Campus Getting Back on Track After Hurricane Irene Blows Through

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2011, 9 p.m.---Washington College employees should report to campus with normal work hours Monday, August 29. Those who for any reason are not able to get to campus should contact their supervisors. Any employees still affected by the aftermath of the storm should make safety a priority.

Students should return to campus Tuesday, August 30. For students who have not yet received their room keys, check-in will be available starting at 8 a.m. in the Casey Academic Center.

Classes will begin Wednesday morning, August 31.

EARLIER POSTINGS:

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 1 p.m.––Early assessments indicate that the Washington College campus has come through Hurricane Irene relatively unscathed. Some small trees have been uprooted and many limbs came down. There has been minimal flooding reported thus far.

The Minta Martin residence hall where all remaining students were housed overnight never lost power. The dorms in the “Western Shore” section of campus lost power temporarily but are currently restored to the grid.

Strong wind gusts were still occurring at midday, so anyone on campus is urged to use caution when venturing out and to avoid walking beneath trees. Branches and root systems weakened by rain and wind may still create hazards.

The two chimneys on historic properties (one at Hynson-Ringgold House, the other at the Custom House) had been stabilized in anticipation of the storm and are still standing. No flooding was reported at the Custom House or at the College boathouse.

IMPORTANT: Students who are not already on campus may not return until Tuesday morning, August 30. Check-in will begin at 8 a.m. This ban on earlier arrival applies to any students who were on campus before the storm but returned home.

Some areas of Kent County have been more affected by the hurricane, and roads may be challenging to navigate due to tree damage and flooding. In addition, the College staff will need all of Monday, August 29, to restore the campus exteriors to good condition and ensure no other damage limits the normal operation of the College.

Classes are scheduled to begin Wednesday morning, August 31.

Click on the video link above to see what campus looked like this morning around 7:30 a.m., including some sleep-deprived students getting ready to leave Minta Martin and return to their regular dorms! Still photos of campus will be posted as they become available.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 1:00 a.m.–– The Kent County Office of Emergency Services has reported the following updates for our area from the National Weather Service:

NWS-Mt. Holly has extended the Flash Flood Warning until 2:15 a.m. Sunday morning.

NWS-Mt. Holly has extended the Tornado Watch until 5 a.m. Sunday morning and the Tropical Storm Warning well into Sunday.

Follow the Kent County OES notices at: http://kentcounty.com/oes/

SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1 p.m. –––The Kent County Office of Emergency Services has issued the following update for the Chestertown area:

*** UPDATE: A Tornado Watch has been issued for our area until 8 p.m. tonight 8/27/11 ***

Otherwise, as of this morning's briefing, the National Weather Service is reporting no changes in the forecast from yesterday for Kent County and the surrounding counties.

That forecast is:

- 6" to 12" of rain that will fall over a 24- hour period
- Tropical Storm Force winds with strong gusts
- Storm surge of 2' to 4' on top of the astronomical tide

Caroline & Talbot Counties were raised to a Hurricane Warning, but Queen Anne's, Kent & Cecil remain in a Tropical Storm Warning.

The Kent County Office of Emergency Services is requesting all county citizens who live in low lying, flood prone areas to voluntarily evacuate your home at this time. We ask you to find shelter with relatives or elsewhere until at least Monday. With the current track of Hurricane Irene, there is a very realistic possibility that low lying areas will quickly become flooded sometime Saturday night, and we will be unable to reach you for assistance. We are asking residents to please comply with this request for your own safety. We are taking this storm very seriously, and ask you to do the same.

Additionally all Kent County citizens are requested to prepare for possible long term power outages from damaging winds and rain.

Follow the Kent County OES notices at: http://kentcounty.com/oes/

Washington College will continue to update the website with weather-related news.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2011, 2 p.m.––The latest predictions from the National Weather Service call for Hurricane Irene to pass through the Chestertown area late Saturday, August 27, and early Sunday, August 28, with strong winds and rainfall of 6 to 12 inches. The most severe conditions may occur between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. Sunday.

All first-year orientation activities have been cancelled. Most students who had already arrived for the start of the school year have left campus. Those who need to remain on campus will be housed appropriately. Dining Services is prepared to feed all students and staff who remain on campus, and Buildings and Grounds staffers are battening down the hatches in every way possible.

The Johnson Fitness Center is closing at 4 p.m. today and plans to reopen Monday at 7 a.m. with holiday hours; regular hours should resume on Wednesday, August 31st.

The Swim Center is closing at 3 p.m. today and plans to reopen Tuesday, August 30, at 7 a.m.

The Miller Library will close at its regular time, 4:30 p.m., today but will be closed Saturday and Sunday, with plans to reopen Monday if conditions allow.

