Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry Kelly Neiles, along with colleagues at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, have accepted an invitation from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to participate in an Inclusive Excellence Learning Community. The award includes $30,000 to support participation in the Learning Community, which focuses on the evaluation of inclusive teaching and is meant to build capacity for inclusion of all students, especially those who have been historically excluded from science.

Serdar Ongan, visiting professor of economics at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, has six new publications in 2021:

“Monetary Policy Uncertainties and Demand for Money for Japan: Nonlinear ARDL Approach” in the Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, 26(1), 1-12 (SSCI);

Assistant Professor of Digital Art & Animation Jessye McDowell was one of four artists invited to create a new work for the Wassaic Project’s 2021 Winter Benefit, which took a novel form during the pandemic. Consisting of four events, the artists were paired with a collector of their work, who gave a virtual tour of their home and art collection. Each tour was a collaboration between the collector and the artist — with the collector exploring how the artist's work fits within their collection, and the artist exploring their creative process. 

The New Media Caucus, with St. Mary’s College of Maryland Assistant Professor Jessye McDowell serving as president, contributed programming that highlights innovative new media art and scholarship to the 2021 CAA conference, held virtually from February 10 - 13. The NMC has been an affiliate organization of CAA since 2003, when it was formed to promote the development and understanding of new media art; it was established as an independent non-profit organization in 2016.

Assistant Professor Geoffrey Bowers, Professor Randolph Larsen, and Associate Professor Kelly Neiles recently published a new scholarly laboratory model for upper level chemistry courses in the Journal of Chemical Education.  The model teaches students about the fundamental skills of a particular field in a first semester laboratory course, then puts the students in the research lab working on faculty scholarly work in second semester - one example of a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). 

Karen Crawford, professor of biology, has been appointed to the External Advisory Committee for the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN).

The VBRN is funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health to promote biomedical research in the state of Vermont. The External Advisory Committee for VBRN assists with the evaluation of proposed awards at participating institutions, faculty and student development within the network, and overall evaluation of VBRN itself. Crawford will sit alongside Board Trustee Peter Bruns on this advisory committee.

When St. Mary’s College of Maryland pivoted to address health guidelines early in the COVID-19 pandemic, it altered many aspects of campus life, but the College’s Student Government Association (SGA) stepped up to help in a big way for students both on and off campus. 

“Baltimore,” Kirsten Greenidge’s timely drama about racism on college campuses, opens virtually in Cole Cinema on the St. Mary’s College of Maryland campus with a live Zoom performance on Thursday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m. The show performs live on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. through Sunday, February 28.