News around campus and beyond
The McDaniel College Alumni Association honored six alumni who personify the college’s tradition of excellence at the 2025 Alumni Association Awards Celebration over Alumni Weekend.
Pictured above, left to right, with President Julia Jasken (center):
• Patricia S. Dorsey M.Ed. ’83, Bailer Award• Robert W. Butler ’57, Professional Achievement Award• Nupur Parekh Flynn ’94, Alum of the Year• Kittie DeLuca Pain ’00, College Service Award• Jacob Raymond McCurry ’09, M.S. ’13, Community Service Award• Alexaundria D. Leonard ’17, Young Alumni Award
Read more on mcdaniel.edu.
Psychology Professor Jack D. Arnal is the 2025 Charles A. Boehlke Jr. Engaged Faculty Fellow. The fellowship is awarded to faculty in recognition of their exceptional commitment to their students, not only in classrooms and research labs but also with career and internship experiences.
Arnal has taught in the Psychology department since 2009. As a cognitive psychologist, his research focuses on human behavior and, particularly, memory processes. He also studies metascience and has involved McDaniel students in several research projects in this area.
President Julia Jasken was named to The Daily Record’s Top 100 Women list for the second time in recognition of her professional accomplishments, community leadership, and mentorship. She was honored during the award’s 30th anniversary celebration alongside Janiah Fields ’25, a Psychology major who was the winner of the 2025 Top 100 Women Scholarship.
A nearly $100,000 grant from the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) supports McDaniel’s “Transition to Teach” project, aimed at providing teacher licensure for individuals who already hold a bachelor’s degree, with an emphasis on conditionally licensed teachers and career changers, including displaced federal workers.
The project addresses teacher shortages, while supporting new career paths, and expands McDaniel’s existing initiatives to address Maryland’s growing need for qualified teachers.
In recognition of her excellence and expertise in nursing education, Nursing Program Director Heather Gable (pictured above) received a $5,000 Academic Nurse Educator Certification award for achieving the National League for Nursing’s Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) credential.
McDaniel is also one of 13 nursing programs in the state to receive a Competitive Institutional Grant from MHEC, to support professional development opportunities focused on teaching and learning practices, course development and design, and academic collaboration and leadership, for McDaniel’s nurse educators.
McDaniel College received a $375,000 grant, part of the $18.75 million awarded to Maryland colleges and universities through the Maryland Higher Education Commission’s Campus Safety Grant program. The grant funds on-campus security enhancements at McDaniel, including adding electronic access devices in seven campus buildings and new closed-circuit television security cameras.
Two of Maryland’s top teachers for the 2025-26 school year have ties to McDaniel College’s Graduate and Professional Studies programs. Carroll County Teacher of the Year Amy Glascock achieved National Board Certification through McDaniel’s first cohort of a three-semester graduate course sequence and is currently teaching as an online adjunct lecturer in the program, while Calvert County Teacher of the Year William Voshell M.S. ’23 holds a master’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL).
Two alums have been appointed as the first recent-alumni trustees on the McDaniel College Board of Trustees. They were selected by current trustees from alumni who graduated in the past 15 years to serve as representatives on the board.
The new alumni trustees, who will serve one three-year term, are Lucero Espinal ’20 of Westminster, Maryland, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a minor in Education with a PreK-12 specialization, and Tim McLister ’13 of Leesburg, Virginia, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Economics.
Once again, McDaniel College has been recognized among the nation’s top schools for military and veteran students by earning a Military Friendly® Schools designation with silver status for the 2025-26 academic year. To earn the silver award, McDaniel scored among the top 20% out of more than 1,800 participating schools nationwide. McDaniel has also been selected as a Military Spouse Friendly School for supporting military spouses in pursuing their educational goals.
Hira Khan (pictured at right), who is a Biology major with minors in Chemistry and Arabic, is among 3,500 undergraduate students selected from 17,000 applicants nationwide by the U.S. Department of State to represent the United States as a Gilman Scholar. She is studying in Hong Kong during the fall 2025 semester.
“I decided to study abroad because I want to further develop my intercultural competence and gain new experiences in a different part of the world,” Khan says. “In addition to taking science courses, I plan to study Mandarin Chinese while I’m there.”