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President: Tuajuanda C. Jordan, PhD
Breaking Bread - Breaking Chains
November 2016
Breaking Bread - Breaking Chains at St. Mary’s College of Maryland was organized and initiated by Katharina von Kellenbach, professor of religious studies. On Sept. 27, the Keti Koti Table Foundation on behalf of St. Mary’s College of Maryland introduced for the first time in the United States, a formal Keti Koti Dialogue Table with “Breaking Bread – Breaking Chains” dinner dialogue at the College. The Dutch tradition was established over the last ten years to commemorate the abolishment of Dutch slavery in 1863 and to reflect upon the legacy of slavery in our lives.
A newsletter for the community, faculty, staff and students.
The program was facilitated by Mercedes Zandwijken and Machiel Keestra, the Belgian developers of the Keti Koti Dialogue Table. They were invited by Professor Katharina von Kellenbach, who met the pair during her sabbatical year at Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. The Keti Koti dialogue table brings together an equal number of black and white participants, inviting them to exchange their personal experiences and ideas on freedom, identity and the consequences of the shared history of slavery for all. The series of rituals and facilitated dialogue creates a safe and intimate environment which makes participants confident to share sensitive experiences and feelings. In addition to Breaking Bread – Breaking Chains, the foundation hosted a 24-hour Racial Reconciliation Relay where each hour a different pair of diverse people engaged in facilitated dialogue on their personal experiences and thoughts regarding the shared history of slavery and its aftermath.
More than 60 students, faculty, staff and community members from the Arts Alliance participated in the meal, prepared by Bon Appétit. “The format of one-on-one conversations framed by ritual actions, such as chewing bitter wood, listening to “songs of sorrow” (performed under the direction of Larry Vote), and rubbing away of the sorrows of the past with coconut oil, created an intimacy in which people could share truthful stories about their lives,” concludes Katharina von Kellenbach. “I believe these keti koti events set the ground for meaningful exchanges and alerted the white participants to the need to recognize the virulent reality of racism in the lives of their black conversation partners. What became very clear was the need for active solidarity and personal accountability in the face of this ongoing history of the exploitation of black people.”
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
Anne Arundel Hall Dedicated Along with Courtyard Construction of the $34 million project began in July 2014 and the new facility opened for classes on August 29, 2016. Anne Arundel Hall represents a unique partnership between the College, the State of Maryland and Historic St. Mary’s City. It provides research and learning space for students, faculty and staff in anthropology, museum studies and international languages and cultures. The hall also houses the Center for the Study of Democracy. During the dedication ceremony on October 15, President Tuajuanda C. Jordan announced the naming of the Gail Harmon Courtyard, honoring the Board of Trustee member’s thoughtful leadership, visionary philanthropy and committed service to the College.
SMCM Physics Program Highlighted in National Report The SMCM Physics program is highlighted as a role model in the report, “Phys21: Preparing Physics Students for 21st Century Careers.” The report, published by the Joint Task Force on Undergraduate Physics Programs (J-TUPP) and convened by the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), selected the College as one of five case studies of successful, innovative physics programs. SMCM is highlighted in examples of the physics faculty’s use of assessments to truly measure innovations; keeping in touch with alumni; embedding career exploration into first year courses; giving administration value for the money; using assessments to measure innovation; and conducting exit surveys with students majoring or minoring in physics.
F ac ulty R es earch S po t l i g h t :
Kirsten Deane-Coe
What’s So Special about Dryland Mosses? Kirsten Deane-Coe (asst. prof. of biology) was awarded $130,079 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Dimensions of Biodiversity Program. She will be working with collaborators to investigate the drivers of diversity in an ecologically important clade of dryland mosses. Reprinted below is an overview of the research project, submitted with the grant application to the NSF.
Mosses are the second most diverse group of land plants and they play important ecological roles in terrestrial ecosystems. Since an early divergence from other plants some 450 million years ago, mosses took a different path to solving the challenges posed by terrestrial environments. One important trait that is well developed in mosses is the capability of drying without dying, or desiccation tolerance (DT). This critical trait allows many mosses to survive and reproduce even in drylands, and may be the key to their survival in the face of rapid climate change. Syntrichia is a large and diverse genus of mosses occurring worldwide and generally in dryland habitats. Despite their dominance in certain communities such as biological soil crusts, surprisingly little is known about the drivers of biodiversity in this clade. The proposed interdisciplinary project integrates research from genomic, organismal, population, and community levels of organization in order to build a robust understanding of past and present dimensions of biodiversity in Syntrichia. The overall goal is to understand the evolutionary
and ecological mechanisms that have produced and maintained diversity at these different levels of organization. The approach will include examining tradeoffs between asexual and sexual reproduction and between phenotypic plasticity and canalization into specialized genotypes. The study of mosses yields a valuable model system that can broaden our understanding of the drivers of land plant biodiversity. Mosses such as Syntrichia are an ecologically important component of dryland ecosystems in semi-arid regions. In these environments, moisture availability is a ubiquitous stressor and selective force. The proposed multifaceted approach will generate an integrated assessment of how the genetic, phylogenetic, and functional biodiversity within Syntrichia are both shaped by evolutionary forces and expressed physiologically. This will allow a deeper understanding of how mosses impact the function and resiliency of communities and ecosystems they inhabit. A comprehensive approach can also serve as a model for future efforts to uncover the drivers that control biodiversity in other plant systems. The results will also have far reaching implications for other areas of plant biology including agriculture.
Specimens of three of the 15 North American Syntrichia species to be studied under the NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity grant. Credit: Theresa Clark, Kirsten Deane-Coe.
What’s Happening in Sports Hoops season is here! Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams open up on November 15. The men, under the direction of 12-year head coach Chris Harney, host Penn State Altoona while the women, under the direction of sixyear head coach Crystal Gibson, travel to The Catholic University of America. The Dan Greene Memorial Invitational takes place on Nov. 18-20 with the women playing Friday and Saturday and men’s action happening Saturday and Sunday.
How Do You Like the View from Here? Visitors to St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s website can take a self-guided tour of campus using the interactive 360º panorama tool developed in partnership with Panoplanning.com based in Lusby, Md. Using drone technology, Panoplanning.com captured panoramic and ground level views of the SMCM campus. SMCM is the first college to use the pilot program. Currently there is a panoplanning tool using this technology for Solomons, Md. and one for Leonardtown, Md. is forthcoming. By clicking on icons above each location on the panoramic view, visitors will see a ground view image of the location, a brief description and links to more information on the College website.
With the images available on the interactive 360º panorama tool, visitors can find not only where they would like to go once they are on campus, but also have a visual of what it looks like.
Welcome to Fudan University Students & Scholars Four undergraduate students from Fudan University in Shanghai, China started classes this fall at St. Mary’s College of Maryland as part of the Fudan exchange program. Yixin “Vincent” Chen, Zhiwen “William” Hu, Zixin “Sally” Wang and Maixin “Maxine” Zhang are here for the fall semester and visiting professor Qi “Grace” Chen is here for the academic year. This is the first year students from Fudan have come to the College. Typically, through the exchange program— initiated in 1981 by former professor Henry Rosemont and continued by English Professor Bruce Wilson— two to five St. Mary’s College students go to Fudan each year in exchange for a visiting scholar.
Kudos to... Julian Erville ’17 will represent St. Mary’s College of Maryland on Sunday, Nov. 6, at George Washington University in the final round of the Jiangsu Cup, a Chinese speech contest open to undergraduates and graduate students in the Greater Washington Metropolitan area who have studied Chinese. Troy Townsend (asst. prof. of chemistry & biochemistry) was awarded $100,000 by the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program. Townsend will be working with SolarTech, Inc., a Southern Maryland based start-up company, to develop a proof-of-concept process of printing efficient and stable solar modules using a materials printer. Carrie Patterson (prof. of art) had her exhibition “Light Box: New Work by Carrie Patterson” run through Oct. 28 at Mary Baldwin College’s Hunt Gallery in Staunton, Va. Patterson’s artwork considers how color, form and line metaphorically measure the human condition.
Nona Landis ‘11 recently published a research article in the journal South Asian Popular Culture entitled, “Diasporic (dis)identification: the participatory fandom of Ms. Marvel” which examines Marvel Comics’ decision to recast their heroine Ms. Marvel as a Muslim, PakistaniAmerican teenager. Landis is a doctoral candidate in English at the University of Miami in Oxford, Ohio. Todd Eberly (assoc. prof. of political science and coord. of public policy studies) was an invited guest analyst for the vice presidential and presidential debates on CNBC on Oct. 3 and Oct. 19. He spoke on “rigged elections.” Eberly also spoke on that topic for the Capital News Service on Oct. 19. Thanks to the Network Services Team led by Bob Brown, who completed the most significant campus network upgrade in ten years. Upgrades included replacement of wired network switches along with a massive overhaul of the College’s wireless network. The new wireless brings all academic and office buildings up to the latest wireless standards, increasing security, coverage and capacity.