Andrew Cognard-Black of the St. Mary’s College department of sociology recently was elected by the National Collegiate Honors Council membership to serve on the Board of Directors. Selected from a slate of 10 nominees, he will fill one of three vacant seats on the Council’s Board beginning this month.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s Black Student Union announces Brittany Packnett as the Second Annual Elizabeth Barber Walker Lecture guest speaker. Packnett’s lecture, “Building Bridges: An Intersectional Approach to Activism,” will take place on Thursday, Feb.

“Humanizing Histories: 7 Short Plays about Resistance,” a festival of 10-minute student-written performance pieces, opens on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. and runs through Sunday, Feb. 24 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.

The Office of the President presents “Nurturing the Compassionate Community: An Evening to Honor the Legacy of Lucille Clifton” on Friday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7:00 p.m.) in Daugherty-Palmer Commons. The event, co-sponsored by the VOICES Reading Series, is free of charge and open to the public.  The evening will feature poetry readings and reflections to honor St. Mary’s College’s former Distinguished Professor of the Humanities Lucille Clifton.