera as well as the workflow needed to produce usable images. Since the files coming out of this camera are enormous (53GB/hour), a proper workflow had to be learned in order to work with the output. Proper file management needed to be learned to successfully and efficiently produce the content. By joining PFP forces with the Office of Integrated Marketing and Communications, we were able to make quicker progress on the “One Minute, One Major” series during the summer and fall.

Watch the “One Minute, One Major” videos here: https:// www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEZG4-6W7DMsb6d7QnLvoV-lo1VdGRty Eli Ayres ’16 (TFMS) got the “One Minute, One Major” project started, and his successors have continued the series. Ayres’ experience with his

with Political Science Professors Sahar Shafqat and Matt Fehrs The Washington Program fellow provides logistical support to the Washington Program and contributes to decision making. During the fall semester much of the work focuses on completing tasks from the prior summer’s program and preparing for the spring. The spring semester is focused on selecting and placing students in internships for the summer and the fellow was actively involved in that process.

Emily Vitacolonna ’16 (political science, economics) is an account executive at EveryAction in Washington, D.C. Previously, she worked as event support staff for the Canadian Embassy and was a development gift coordinator for the Scottish Rite Foundation, also in D.C.

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he Creative Writing Resources PFP helped me understand the various inter- and intra-departmental networks that are all firing to make any resource or program work in an academic institution. A lot of my work with the PFP was helping to organize and facilitate the VOICES Reading Series: booking the reading locations, creating advertisements on Facebook and posters to hang around campus, making sure that we had all the AV equipment set up for our visiting writers. Last year, I was one of four hosts and organizers of the Edwards Reading Series, which features the work of first-year MFA candidates at the U of M. Though it was an informal series, we had to create a reading schedule, book venues, and advertise via e-mail and Facebook. I never felt overwhelmed by or unprepared for it; it’s exactly the work I did as Creative Writing Resources fellow.”

CLARE HOGAN ’16 (English) Clare is now an MFA candidate in poetry at the University of Michigan, where she also teaches undergraduate English.

Alumni Relations with David Sushinsky ’02, director of alumni relations The PFP student assists the Office of Alumni Relations with event planning and execution, volunteer recruitment and management, and program analysis. The fellow helps with several major campus events: Spring Break-a-Sweat, Bay to Bay Service Days, Alumni Weekend, Hawktoberfest and Giving Tuesday.

Matt Walchuck ’17 (political science, int’l languages & cultures), currently works as a legal secretary in Washington, D.C. St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 15

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eing a fellow not only helped me get the job I have now, but it helped give me the tools to be in the field I want to be in. At Wallace Montgomery (an engineering and architectural firm) I have been doing business development and corporate design, and the company recently won a huge contract with a presentation I designed and was the marketing lead for.”

KEELY HOUK ’17

am currently in the process of applying to law school and find the skills gained from being a PFP give me a competitive advantage. My work as a PFP for the Center furthered my interest in politics and political science. I got to meet many interesting scholars with varying views, some of which I supported and others I did not. Before my PFP, I would not challenge myself to further analyze an opinion I did not agree with.

Dr. Harkonen encouraged me to think deeper and to analyze a position from all sides. This is a cru7 cial skill for being a lawyer. Working with Michael Dunn on Title IX issues helped me develop people skills and organization skills required to plan events and long-term initiatives.”

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Archaeology Collections & Lab Oversight

Integrated Marketing

with Anthropology Professors Julia King and Liza Gijanto

with Lee Capristo, director of publications

Fellows maintain the archaeological collections and oversee the use of the Anthropology Lab. Peri Kelsey ’17 (anthropology) is now a graduate student at Cambridge University in evolutionary anthropology.

Creative Writing Resources Fellow with Karen Leona Anderson, associate professor of English The Creative Writing Resources fellowship works to centralize and publicize writing resources for prospective and current students. As part of this responsibility, the fellow works with student-run resources (coffeehouse, Spoken Word Club, AVATAR) and with faculty teaching courses with creative writing components. The fellow makes extensive use of social media to reach student and community audiences for the writing resources on campus, including the publicity of the VOICES Reading Series and the Chesapeake Writers’ Conference.

Caitlin Andrews ’17 (English and art) [5] is now an education assistant at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Md. She also works at the Baltimore County Public Library.

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The integrated marketing PFP students write and edit content for print and web communications and marketing with the mentoring of the College’s publications and media/marketing staff.

In doing so, they learn to employ the Associated Press stylebook guidelines. The fellows conduct interviews with faculty, students, and alumni as part of story development for both print and web.

Alex Bird ’16 (English) [6] wrote a feature story in the spring 2015 Mulberry Tree (and was that issue’s cover model). He pursued a writing career with jobs at the Mitchell School in Baltimore, Md., and Towson Lifestyle magazine. Alex recently joined Agora Integrated Marketing in Baltimore as a finance writer.

Keely Houk ’17 (English) [7] coupled her talents in graphic design with her writing skills when she worked as a PFP during 2016-17. Her original art was the cover for the special ’70s issue of Mulberry Tree (fall 2016); she wrote a feature about her study abroad experience in Rome for the spring 2017 issue. Keely now works as a marketing assistant in Baltimore. Md. and freelances as a graphic designer.

KEZIA-ALEAN OSUNSADE ’18 (political science and public policy studies) [8]

Center for the Study of Democracy with Maija Harkonen, executive director The fellows for the Center for the Study of Democracy gained practical real-world experience by coordinating events and promoting Center activities, such as Vote! Elections and Social Media, U.S.Russian Relations under the Trump Administration and The Benjamin Bradlee Distinguished Lecture in Journalism, featuring Cokie Roberts.

They deepened their understanding of global events by working on forums and discussions such as Arctic Climate Change—A Global Problem, Migration Crisis in Europe: Is America a Bystander? and U.S.-China Relations in the South China Sea. The fellows conducted research and prepared background documents on elections, the criminal justice system, immigration in specific countries and regions, and the changing protocols of UAV use. They helped organize lectures and forums pertaining to international relations and national security, events the Center collaborated on with The Patuxent Partnership. The fellows interacted with community members, domestic and international scholars, politicians and governmental officials.

