When he’s walking around campus, David Colquhoun has been fairly anonymous — that is, unless he’s walking the second most famous member of the McDaniel presidential family, First Dog Kira. Often, that’s when students recognize him as McDaniel’s very own presidential spouse, the husband of President Julia Jasken.
But as he becomes more involved in various roles throughout campus and in the wider community, that’s starting to change. Now, in his own words, we can all get to know Colquhoun and the ways he sees himself fitting into the various communities he's a part of, including McDaniel, the presidential spouse community, and Westminster.
I had actually never set foot on McDaniel’s campus until we moved here. Julia and I were graduate students when she interviewed for a faculty position, and she immediately fell in love with it. She came back to Michigan and said, “I think this is the place.” It was one of the places we had also identified as a great way for me to continue my graduate studies at Johns Hopkins, so we made the move. What we didn’t realize was what a strong network of support would be waiting for us when we arrived. It was the summer of 2003, and we’d driven two days from Michigan with all of our belongings; our 3-month-old son, Iain; and a neurotic border collie, Molly. When we arrived at our rental house, we were surprised to find the entire English faculty was there to help us move in. Professor LeRoy Panek was a very important part of both of our lives, and Professor Mary Bendel-Simso essentially adopted our family very early on. My family all lives in the U.K., and Julia’s family lives in Minnesota, so Mary and her family are a second family to us and always invite us over for birthday parties, Easter, and Thanksgiving. Although that feeling of family started with the English Department, it’s grown over the years to include students, other faculty, staff, and even alumni now.
I had just finished my master’s degree when we moved, and I initially accepted a substitute teaching position at North Carroll High School. They offered me a full-time job, but the same day, I found out that I received a full scholarship to pursue my Ph.D. at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. I finished my Ph.D. in just over three years and worked at Hopkins for 10 years after that. Then I moved into industry, first at Shimadzu Scientific Instruments, and then at SCIEX, where I’ve been focused on biologics and mass spectrometry since January 2016. I spent five years as the sales rep that covered the state of Maryland, and then I moved into a technical specialist role, which has required a lot of travel throughout the Mid-Atlantic area. It’s been great because I’m able to use my science background, but at the same time, I’m interacting with many companies and researchers who are doing really cutting-edge work. I like having the pulse of what’s going on and how our technology’s being used as well as how companies are developing vaccines or treatments for diseases. In April, I transitioned into a position as a market development manager for biomarker research, which will give me more time to be present on campus for the activities and events.
I’ve had the opportunity to meet other presidential spouses through the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC), which has been great. We’re all different, but we all have the commonality of being supportive spouses of college and university presidents. It’s interesting to start seeing the demographics shifting, where there are a growing number of female presidents and same-sex couples, and I think that’s fantastic. What’s interesting in this group is that we’re all sharing our perspectives, and everyone has something to bring to the table. For me personally, it’s about the challenges of holding a full-time job while being a presidential spouse.
That’s still evolving a bit for me, and there are so many community angles I could take on. I’ve always been a proponent of stewardship and environmental causes, so I’m excited about the work happening with the McDaniel Environmental Center and the upcoming changes to Harvey Stone Pavilion. My master’s degree is in Environmental Microbiology, and I worked on bacteria that would degrade pollutants in the environment, so that’s an area that I’m still passionate about and like to stay in touch with. I’m also a big fan of the college’s soccer program and other sports. It’s great to attend the competitions and cheer on our Green Terror teams.
One of the things I learned at one of the CIC sessions for presidential spouses was that it was important to determine what the traditions are, what traditions you can build upon, and what traditions of your own can you build. Julia has had a big focus on building on the already strong relationships with the city, so we’ve had a lot of events open to the city over the past few years. Probably the biggest have been our Movies at McDaniel summer events, which have been very popular. I think my favorite event was an event where faculty and staff could select one of JeannieBird’s Thanksgiving pies for their Thanksgiving celebrations. I made and served a Swedish mulled wine drink called glögg. It was fun to appreciate the McDaniel community in this way.
Soccer has always been a big part of my life, and I’ve coached both of my boys’ soccer teams as they’ve grown up, so we’ve made a lot of friendships there in the community. I’m a fan of Sunderland AFC, and I’ve become a bit more involved with the North American branch of the supporters association. I also play soccer at Carroll Indoor. Here on the Hill, I am also friends with Chemistry Associate Professor Dana Ferraris, and that friendship led me to get involved with the Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (PIE). So, I’ll stop by the PIE Club meetings every once in a while.
My undergraduate degree is in Applied Microbiology, and my specialization my senior year was brewing and winemaking. I made commercial brews and sold them in the pub. I like to do a little bit of mixology and play around with drink recipes, and I was a bartender for many years. I also worked with a local mixologist to design the signature cocktail for Julia’s inauguration. Jennifer Yang is the entrepreneur in residence here and when she let us know she was opening Covalent Spirits on Main Street, Julia and I decided to become investors. We became friends with Jenn and Drew, and I helped them do some of the painting, furniture assembly, and stuff like that before they opened. Then I kept going behind the bar and saying, “This feels kind of right.” I let Jenn know that if she needed any help just let me know. So, every once in a while, I bartend down there and it’s something I’ve really enjoyed. I even participated in their Final Four Bartender Cocktail Competition this year as “Dr. Brit Wit.”
Covalent Spirits co-owners Drew Cockley and Jennifer Yang have welcomed Colquhoun behind the bar where he can put his mixology skills to the test.
Downtown Westminster’s always been pretty vibrant, but now we have the distillery and tasting room, all the local restaurants, and coffee shops like JeannieBird. There’s Gotham Comics, where my boys spent so much of their time. And there’s Rudolph Girls, which my sister in London has mentioned she is jealous of, because she doesn’t have a bookstore near her that hosts book clubs like Rudolph Girls does.
It’s just such a vibrant space, especially when they close Main Street for events like the Flower and Jazz Festival or the Beer and BBQ Stroll. When we first moved to Westminster from a very rural town, we were impressed by all the strip malls. And there’s some importance in that, too. But the real heart of what’s happening is down on Main Street, and that’s one of the things that I really love about living on campus now.