Learn to Research Your Family Tree

Chestertown, MD, June 26, 2001 — Have you ever wanted to research your family tree but didn't know where to begin? The Friends of the Miller Library want to help. On Tuesday, July 17, 2001, at 9:30 a.m., Washington College will host "Genealogical Resources: How to Begin, What to Use, and Where to Go," a talk by Judith Hymes, who will teach the fundamentals of doing your own genealogical research.

Judith Hymes is the Technical Services Librarian at Washington College and Vice-President of the Upper Shore Genealogical Society of Maryland. She has over 30 years experience in academic libraries and in family genealogy with degrees and a certificate of advanced study from Mansfield State University, Drexel University and University of Pittsburgh. Hymes is a member of National Genealogical Society, the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, and other county, regional and family societies and associations.

This free program will be held in the Miller Library and is open to the public, but only a limited number of spaces are available. Please RSVP by July 13, 2001 to Nancy Nunn, Associate Director of Development for Annual Giving, at 410-810-7139. Individuals attending will be invited to stay and use the genealogical resources of the Miller Library after the presentation.

Dr. Wayne Bell to Co-Chair International Conference on Enclosed Coastal Seas

Chestertown, MD, June 5, 2001 — Dr. Wayne H. Bell, director of Washington College'sCenter for Environment and Society, will participate as program planning co-chair for EMECS 2001, the Fifth International Conference on the Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas, to be held November 19-23, 2001 in Kobe, Japan. The conference is organized by the International EMECS Center in Kobe, established to promote the preservation of Japan's Seto Inland Sea and the world's enclosed coastal seas through international cooperation and information exchange.

The EMECS concept developed in the mid-1980s when environmentalists, researchers and policymakers involved with the Chesapeake Bay realized the Bay restoration program was being implemented with little knowledge of the information, methods and results gained by other estuarine and enclosed coastal sea programs. Concurrently, Governor Toshitami Kaihara of Japan's Hyogo Prefecture had similar concerns while concluding a successful agreement among 17 Japanese jurisdictions for the environmental restoration of the nation's Seto Inland Sea. Kaihara sought to maintain the health of his region's principal coastal sea while networking with other researchers, educators and policy makers involved in the management of enclosed coastal sea environments.

"EMECS grew out of a common desire to learn from the experience of others and share what we learned for the benefit of environmental restoration programs throughout the world," said Bell.

Led by the late Dr. Ian Morris, former director of the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies (now the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science), an international group was assembled to examine the strengths and weaknesses of similar estuarine and coastal sea projects. Dr. Morris and Governor Kaihara met for the first time in 1987, and from their initial conversations, the EMECS concept was born and ultimately institutionalized by the creation of the International EMECS Center founded by Governor Kaihara in Kobe. EMECS now supports a worldwide network concerned with preserving the health and environmental quality of the planet's enclosed coastal seas.

Bell hopes to make undergraduate education in the environmental sciences an important part of the conference's discussions.

"We have discovered that studying the environment is a great way to teach science to undergraduates," said Bell. "In order to prepare a new generation to tackle the nation's and the world's environmental problems, we have to emphasize education, not only for the public, but for undergraduates interested in becoming environmental scientists, educators and leaders."

College Names Academic Resources Center in Honor of Jessie Ball duPont

Chestertown, MD, May 31, 2001 — Washington College has named the Academic Resource Center in Goldstein Hall in honor of the late Jessie Ball duPont. Consisting of the math center, the writing center and the study skills office, the Jessie Ball duPont Academic Resources Center recognizes Mrs. duPont's philanthropic spirit and support of the College through the generosity of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund.

The Jessie Ball duPont Fund makes grants to 323 eligible institutions identified by Mrs. duPont in her will. The Fund has assets of $320 million and has awarded $188 million in grants since 1977.

Since 1983, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund has awarded 18 grants totaling $1.8 million to Washington College for a wide variety of purposes. Among the key initiatives supported by the Fund are the environmental studies program and the new Center for the Environment and Society, internships with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, scholarships for non-traditional students, the development of a behavioral neuroscience concentration, and a joint program with Western Maryland and Goucher colleges to bring visiting African-American scholars to campus. Other grants from the Fund have included support for student/faculty collaborative research in the sciences and planning for the Campaign for Washington's College. The plaque recognizing Mrs. duPont will be on display in Goldstein Hall.

"In so many instances, the Jessie Ball duPont Fund has been a pioneering partner as we have developed new programs at Washington College," said Dr. John S. Toll, president of the College. "Mrs. duPont's vision, as carried out by the trustees of the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, has enabled the College to move in bold new directions to enrich our academic program. We are honored that the Fund President Sherry Magill agreed that the College should recognize Mrs. duPont's great contributions with the naming of the Academic Resources Center in Goldstein Hall."

Jessie Dew Ball was born in 1884 into a genteel Virginia family impoverished by the Civil War. Educated in a one-room country school and later at what is now Longwood College in Farmville, Virginia, she helped her father in his law practice. She later taught school in her home county until 1908, when she moved with her parents to San Diego, California. There she became assistant principal in the largest elementary school in the city and contributed to the support of her elderly mother and father.

In 1920, she reestablished an earlier friendship with Alfred I. duPont, whom she had met as a teenager when he came to Virginia on hunting expeditions at the turn of the century. They were married in 1921. Mrs. duPont was not only a devoted wife but also a constant companion and close advisor to her husband in both his business and charitable activities. When he died in 1935, she assumed control of his vast business enterprises in Florida and became the principal trustee of his estate. In his memory she created three foundations: one to build a children's hospital in Delaware; a second to assist needy persons in Florida, Delaware, and Virginia; and a third to recognize outstanding contributions in the field of broadcast journalism.

From the time of her marriage, Mrs. duPont focused her life on charitable and philanthropic work. For four decades she funded hundreds of scholarships for college students, mostly in the southeastern states. Her gifts to colleges and universities augmented faculty salaries and built libraries. Hundreds of churches of all denominations, major charities, children's homes, historic buildings, and art museums benefited from her gifts.

When she died in 1970, her will established the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable and Educational Fund to continue her philanthropic work. The principles and interests that she pursued during her life still guide the Fund today.

The Jessie Ball duPont Academic Resources Center is housed in Goldstein Hall, the College's newest academic building, named in honor of the late Louis L. Goldstein, Maryland's legendary comptroller and the nation's longest serving elected official. Goldstein Hall was built to meet the needs of the College's growing student population and houses three classrooms, five seminar rooms, two teaching laboratories, a 75-seat lecture hall, and 24 faculty offices, in addition to the Jessie Ball duPont Academic Resources Center