Cody Dorsey ’18 (political science) [9] was a PFP fellow in 2016 when Governor Hogan visited campus.

Yonah Zeitz ’17 (political science and public policy studies) spent the summer as an investigator for the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C. He plans to go to law school.

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Kira Westbrook ’16 (economics and public policy studies) now works as development coordinator for the Grameen Foundation in Washington, D.C.

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he PFP has exposed me to many professionals that work in the Wellness Center and it gives me the opportunity to work and collaborate with them on certain parameters that will improve the well-being of the campus community.”

EMILY BROWN ’18 (biology), PHE fellow [12]

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s the SMART fellow, I’ve gotten to network both on campus and off. Since SMART also works with the St. Mary’s Hospital and Walden Sierra, the local crisis hotline, I have gotten to speak with people from those organizations as well. They have talked to me about their positions, and their names are not only ones that I need to know when working for SMART, but ones I look forward to knowing if I seek out a helping profession after college.”

CAMERON KELLEY ’20 (English), SMART fellow [13]

Liza Moore ’16 (psychology) is a research manager with WBA in Crofton, Md. 10

Biology Department with Professor of Biology Walter Hatch and Elaine Szymkowiak ’81, director of instructional support The fellowship provides support for the operation and maintenance of the Biology Department’s wet lab facility, especially the coral reef microcosm, while providing the fellow with a unique, handson learning experience. The fellow also provides support for St. Mary’s Project students utilizing the wet lab facility and for teaching laboratories in Principles of Biology, Coastal Ecology, Comparative Animal Physiology, Contemporary Bioscience and others. In addition, the fellow supervises six regular and a few occasional student volunteers who assist in operation of the wet lab.

Former biology department PFPs include Casey Murray ’15 (biology) [10], who went on to get a master’s degree in tropical marine ecology from the Rosenthiel School at the University of Miami.

She now works as an aquarist at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. Mike Studivan ’11

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Erik Fisher ’15 (economics and public policy studies) is an economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(biology), is a PhD candidate at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution of Florida Atlantic University. His focus is on the ecology of mesophotic coral reefs.

Peer Health Educator and SMART

Institutional Research

with Laurie Scherer, director of the Wellness Center

with Anne Marie Brady, director of institutional research The IR fellows have provided invaluable support for many aspects of data processing and reporting, including skills like use of Excel and Tableau, and how to complete a college guide submission. In several cases, they have brought additional skills sets to our office to supplement and enhance the services we’re able to provide to the campus. Our student fellows truly become an integrated part of our team, and are instrumental in helping us keep up with the increasing appetite for data and analysis across multiple internal and external constituencies.

Simon Kolbeck ’17 (sociology) is a research contractor with Washington CORE in Bethesda, Md.

The Peer Health Educator and Sexual Misconduct and Resource Team (SMART) fellows organize wellness outreach and programming for students; support the judicial board by providing a peer program as a sanction for alcohol and drug violations on campus; lead campus-wide events such as the 5K to Stomp Out Stigma about mental illness and suicide; teach a suicide intervention program to campus members; provide a week of programming in February aimed to increase knowledge about safe sexual behaviors and increase acceptance of LGBTQ issues; provide condoms and instructions at the Wellness Center, in residence halls, and in the Campus Center; distribute important information to students via the RAs (such as availability of emergency contraceptives on campus); and counsel peers during walk-in-hours at the Wellness Center.

Former Peer Health Educators include Caroline “White ’16 (psychology), who later interned at Kennedy Krieger Institute, then was an autism support coach and is now a mental health counselor with Man Alive Lane Treatment Center in Baltimore, Md.

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he PFP has helped me in terms of building my resume and incorporating my aquarist experience into it. Through the PFP, I’m provided various workshops and events for career development. It makes me feel like I have a team of people routing for me and there to help me succeed!”

KATIE HUERTA ’18 (biochemistry) [11] 11

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 17

DESKS FOR CHANKHANGA PROJECT:

HAND-BUILT FOR

SUCCESS

BY ZOE SMEDLEY ’19 (ENGLISH MAJOR, PFP FELLOW)

AT THE CONCLUSION OF HER STUDY-ABROAD SEMESTER IN NICE, FRANCE IN SPRING 2017, CHIKO KULEMEKA ’18 SPENT TWO MONTHS VISITING HER AUNT IN MALAWI, EAST AFRICA. WHILE THERE, CHIKO VOLUNTEERED AT A LOCAL SCHOOL. WHAT SHE DISCOVERED INSPIRED HER TO START A PROJECT THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CHANGE THE CHILDREN OF MALAWI’S EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE.

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cross Malawi, thousands of children go to school every morning eager to learn, in part due to the national feeding program combined with the burgeoning national reading program that has caused an increase in students attending schools. A lack of resources, however, prevents these children from having the most basic school provisions that American children take for granted. In one particular school district in Malawi, Kasungu, there is a school that attracts eager, hard-working students in masses. The Chankhanga Primary School is full of passionate teachers and students ready to work hard to achieve their dreams. While these students have a passion for learning and a desire to work hard, the school itself lacks the basic physical necessities to help provide access to the best possible education for these children.

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“ This is ridiculous, kids can’t be sitting on the floor with a piece of cardboard to take a test.”

While visiting her aunt, Chiko worked with Chankhanga Primary School in the Kasungu district of Malawi. Every day she would watch students file into school, eager to learn, passionate about their own education—yet, they would have to sit on the ground. There were no chairs or tables within the school for the students to use. At first, Chiko explained, it was just an idea in the back of her mind: these students were already working so hard—what if they had desks? The small thought quickly developed into a much larger question and idea: how could we get these students desks?

She had an idea; she needed to figure out how to make it a reality. After talking to her parents, Chiko went to the head teacher at Chankhanga Primary School to discuss what it would cost to build the desks. After going through conversion rates and a lot of research, she had the start of what would grow into an incredible project.

