Jane Margaret "Maggie" O'Brien announced today that she will step down as president of St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM), effective June 30, 2010, or when a new president takes office, whichever occurs first.  Over the next few weeks the College's Board of Trustees will define the search process for selecting a new president. After stepping down, O'Brien will continue to work for the College in further developing its relationship with the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS) in Oxford, England.  The CMRS is one of the College's signature study-abroad programs. St. Mary's College was one of the three founding Colleges whose students study at the CMRS for a semester in the special method of the Oxford tutorial.

"St. Mary's College has flourished under President O'Brien's leadership as Maryland's premier honors College.  She has contributed greatly to our advancement in scholarship, research, creative thinking and community engagement.  Just this week, the Princeton Review selected the College as one of its ‘50 Best Value Public Colleges for 2009,' which will be announced in USA Today and on NBC's Today Show. Her appreciation and commitment to world issues and cultures was a catalyst to the College's international development. Her enthusiastic support of the arts, music and athletics gave us the River Concert Series, the River Gazette, and a community commitment that is rare for a small, 2,000-student campus," said James P. Muldoon, chair of the SMCM Board of Trustees. 

"Maggie O'Brien spearheaded the expansion of St. Mary's College of Maryland into a nationally significant institution of higher learning during her tenure as president," said J. Frank Raley, retired Maryland State Senator and trustee emeritus of the College. "She was extremely successful in working with state legislators and four governors-Governors Schaefer, Glendening, Ehrlich and O'Malley-to orchestrate the funding and construction of needed facilities on campus which contributed to the College becoming a liberal arts school of the highest caliber. Her expansion of the study abroad program is essential to the kind of experience liberal arts students need today to compete in the global economy," he continued. "And, of course, the local community loves the River Concert Series, which she initiated along with Concert Master Jeff Silberschlag, Larry Vote, Torre Meringolo, Nell Hampton and Barbara Bershon.  Her tenure is a great success-just a great, great success."

During O'Brien's tenure, the College implemented a new honors College curriculum; a new core curriculum; a $40 million Heritage Campaign for scholarships, professorships, lecture and learning series, arts, athletic and community programs; and a $112 million building campaign. The advancement of the College's 10 international programs accomplished under her leadership was spurred by successive grants from the Mellon Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Japan Foundation, and the faculty-led initiatives to spawn programs in France, The Gambia, Italy, Argentina, Chile, Hong Kong, India and Thailand.

She also spearheaded The Center for the Study of Democracy in conjunction with Trustee Emerita Terry Rubenstein, Professor Michael Cain, Sen. J. Frank Raley and Vice President Torre Meringolo. The Center, which was the recipient of a $500,000 grant from the We the People Program of the National Endowment for Humanities, provides lectures in contemporary and historical topics and offers students the opportunity to serve as Maryland Heritage Scholars, William Donald Schaefer Scholars and Paul H. Nitze Scholars. The annual Benjamin C. Bradlee Lecture is also offered by the Center. Faculty from the College and researchers from Historic St. Mary's City (HSMC) also serve as Maryland Heritage Fellows through the Center.  The Center sponsors lectures that are free and open to the public, and brings prominent politicians, political observers and journalists to the College. 

The affiliation between the College and Historic St. Mary's City is a powerful story that has captivated the imagination of governors, legislators and local citizens.  The College and HSMC developed the $65-million Maryland Heritage Project and received the support of former Gov. Parris Glendening and Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend to build a joint enterprise for the benefit of those interested in the story of Maryland's birth. Democracy studies, museum studies, and an expanded archaeology program with Maryland Heritage Scholars and Fellows are among the outcomes of the academic programs born of the affiliation. O'Brien credits the groundwork of a cadre of committed local citizens for inspiring interest in the stories that today are better known as Maryland's legacy. 

O'Brien said that she draws the most pride from students' accomplishments and from those of the faculty and her team of colleagues. "Over the years, I've taken great personal satisfaction from working with our amazingly smart, creative, and caring student body. Our students have an intense sense of community, which is fostered by our faculty. Their concern for each other, the larger community, the environment and, indeed, the world has been a source of great pride and inspiration to me," said O'Brien. "I'm also proud that our diverse student body has thrived in the intimate learning environment fostered by our superb faculty. One can just look to the number of our students who have made commitments to volunteering in the Peace Corps and in government service as evidence of our collective success. In fact, the Peace Corps ranked us ninth out of 28 small colleges in the nation for per-capita alumni volunteerism. Our volunteerism rate placed us in the top ten."

The CMRS was founded in 1975 to establish in Oxford a permanent institute for the interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and to provide academic training for overseas students who wish to complete part of their undergraduate education in Oxford, either over a semester or full-year residency at the CMRS. In addition to the academic learning environment, Oxford boasts one of the world's leading research environments and is one of the most important university teaching and research centers in the world.

St. Mary's College of Maryland values its special relationship with the CMRS, which provides students and faculty a unique opportunity to study and conduct research abroad. The number of SMCM students enrolled in the CMRS program has risen in the past year from under 10 to almost 50. The CMRS summer faculty development seminars will also grow to include at least 15 professors from SMCM. The College is one of only a few institutions with a resident program in Oxford. The others are the University of Georgia, Stanford University and Williams College.