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Southern Maryland Folklife Center Presents Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, June 23-25, 2021

The Southern Maryland Folklife Center will present the first annual Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops at St. Mary’s College of Maryland this June 23-25, 2021. Attendance registration is required by visiting https://www.somdfolklife.org/.

During the three-day event, workshops will be offered celebrating and supporting community-based living cultural traditions of Southern Maryland. The workshops will culminate in a public exhibition and celebration event at the College’s Boyden Gallery. Workshops will take place from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and from 1:30 – 4:30 p.m. each day. Registration costs are $10 for one workshop, $20 for two workshops and $30 for four workshops. A separate music and dance performance and Historic St. Mary’s City excursion are also available for $10 each.

Choose from an array of folklife workshops:

  • SOMD genealogy
  • History of wampum
  • Contra dance
  • History of bluegrass
  • Small farm entrepreneurship
  • Stuffed ham two-day event
  • Landscape painting
  • African American hair
  • Learn a folksong

This year, the Southern Maryland Folklife Summer Workshops will maintain a hybrid approach with both virtual and in-person offerings. The latter will adhere to the State of Maryland’s guidelines, including face coverings and social distancing. In person workshops will take place at the Jamie L. Roberts Stadium, River Center, Goodpaster Hall and Montgomery Hall on the St. Mary’s College campus, along with Trinity Church Parish Hall.

The summer workshops will be the backbone of the newly formed Southern Maryland Folklife Center, which is part of the Maryland State Arts Council’s (MSAC) Folklife Network. This summer’s event is funded by the MSAC’s “Maryland Traditions” program.

For more information, email somdfolklife@gmail.com.

Professor of Art Sue Johnson Awarded a 2021-22 Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Maker-Creator Research Fellowship

Professor of Art Sue Johnson will be in residence for one-month to carry out collection research for her project, Woman, As Advertised, which focuses on 19th and early 20th century material culture sources for the creation of new works for her on-going project, Hall of Portraits from The History of Machines. She explains the importance of the process of research that informs her creative work that “mining the archive is like building a time machine; I look at the material culture of the past as a way of understanding what has come into being in our contemporary times.“

The Maker-Creator Fellowships are designed for artists, writers, filmmakers, horticulturalists, craftspeople, and others who wish to examine, study, and immerse themselves in Winterthur’s vast collections in order to inspire creative and artistic works. Fellowships include a research award of 1750.00 per month and access to Winterthur’s museum, garden, and library collections that focus on American life from the 17th through the 20th centuries. Fellows share their work by giving a public lecture and gain new perspectives from others on site, including librarians, curators, conservators, students, and other fellows.

About Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library: http://www.winterthur.org

According to the website, “Almost 60 years ago, collector and horticulturist Henry Francis du Pont (1880–1969) opened his childhood home, Winterthur, to the public. Today, Winterthur (pronounced “winter-tour”) is the premier museum of American decorative arts, with an unparalleled collection of nearly 90,000 objects made or used in America between about 1640 and 1860. The collection is displayed in the 175-room house, much as it was when the du Pont family lived there, as well as in permanent and changing exhibition galleries.”

Image: Sue Johnson, exhibition view of Briinng and Western Electric Sculptura ‘doughnut” telephone, Hall of Portraits from The History of Machines, 2021, Workhouse Arts Center.

Professor Patterson and Assistant Professor Cai Named 2021 Independent Arts Award Recipients by Maryland State Arts Council

Professor of Art Carrie Patterson and Assistant Professor of Photography Tristan Cai are 2021 recipients of the Independent Arts Awards presented by the Maryland State Arts Council. In addition to the recognition, both will receive grants to support their continued artistic growth. Patterson will receive a regional grant of $2,000 to recognize promise, and Cai will receive an award of $10,000 to recognize notable artistic achievement.

“As an artist and educator, I am always in the practice of communicating ideas, both visual and verbal. And it feels really good when the objects I make have a positive impact on other people,” said Patterson. “This award affirms my commitment to continue making work in Maryland and it feels good to be recognized by my peers as a Maryland artist.”

“The award encourages me to take more creative risks in my art practice and to dive deeper into the research-based works that I have been creating. I also want to thank MSAC and my colleagues for all their support,” said Cai.

This year’s awardees were chosen from a pool of 540 applicants through a public panel process. With this year’s awards focused on visual and media arts, 2021 awardees represent a wide range of artistic talents from all across the state, from painting, ceramics, and works on paper to digital media, film, and installation. Click here for the full list of winners.

Awardees will be highlighted during the virtual Maryland Arts Awards event at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 16. Visit marylandartscouncil.eventbrite.com for more details.

Professor Julia King Receives Prestigious Fellowship in Landscape Studies from Dumbarton Oaks

Julia King, professor of anthropology and chair of that department at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, has been awarded a prestigious residential fellowship at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Washington, D.C.

Administered by the trustees for Harvard University, Dumbarton Oaks supports research and learning in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies through fellowships, internships, meetings, and exhibitions.

King will spend her fellowship researching the experiences of Indigenous communities in the Rappahannock River valley in eastern Virginia between 1500 and 1900, linking these experiences to the river valley’s Native landscape. Using the extensive archaeological database assembled during the College’s recently concluded NEH-funded project in the Rappahannock valley, King will draw on Dumbarton Oaks’ extensive library holdings to place the finds in their greater context. The fellowship will allow King time to prepare a book exploring how the Native Rappahannock communities negotiated settler colonialism over the course of four centuries.

“The Dumbarton Oaks Library holds one of the most extensive collections anywhere of published and unpublished materials on landscape, including Indigenous landscapes,” King noted. “The opportunity to have access to DO’s holdings for the fellowship period will enhance my understanding of the Native landscapes my students, staff, and I have been studying over the last decades.”

King is an anthropological archaeologist who has 30 years’ experience researching, studying, and teaching about the Chesapeake region’s rich past and its relationship to the present. She is a past president of the Society for Historical Archaeology and the recipient of the Society’s 2018 J. C. Harrington Award in recognition of her scholarship and contributions to the field of historical archaeology. Her work has also been recognized by the Archaeological Society of Virginia and the Register of Professional Archaeologists.

Associate Professor of Chemistry Kelly Neiles and Team Invited to Join Inclusive Excellence Learning Community

Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry Kelly Neiles, along with colleagues at SMCM, 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. Neiles stated that she and her team “are excited for the opportunity this will provide the College both in terms of educating ourselves on this important topic, and also in positioning ourselves to gain future support for this work”.

The following individuals helped Neiles develop the proposal to HHMI:

  • Katy Arnett, Professor of Educational Studies, Faculty Advisor for Accessibility Services, and Coordinator of Transparent Teaching & Assessment
  • Chris Burch, Senior Developer/Architect in the Office of Information Technology
  • Emily Casey, Assistant Professor of Art History
  • Tayo Clyburn, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion/Chief Diversity Officer
  • Samantha Elliott, Director of the Center for Inclusive Teaching & Learning and Associate Professor of Biology
  • Gili Freedman, Assistant Professor of Psychology
  • Josh Grossman, Professor of Physics
  • Argelia Gonzalez Hurtado, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies
  • Shanen Sherrer, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
  • Christine Wooley, Associate Dean of Curriculum and Associate Professor of English
  • Diego Tibaquira Professor of Computer Science at Miami Dade College

The Inclusive Excellence Learning Community will be organized in two phases. Phase 1 of the Learning Community will:

  • help members apply an inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist lens to their continued self-study,
  • hold one another accountable as members develop inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist approaches to address selected challenges, and
  • help inform HHMI’s development of Phase 2.

Neiles’s team will participate in a learning community cluster with approximately 14 other teams from other institutions, focusing on evaluation of inclusive teaching. Two other clusters will concentrate on content of the introductory science experience, and effective partnerships between 2- and 4-year institutions.

