St. Mary’s College of Maryland will launch the St. Mary’s Athenaeum this fall, a new signature institutional platform designed to advance scholarship, intellectual engagement, civic dialogue and public leadership while reinforcing the College’s identity as the National Public Honors College.
An athenaeum is traditionally an institution devoted to the promotion of literary or scientific learning. St. Mary’s Athenaeum will build on that tradition by creating opportunities for students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the broader community to engage with ideas, scholarship and perspectives that illuminate important questions facing society.
Throughout the 2026-27 academic year, the College’s Essential Question, “What is community?” will provide an intellectual throughline for these conversations. The question will be explored from different disciplines, experiences and perspectives through programs and activities across the College.
“The St. Mary’s Athenaeum reflects what it means to be the National Public Honors College,” said St. Mary’s College President Rhonda Phillips, Ph.D., FAICP. “It gives us a way to bring scholarship, dialogue and different perspectives together around questions that matter. This year, our Essential Question invites us to consider what community means, how we create it and what responsibilities we have to one another.”
The Athenaeum will launch during the 2026-27 academic year with two components that provide different opportunities for intellectual exchange and exploration of the Essential Question: the President’s Colloquium Series and SMCM Community Hour.
President’s Colloquium Series
The President’s Colloquium Series will bring nationally recognized scholars, artists, scientists, authors, jurists, diplomats and public leaders to St. Mary’s College for conversations about significant issues through the lens of the liberal arts and the public good.
The series will launch Nov. 10 with the Goodpaster Lecture, featuring Henrik Syse, a Norwegian philosopher, author and research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Syse’s scholarship examines ethical questions related to armed and societal conflict, including the ethics of war, peace negotiations, free speech and religion. He served on the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Nobel Peace Prize, from 2015-20, including four years as vice chair.
Syse’s appearance also extends a growing connection between St. Mary’s College and Oslo. Phillips and three St. Mary’s College faculty members participated this summer in the inaugural Partners in Peace Oslo Peace Congress at the Nobel Peace Center, engaging in international conversations about peacebuilding, civic engagement, democratic leadership and conflict resolution.
SMCM Community Hour
SMCM Community Hour will begin in September, establishing a regular forum for conversation and shared learning among the College and broader community. The inaugural program will feature St. Mary’s College students reflecting on their interdisciplinary study visit to Buenos Aires earlier this year. It offers an opportunity to explore the Essential Question, “What is community?” through their experiences in another country and culture learning about community well-being at an international convening.
President Phillips will host and moderate the event, joined by Argelia González Hurtado, associate professor of Spanish and Latin American studies and chair of women, gender and sexuality studies, and students who participated in the Buenos Aires visit: Daniel Biller ’27, a double major in psychology and neuroscience; Stella Manns ’28, a biochemistry major; and Pillar Dyson ’27, a psychology major.
Beginning in October, Community Hour will be held once a month on Tuesdays through May, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. in Daugherty-Palmer Commons. Community Hour will bring together students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members to explore timely issues, consider diverse perspectives and connect scholarship and lived experience to the Essential Question.
“The Essential Question is not something we intend to ask just once and be done," Phillips said. “It is an invitation to keep exploring throughout the year. The Athenaeum gives us opportunities to bring different people, disciplines and experiences into that exploration and to learn from one another along the way.”
The Athenaeum also builds naturally on Phillips’ longstanding scholarship in community development, quality of life and community well-being, while creating a broader institutional platform for intellectual exchange across disciplines. Its inaugural year will invite the College and broader community to examine “What is community?” through scholarship, lived experience and perspectives from St. Mary’s College and around the world.
As the initiative develops, the St. Mary’s Athenaeum will provide additional opportunities to showcase faculty and student scholarship, connect the College with distinguished thinkers and public leaders, and extend intellectual and civic engagement beyond the classroom.
Additional information about the President’s Colloquium Series, SMCM Community Hour and future St. Mary’s Athenaeum programs will be announced throughout the academic year.