The College Web site will continue to provide periodic updates on the conditions on campus and plans for reopening. In addition, updates will be available through the WAC Alerts system and through the College switchboard (410-778-2800, then press 6 for the information line). Employees are urged to check these sources of information before heading to work Monday morning.

SAFETY REMINDERS:

A hurricane is a tropical storm with winds that can reach a constant speed of 75 miles per hour or more. Torrential rains, high winds and storm surges are possible.

Stay indoors, away from windows and glass doors. If possible, find a central room without any windows.

Be aware that the calm "eye" is deceptive; the storm is not over. The worst part of the storm will happen once the eye passes over and the winds blow from the opposite direction. Trees, shrubs, buildings, and other objects damaged by the first winds can be broken or destroyed by the second winds.

Remain indoors until you are certain the storm has passed.

College to Honor Former President John S. Toll with Memorial Service on Thursday, Sept. 15

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Washington College community will gather on campus Thursday, September 15 at 4 p.m. to celebrate the life of former president John S. Toll, who passed away July 15, 2011 at the age of 87. The public is welcome to the memorial service, which will take place in the Decker Theatre, Gibson Center for the Arts. A reception will follow.

Former colleagues will pay tribute to a leader and friend known for his optimism, kindness and dedication to higher education. Those slated to speak include former Chair of the Board of Visitors and Governors Jay Griswold, former Board member John Moag, and former Dean and Provost of the College Joachim Scholz. A nephew, Stephen S. Dunham, who serves as Vice President and General Counsel at Johns Hopkins University, will speak on behalf of the family.

Dr. Toll came to Washington College after an already stellar career as a physicist and as a higher-education visionary. During his decade in Chestertown, he reinvigorated the College financially, academically and physically, bringing it into national prominence. For a full obituary, click here.

At the family’s request, gifts to Washington College in honor of Dr. Toll will fund a prize in physics to be awarded to a graduating senior. Memorial gifts can be sent to the Advancement Office, Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620.

Those who wish to send condolences to the family may write to Deborah T. Toll, 6609 Boxford Way, Bethesda, MD, 20817.

Washington College Is a National "Best" in Princeton Review's Newest Guides

CHESTERTOWN, MD — Washington College is one of the country’s best institutions for undergraduate education, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company features the historic college, which was founded under the patronage of George Washington in 1782, in the new 2012 edition of its annual college guide, The Best 376 Colleges. About 15 percent of the nation’s four-year colleges are represented in the book.

The Princeton Review uses both institutional data and student input to create its profiles of selected colleges and universities. Students say Washington College is all about “gaining a distinctive and strong education in the liberal arts through personalized programs and hands-on experience.” A litany of praise for this small, tight-knit community included mention of its “beautiful campus,” “an intimate and personalized educational experience,” and personable, highly educated professors “who love to teach” and who are “willing to bend over backwards to ensure your education.” Students consider the English and creative writing programs among “the best in the country.” The school’s location scored big points, too. “The Eastern Shore is an incredible place to be.”

Robert Franek, Princeton Review's Senior Vice President for Publishing, commends Washington College for its “outstanding academics,” which is the primary criterion for selecting schools for the book. “Our choices are based on institutional data we collect about schools, our visits to schools over the years, feedback we gather from students attending the schools, and the opinions of our staff and our 28-member National College Counselor Advisory Board,” he explains. "We also work to keep a wide representation of colleges in the book by region, size, selectivity and character."

Princeton Review also recommends Washington College among its "Best in the Northeast" section of its website feature, "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region," that posted August 1, 2011 on PrincetonReview.com.

The Princeton Review asks students to rate their own schools on several issues—from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food—and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life. Washington College students were most recently surveyed in 2010-11, since the opening of the new Gibson Center for the Arts and a new dining hall/student center.

All evidence suggests students are happy with their college choice. “Washington College is a “melting pot of individuals from different backgrounds, but the typical student is open-minded, ambitious, and extremely innovative. Athletes and burgeoning writers alike “have strong pride and love for our school.”

College President Mitchell B. Reiss is not surprised at the outpouring of affection for Washington College. “This is a remarkable institution, steeped in tradition, nestled on the beautiful Eastern Shore and committed to the highest public good—preparing young men and women to become responsible citizens willing and able to assume positions of leadership. General Washington would be proud.”

In Memoriam: John Sampson Toll

October 25, 1923 – July 15, 2011
John Sampson Toll, an internationally renowned physicist and pioneering educator who culminated his career at Washington College, passed away Friday, July 15, 2011 of natural causes at Fox Hill Assisted Living in Bethesda, MD. He was 87.