An essential element of an inclusive stance is a commitment to dismantle institutional structural racism. HHMI also promotes moving from a scarcity mindset that emphasizes competition to an abundance mindset that embodies collaboration and community. By the end of Phase 1, HHMI’s goal is for each institution to be ready to develop an inclusive, equitable, and anti-racist approach to address their selected challenge and have a community to rely on as they implement their ideas and strategies. HHMI will host meetings throughout Phase 1 so that the cluster members can convene and process their learning together.

St. Mary’s College Chemistry and Biochemistry Professors Among Authors of ACS Symposium Series Book

To address the national need of professional skills training for chemists and biochemists, seven faculty members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry authored seven chapters for a recently released American Chemical Society (ACS) Symposium Series book, “Integrating Professional Skills into Undergraduate Chemistry Curricula.”

Contributors from St. Mary’s College of Maryland included Assistant Professor Geoffrey Bowers, Adjunct Professor Ruth Bowers, Assistant Professor Daniel Chase, Professor Andrew Koch, Professor Pamela Mertz, Associate Professor Kelly Neiles, and Assistant Professor Shanen Sherrer.

The department’s complete professional skills curriculum—which spans the first year, first semester course all the way through upper level courses—is described in five chapters of the book, for which Neiles and Mertz—along with Justin Fair of Indiana University of Pennsylvania—served as editors. Authors from nine institutions besides St. Mary’s College contributed chapters.

The book defines professional skills as “non-technical skills needed to be an effective chemist/biochemist including, but not limited to, career skills (job searching, resume writing, networking, and having a professional mindset), scientific thinking (critical thinking, problem solving, and big picture thinking), scientific identity development, learning skills (self-regulated learning, initiative, study strategies, etc.), communication skills, and interpersonal skills such as teamwork, collaboration, and leadership development.”

The professional skills curriculum written by the St. Mary’s College co-authors was developed by all chemistry and biochemistry department members as part of the Council of Undergraduate Research (CUR) Transformations Project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF-DUE 1625354). Programs involved in the CUR Transformations Project are revising four-year undergraduate curricula in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology to integrate high-quality undergraduate research experiences.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland is one of only 12 institutions selected by CUR for its Transformations Project, a four-year project now in its final year. A team of several faculty and staff members at St. Mary’s College is participating. Mertz and Neiles lead the chemistry and biochemistry team, while Aileen Bailey, professor of psychology,  leads the psychology team.

Neiles and Mertz said that while the CUR project is focused mainly on undergraduate research, the College’s move toward its Learning through Experiential and Applied Discovery (LEAD) initiative laid the foundation for the chemistry and biochemistry department to take a closer look at using methods from the CUR project to incorporate program specific professional skills into its curriculum.

“I think those two coupled together, the CUR Transformations Project and what was happening on the campus, is how we ended up here, to be honest,” Mertz said.

Neiles said she and colleagues began presenting what their department was doing to incorporate these skills into their programs and noticed colleagues and students from other institutions taking an interest. “That’s when I knew we had something,” she said.

The recently published book was developed from a symposium planned for the 2020 National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia that would address each of the chapters as a talk; however, it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The value of the content was such that the ACS continued with the book project.  Neiles said the symposium will run virtually at the upcoming spring ACS meeting.

The book is timely as the ACS Committee on Professional Training is working on new guidelines for professional skills and competencies and the book could help guide programs at other institutions on how to incorporate this training into their curricula.

Neiles and Mertz explained that it is notable that the vast majority of the writing, review process, and editing happened during the pandemic.

“To say we are all proud is an understatement,” Neiles said.

Challenges brought on by the pandemic served to test the contributors’ own professional skills as they worked to meet deadlines while adjusting to professional and personal changes brought on by COVID-19.

Neiles and Mertz said the co-authors and editors were very supportive of each other during the entire process and were determined to have the project completed by year’s end.