The Desks for Chankhanga project was founded under the vision of every student having access to an educational environment that will allow them to succeed to the highest of their abilities.

The more she worked with these students, the more reasons she found to continue the project.

She explained that during exam week, the last week of school, the students all showed up with cardboard boxes to write their exams on so that they didn’t have to write them on the floor. The students wanted to keep their exams clean and neat, she explained, but it was something that no student should ever have to do. “This is ri-

MALAWI is a small country in East Africa. left: New desks. right: Chankhanga classroom. below: Chiko Kulemeka ’18

GRETCHEN PHILLIPS

“She wanted these desks to not only help the students, but to be something that the community themselves could take ownership for.” diculous,” she said, “kids can’t be sitting on the floor with a piece of cardboard to take a test.”

And yet, despite that, the students came in waving their cardboard around, hitting each other with it, so excited to take this test without ever realizing that they were missing something.

This, Chiko explained, was what really inspired her to make this project a reality.

Chiko’s family has been an important influence in the project. When she initially called them about her idea, her parents encouraged her to do the research and find the logistics on her own. After she had done her research and come up with a more concrete plan, however, her family was there to help her put it into action. Her aunt helped Chiko in Malawi before her parents arrived, not only giving her a closer proximity to the school, but also allowing her access to the local language and a deeper understanding of the Malawi culture and education system. While Chiko’s father no longer lives there, he did grow up in Malawi. His

educational experience as a child made him extremely passionate about the project. This passion for his country echoes something that Chiko hoped to emphasize for the students at Chankhanga Primary School: it is their country, and they are capable of helping themselves.

the people they are surrounded by are invested in and care enough about their education to work on this project. No matter how much she has helped with it, she explains, it’s their project, not hers. She says, “I’m not the savior of these people because they can save themselves.”

Why was it so important to Chiko that the community build the desks for themselves? She explains that, while economics do play a role— shipping the desks from here would be an added expense — there is more to it than monetary incentive. She discussed her exposure at St. Mary’s College to concepts of voluntourism and the white savior complex. She explained that, often, “we’re trying to do a good deed, but instead we’re letting our personal feelings of wanting to help overshadow that good deed.”

She wanted these desks to not only help the students, but to be something that the community themselves could take ownership for. Chiko says that she wants the students to feel proud of what their community can do for them and know that

Two teams make Desks for Chankhanga work: “Team Malawi” is the in-country team of local carpenters, craftsmen, enthusiastic parents and community members who purchase the materials and build the desks. In the U.S., Chiko has the help of “Team USA” to promote awareness of the project through its website and social media and to assist with fundraising. Joining Chiko and her family on this team are five current SMCM students and two alumna.

If you’re interested in learning more or volunteering with Desks for Chankhanga, visit https://www. thedesksproject.org/.

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 19

DESKS FOR CHANKHANGA PROJECT

Chiko (center) with friends Kat, Nora, Emmanuel, Shelby and Megan (clockwise from left).

“ I really feel like we’re all in it together and the team aspect is so important because everyone carries their weight to help with things.”

KAT GOLLADAY ’18

“ This project sends a message that the world cares about these students’ success as scholars and provides them with the tools that they need to reach their full potential.”

NORA HOWARD ’18

“ Growing up in Ghana meant that I had to deal with some of the difficulties these kids face. It is important to make sure that the students at Chankhanga Primary School understand the value of education.”

EMMANUEL OPPONG ’18

GRETCHEN PHILLIPS

“ They deserve to feel empow- ered when they sit in their classrooms as they strive for an education and a chance at a better future.”

SHELBY MISTYSYN ’18

TEAM

USA

T

he team kicked off its work in August 2017 with a goal of getting 960 desks made in Malawi: one for every student in Chankhanga Primary School. To date, 80 desks have been made and delivered to the school and another 100 have been ordered.

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“ This project is extremely valuable, because it helps people remember that not everyone is as fortunate as we are.”

MEGAN MOORE ’18

ALUMNI

CONNECTION CLASS NOTES

Studies collections at the Yale Library are the African Collection, East Asia Library, Judaica Collection, Latin American & Iberian Collections, Near East Collection, Slavic & East European Collections, and Southeast Asian & South Asian Collections. The director is charged with developing a vision for the department’s support of teaching, learning, and research, especially through creating partnerships on campus.

1980s Kathleen Lawrence Fritz ’85 graduated with a Fine Arts degree and specialized in print making. She worked in the civil engineering field for 21 years as a drafter before becoming the owner of Bead Soup in Savage, Md., which she has operated since 2008. Her business specializes in seed beads and hosts national and international bead artists.

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1

1990s Dawn Douglas ’91 is currently producing an independent film that she wrote. The film is called “Yin & Yang: Mandala of Life.”

Along with producing this film, she is also co-directing it and is one of the lead performers in it. She has been submitting the script to different film festivals to test the waters for the film. The script, which happens to be her first, has been winning awards.

Check out the film’s website at www.yinandyangmovie.com.

A. Lorraine Robinson ’92 [1] was recently honored with a 2017 Excellence in Theatre Education - Honorable Mention Award from the Tony Awards. Lorraine is the senior director of programs at the Sitar Art Center. After completing undergrad at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, she went on to receive her master’s degree in Theatre from Brown University. Previously, Lorraine worked at Sitar Art Center as the director of programs and director of faculty and education. She continues to work as a freelance theatre artist in addition to her job at the Sitar Arts Center.

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In August of 2017, Lara Graeff Doyle ’93 [2] had a gathering of SMCM friends at her home in Arlington, Va. Her guests included Heather Freck Stafford ’93, Sean Fallon ’93, Melissa Deckman Fallon ’93, Mia Petzold Riser ’93, and Silvia Calonje Ford ’92, along with their families.

Sarah Brannon ’94 is continuing her career as a voting rights lawyer, recently joining the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union as a senior staff attorney in the summer of 2017. Sarah’s area of expertise is enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act, work she is continuing at the ACLU. Sarah lives in the Capital Hill area of Washington, D.C. with her partner Kevin.

Greg Godbout ’95 recently joined TechFlow Incorporated as the company’s chief digital officer. In 2015, Greg received an M.S. from UVA. Before taking on his position at TechFlow, Greg worked as the chief technology officer of the Environmental Protective Agency, where he helped create the agency’s cloud adoption. His experience has been an extremely important digital influencer for the government, helping change the way that federal IT services are acquired and implemented.

With TechFlow, Greg will help as companies begin to modernize and implement digital programs. Greg lives in Washington, D.C. Margaret Lopez ’95 [3] of Phoenix, Ariz., recently published her first novel, “Half Past

Monday,” a criminal suspense thriller that utilizes her unique experiences working with criminal prosecutions for the past 17+ years. It can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or Kindle formats.

In the summer of 2017, Jae Jennifer Rossman ’95 of New Haven, Conn., was appointed the director of the newly created Department of Area Studies and Humanities Research Support (DASHRS) at the Yale University Library. DASHRS is comprised of a staff of 15, including 13 liaison librarians who work with students and faculty in Classics, History, Literature, and Area Studies. Area

In a lucky coincidence, Melanie McLean ’97 and Katie Mullin Dubay ’97 [4] lived near each other in Hawai’i from July 2015 to June 2017, and their families spent a lot of time together in paradise. Melanie and her husband Rob Chung, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, have two daughters, Meri (age 9) and Kate (age 6). Melanie works as a veterinarian at the Food and Drug Administration and has been able to maintain her career while following her husband across the country.

Since getting married in 2008, they’ve lived in seven states. The family currently resides in San Antonio, Texas.

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School of Law in May 2013 and is currently employed as an attorney-advisor at DHS-TSA. He resides in Washington, D.C.

Katie and her husband Jerry Dubay, a commander in the Coast Guard, have four children, Maryanna (age 11), Tommy (age 10), Rosie (age 7), and Robbie (age 5). Katie is a nurse practitioner but has taken time off to raise her kids and move around the world with her husband. Since getting married in 2005, they’ve lived in five states plus Guam. The family currently resides in Port Canaveral, Fla., near Katie’s hometown of Cocoa Beach.

Amy Spillman ’97 visited Melanie and Katie in Hawai’i in October 2016 for some sea, sun, sand, and birthday parties.

Amy lives in Gaithersburg, Md. and works at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Lauri Watkins ’99 launched the website SeeANeedle.com to help families teach their children what to do if they find a discarded hypodermic needle.

Since its launch in September 2017, SeeANeedle.com has been shared internationally and featured by Q13 news, KUOW radio, and Seattle’s ParentMap magazine. Lauri resides in Seattle, Wash.

2000s Rob Beach ’01, of Annapolis, Md., has been promoted to the position of vice president for communications at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). Serving as a watchdog, CBF fights for effective, sciencebased solutions to the pollution degrading the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams. Rob credits his time spent sailing on the Horseshoe Bend while earning degrees in political

science and economics at St. Mary’s College for inspiring his career in saving the Bay. He lives on the shores of the Severn river with his wife, Meredith and their children, Ford, age 4, and Franny, age 2.

Joseph Rieu ’05 graduated from the University of Baltimore

George Connelly ’07, of La Plata, Md., works as the director of clerical and administrative services for the Charles County Department of Social Services in La Plata. He completed his master’s degree in international studies in 2013 at Morgan State University.

Since 2016, he has been 5 a board member of the Community Foundation of Southern Maryland.

Rebecca Duvall Gleason ’09 is the global coordinator of product marketing for Facebook.

In 2011, she received her MBA in Marketing/Advertising from University of Maryland, Robert H Smith School of Business.

Before beginning her job with Facebook, Rebecca worked as

Alumni Council Profile Ryan McQuighan ’05 is the Alumni Council’s vice president of operations. Ryan plays a key role in planning and running council meetings. He lives in Owings, Md. (Calvert County), about a threeminute drive to the bay in North Beach with his wife, Sara Waugaman McQuighan ’05, and two boys, Declan, 5 and Conall, 18 months. Ryan was an economics major at SMCM and earned his J.D. from the University of Baltimore (2008). At St. Mary’s College he was on the “Federal Reserve Challenge” team, played trumpet with the orchestra and jazz band and was a resident assistant. He has worked at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. since 2013 and is currently the deputy FOIA officer for the Office of the Secretary. When asked why he decided to join the Alumni Council, he said, “I loved St. Mary’s from the moment I set foot on the campus and wanted to connect a little more.” He has done so in many capacities on the council, including participating in career panels and networking receptions during Bookbags to Briefcase and hosting a microinternship for current SMCM students. Like most alums, Ryan enjoys returning to campus for Alumni Weekend, even though his experience has changed as his life has as well: “I used to volunteer at the beer tent and would see tons of people. Now, I end up playing at the waterfront with my kids.”

22 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2018

the head of operations for Sage Policy Group, and as the senior strategy manager at Millennial Media.

2010s Alexis Nichols (Lexi Lygoumenos)’10 [5] is an awardwinning actress, voice-over artist, and writer living in Los Angeles, California. On camera, she is most known for her role as Lucille Ball in “Becoming Lucy,” which premiered at the Festival De Cannes Court Metráge in May of 2013; a role that garnered her first best actress wins from the International Independent Film awards, W.I.N.D. (Women, Inspiration, Nation & Diversity) Film Festival, Cinerockom in Beverly Hills, and numerous more nominations. No stranger to biopics, Alexis also played Dorothy Parker in North Hol-

lywood’s theatrical production of “An Evening with Dottie” where critics deemed her portrayal “divine.” Alexis’ first animated feature film and television series can be found on Netflix, where she voices three characters in the English version of the animated series “Little Witch Academia.”