Dr. Toll is credited with redefining Washington College as one of the nation’s premier institutions of higher education. During his presidency, Dr. Toll elevated Washington College’s national reputation, strengthened its academics with new programs and general education requirements, invested in the physical plant, and directed the single largest fundraising campaign ever conducted by any undergraduate college in Maryland. Before Dr. Toll arrived in January 1995, the College had experienced three straight years of budget deficits. Dr. Toll balanced the budget every year he was in office, and by the end of his tenure had more than quadrupled the endowment.

By his own account, his decade at Washington College (1995—2004) ranked among the most professionally productive and personally rewarding of a career in higher education that spanned six decades. At 71, the former Chancellor of the University of Maryland System agreed to serve as Acting President through a transitional period, and then the Board of Visitors and Governors asked him to stay on. After working at major public research institutions, Dr. Toll said he was impressed that undergraduate students here could conduct research with faculty members in much the same way graduate students do. He proved adept at raising money to support that kind of student/faculty collaboration. With an original campaign goal of $72 million, the Campaign for Washington’s College surpassed its target by nearly 44 percent, bringing in total contributions of $103.4 million. Under his leadership, the College’s endowment assets grew from just under $27 million to more than $112.4 million.

Jay Griswold, the Chairman Emeritus of Black Oak Associates who served as chair of the College’s Board of Visitors and Governors during Dr. Toll’s tenure, remembers him as “one of the greatest presidents of Washington College, and a great man. He was a totally dedicated, selfless individual who taught me a lot about how to treat people and how to raise money for Washington College.”

Gerald L. Holm, Chairman of The Hodson Trust, says Dr. Toll was “known for his intellect, strong leadership, gracious manner and commitment to education. He was, above all, a visionary,” he adds.

Former Maryland Governor Harry Hughes says that Dr. Toll possessed a rare combination of intelligence and modesty. “He did a marvelous job as head of the University of Maryland and later at Washington College. He was greatly interested in students and was one of the finest human beings I ever met. He will be greatly missed — I was proud to consider him a friend.”

As president, Dr. Toll initiated the Washington Scholars program, a successful experiment in student recruitment. His academic initiatives included the addition of five new majors, a certification program in elementary education, a general education program featuring a set of innovative first—year seminars, and the introduction of fine arts, foreign language, and quantitative requirements. Two new academic centers—the Center for Environment and Society and the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience—were established on his watch, as were ambitious initiatives to internationalize the curriculum. His capstone achievement—securing a Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus—reflects the strength of the academic environment Dr. Toll achieved.

Dr. Toll rejuvenated Washington College’s physical campus as well, with the addition of several academic, recreational and residential facilities—including Daly Hall, Goldstein Hall, the Schottland Tennis Center and, as a final tribute to him, the John S. Toll Science Center.

Joachim Scholz, professor of German emeritus, served as Provost and Dean of the College under the Toll administration. “Working for Dr. Toll was an ongoing and exciting learning experience. He was a man of infinite positive energy as a leader, and of infinite kindness as a person who refused to say a negative word about anybody.”

John Toll, who is known for his work in dispersion theory, elementary particle physics and quantum field theory, began his career in higher education at Princeton University where he helped establish the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He is highly regarded for his work at SUNY Stony Brook, a school he built from the ground up into one of the nation’s best research institutions, and for his long association with the University of Maryland, where he first taught physics and then returned to preside over a system of five campuses. In 1988, he headed up the merger of Maryland’s two public multi—campus university systems, and was named Chancellor of the University System of Maryland.

Prior to his appointment at Washington College, he had served as President of Universities Research Association, a consortium of universities with research programs in high—energy physics that operates the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. When Congress proposed to build the Superconducting Super Collider, URA was asked to expand its role to include oversight of that project. When budget pressures led Congress to cancel the project, Dr. Toll returned to University of Maryland where he served as chancellor emeritus and professor of physics.

A University of Maryland colleague, Rita Colwell, remembers him as an extraordinary leader, mentor and friend. Colwell served as Toll’s academic vice president at the University of Maryland System; together they developed various biotech centers and research programs for the System.

“He was a visionary who always liked challenges,” Colwell says. “He never wanted to sit back and let things happen. He wanted to make sure there was always forward progress. He loved innovation, and was really fun to work with. He was just wonderful. I will miss him so much.”

Dr. Toll was a fellow of the American Physical Society, the New York Academy of Sciences and the Washington Academy of Sciences, and a member and former national chairman of the Federation of American Scientists. He served as chairman of three advisory panels for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, and as chairman of advisory panels in physics for the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Born October 25, 1923 in Denver, Colorado, John Sampson Toll was the son of Oliver Wolcott and Marie D’Aubigne Sampson Toll. He earned his high school diploma at Putney School in Vermont and was graduated with highest honors from Yale University in 1944. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he completed post—graduate studies at Princeton University where he helped establish Project Matterhorn, now known as the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. He worked in the Theoretical Physics Division of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and as associate director of Project Matterhorn before turning to teaching.

