St. Mary's College of Maryland
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St. Mary's College of Maryland |
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| Established | 1840 |
| Type | Public coeducational liberal arts college |
| President | Jane Margaret O'Brien |
| Faculty | 134 |
| Undergraduates | 1950 |
| Postgraduates | N/A |
| Location | St. Mary's City, Maryland, USA |
| Campus | Rural, 315 acres (approx. 1.3 km²) |
| Colors | Blue, Gold, & White |
| Nickname | Seahawks |
| Website | http://www.smcm.edu |
St. Mary's College of Maryland, established in 1840, is a Maryland public liberal arts college in the United States and is designated as a Public Honors College (the only one in the state of Maryland and one of only a few around the U.S.). It is a small college, with fewer than 2,000 students. The institution offers baccalaureate degrees in 20 disciplines, with psychology, biology, and economics being among the most popular.
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[edit] History
St. Mary’s College of Maryland – today’s four-year, liberal arts college – came into existence (on paper only) by an act of the Maryland State Board of Higher Education in 1966. The first bachelor’s (B.A.) degrees were awarded in 1971.
The predecessor institution was St. Mary’s Seminary Junior College (1949-1968), and before that it was St. Mary’s Female Seminary Junior College (1927-1949). Both of these “junior colleges” were actually the last two years of high school plus the first two years of college, making up a four-year institution. After finishing at St. Mary’s with an associate in arts degree (A.A.), girls from that period would often continue on to a university, study for two more years, and receive their B.A.
The original St. Mary’s Female Seminary was founded by an act of the Maryland legislature in 1840. It was a boarding school that included the elementary grades as well as grades 9-12. But education did not go beyond the 12th grade. Occasionally, boys from the neighboring areas were allowed to take classes.
In 1840, the word “seminary” meant only that it was an academy, a high school, not a religious institution. In fact, St. Mary’s was established by the legislature to be strictly non-denominational.
The institution was not named for Saint Mary herself but for St. Mary's City, the colonial site of Lord Baltimore’s experiment in religious toleration.
For roughly the first 100 years (1840-1937) the head of the institution was called a “principal.” When the school received accreditation as a junior college and became part of the Maryland state budget in 1937, the term “principal” was changed to “president.”[1]
[edit] General information
The campus borders the St. Mary's River. St. Mary's College was designed as a "living monument" to the first settlers of St. Mary's City, which was the first capital of Maryland and the fourth oldest permanent settlement in British North America, founded in 1634. The school became a public institution in the 1960s as part of a deal to make gambling illegal in the state.[citation needed]
St. Mary's, although a state-operated institution, is independent of the University System of Maryland; it opted out of the system in 1992 during a state-wide fiscal crisis. The school does participate in the consortium of Maryland public colleges and universities (USMAI), through which library materials from 16 institutes are accessible. In early 2006, St. Mary's joined the University of Maryland Academic Telecommunications System (UMATS), which interconnects the University System of Maryland with several other networks, including the Internet and Internet2 networks.
St. Mary's mascot is the Seahawk, which is a nickname for the ospreys that can be found nesting in the near off-shore areas. The school colors are Royal Blue, Yellow Gold, and White. The Seahawks compete in NCAA Division III. St. Mary's athletics are recognized for the storied varsity baseball team and the nationally-ranked varsity sailing team.
The school has a leadership cohort named after Paul H. Nitze, a former trustee of the college, for students with histories of leadership and academic success. Members of the Nitze Scholars Program[2] receive a $3000 per year stipend and must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher in order to remain in the program.
[edit] St. Mary's Sailing
St. Mary's College has three different sailing teams on campus, a sailing club, and a windsurfing club. The Varsity Sailing Team and Offshore Sailing Team both compete in intercollegiate events around the country and occasionally in international regattas held in venues such as Europe. The Keelboat Sailing Team competes in racing events held by One Design or PHRF (Handicap) organizations in the Chesapeake Bay and other East Coast locations.
[edit] Sailing fleet
Keelboats
- 1997 Taylor 40 ML
- 1999 Henderson 30
- 1982 Olson 30
- 36 FJs
- 6 420s
- 2 Larks
- 2 Techs
[edit] Sailing team accolades
St. Mary’s College of Maryland has a long history of sailing championships. Currently, the women's team is ranked first in the nation by Sailing World magazine and the co-ed team is ranked eleventh. In 2004, the College won the annual Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA)/Layline North American Team Race Championship. In 2006, the women's team won the Atlantic Coast Championship, defeating many venerable schools, including Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, and the U.S. Naval Academy. Since 1991 the college has won 11 national sailing championships and produced more than 100 ICSA All-American sailors.[3]
[edit] College culture
- The Green Door is a long-time favorite off-campus bar for students and professors. The Green Door is owned by alumni of SMCM.
- On May Day it is a tradition for students to ride or run naked on the bike paths, usually down to the water front.
- Students may be tossed by their friends into St. John's Pond, the pond that divides the campus. This practice is called "ponding," and it generally marks a special occasion, the most common being a birthday.
- Hallow-Greens is an annual all-student costume event. While the college offers no planned events for October 31, it is an on-campus alternative for students considering driving off-campus during Halloween.
- The shoe tree is a tree located on campus near the Dorchester and Prince George dormitories with several dozen pairs of shoes hanging from it. Traditionally, students are supposed to throw a pair of shoes into the tree when they have sex for the first time.
- On Easter, students (traditionally seniors) spray paint cans of National Bohemian beer, colloquially known as Natty Boh, and hide them around campus for underclassmen to find.
- The Cardboard Boat Race takes place during Homecoming/Parent's Weekend. Teams must make a boat entirely out of materials provided for them (cardboard, plastic, and balsa wood) and race it in a small loop on the St. Mary's River by the college boathouse and docks. There are cash prizes for the winners. Unlike most of the traditions listed here, the cardboard boat race is college sponsored.
- World Carnival weekend, midnight breakfast, frisbee golf, sailing, ultimate, and kayaking.
[edit] Notable faculty
- Jane Margaret O'Brien, the first female president of the college as a four-year institution when she was appointed in 1996.
- Lucille Clifton, poet and one-time finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
- Michael Glaser, current poet laureate of Maryland.
[edit] Notable trustees
- Benjamin Bradlee, Vice President at Large, The Washington Post.
- Steny Hoyer, U.S. Representative, House Majority Leader of the House of Representatives.
- Gary Jobson, professional sailor.
- William Donald Schaefer, former Governor (1987-1995) and Comptroller of Maryland (1999-2007).
[edit] Notable organizations
- The varsity sailing team is often ranked among the top sailing teams in the country. With the school's location on the St. Mary's River, on the Chesapeake Bay (the world's largest estuary and a top sailing destination), and access to high-end sailing craft through donations, the sailing team has won many accolades such as the Intercollegiate Sailing Association National Championships in 2002.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Paul Reed Smith, renowned luthier. Class of 19??
- Michael McMahon, environmental attorney. Class of 19??