She is currently nominated for a Voice Arts Award for her commercial demo reel, a ceremony that will take place in New York City’s Lincoln Center. Her short screenplay “Athena & Afro” that she co-wrote was recognized as a semi-finalist at the Creative World Awards and a finalist in the Hollywood Screenplay Competition. She is also the editor in chief of FLiP magazine, a bimonthly men’s and women’s print and online magazine with over two million subscribers.

windsurfed, hiked, and enjoyed a bonfire at Church Point. The layover also provided a unique opportunity for the International Languages and Cultures students at St. Mary’s College to discuss the implications of these gap students traveling to Cuba as citizen diplomats for the United States. From St. Mary’s College, they traveled up the Potomac River to Washington, D.C., where the crew met with members of the House and Senate to encourage open relations with Cuba. You can track their voyage and learn more at ww.ocean-passages.org.

Matthew Smith ’11 is currently employed as a staff attorney for Maryland Center for Legal Assistance. Matt completed his law degree from the University of Baltimore in 2014. He resides in Baltimore City, Md. 7

6

On June 12, 2017, C. Will Frye ’11 [6], of Seattle, Wash., accepted a job as a systems engineer with Amazon Web Services, resigning from his position with the Department of Navy. While working on base, Will helped to mentor students at St. Mary’s College of Maryland through the Career Development Center.

He hopes to continue this work long distance from his new job in Seattle as well.

After earning his master’s degree in 2015 from George Washington University’s Latin American and Hemispheric Studies Program, Nathan Hesse ’11 recently began working with Ocean Passages LLC as director of public and cultural affairs.

Ocean Passages owns and operates the Harvey Gamage, a recreated 18th-century schooner built by its namesake in 1973 for use as an educational ship.

Ocean Passages offers a program designed for gap-year students aged 18-24. Hesse and crew set sail from Portland, Maine, on Sept. 9, headed south with a planned arrival to Cuba in midNovember. On October 16-17, the crew docked at St. Mary’s College and offered deck tours to the public. While docked, Hesse arranged for the onboard students to get a taste of what life is like at the college, where they

Mike Victory ’12, MAT ’13, of Meadville, Pa., is the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for the Allegheny College baseball team. Mike previously spent four seasons as an assistant Seahawk baseball coach and seven seasons as an assistant Seahawk coach for women’s basketball. Since 2010, he has worked with the USA Baseball Academy as a spring training head coach, organizing eight-week pitching programs and developing pitching and throwing skills of younger baseball players. While at St. Mary’s College, Mike was a two-year captain of the baseball team, four-time Capital Athletic Conference All-Academic Team selection, finished in the top 25 nationally for walks per inning (0.125) as a senior, and received the College’s Athletic Director’s award.

Caitlin Fowler ’12, of Wilson, N.C., has accepted a new position at Wilson Community College as the campus student engagement coordinator. She also serves on the State Advisory Council for the North Carolina Community College Student Government Association.

Caitlin previously worked as the student activities coordinator at Wilson Community College.

She also earned her master’s of science in higher education leadership and administration from Capella University, graduating in December of 2017.

In September of 2014, Stephanie Riffle Bouwer ’13 started at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and is on track to graduate in May of 2020 with a degree in osteopathic medicine.

Previously, Stephanie worked as a child development center volunteer with the Children’s National Health System and as an ED scribe at Sibley Memorial Hospital in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

Melissa Bowman Marcia ’14 is currently studying at University of Maryland, College Park to earn her master’s degree in public health (epidemiology).

She expects to graduate in May of 2019. Currently, she is employed by ICF as the bilingual AIDSinfo logistics coordinator.

From June to August of 2014, Melissa worked as the occupational health and safety intern at the Centro Humanitario Para los Trabajadores. Some of her work from this experience was presented at the 2014 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting and Conference in New Orleans.

In September of 2017, Sarah Jablon ’16 moved to Cuenca, Ecuador where she now works as a teacher at the CEDEI

Foundation. In the school where she teaches English as a Second Language, Sarah has four classes total: two with beginnerlevel children and two with intermediate-level teenagers and adults. She keeps a blog detailing her experiences in Cuenca, where she will remain until June of 2018. If you want to read more about her experiences you can find her blog here: http://lettersfromcuenca.com/blog/. Before working as a teacher in Cuenca, Sarah worked as an intern for NYU Press. She continues to pursue her interest in writing as a freelance writer for Bay Weekly magazine and hopes to continue to write, looking for more freelancing opportunities, throughout her time in Ecuador.

Ian Schwenke ’17 is currently serving in the Peace Corps in West Africa in Benin. He is posted in a small rural village called Tosso, near the larger town of Quesse in Benin. He teaches English to middle and high school aged students.

When he isn’t teaching, he is working on side projects for the community and school. Right now, in particular, he is working to collect English children’s books. He began his work in the Peace Corps in June 2017 and will continue there until September of 2019.

Alex Shoen ’17 [7] is currently working at Disney’s Animal Kingdom doing research on hormones in the lab there. She is a part of the display in the Education Station. Her next move will be to Canada; there she’ll begin a master’s program in biology at the University of Manitoba, where she will research shark and ray endocrinology.

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C ONNECT ION

Stephanie Simmons ’05 and Tanner Chesney [4] were married on October 8, 2016 in the Liriodendron Mansion in Bel Air, Md. B. Grant Simmons ’05 officiated the wedding. The couple honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico.

Stephanie works as an attorney

BRIAN THRELKELD

Lisa McQuighan Jordan ’05 and Sean Jordan [2] were married March 5, 2017 in Tucson, Ariz. Among the weddings guests were Stephannie Hall ’05, Jennifer Nikolich ’05, Jonathan McNally ’05, Ryan McQuighan ’05 and Sara

Doria MacKenzie ’05 and Trent Frazier [3] were married September 17, 2016 in Camden, Md. Kate Dugan ’05 was a bridesmaid. The couple honeymooned in Big Island and Kauai, Hawai’i. Doria is an organizational change management consultant with Slalom Consulting. Trent is the executive director for academic engagement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. They live in Alexandria, Va.