In addition to his wife of 40 years, Deborah Taintor Toll, he is survived by daughter Dacia and her husband Jeffrey Klaus; daughter Caroline and her husband Nick Vetter; and a grandson, John Blaese Toll Klaus.

College Merchandise Now Available at Scottie’s in Downtown Chestertown

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College merchandise is now available in downtown Chestertown, at the place where many Kent County residents pick up their newspapers, Scottie’s Shoe Store. The store’s owner/operator Anna Cole, known to her customers as “Miss Anna,” now sells College t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and Teddy bears.

Cole says she approached WC President Mitchell Reiss, one of her newspaper customers, about the idea, and he put her in touch with Shannon Wyble, the director of the WC Bookstore on campus, to work out the business arrangement. The first items went on display in early June. “Miss Anna is fantastic, completely enthusiastic about Washington College and what we’re doing here. She’s a wonderful supporter and I can’t talk about her enough,” states Wyble about the partnership.

Cole says her WC offerings are convenient for those who can’t get to the campus bookstore and that Scottie’s especially fills the void on summer weekends, when the campus bookstore is closed. “I thought College merchandise was needed downtown, and that the customers wanted this,” says Cole. A recent case in point was a Scottie’s customer from Florida who was thrilled to find a WC sweatshirt for her nephew, an incoming first-year student.

The Washington college paraphernalia that Scottie’s Shoe Store offers includes white t-shirts, gray sweatshirts, a vintage-look baseball cap, mugs, and teddy bears embroidered with “Someone At Washington College Loves Me.” So far, the best selling item is the classic t-shirt. Customers can also request other items from the WC line and campus bookstore staff will deliver them to Scottie’s, usually the same day.

Scottie’s is open for business Monday through Saturday, 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday 6 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Washington College bookstore summer hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During the school year, the bookstore is open Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is closed on Sundays year round. For more information, contact Scottie’s at 410-778-4944 and the Washington College bookstore at 410-778-7749.

Photo: "Miss Anna" Cole shows off her best-selling WC item, the classic t-shirt.

George Washington Book Prize Goes to Pauline Maier's "Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788"

MOUNT VERNON, Va.—The seventh annual George Washington Book Prize, co-sponsored by Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington’s Mount Vernon to honor the year’s best book about America’s founding era, has been awarded to Pauline Maier for Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 (Simon & Schuster, 2010). Maier, author of five previous books on the history of revolutionary America, received the $50,000 prize Wednesday evening, May 25, at a black-tie dinner at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens.

“This book will really prove to be an eye-opener to many people who think that drafting the Constitution was the end of a long road to creating a strong and effective government,” said Mount Vernon’s president, James C. Rees. “But getting the document ratified was an uphill struggle most historians ignore, and on more than one occasion, the entire unification process was almost doomed to failure.”

The debates over drafting the Constitution that took place in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 have long been enshrined in American history. But Maier’s book reveals an equally dramatic and essential — though almost forgotten — series of debates that played out during the year that followed, as citizens, journalists, and politicians argued state by state over whether to ratify the nation’s founding document.

“This debate was not a secretive discussion among a few gentlemen in Independence Hall, but rather a bare-knuckles, open-air contest throughout the young United States,” said Adam Goodheart, director of Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, which administers the prize. “Pauline Maier has captured it in all its political and intellectual vigor. And as she makes clear, the struggle over ratification could easily have turned out differently — and forever changed the course of American history.”

The George Washington Book Prize is sponsored by a partnership of three institutions devoted to furthering scholarship on America’s founding era: Washington College, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and George Washington's Mount Vernon. The $50,000 prize is among the nation’s largest literary awards. “We found Ratification to be a rich and very readable book that paints the process elegantly,” says James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, which funds the award.

Maier is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of American History at MIT. She is the author of several books on American history, including From Resistance to Revolution: Colonial Radicals and the Development of American Opposition to Britain, 1765-1776 (W.W. Norton, 1992); The Old Revolutionaries: Political Lives in the Age of Samuel Adams (Knopf, 1980); and American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, (Knopf, 1997), which was on the New York Times Book Review “Editor's Choice” list of the best 11 books of 1997 and a Finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award.

The jury that chose Ratification as a finalist from among 59 entries called it “a tour de force of extraordinary research and scholarship.”

The Mount Vernon event also celebrated the works of the two other finalists for this year’s prize: Jack Rakove’s Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010), and Alan Taylor’s The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels and Indian Allies (Knopf, 2010). Finalists were selected by a three-person jury of distinguished American historians: Mary Beth Norton, the Alger Professor of American History at Cornell University, who served as chair; David Armitage, the Blankfein Professor of History at Harvard University; and Daniel Walker Howe, the Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus at Oxford University and Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Maier's book was named the ultimate winner by a panel of representatives from each of the three institutions that sponsor the prize, plus historian Carol Berkin of Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center.

