On Friday, April 16, St. Mary’s College of Maryland President Tuajuanda C. Jordan announced her inaugural Pandion haliaetus/Haliaeetus leucocephalus Professorship for junior faculty at the College’s annual Awards Convocation ceremony. During the virtual ceremony, she bestowed the honor onto 17 faculty spanning a wide array of disciplines.
The Pandion haliaetus/Haliaeetus leucocephalus Professorship is a two-year professorship presented to junior faculty who have been employed by the College for three to 10 years and who are exemplary teacher-scholars within their academic program areas. These honorees exceed standards in teaching and/or their scholarship/creative endeavor and at minimum meet standards for the other. These individuals are also good citizens of the campus community.
“St. Mary’s College of Maryland is on a clear path, through our new LEAD initiative, to provide more relevant programming that is attractive to new students, retains current students, and better prepares them for the more competitive 21st-century world,” remarked Jordan. “It is imperative that the College be able to attract and retain faculty who exemplify the teacher-scholar model that is paramount to our students' success and the long-term viability and vibrancy of the College.
“This honor is bestowed upon faculty who, Provost Mike Wick and I believe, are exemplars of the teacher-scholar model and epitomize our College ethos, the St. Mary's Way,” said Jordan. “The fact that we have 17 faculty in so many different academic departments speaks to the academic excellence one would expect at The National Public Honors College.
Recipients will receive a salary enhancement during the time of their professorship and a $10,000 stipend to support their scholarly and/or creative endeavor. There can be no more than two such awards in any department. When there are two, the more senior faculty member is the Pandion haliaetus Professor and the second honoree is the Haliaeetus leucocephalus Professor.
The inaugural Pandion haliaetus/Haliaeetus leucocephalus Professors are:
Emily Brownlee, assistant professor of biology (Pandion haliaetus)
Andrew Cognard-Black, assistant professor of sociology (Pandion haliaetus)
Torry S. Dennis, assistant professor of neuroscience (Pandion haliaetus)
Jeff Eden, assistant professor of history (Pandion haliaetus)
Gili Freedman, assistant professor of psychology (Pandion haliaetus)
Jerry Gabriel, assistant professor of English (Pandion haliaetus)
Liza Gijanto, associate professor of anthropology (Pandion haliaetus)
Cassie Gurbisz, assistant professor of environmental studies (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Argelia González Hurtado, assistant professor of ILC-Spanish (Pandion haliaetus)
SooBin Jang, assistant professor of educational studies (Pandion haliaetus)
Ellen Kohl, assistant professor of environmental studies (Pandion haliaetus)
George MacLeod, assistant professor of ILC-French (Pandion haliaetus)
Michelle Milne, associate professor of physics (Pandion haliaetus)
Kelly Y. Neiles, associate professor of chemistry (Pandion haliaetus)
Amy Steiger, assistant professor of theater studies (Pandion haliaetus)
Troy Townsend, assistant professor of chemistry (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)
Antonio Ugues Jr., associate professor of political science (Pandion haliaetus)