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Lianne McGillen ’07 and Brandon Miller [5] were married on July 21, 2017 on the Sacagawea Peak of Glacier National Park in Bozeman, Mont. Marka Fenske Latif ’07 was in attendance. Lianne and Brandon hiked to the top of Sacagawea Peak for the ceremony with immediate family and the couple honeymooned in the park. A reception was held in Snow Hill, Md. in October. In addition to Marka, the reception was attended

by SMCM alumni Liz Lewis ’07, Rachel Markey’07, and Megan Farley ’07.

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MEREDITH PERDUE

Kate McCarty ’04 and Andrew Smith [1] were married June 28, 2017 in Peaks Island, Maine.

Elizabeth Hunter ’93 and Christopher Redlack ’92, the bride’s sister and brother-in-law, were included in the wedding party. The couple eloped and then celebrated with a party in September. They honeymooned in Tuscany, Italy. Kate is a community educator at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Andrew is the manager of the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland’s ReStore. They live in Portland, Maine.

with Bonner, Kiernan, Trebach & Crociata, LLP. The couple lives in Norwell, Mass.

TINA KRAEMER WITH PURE IN ART PHOTOGRAPHY

& UNIONS

McQuighan ’05. The couple honeymooned in Sedona, Ariz.

Lisa is a research manager at Nielsen, where she will be celebrating ten years in the media research industry this fall. Sean is a cardio-thoracic surgery fellow at Temple University. They live in Philadelphia, Pa.

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Jessica Staples ’08 and Michael Vogt ’07 [6] were married on May 15, 2010 in North Cape May, N.J. and honeymooned in Alaska.

Alumni who attended the wedding included Michael Sheehan ’08 and Nicole LeBeaux ’07. The couple resides in Tall Timbers, Md. Alexandra Scott Bowden ’09 and Michael Bowden ’11 [7] were married June 24, 2017 at Weatherly Farm in Newburg, Md. Included in their wedding party were alumni Jackie Killebrew ’09, Kiely Murphy ’09, Alex Besore ’10, Lisa Daciek ’08, James Davenport ’13, and Johann Jones ’11. The wedding was well attended by St. Mary’s alumni as well. The couple honeymooned in Negril, Jamaica. Allie is a former teacher and is now and background investigator. Michael works as a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley. They live in Fulton, Md.

KIRSTEN GETZ

MARRIAGES

ABBY GLOVER

ALU M NI

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4 5

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DAVID STUCK PHOTOGRAPHY

TED S. WARREN

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8

9

7

TED S. WARREN

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KATHRYN LYNNE PHOTOGRAPHY AT HOUSE OF REDBIRD

LAURA WIGGINTON MOORE ’09

ZACK GLENN, BOW TIE PHOTO

Megan Lantz ’11 and Andrew Krzys ’13 [8] were married July 14, 2017 in Southampton, Bermuda. Michael Bargamian ’13 attended the wedding. Megan works as the department chair of social studies for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. Andrew is a teacher for Baltimore City Schools. They live in Chestnut Hill Cove, Md.

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Lucia Randazzo ’11 and Andrew McGowan [9] were married July 22, 2017 at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Nate Venditta ’11, Cori Wentworth ’12, and Shannon Lockwood ’11 were all members of the wedding party. Among the wedding guests were Adam and Natalie Wisneski ’09, Thomas Perkins ’09, Ross Mark ’08 and Lydia Garcia-Mark ’11, Echo Presgraves ’12, Shannon Hammerlund ’14, Emily Gershon ’12, and 2011 alums Anina Tardif-Doughlin, Rosa Trembour, Maddie Jackson, Brooke Austin, Brian Van Parys, Amir Reda, Megan Seeman, and Lindsey Johnson. The couple honeymooned in Antigua. Lucia works for the Department of Defense.

Andrew works for NOAA. They live in Baltimore, Md. Caitlin Cromer ’12 and Brendan Loughran ’12 [10] were married May 20, 2017 at Caitlin’s family home on the Wye River in Queenstown, Md. The wedding was well-attended

by St. Mary’s graduates, as both parents of the groom are also alumni of the college.

The couple honeymooned in Hermitage Bay, Antigua.

Caitlin is the program lead for PPS-Exempt Cancer Hospitals Quality Reporting Program

10

at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Brendan is a health insurance specialist at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. They live in Halethorpe, Md. Elizabeth Pinkus ’14 and Benjamin Baker ’14 [11] were married July 15, 2017 in the St. Mary’s Garden of Remembrance. Both spouses will be changing their last name to Bear. Professor Katy Arnett ’00 officiated the ceremony.

Other alumni wedding guests in attendance included Katie Jennings ’14, Ginger Williams ’14, and Julia Gardner ’14, along with current student Camern Pinkus ’21. Elizabeth is a high school government teacher. Benjamin researches psychosocial effects of Alzheimer’s disease at UPenn. They live in Wilmington, Del. Alison Curry ’16 and Jeremy Ruthvin [12] were married on October 24, 2017 at the Four Seasons in Baltimore, Md. Other alumni in the wedding party included Jessica Konecke ’16, Kira Westbrook ’16, Alexandra Rogalski ’16, and Kari Schweiger ’16. Jeremy proposed to Alison in the Garden of Remembrance. Professor Adriana Brodsky was also in attendance at the wedding.

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BIRTHS& ADOPTIONS

To Rachelle Lashof Cutrufello ’06 and Nick Cutrufello ’04, a son, Lorenzo Nicholas Cutrufello [1], born February 28, 2016. “Enzo” joins big brother Augie. The family resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

To Emily Nelson Ringholm ’07, and Alexander Ringholm, a son, Carl Asher Ringholm [2], born on September 16, 2017. Emily works as a Medical Secretary for Rehab Station in Stockholm, Sweden, where the family resides.