Created in 2005, the George Washington Book Prize was presented that year to Ron Chernow for Alexander Hamilton. Subsequent winners were Stacy Schiff (2006) for A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, Charles Rappleye (2007) for Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution, Marcus Rediker (2008) for The Slave Ship: A Human History and Annette Gordon-Reed (2009) for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, which also won the Pulitzer Prize for History, the National Book Award and the Frederick Douglass Prize. Last spring, the 2010 prize was awarded to Richard Beeman for Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution.

About the Sponsors of the George Washington Book Prize:

Washington College was founded in 1782, the first institution of higher learning established in the new republic. George Washington was not only a principal donor to the college, but also a member of its original governing board. He received an honorary degree from the college in June 1789, two months after assuming the presidency. The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, founded at the College in 2000, is an innovative center for the study of history, culture and politics, and fosters excellence in the art of written history through fellowships, prizes, and student programs. www.washcoll.edu.

Founded in 1994, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supporting the study and love of American history through a wide range of programs and resources for students, teachers, scholars, and history enthusiasts throughout the nation. Gilder Lehrman creates and works closely with history-focused schools through its Affiliate School Program; organizes teacher seminars and development programs; produces print and digital publications and traveling exhibitions; hosts lectures by eminent historians; administers a History Teacher of the Year Award in every state and US territory; and offers national book prizes. The Gilder Lehrman website, www.gilderlehrman.org, serves as a gateway to American history online with rich resources for educators designed specifically for K–12 teachers and students.

Since 1860, over 80 million visitors have made George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate & Gardens the most popular historic home in America. Through thought-provoking tours, entertaining events, and stimulating educational programs on the Estate and in classrooms across the nation, Mount Vernon strives to preserve George Washington’s place in history as “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of His Countrymen.” Mount Vernon is owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, America’s oldest national preservation organization, founded in 1853. A picturesque drive to the southern end of the scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway, Mount Vernon is located just 16 miles from the nation’s capital. www.MountVernon.org

Photo: Winner Pauline Maier, with her prize medal, poses with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who made the prize announcement at Mount Vernon, Washington College president Mitchell Reiss and C.V. Starr Center director Adam Goodheart.

Anthropology Major Takes Nation's Top Student Literary Prize, the Sophie Kerr

NEW YORK—An Anthropology major who wrote about a life-changing trip to Tanzania and the simple pleasures of life in a one-intersection town in the Maryland countryside has won the largest student literary prize in the nation, the Sophie Kerr Prize.

Lisa Beth Jones, who grew up in tiny Fork, northeast of Baltimore, was named the winner Tuesday evening, May 17, at a special reception at Poets House in New York. That means she will cap her four years of study at Washington College this coming Sunday by walking off the commencement stage with a check for $61,062—a prize believed to the be the largest awarded to any senior anywhere this graduation season.

For 43 years, the Sophie Kerr Prize has gone to the graduating senior at Washington College who demonstrates the greatest literary ability and promise. Jones earned it with a portfolio of nonfiction work that includes travel writing, recollections of family life on a farm, and excerpts from her senior thesis on African immigrants in America. In writing about the month she spent on a College-sponsored trip to Tanzania the spring of her Junior year, she delivered sensory postcards of the land and the people based on entries from her weathered travel journal.

The committee of 13 English professors who selected Jones from among 30 portfolios, were impressed with the way she shaped a sense of place with her language and with the maturity she brought to her observations and her craft. “She takes a place that means a lot to her, whether her home town or a country in Africa, and, through a constellation of anecdotes and the powers of description, makes that place come alive for others,” says Kathryn Moncrief, the chair of the Sophie Kerr Committee. “Her writing was intimate, honest and vivid.”

While at Washington College, Jones earned a place on the Dean’s List every semester and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She also made time to work in the College’s Geographic Information Systems Lab and to help other students in the campus writing center. She finished her required coursework in December and has since worked as the Grants & Contracts Coordinator at the International Youth Foundation in Baltimore and as a travel writer for Examiner.com.

This year, for the first time, the Sophie Kerr Committee also selected four finalists for the prize. They are:

Maggie Farell, 22, a Drama major from Hatfield, Pa. who submitted a full length stage play and short stories about working her first job—and learning Hindi—at a Dunkin Donuts.

Dan McCloskey, 21, of Ellicott City, Md., an English major who minored in Spanish and Creative Writing. His creative nonfiction manuscript captured in stark and powerful fashion his struggles with the vision deficiencies that render him legally blind.

Insley Smullen, 22, of Frederick, Md., an English major whose fascination with the natural world and love of language shone through in her poetry and creative nonfiction.

And Joe Yates, 22, a Tampa native who double majored in Biology and Studio Art and wrote about everything from elderly relatives to complex scientific theories with sophistication and humor.

The Sophie Kerr Prize is the namesake of an Eastern Shore woman who forged a successful career in the New York publishing world. Born in 1880 in Denton, Md., some 30 miles from Washington College, she graduated from Hood College and launched her career briefly in Pittsburgh as the women’s page editor at two newspapers. After moving to New York, she became managing editor of the Woman’s Home Companion. A prolific writer, Kerr published 23 novels and published hundreds of short stories in the popular magazines of the day, including The Saturday Evening Post, Collier’s, and McCall’s.

When she died in 1965, she left more than $500,000 to Washington College with the stipulation that half the income from the bequest would be awarded annually to the senior showing “the most ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor.” Over the years, the endowment from Kerr’s gift has provided more than $1.4 million in prize money to promising young writers, in amounts that have ranged from $9,000 the inaugural year, 1968, to a high of nearly $69,000 in 2009. The winners have gone on to establish careers as writers, editors, teachers, and marketing professionals, and many have published their work as novels or collections of short stories or poetry.

The other half of Kerr’s bequest funds scholarships and library acquisitions, and brings a parade of world-class literary figures from across all genres to campus for public readings and workshops. Such literary luminaries as Edward Albee, Jonathan Franzen, Allen Ginsberg, Toni Morrison and William Styron have visited Washington College under the auspices of the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series.

Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college to be chartered in the new nation. For more information, visit http://www.washcoll.edu.

Photo: Lisa Jones with primary school students in Tanzania.

In the News

Baltimore Sun, 5/17/11

Wall Street Journal, 5/17/11

Professor Jehanne Dubrow's Poetry Earns Honors

CHESTERTOWN—Poet Jehanne Dubrow, assistant professor of English at Washington College, is being recognized with national, regional and state honors this month.

On Monday, May 9, her collection Stateside was awarded the 2011 book prize for poetry from the Society of Midland Authors. Since its founding in 1915, the Chicago-based literary society has presented jury-based awards to authors and poets who “reside in, were born in, or have strong ties to the 12-state Midwestern Heartland.” (Dubrow forged her strong ties while earning her PhD in English from the University of Nebraska.)

The same day, the Poetry Foundation’s column and website “American Life in Poetry,” (http://www.americanlifeinpoetry.org) began featuring her work “Chernobyl Year” as the poem of theweek. “Chernobyl Year” is the first poem in Dubrow’s recently completed manuscript ""Red Army Red." The “American Life in Poetry” column, which is edited by Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, is carried in newspapers across the country and on the New York Times education blog, “The Learning Network.”

To cap it all off, on Tuesday, May 16, Dubrow will be recognized at a Maryland State Arts Council reception as the recipient of a $6,000 Individual Artist Award in poetry.

In addition to Stateside, Dubrow is the author of two earlier poetry collections—From the Fever World and The Hardship Post—plus a chapbook, The Promised Bride. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including Poetry, New England Review, The New Republic, West Branch, The Hudson Review, and Ploughshares. She also blogs about the writing life at “Notes from the Gefilte Review” (http://gefiltereview.blogspot.com).

Dubrow has been the recipient of a Walter E. Dakin Fellowship and Howard Nemerov Scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, a Sosland Foundation Fellowship from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and scholarships from the West Chester Poetry Conference, the Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference, and the Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization. For more information, visit http://www.jehannedubrow.com/

Washington College to Welcome 500 Bocce Players for Special Olympics Event Thursday, May 12

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Washington College and Special Olympics Maryland are joining forces to host the 2011 Unified Outdoor Bocce State High School Invitational on Thursday, May 12 in Chestertown. In this all-day event, slated to run from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., 250 Special Olympics athletes and their high school teammates will compete on Kibler Field in the Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium.

Nine Maryland school systems (Anne Arundel, Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, St. Mary’s, Talbot, and Wicomico Counties) will be represented by teams of six to eight, with half of each team’s roster comprised of students with an intellectual disability. The competition will start with an Opening Ceremony and end with the presentation of medals.

Washington College’s Student-Athlete Mentors, selected members of each varsity intercollegiate team who mentor other student athletes, will take time out of their final exam studies to staff the event. The SAMs organize a number of on and off-campus outreach efforts in order to achieve their goal of “creating a safer and more positive environment that reduces social hazards for student athletes.”

Washington College athletic director Bryan Matthews says the College and the Student Athlete Mentors, or SAMS, are excited to be hosting this first major Special Olympics event on the campus. “Special Olympics is a wonderful partner for our student-athletes and for any other members of the Washington College and Chestertown community who wish to volunteer,” says Matthews. “The Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium is a perfect venue for the Bocce Ball Tournament, and we look forward to welcoming the competitors and their families.”

