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President: Tuajuanda C. Jordan, PhD

WiSH - Women in Science House

March 2017

A WiSH for More Women in STEM Careers At the Women in Science House (WiSH) at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, members share a common purpose — supporting and encouraging women in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.

A newsletter for the community, faculty, staff and students.

About 16 to 20 women live in WiSH, one of three WiSH residents and faculty advisers value the Living Learning Centers at support network WiSH provides in and out of the classroom for women in STEM fields. the College. LLCs are an opportunity to immerse participating students in a “The support system WiSH particular field of study facilitated provides is important,” by faculty members to create a Jamieson says. “When you seamless learning environment look at the percentage of between in-class and out-of-class people who are actively experiences. being scientists in the real Along with WiSH there is the Eco House and the African/African Diaspora House. Students have an opportunity to receive credit through the LLCs and must apply to be part of them.

“The Idea is you’re not just going to your classes and going home; you are living and breathing the subject matter all the time,” said Liz Leininger, assistant professor of neurobiology and one of the faculty advisers for WiSH. Lindsay Jamieson, associate professor of computer science, is also a faculty adviser.

Co-leader with Oyin Odulaja ’17 at the WiSH LLC, Megan Le Savage ’17 is seeking a double major in biology and psychology.

She says, “WiSH gives students the opportunity to acknowledge the adversities associated with being a woman in the STEM field and provides the support necessary to overcome stereotypes. Being able to encourage and empathize with women who aspire to work in the STEM field has been a powerful experience.”

Through WiSH Teas, members of the LLC invite a professional in the sciences to the house for an informal meeting. These occur several times a semester and allow members to learn of the respective professional’s experiences, career path and any obstacles they overcame. These guests are typically female.

“Listening to the obstacles that they faced and how they persevered makes me believe that I can do the same,” says Le Savage. Michelle Milne, assistant professor of physics, was a guest for a WiSH Tea and will be a faculty adviser next year.

world, women are horribly under-represented and women from other ethnic backgrounds are horribly under-represented.”

Providing support and a sense of community is something WiSH can help with. One such outreach is through Math Girls Day, scheduled this year on April 1. Math Girls Day is an annual community outreach event WiSH hosts aimed at local middle schools. It’s an all-day event where participants work with college-aged students on math-related activities, have lunch in the Great Room and hear from a guest lecturer, a woman in the STEM field.

Other departments and clubs related to STEM at the college also participate in the event.

Jamieson said the event allows young girls to see a group of college women that are in math and science fields. “We can try to encourage them to stay in a STEM field beyond middle school, beyond high school, beyond college and as we have more and more of us that do it, there is a better chance of creating an environment in the real world that they are going to want to stay in.”

WiSH resident Odulaja ’17 values the experience. “I enjoy living in WiSH because not only is it a great way to bond and interact with other students and faculty here on campus, it is also a way to get involved within the St. Mary’s local community.”

Want More?

News, Student and Faculty accomplishments: www.smcm.edu/news Campus Events Calendar: www.smcm.edu/events/calendar 240.895.2000 | www.smcm.edu

Nurturing the Compassionate Community Sidney, Gillian and Alexia Clifton joined President Tuajuanda C. Jordan for “Nurturing the Compassionate Community: An Evening to Honor the Legacy of Lucille Clifton” on March 1. The event, presented by the President’s Office and the VOICES Reading Series, marked the occasion for the presentation of the Lucille Clifton Legacy Award to poet Yona Harvey, with appreciation to her nominator, poet Toi Derricotte. Both poets gave readings, with piano interludes performed by pianist Brian Ganz. The evening also included presentations of the President’s Lucille Clifton Award to Sybol Anderson (assoc. prof. of philosophy) and Ray Raley (operations manager, campus store) for embodying the spirit of Lucille Clifton and for nurturing the compassionate community at SMCM. Special thanks to Karen Leona Anderson (assoc. prof. of English) and Michael Glaser (prof. emeritus) for organizing the event and poetry readings.

Legislative Reception in Annapolis Welcomes a Crowd On February 2, the SMCM community welcomed Maryland’s elected officials for the annual Legislative Reception in Annapolis, hosted by Senator Steve Waugh of Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties. The 150 attendees included students, faculty, staff, board members, parents and more than 50 alumni.

Top: (L to R) Justin Hoobler ’19, President Jordan, Alli Graf ’17, Senator Steve Waugh. Below left: President Jordan (center) with the Honorable Sven Erik Holmes, chair of the College’s Board of Trustees (left), and Senator Steve Waugh (right). Below right: (L to R) Ame Roberts ’13, SMCM Foundation Board member Sherrie Robinson-Bailey ’81, SMCM Trustee Peg Duchesne ’77.

Spo t l i ght :

Karen Crawford, professor of biology You pioneered the popular axolotl program at St. Mary’s College. Why axolotls?

I started studying axolotls in graduate school and have had a colony at St. Mary’s since 1991.

They are remarkable animals with the ability to regenerate their arms, tails, gills, and spinal cord. In my lab, we study limb regeneration both independently and in collaboration with other laboratories to identify the molecular mechanisms that allow regeneration to occur and direct normal pattern. With this knowledge, the ideal is to apply what we learn to enhance human healing and regeneration.

How is research studying embryos and regeneration in animals important to understanding, and potentially helping, humans?