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To Tiffany Deutscher Soderholm ’07 and Justin Soderholm, a son, Liam Brian Soderholm [3], born July 16, 2017. Liam joins big brother Noah, age 2. Justin works as a bilingual history teacher at Williamsburg High School for Arts and Technology in Brooklyn, N.Y.; Tiffany is a history teacher at Perth Amboy High School in Perth Amboy, N.J. The family lives in Avenel, N.J. To Meghan Sullivan Neumeier ’08 and Andy Neumeier, a daughter, Anja Rose Neumeier [4], born June 30, 2017. Meghan works as a speech-language pathologist for Springfield City Schools; Andy is a brand manager for Miracle-Gro at the Scotts Miracle-Gro Company.

The family lives in Dublin, Ohio.

To Katie Siguenza Sushinsky ’09, MAT ’10 and David Sushinsky ’02, a son, Noah James Sushinsky [5], born December 22, 2017. Katie works for the St. Mary’s County

Public School System as an instructional resource teacher; Dave is the director of alumni relations at the College. The family resides in Drayden, Md. To Sola Ogundele ’10 and Jahree Strong, a son, Jordan Grant Ogundele Strong [6], born on October 25, 2017. The family resides in Baltimore, Md.

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IN MEMORIAM Brenda Lee Carroll Hanson ’73, of Dameron, Md., died on November 8, 2017 at the age of 66. She grew up in Dameron and on John Deere tractors and lawn mowers. After graduating from St. Mary’s College, she ran Carroll’s Equipment with her father and brother for 40 years. She was known for her friendly smile and helpful disposition at the shop. In addition to her husband, Brenda is survived by her son Matthew and his family as well as four siblings.

Reflections

and I am proud that I was once a student there.

BY LES THOMAS, a member of the class of 1967, after his return to St. Mary’s College for his 50th class reunion, June 2017

T

he weather was exceptional, the waterfront picturesque, and the campus was beautiful though the St. Mary’s campus that I attended was much smaller (practically fully contained on the river side of Route 5). The college that was there then has grown into something amazing. Calvert Hall (then a men’s dorm), the old classrooms (Anne Arundel Hall, the old one), the student center (first in the basement of the gym, then the new building across the

left: Les Thomas yearbook photo from 1967. right: Les at the 50th class reunion in June 2017

highway), Queen Anne Hall (now with air conditioning and hot water), the old gym and Miss May’s cottage were all that was St. Mary’s then. Today’s St. Mary’s is quite impressive

The class of 1967 has done well from what I could gather from the short conversations of the day. We have several classmates that went on to earn their PhDs, that were executives in corporations, were educators, have been part of the secret world of unspoken government agencies, been successful in developing their own businesses, a world class chef, a llama rancher, a haunted-house creator and we have several who went to war. We have gotten older but remembered quite fondly how much fun we had and how important and rewarding our time was at St. Mary’s College of Maryland 50 years ago.

Alumni Weekend is June 7-10, 2018. See inside back cover for a list of alumni events in 2018.

Supporting tomorrow’s students today Planned gifts are an important source of scholarships and financial aid for St. Mary’s College students. Creating a planned gift is a flexible and customizable way to make a philanthropic impact for students.

Easy and popular planned gifts include bequests, gifts of stocks and bonds, charitable gift annuities (these gifts pay you!). Let’s make a plan.

Lawrence P. MacCurtain ’11, MBA Major Gifts and Planned Giving 240.895.4403 lpmaccurtain@smcm.edu www.smcm.planmygift.org

St. Mary’s College | THE MULB ER RY TR EE | winter 2018 | 27

F RO M

T H E

ARC H I V E S

USING PRIMARY SOURCES TO ADDRESS A DIFFICULT TOPIC

By Kent Randell, College archivist and assistant librarian

St. Mary’s Female Seminary, the predecessor institution of St. Mary’s College of Maryland, was founded by legislation in 1840, during the era of slavery, and many have wondered about the seminary’s connection to slavery. This research question is made more difficult by records being destroyed by several fires, including, the 1924 fire of Calvert Hall and the 19thcentury fires of the Trinity Episcopal Church rectory, the St. Mary’s County Courthouse, and the home of former Trustee, George Frederick Maddox. “Chattel Records,” which are very helpful when researching this question, are no longer extant for St. Mary’s County. Complicating this research question is the fact that, as a state-owned institution, the Seminary was not assessed taxes. Our first set of Board of Trustees minutes do survive (1845-1854), but do not specifically mention slavery.

In 1850, the decennial United States Census was conducted in St. Mary’s County in September and includes the Seminary.

On SCHEDULE I (free persons) the steward Priscilla Greenwell, who was “responsible for all property,” is listed at the head of the Census while the principal Eliza M. Ohr is listed second (although her surname is incorrectly stated as Greenwell). On SCHEDULE II (enslaved persons), Priscilla Greenwell (as steward) is listed as owning six enslaved individuals, though this schedule does not record the names of the enslaved, only their demographic information. These individuals were owned by the Seminary and listed under the steward.

After an exhaustive search in several archives and courthouses this is, to date, the only record of slave ownership uncovered.

After this discovery, the archive consulted with the College’s administration and

28 | St. Mary’s College | T H E MU LBERRY TREE | winter 2018

President Tuajuanda C. Jordan, as well as the College’s African and African Diaspora Steering Committee. The College presented these findings to the public in February 2017 as part of a gallery exhibition, which in addition to art works by students of color, contained exhibits related to primary sources and the institution of slavery. The landscape of slavery has already been incorporated into the curriculum, with students looking into St. Mary’s County

primary sources in the Historical Methods class, with this work being continued in Introduction to Archives and Information Science course. Symposium classes which specifically address the institution are offered by Professors Garrey Dennie, Julia A. King and Iris Ford. As archivist, I sit on the College’s Slave Quarter Commemoration Committee. I am proud of being part of an institution that is so boldly looking into and confronting this difficult chapter of history.

above: Schedule I of the 1850 United States Census of St. Mary’s County listing free persons at St. Mary’s Seminary and enlargement showing Priscilla Greenwell as Steward. below: Schedule II of the 1850 United States Census of St. Mary’s County listing enslaved persons and slave owners.

answer to last edition’s photograph query, oldest to newest: 8, 7, 2, 5, 4, 1, 3, 6. Melissa (Krebs) Wales ’85 was the first person to e-mail me the correct answer. Great job, Melissa!