“I found that being able to support each other by accepting where the other person was on any given day ended up being incredibly important. There were days where co-authors just couldn’t do any writing due to family, COVID, and just life complications. Nobody got frustrated with each other. We just picked up the baton on days we could and let others pick it up on the days we couldn’t,” Neiles said.

Reflecting on her own experiences with a challenging spring semester and personal life, Mertz said she was extremely happy to see this book being published in 2020, as the accomplishment was a much needed “shining light” on a very difficult year.

For more information on ACS or the ACS Symposium Series book, “Integrating Professional Skills into Undergraduate Chemistry Curricula,” go to acs.org.

Assistant Professor Brownlee Awarded Collaborative Research Grant from NSF

Assistant Professor of Biology Emily Brownlee was recently awarded a $21,840 grant from the National Science Foundation for her project titled: Collaborative Research FSML: PhytoChop: An estuarine phytoplankton observatory (Award Number: 2022966). The two-year award began August 1, and will help fund Brownlee’s collaborative research with the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES- Horn Point Laboratory).

With this grant, the researchers will establish the PhytoChop Coastal Observatory, an advanced autonomous instrument array designed to monitor the composition and photosynthetic activity of the phytoplankton community, together with water column nutrient and optical properties. The PhytoChop Coastal Observatory will be housed at Horn Point Laboratory’s research pier situated on the Choptank River, a tidal sub-estuary of the Chesapeake Bay.

Brownlee will be responsible for setting up and analyzing instrumentation data, and will help curate and expand the imaging library. Furthermore, Brownlee will coordinate with her collaborators at UMCES to synthesize results from the integration of Imaging FlowCytobot data with other PhytoChop instrumentation.

I’m excited to be a part of founding one of the first observatories to combine high-resolution plankton imaging and plankton health measurements at very small timescales. Along with measuring environmental parameters, this can provide unprecedented insight into how phytoplankton, such as those contributing to harmful algal blooms, are responding to long-term environmental and climate change. To have such an observatory on the Chesapeake Bay is a long-time dream of mine and I look forward to integrating observatory data into my courses and supplying St. Mary’s Project students with a lot of data in years to come!

 

Professor Julia King Awarded Archeology Grant from National Park Service

Professor of Anthropology, Julia (Julie) King, was recently awarded a $110,000 grant from the National Park Service to fund a complete archeological overview and assessment of Piscataway Park in Prince George’s County, Maryland. This project will be conducted through a Cooperative Agreement under the Chesapeake Watershed Cooperative Ecosystems Study Unit. The Cooperative Agreement was signed August 14, 2020 and the project is expected to be completed by December 31, 2021.

Piscataway Park is a unit of the National Park Service administered by National Capital Parks—East. The park is located in Southern Maryland along the banks of the Potomac River. This park is significant because of the rich archeological resources located within the park and their impact on our modern understanding of Native American societies in the Eastern Middle Atlantic. Situated approximately 25 miles downriver from Washington D.C., lands within the park were home to the Potomac Valley’s indigenous inhabitants for thousands of years—dating as far back as 6,000 years ago and through the 1500s. Among the occupants were the Piscataway Indians of Southern Maryland whose ancestors still live nearby today.

Piscataway Park is the greatest resource of pre-contact and contact period American Indian archeological resources in the National Capital Region of the National Park Service. The park has been the subject of several archeological investigations, but there has never been a synthetic report of this work or a formal organization of this material for management needs. The scope and breadth of existing archeological collections also lend themselves to addressing future research questions related not only to the history of Piscataway Park, but also the Native American communities that once lived there.

The archeological overview and assessment will describe and assess the known and potential archeological resources at Piscataway Park. The overview reviews, summarizes and synthesizes existing archeological data in detail, assesses past work, identifies gaps in our understanding of the archeological data, and determines the need for and recommendations for future studies. The document will be a core baseline archeological resources management reference for the National Capital Parks—East unit. This project will also critically examine and evaluate museum collections from archeological sites in the park to assist in understanding the history of the park. Furthermore, this work will develop recommendations for future research for management of park resources and public education. Julie King is the Principal Investigator for the project, with Scott Strickland (’08) serving as Research and GIS Coordinator. The grant also includes funding for an assistant archaeologist, likely to be an SMCM alum, and two student assistants.