With the onset of molecular methods that allow us to “see” gene expression patterns in developing embryos and regenerating tissues, a handful of fundamental signaling mechanisms have come to light that seem to function in many different important processes, from embryogenesis to regeneration to cancer. As a result, studying a variety of early embryos, in addition to regenerating systems, allows scientists to compare their results and find common mechanisms to test to better understand how cells differentiate into the many tissues of the body. Studying limbs allows us to better understand wound healing, bone formation, limb patterning, as well as growth.

Was there a moment in your career at St. Mary’s College that was particularly significant in how you approach teaching undergraduates?

As a senior undergraduate zoology major at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, I asked to serve as a teaching assistant.

I was assigned a lab of 13 nonmajors for introductory zoology.

Halfway through the semester the department chair visited my lab to observe and invited me to teach in the spring semester. I returned in January to find my assignment had been changed from nonmajors to majors and from a lab

of 13 to 31! It was a large group to manage, but I loved every minute and with that experience I came to realize that if teaching could be part of my every day, that I would be a very lucky person.

Does your work in biology carry over into your interests outside of teaching and researching?

I have always been drawn to the outdoors. I enjoy just about anything outside. I cannot walk down a beach without picking up stones, shells, sea glass or fossils. After a day outdoors, there is always something in my pocket to think about. I also have a strong foundation in human health and medicine, and that knowledge base has helped me to help others and their families to weather and understand illness. Perhaps that has been my most important work.

If you had unlimited funding and equipment, what research project would you do?

In graduate school I created an in vitro assay that we called “affinophoresis” that distinguished cellular behavioral differences along the proximodistal axis (shoulder to fingertip or hip to toe) in regenerating salamanders.

Since then, that assay has been repeated by many and described in every developmental biology text book. If I had unlimited funds, I would like to determine the molecular mechanism driving the cell behaviors in that assay. It could provide insights into why salamanders can regenerate limbs and we cannot. Will we create treatments to enhance healing, to encourage nerve outgrowth and re-innervation of damaged tissues, to perhaps allow a joint to reform following trauma? Those are the goals I work towards with my students at St. Mary’s College.

Smiley is a 10-year old female axolotl in Crawford’s lab.

What’s Happening in Sports St. Mary’s College baseball has begun a new chapter in its history as Bernie Stratchko became the Seahawks’ skipper. The La Plata, Md., native was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Frostburg State University from 2012-2016. Stratchko has an undergraduate degree in exercise science and an MBA, both from Frostburg.

Check out the baseball schedule at www.smcmathletics.com.

Random Acts of Kindness Kindness is contagious. And it’s perfectly safe to catch. From February 13-17, the SMCM Staff Senate coordinated a Random Acts of Kindness Week, encouraging all members of the College community to participate by doing at least one random act of kindness each day. A big thank you to each member of the Staff Senate for helping to spread kindness.

Kindness cookies and sweets were a hit on 2/14, baked by Staff Senate member Lisa Smith and shared across campus.

Angie Draheim designed the “Kindness Matters!” logo made into pins that the Staff Senate handed out to kick off the week.

Daniel Pratson is Semi-Finalist for Fulbright to Malaysia Daniel Pratson ’15 is a semi-finalist for an English Teaching Assistant scholarship to Malaysia through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.

If selected, Pratson would spend approximately 20 hours per week in a classroom assisting English teachers and leading English activities.

In just over 20 years, 19 SMCM alumni have earned Fulbright scholarships.

Pratson became interested in applying for the Fulbright ETA scholarship after hearing from friend Griffin Canfield’14, who participated in the program in the Czech Republic.

“My coursework, professors, and peers at St. Mary’s helped me realize my interest in and ability to connect with others through experiential learning and teaching … the Fulbright would be a fantastic way to continue to develop my skills while immersed in a completely different culture and environment.”

Kudos to...

David Froom (prof. of music) had his composition, “Circling,” performed at the International Saxophone Symposium in Fairfax, Va., in January. The premiere of his composition for clarinet and piano, “Nightsongs,” will take place at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., on March 25.

Katie Gantz (assoc. prof. of French) accepted the permanent position of associate dean of faculty in February. Gantz had been in the interim position since May 2016.

Sandro Del Rosario (visiting asst. prof. of digital media/ animation) had his film “Lo Sguardo Italiano – The Italian Gaze” selected for the International Film Festival in Richmond, Va. The film looks back at his native country of Italy through an animated film made with more than 7,000 hand-colored, oil-painted photographs.

Garrey Dennie (assoc. prof. of history) attended the historic opening of the first international airport in his home country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Feb. 14. For the occasion, Dennie wrote an article, “An Apex Moment: From Diamond Airstrip to Argyle International, an Illustrated History of the Airports of SVG, 1932-2017,” published in the commemorative magazine of the same name.

J. Jordan Price (prof. of biology and Steven Muller Distinguished Prof. of the Sciences) and co-author Simon C. Griffith from Macquarie University, Sydney, had a paper published in the Royal Society Journal “Proceedings B.” The paper is titled “Open Cup Nests Evolved from Roofed Nests in the Early Passerines.”

Madeline “Maddie” Roth ’14 received the Cecilia Connelly Memorial Graduate Scholarship in Underwater Archaeology from the Women Divers Hall of Fame for diving related disciplines including marine biology, conservation, teaching, and underwater archaeology. Roth is currently an M.A. student in the Maritime Studies Program at East Carolina University.