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE

of Maryland

Calendar of Events Adventures in Anthropology with Emad Khalil January 31 @ 4:45 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Chris Cahill (GWU) January 31 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

W INTER 2 0 1 8 , VOL. X X X IX , NO . 1

www.smcm.edu/mulberrytree Editor Lee Capristo Design Jensen Design Photographer Bill Wood Editorial Board Karen Anderson, Michael Bruckler, Lee Capristo, Kate Cumberpatch ’17, Missy Beck Lemke ’92, Nairem Moran ’99, 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 2018 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.

Neuroscience Seminar Series with Gina Fernandez February 5 @ 4:45 p.m.

Goodpaster Hall 195 Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Wai Hom (Johns Hopkins) February 14 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106 Visiting Anthropologist Lecture with Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz February 20 @ 4:30 p.m.

Cole Cinema, Campus Center Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Dustin Reichard (Ohio Wesleyan) February 21 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106 Distinguished Scholar Lecture with Laura Ahearn February 26 @ 4:45 p.m.

Cole Cinema, Campus Center Lunchtime Artist Talk with Lydia McCarthy February 27 @ noon Glendening Annex

“Spring Awakening” directed by Mark A. Rhoda February 28 @ 8:00 p.m.

March 1-3 @ 8:00 p.m.

March 4 @ 2:00 p.m.

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall An Evening to Honor the Legacy of Lucille Clifton March 1 @ 7:30 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons Open Studio with Lydia McCarthy and Patrick Brennan March 7 @ 4:45 p.m.

The Artist House on Mattapany Road Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Nick Loehr (Va Tech) March 7 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

VOICES Reading Series with Kai Davis March 29 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture with Amy Cheng Vollmer March 29 @ 4:15 p.m.

Cole Cinema, Campus Center Lunchtime Artist Talk with Diana Abells ’11 April 3 @ noon Glendening Annex Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Michael McGowan (Smithsonian) April 4 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

“Beyond the Sunset” conceived and directed

by Amy Steiger April 18-21@ 8:00 p.m.

April 22 @ 2:00 p.m.

Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall The 12th Annual Twain Lecture with comedian, actor, writer Tig Notaro April 20 @ 7:30 p.m.

Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena Admissions Open House April 21 @ 9:30 a.m.

Michael P. O’Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena Bay to Bay Service Days April 21-22

2018 CALENDAR Spring Break-a-Sweat | April 14

Commencement May 12 @ 10:00 a.m.

Townhouse Green

Alumni athletes from the fall and winter sports head back to campus to reconnect with one another, meet the current student-athletes and enjoy their reunion games. Registration opens February 1.

Alumni Weekend June 7-10 St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Bay to Bay Service Days | April 21- 22

VOICES Reading Series Presents Writers’ Harvest with Ruth Irupé Sanabria March 8 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons

Presidential Lecture Series with David F. Sanger “Where Does America Go from Here?”

April 6 @ 7:30 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall

The Washington Post’s Kathleen Parker “Can’t Stand Election Suspense?

Why Wait?”

March 22 @ 7:30 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall

VOICES Reading Series “Knocking on the Door of the White House: Latina and Latino Poetry in Washington D.C.” April 12 @ 8:15 p.m.

Daugherty-Palmer Commons

River Concert Series 20th Season featuring the Chesapeake Orchestra Fridays, June 22 – July 20 @ 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, July 21 @ 7:00 p.m.

Townhouse Green

Natural Science & Mathematics Colloquium with Michael Haley (Univ. Oregon) March 28 @ 4:45 p.m.

Schaefer Hall 106

GOP Strategist/Former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie “The Political Scoop” April 12 @ 7:30 p.m.

Auerbach Auditorium of St. Mary’s Hall

Governor’s Cup Yacht Race August 3-4 Annapolis to St. Mary’s College of Maryland

Alumni have organized service projects from Annapolis to the San Francisco Bay to gather together and give back to their local communities. Registration opens February 15.

Alumni Weekend | June 7-10

It’s our biggest alumni celebration of the year!

Whether it’s been 50 years, 25 years, or just a year since you’ve been back to St. Mary’s, we hope to see you this June. Registration opens March 15.

Governor’s Cup | August 3-5

Held annually in early August, Governor’s Cup Yacht Race, now celebrating its 45th running, is the oldest and longest running overnight sailboat race on the Chesapeake Bay. Registration opens on June 15.

Hawktoberfest | October 19-21

At the College’s homecoming celebration, over 1,000 alumni and parents join the current students on campus for a full weekend of activities and entertainment. Registration opens August 15.

Giving Tuesday | November 27

During this 24-hour campaign, the campus community rallies together to give back to St. Mary’s on this global day of giving. Help make this the most impactful year ever!

Alumni, families, and friends of the College are welcome to all events! Register at

www.smcm.edu/alumni or (240) 895-4280

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

ST. MARY’S COLLEGE of Maryland

WINTER 2018

PHOTO BY GRETCHEN PHILLIPS

UNEARTHING THE PAST: DISCOVERIES REVEAL A DIFFICULT TRUTH [ PA G E 8 ]

Giving Tuesday: A Stunning Success!

Giving Tuesday took place on Nov. 28 and it was a record-setting day for St. Mary’s College. The goal of 600 donors was easily surpassed when 1,411 donations catapulted the total amount raised to $239,589, more than $86,000 over last year’s Giving Tuesday total of $152,799. The most generous gift came

from former Associate Dean of Academic Services Don Stabile, who pledged a total of $100,000. Additional milestone pledges came from Donna L. West ’76 and Jeanne Brady Saum ’88 and Jack Saum ’89. New this year, the College’s Alumni Council $10,000 Video Challenge in which student clubs and teams shared why they love St. Mary’s College. The winning video was submitted by the varsity sailing team. View the video here: https://bit.ly/2APeIR3