News around campus and beyond
McDaniel College has received approval from the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) to develop a comprehensive four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing (B.S.N.) program. The development of a new four-year Nursing undergraduate program aligns with McDaniel’s current strategic plan and helps to address the nursing shortage in Carroll County and the surrounding region. The college also conducted a successful national search for a nursing director this summer to lead the pre-licensure B.S.N. program, which still awaits final approval from the Maryland Board of Nursing. Heather A. Gable has been named the inaugural program director. She brings 25 years of nursing experience in acute and long-term care, including as a licensed nursing home administrator, and comes to McDaniel after serving as dean at Centra College.
Allison Kerwin, assistant professor of Biology, has received a three-year grant of $437,393 to study the effects of insecticides on jellyfish development and survival from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of the Building Research Capacity of New Faculty in Biology (BRC-BIO) program. With the grant, Kerwin plans to continue her research on upside-down jellyfish (or Cassiopea species) polyps that live in the Florida Keys, where mosquitos carrying the dengue virus can be found. While efforts have been made in the Florida Keys to reduce the mosquito population, there has not been research done on how insecticides can impact the life cycle of the jellyfish polyps and their survival, according to Kerwin. While Kerwin is currently in the initial planning stages of her research, she will be using $50,000 of the grant to purchase new equipment for McDaniel’s Biology department. She expects that much of her research, which is anticipated to be fully underway by the summer of 2024, will take place on McDaniel’s campus with jellyfish polyps that she will have brought in to live in her lab.
McDaniel College has received a multiyear grant to support the development of wellness initiatives and programming as part of the college’s signature McDaniel Commitment.
McDaniel is among a select group of institutions awarded the Vocation across the Academy Grant from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC).
The NetVUE grant is part of a series of funding, totaling $90,000, for wellness initiatives. The initial $30,000 grant is to be used for project planning and activities during the first year. CIC will then award an additional $30,000 after McDaniel matches the funds. This is the second NetVUE grant that McDaniel has received in support of the McDaniel Commitment. A grant in 2018 funded the pilot and introduction of the McDaniel Commitment.
McDaniel is looking to offer additional support to students and strengthen the impact of the McDaniel Commitment by integrating the eight dimensions of wellness — intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, environmental, financial, physical, and occupational.
“Through holistic advising, curricular development, and new co-curricular activities, we can encourage awareness of and growth across the eight dimensions of wellness and create conditions that allow students to truly focus on maximizing opportunities within the McDaniel Commitment,” said Christine Moran, associate vice president of Student Success.
Earlier this year, McDaniel College named three alumni to its Board of Trustees: Keith Lawson ’79, Dr. Millard Mazer ’83, and Deborah Dale Seidel ’84.
Keith Lawson graduated from the college in 1979, summa cum laude, with a double major in Political Science and Economics. He then went on to graduate with highest honors from The National Law Center of George Washington University in 1982.
Since 1988, Lawson has been at the Investment Company Institute (ICI), where he has had responsibility for all tax matters affecting funds and their shareholders. Currently, he serves as deputy general counsel for tax law. He has also, for the past 12 years, chaired an advisory group to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on tax compliance matters reporting for securities and crypto assets.
Prior to joining ICI, he was a tax associate for the Washington, D.C., law firm of Miller & Chevalier. He also served as the law clerk to the chief judge of the United States Tax Court and worked for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee.
Dr. Millard Mazer is a board-certified periodontist. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the college in 1983, graduating with academic awards and honors.
He proceeded to earn a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Maryland and completed his formal education with postdoctoral programs in advanced education in general dentistry, followed by a postdoctoral program in periodontics at Emory University’s School of Postgraduate Dentistry.
Deborah Dale Seidel is a 1984 graduate of the college with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Economics.
She worked for over 34 years in financial services with Merrill Lynch and T. Rowe Price, before retiring as vice president of T. Rowe Price Group Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., T. Rowe Price Investment Services Inc., T. Rowe Price Services Inc., and the T. Rowe Price mutual funds.
She is a past president of the McDaniel College Alumni Association and remains active in the association through various committees, including helping with the establishment of the Green and Gold Alumni Council. She is also on the alumni board for the Phi Alpha Mu sorority and is a member of the McDaniel College Band. Additionally, she has served on the board of directors for Carroll Hospital since 2019.
President Julia Jasken continues to be recognized as a higher education leader in Maryland. She received a 2023 Enterprising Women of Excellence award from the Baltimore Business Journal and has been named a 2023 Influential Marylander by The Daily Record. She has also been selected to receive a Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater, Northern Illinois University. Previously named a “Woman to Watch” by the Baltimore Business Journal, she has been included among Maryland’s Top 100 Women by The Daily Record and was named to its Power 30 Higher Education list of the most influential figures in higher education in the state of Maryland for both 2022 and 2023.
Four of Maryland’s County Teachers of the Year have ties to McDaniel’s graduate programs in Education: Lauren Stevens M.S. ’09 of Manchester Valley High School in Carroll County; Mary Kay Connerton of Annapolis High School in Anne Arundel County; Laura Moore of Waverly Elementary School in Howard County; and Alisha Swann M.S. ’20 of Esperanza Middle School in St. Mary’s County.
Stevens, who graduated with a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction; Connerton, who earned an Administrator 1 Certificate; and Swann, who graduated with a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction, along with current graduate student Laura Moore, who is currently enrolled in the Administrator I Certificate program, are all Maryland Teachers of the Year for 2023-24.
In October, Connerton was named the Maryland Teacher of the Year. McDaniel has a tradition of producing top educators in Maryland with more than 30 alums since 2010 recognized as County Teachers of the Year and four recognized as Maryland Teachers of the Year.
From U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review to a new Wall Street Journal ranking, McDaniel College is recognized among the top colleges and universities in the nation.
Here is a selection of recent accolades: