Julia King, professor of anthropology and the George B. and Willma Reeves Endowed Chair in the Liberal Arts, was recently named a National Humanities Center Fellow for the 2024-25 academic year. The fellowship will allow her to focus on her project, Land as Archive: An Indigenous Landscape History of the Rappahannock People of Tidewater Virginia.

“This is an incredible opportunity for which I am grateful to both the National Humanities Center and St. Mary's College for recognizing the importance of this project,” King said. 

Sophia Koontz '25, a junior biology major, was awarded the best undergraduate oral research presentation and the best interdisciplinary research for environmental challenges in the 2024 Sigma Xi Student Research Showcase. Koontz presented the work she did at SMCM during her 2023 St. Mary's Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) under the supervision of Assistant Professor Lorena Torres Martínez.

Biochemistry majors Kyle Murphy ’23 and Gabriela Miranda ’24 were inducted into the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) national honor society while presenting their St. Mary’s Project research at the 2024 ASBMB Annual Meeting on March 23-26 in San Antonio, Texas. Previous inductees from St. Mary's College of Maryland are Ashleigh Bonanno ’21, Christopher Baidoo ’22, Lauryn Ridley ’22, Jacob Wellek ’22 and Melinda Huynh ’23.

Surisitee Motiram ’23 has received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) Award for the 2024-2025 year from the U.S. Department of State. Motiram will spend a year in Colombia under the aegis of the program. They are the first SMCM student or alumnus to receive a U.S. Student Fulbright Award since 2016.

José Ballesteros, professor and chair of the Department of International Languages and Cultures, was the invited guest poet at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launch on April 11 of National Fair Housing Month. Ballesteros read two poems in Spanish from a set of five that he wrote, titled “Home Suites I-V” about his personal journey through the country and housing. The poems will be published on HUD’s website soon.

The Office of Public Safety is pleased to announce that Public Safety Officer Katie Ringdahl has been selected as our Officer of the Year for 2024.

Officer Ringdahl started her career with the Office of Public Safety in 2021. Officer Ringdahl possesses a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland Global Campus and an Associate of Arts in Social Sciences from the College of Southern Maryland. Officer Ringdahl is a Certified Instructor for RAD Self Defense and ALERRT Civilian Response to an Active Shooter.