Nate Garland, the V.P. of Field Services and Outreach for Special Olympics Maryland, says his organization anticipates building a lasting partnership with Washington College. “Washington College has a strong history of providing training opportunities to Special Olympics families in the Chestertown community, and we are ecstatic about hosting a statewide event that will further shine the spotlight on both our athletes and that beautiful campus.”

By partnering their athletes with non-intellectually disabled high school students, the Maryland Special Olympics’ Unified Sports Program helps break down stereotypes by promoting community, empowerment, and friendship between the two groups. Volunteers are needed to assist at the 2011 Unified Sports Bocce Ball Tournament in different shifts throughout the day. Volunteers will undergo online training to familiarize themselves with what they will be doing the day of; assistants will be needed to keep score, to act as officials, and to be athlete escorts to competitions and awards, among other things. To register, please visit http://www.somd.org/registration/2011/outdoorbocce2011.php.

A relatively new sport for Special Olympics, bocce was first introduced at the World Games in 1991.

Sports Journalist Frank Deford to Address Washington College Class of 2011 May 22

CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Class of 2011 at Washington College will hear words of wisdom from a journalist and commentator who has been called “the world’s greatest sportswriter.” Frank Deford will receive an honorary degree and address the College’s 228th commencement ceremony Sunday morning, May 22, on the campus green. During the same ceremony, Dr. Tadataka Yamada, President of the Global Health Program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will receive an honorary degree and deliver brief remarks.

The official procession that kicks off commencement will begin at 10:30 a.m.

A native of Baltimore and a graduate of Princeton, Frank Deford has authored 16 books and is Senior Contributing Writer at Sports Illustrated. He also is a regular commentator on NPR’s Morning Edition and a senior correspondent for HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

This diverse resume has gained Deford some of the most prestigious recognitions in his career fields. He has been elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters, selected by his peers six times as Sportswriter of The Year, and twice named Magazine Writer of the Year by the Washington Journalism Review. As a broadcaster, he has earned both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award.

Two of his books—the novel Everybody’s All-American and the nonfiction Alex: The Life of a Child—have been made into movies. The latter is Deford’s memoir about his young daughter’s death from cystic fibrosis. Deford served for 16 years as the national chairman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Deford’s most recent book, the historical novel Bliss, Remembered, published last July, is the story of a young swimmer from the Eastern Shore who is swept up into the drama of the 1936 Olympics and a romance with a German man. Publishers Weekly called it “a poignant story, utterly charming and enjoyable.”

Dr. Tadataka “Tachi” Yamada, a scientist and scholar in gastroenterology, has been the President of the Global Health Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2001. In that role, he oversees more than $9 billion in grants and leads the foundation’s efforts to develop and deliver low-cost, life-saving health tools for the developing world.

Before joining the foundation, Yamada spent more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry. His last position before joining the Gates Foundation was chairman of research and development at SmithKline Beecham. Earlier, he was chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and physician-in-chief at the University of Michigan Medical Center. He is a master of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science in the United States and the Academy of Medical Sciences in the United Kingdom. A native of Japan, Yamada was educated in the United States, with a B.A. from Stanford, and medical degrees from New York University and UCLA.

As Washington College continues its celebration of the International Year of Chemistry, alumni James P. Bonsack ’53 and Kenneth M. Merz ’81 will receive Alumni Citations in recognition of their significant contributions to the field of chemistry.

James Bonsack, an industrial chemical engineer, holds 17 U.S. patents and 59 foreign patents relating to the manufacture of titanium dioxide products. After working for the J.T. Baker Chemical Company, he spent 32 years in the engineering department of Cristal Global Chemical in Baltimore, retiring as Senior Scientist. He also served for two years in the military, stationed at the Army’s Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. Bonsack’s wife, Rosemary Hatem, is a 1955 graduate of Washington College.

Kenneth Merz is a professor of chemistry and co-director of the Quantum Theory Project at the University of Florida. Throughout his career and research, he has received multiple honors, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and election as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has achieved international recognition with prestigious visiting professorships at institutions such as the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Spain), École Polytechnique (France), and University of Florence (Italy).

The College will recognize outstanding 2011 graduates with the annual awarding of prizes, including the George Washington Prize, the Casey, Catlin and Clark-Porter Medals, and the Louis L. Goldstein ’35 Award. The Sophie Kerr Prize for literary ability and promise will be officially awarded, along with a check for more than $61,000, although for the first time in 44 years the winner’s name will not be a surprise. This year, the Sophie Kerr Committee will name up to five finalists and the winner will be announced May 17 at a special event at Poets House in New York City.

General seating will be available on the lawn. In case of rain, the event will move to the Benjamin A. Johnson Fitness Center and admission will be by ticket only.

Washington College Announces Acquisition Of Chester River Field Research Center

CHESTERTOWN, MD, April 22, 2011—Washington College today announced that it has acquired the Chester River Field Research Center (CRFRC), the nonprofit corporation that leads and facilitates scientific research and environmental studies at Chino Farms in Queen Anne’s County.

The CRFRC was founded in 1999 by conservationist Henry F. Sears, a retired surgeon and the owner of Chino Farms, a 5,000-acre property on the Chester River. Under an agreement reached with the board of directors of the CRFRC, and with financial support from anonymous donors, the College’s Center for Environment & Society will take over all operations of the Research Center, coordinating the study projects underway there. The College acquires no Chino Farms land in the agreement.

The research center’s two full-time field biologists, Dan Small and Maren Gimpel, will join the staff of the Center for Environment and Society (CES). Founding scientific director Douglas E. Gill, a professor emeritus of biology at University of Maryland, will serve as a consultant. And Jim Gruber, a retired Natural Resources officer who volunteers his time and expertise as the director of the bird-banding operation at Chino Farms, will become an Associate of CES.

Sears sees the transfer of operations to the College as the next step in the growth and stability of the CRFRC. “This gives the investigations part of the Research Center a broader base, a broader scope, and longer legs,” he says. “And it provides institutional longevity—a future beyond the lives of the current participants.”

He says he has been following the growth of the College’s Center for Environment & Society over the past few years. “I appreciate the interest and enthusiasm the CES staff has shown for the kinds of conservation and farming techniques we’ve been exploring at Chino Farms,” he says. “And I couldn’t be more excited about the commitment Washington College has shown for maintaining the community’s rural and agricultural heritage.”

“This is exciting news for all of us at Washington College,” says President Mitchell B. Reiss. “We expect this acquisition to bring a quantum boost to the environmental field work our faculty and students can conduct. We are grateful to Dr. Sears and the CRFRC board for the trust they have shown in our Center for Environment & Society and its ability to maintain and expand the research on farm practices, habitat restoration and wildlife happening at Chino Farms.”

The CRFRC is best known for its work in grassland restoration and migratory bird banding—it has successfully restored 246 acres of Atlantic prairie grasses, creating one of the very few large-scale coastal grasslands on the Eastern Seaboard, and has banded more than 150,000 new birds at its Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory.

Washington College has been involved in a limited way in programs at Chino Farms over the past several years. A handful of students have worked at the bird banding station as part of their paid internships with the CES, and professor Leslie Sherman has conducted research on soil chemistry there. The acquisition of the CRFRC facilities will enable those who work in environmental studies to think and dream big when it comes to grant-funded research and environmental study.

“This opens up unparalleled hands-on field opportunities to our own students and faculty, and to scientists and educators from other schools and organizations as well as state and federal agencies,” says John Seidel, the director of the Center for Environment & Society. “We can expand research projects into the other rich habitat areas at Chino Farms, including forest habitat, wetlands and seasonal wetlands, and farmland. We’ll be the portal to this wonderful resource and all its rich habitat areas.”

Washington College senior Rachel Field, an Environmental Studies major from West Chester, Pa., knows first-hand the kinds of opportunities the CRFRC can bring to students. As a CES intern she has spent two summers and much of the spring semester at Chino Farms mapping Grasshopper Sparrow territories, banding birds at the Foreman’s Branch Bird Observatory, and studying mate selection in Blue Grosbeaks. “As a scientist, this experience has been invaluable,” she says. “I have gained practical experience in conducting field experiments, designing experiments, completing bird surveys, and banding migratory birds. And, as an individual, my time at the Chester River Field Research Center has helped me to become more confident and independent.”

All 5,000 acres of Chino Farms are protected under conservation easements, making it one of the largest easements in Maryland history. Three thousand of those acres are farmed commercially by Evan Miles of Bluestem Farms, who uses a mixture of precision agriculture and organic methods.

Other subjects now under study through the CRFRC include wild turkeys, songbird communications, bobwhite quail, breeding birds in managed grasslands, and nutrient recycling in soil.

Gill, who led the grasslands restoration, is glad to see Washington College take on the work of the research center he and Harry Sears created 12 years ago. “It has been a somewhat private affair led by Dr. Sears’ vision and my expertise as an ecologist,” he says. “It makes sense to have a top-quality academic institution like Washington College, so close to the research station, take it on and make it available for teaching and research. It’s what I always envisioned should happen. And John Seidel at the CES will provide superb leadership.”

For more information, please visit http://ces.washcoll.edu/ and http://www.chesterriverfieldresearchcenter.org/