St. Mary's College of Md. News Briefs

College Receives New Rowing Shell Named After President Jordan

With a ceremonial champagne pour, the St. Mary's College rowing team, now in its second year as a varsity sport, today christened the newest addition to its fleet.

Donated to the team by friend of the College and former Foundation Board of Directors member Dr. William "Bill" Seale, this eight-person rowing shell, named "President Tuajuanda C. Jordan," is slated to be the top boat for the women's team. The eight fastest women on the team will crew this new vessel.

"It will be an honor for crew members named to this new shell for race day," said coach Daniel Hagelberg.

The shell gifted to the College from Bill Seale will go a long way in helping the growing team. In its two years as a varsity sport, the rowing team has grown from 25 to nearly 50 athletes. Hagelberg thanked all those who have had a hand, including athletes, in embracing the vision he has had for rowing at St. Mary's College being among the best.

This gift to the Seahawk rowing program is not the first in generous gestures from Seale and is certainly not the first gift to impact the waterfront. Several years ago, he donated the sailboat "Riptide" to the waterfront program. He also ignited the College's $2.5M Capital Campaign Challenge with the first gift, provided support for the St. Mary's Undergraduate Research Fellows program, and established the William Seale Teaching and Learning Fund.

Hagelberg said Seale's gift represents more than just a boat as it ensures the team has top equipment in which to compete and seats for all who want to row at the College.

"This new boat is going to live in our boathouse, but it will be woven into the experience of rowers on this team for many, many years to come."

College to Waive Application Fee for First-Generation Students

St. Mary's College of Maryland will waive the application fee for any first-generation student who applies to St. Mary's College.

Per www.imfirst.org, a first-generation college student is defined as a student whose parent(s) have not completed a bachelor's degree. This means that that student is the first in his or her family to attend a four-year college to attain a bachelor's degree.

"First-generation students may not have the inherited understanding of the college application process that a multi-generation college family may have," said David Hautanen, vice president of enrollment management. "This action will ensure that we don't limit anyone's access to higher education."

"As a first-generation college student, I understand the overwhelming feelings students can have when starting the college application process," said Kristina Anderson, director of admissions. "This is one way St. Mary's College can simplify the application process for these students."

SMCM Ranked Among America's Top Colleges by Forbes

"St. Mary's delivers a lot of bang for the buck," according to a 2017 ranking by Forbes of America's Top Colleges. In fact, St. Mary's College is listed among the top 100 in Forbes Best Value Colleges, 58th in public colleges, 78th in liberal arts universities, and 91st in the Northeast.

According to Forbes, "St Mary's College of Maryland is the state's secular public honors college, located near the Chesapeake Bay. Only one of two schools designated as a public honors college nationally, St. Mary's features 25 majors and 28 minors—and 69% of students complete two of these programs. Among public schools, St. Mary's boasts some superior academic numbers, including a 10:1 student-faculty ratio."

St. Mary's College also was recognized recently as the fifth best public liberal arts college in the country by U.S. News & World Report, a 2017-18 College of Distinction, acknowledged in the 2018 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges, in The Best 382 Colleges review book by The Princeton Review, ranked one of the Best Colleges in Maryland by AdvisoryHQ News and among the "Best Colleges for Your Money" by Money magazine, and eighth best affordable out-of-state school by AffordableColleges.com.

William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night, or What You Will" opens in the Bruce Davis Theater

William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night, or What You Will" opens on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. and runs through Sunday, Nov. 12 in the Bruce Davis Theater, Montgomery Hall, on the St. Mary's College of Maryland campus. Ticket prices are $4 for teachers, students, senior citizens, and Arts Alliance members; $6, general admission. To make reservations, email the Theater Box Office at boxoffice@smcm.edu or telephone 240-895-4243.

Produced by the Department of Theater, Film, and Media Studies and directed by faculty member Holly A. Blumner, "Twelfth Night" is one of Shakespeare's most produced and celebrated romantic comedies. Chock full of gender-bending disguise, intrigue, unrequited love, and mischief-making, "Twelfth Night" appeals to all ages.

"Twelfth Night, or What You Will" performs Nov. 8—11 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. An informal talk-back with cast, crew, and director, moderated by Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Charlebois, associate professor of English at the College, follows the Saturday, Nov. 11 performance. Refreshments provided.

Anthropology Department to Host Prof. Jonathan Marks for Distinguished Scholar Speaker Series

The St. Mary's College of Maryland Anthropology Department will host Professor Jonathan Marks, University of North Carolina, for the lecture "Where Does Race Come From?" on Thursday, Oct. 26 at 4:15 p.m. in Cole Cinema, Campus Center. The event is free of charge and open to the public.

Marks will address the historical context of the development of the concept of race, in the 17th and early 18th centuries. He will review the patterns of human variation, and ask how science came to think incorrectly that there exist a few basic kinds of people, each associated with a continent. He will also discuss the biblical association between place, inhabitants, and mythic ancestors; and then examine the role played by mapmakers in graphically re-conceptualizing that association in the 1600s.

Anthropology Department to Host Prof. Martin Gallivan for Visiting Anthropologist Speaker series

The St. Mary's College of Maryland Anthropology Department will host Professor Martin Gallivan, College of William & Mary, for the lecture "The Powhatan Landscape" on Wednesday, Nov. 1 at 4:15 p.m. in Cole Cinema, Campus Center. The event is free of charge and open to the public.

The presentation will offer a new perspective on Chesapeake history by tracing the Native past from the arrival of Algonquian forager-fishers to the rise of the Powhatan chiefdom. The goal will be to shift the frame of reference from English accounts of colonial events toward a longer narrative of Algonquians' construction of places, communities, and connections in between. The archaeological record indicates that scholars' attentiveness to the English arrival in the Chesapeake has concealed a deeper, indigenous past in Tsenacomacoh, the Algonquian term for Tidewater Virginia.