Pending available funding, King and NPS may continue the project into 2022 and beyond with a new cooperative agreement. Additional work will likely entail reviewing and assessing archaeological collections, completion of updating state site forms, and updating archeological site condition assessments for the National Park System’s online Cultural Resources Inventory System. Further work may also involve the production of a publicly accessible document (excluding sensitive archeological information) that will provide a detailed history of the Native American experience as linked to Piscataway Park, along with a Finding Aid/Collections Assessment document to complement the Archeological Overview and Assessment Document.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland Receives Scientific Equipment Grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation

St. Mary’s College of Maryland announces a SEP Phase XV Scientific Equipment grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation to support, improve and broaden the access and impact of undergraduate science education at the College.

This grant will supply the equipment to establish two new laboratory spaces on campus, a fabrication laboratory and an imaging center, as well as the acquisition of observational astronomy and chemical imaging equipment that will support and expand current curricular and research offerings to both science and non-science majors.

Engaging students through experiential learning is a major component of the College’s new Learning through Experiential and Applied Discovery (LEAD) initiative. Through LEAD, faculty work across disciplines to blend together a thoughtful and purposeful academic experience for students with hands-on learning opportunities intertwined with credit-bearing professional skill development courses.

“We are grateful to the Sherman Fairchild Foundation for investing in St. Mary’s College of Maryland as we continue to work toward integrating practical and professional skills for students through our LEAD initiative promoting success beyond college,” said President Tuajuanda C. Jordan.

Scientific equipment like that provided through the grant from the Sherman Fairchild Foundation also enables the College to recruit and retain more talented high school students to the College by increasing and diversifying undergraduate research and hands-on learning opportunities for both science and non-science majors.

The St. Mary’s College of Maryland Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization that supports the College through sound fiscal management of a growing endowment portfolio. It is governed by a board of directors that gives its expertise and time in service to the College without compensation.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the National Public Honors College, is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education through 2024-2025. St. Mary’s College is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 1,600 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland.

Professors Grossman and Johnson Awarded Grant to Recruit Future Physics Teachers

Professor of Physics Josh Grossman

Professor of Physics Josh Grossman and Professor of Educational Studies Angela Johnson were recently awarded a $24,749 grant from the American Physical Society to participate in the APS project titled: PhysTEC: Building a Solution to the National Physics Teacher Shortage. The grant is pass-through funding originating from a large grant with the National Science Foundation (Award Number: 1707990). The two-year award began July 1 and will help expand preparation of physics teachers at SMCM by pairing formalization of the Physics Teacher Education Program with recruitment activities and more high-quality early teaching experiences.

Angela Johnson headshot

Professor of Educational Studies Angela Johnson

The physics program at SMCM has achieved high-profile successes in several areas of student education. The College’s Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program and its alumni have likewise received accolades. Still, the two programs have not yet realized their potential for preparing more physics teachers.

United States school districts consistently list physics as a discipline with a considerable shortage of high school teachers. With this funding, Grossman and Johnson will work with the SMCM physics and educational studies departments to formalize a Physics Teacher Education Program, informed by standards  presented in the American Physical Society’s Physics Teacher Education Program Analysis. Grossman, Johnson and collaborators will recruit high school students matriculating to SMCM, along with current SMCM undergraduate students to the new program. In addition to visiting high schools, STEM festivals, and similar events to reach high school students and more explicitly including the Physics Teacher Education Program and teaching careers in the physics career curriculum, Grossman and Johnson will formalize classroom assistantships into a Learning Assistant program and increase pay for these early teaching experiences to make them more attractive.

Grossman commented, “With this project, we’re expanding opportunities for students, helping them see the advantages of a career teaching physics, and making the path to that career more attractive.”

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