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November 25, 2020

The Chestertown Spy

An Educational News Source for Chestertown Maryland

Arts Arts Notes

Virtual Dia de los Muertos Celebration and Concert Set for November 4

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In honor of the Mexican holiday “Dia de los Muertos” or Day of the Dead, the Washington College World Languages and Cultures Department is hosting a concert by local artists Fredy Granillo and Sergio Cillo and showcasing student work on this tradition that’s been completed in Spanish classes.

The event is scheduled for November 4th at 5 PM. Sponsored by The William James Forum and the World Languages and Cultures Department, this program is free and open to the public.

Register for the event here.

Celebrating the Day of the Dead with music is a way to both mourn the dead and send a message of hope to the entire community during these difficult times.

The songs being performed by Fredy Granillo and Sergio Cilla are from Latin America and they are songs of mourning and of hope, celebrating both life and death.

Fredy Granillo is a Salvadoran musician, painter and ceramist.  He graduated from El Salvador’s Autonomous National University in 2012 with a degree in ceramics.  After performing with the Andean style band Yarabi between 2003 and 2008, he has become a dedicated singer-songwriter.  He recorded his first album ‘Todo Esta Normal’ (Everything is Normal) in 2012.  He has  performed in El Salvador, California, New York, and the D.C. area.  Fredy lives with his wife and son in Chestertown, Maryland.

Sergio Cilla, originally from Argentina, is a teacher of English, specialized in ESOL. He has been part of the artistic arena for over fifteen years, as a member of a vocal group, and participating in shows as a singer, dancer and actor. Today, he lives and works in and from the United States and writes short stories for an arts website.

Traditionally honored between October 31 and November 2, Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos, marks a time when families gather together to remember and honor their deceased loved ones. A sacred, joyous time, Day of the Dead traditions include food and flowers, visits with family members, prayers, and stories about those who have died.

Day of the Dead began as a traditional Mesoamerican celebration in southern Mexico meant to guide the spirits of departed loved ones in the afterlife. Today, the holiday is observed throughout the country and includes Christian influences.  The many traditions associated with Day of the Dead are an important way of keeping families strong as they remember ancestors and their stories.

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu. 

Virtual Exhibit by Jason Patterson: On the Black History of Kent County and Washington College

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An important two-year long project will be officially unveiled with the virtual opening of On the Black History of Kent County and Washington College, an exhibition by Starr Center Frederick Douglas Visiting Fellow Jason Patterson that presents a curated chronology of African American experience locally from the 1780’s to the present.

The launch is scheduled for October 27 at 7 PM and features a talk by Patterson, who will guide attendees through the virtual gallery experience, speak about the history, figures, themes and artistic processes explored. The talk will be followed by a Q&A.

The exhibition is an art and history project that addresses the African American history, and the historical impact of white supremacy in Kent County, Maryland and at Washington College, and is the result of a year-long collaboration between Patterson, Kohl Gallery, and The Starr Center.

“I am very excited for people to see this two-year long project,” said Patterson. “I hope it will be an important contribution to the redemptive work the college has begun in addressing its past.”

Register in advance here.

Patterson’s body of work focuses on African American history and highlights the role the past has in cultivating our current political and social conditions in the United States. Patterson’s practice is research-based, with the majority of his studio time dedicated to that research to ensure that the historical and social narratives presented are well represented.

Patterson’s work is based on archived images and historical texts, emphasizing the original medium. The work investigates the different ways images, in varying forms, structure the way we visually comprehend our history and define our present.

The virtual exhibit will be featured on the Chesapeake Heartland website and will be unveiled at this event. Patterson’s artist talk is supported by a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Speaker grant. The exhibit, talk, and associated events are supported by a Chesapeake Heartland Fellowship and organized by Kohl Gallery.

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu. 

Washington College Announces Revision to Spring 2021 Semester Plan

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Washington College today announced that all students are invited to return to campus for the upcoming spring semester. This represents a change from the initial announcement, which capped the number of students at 450 and prioritized those limited spots for first-year students who had not yet experienced life on campus.

The revised housing model has one student per bedroom/per suite, along with a reserve of 10% of available beds for quarantine and isolation space. The single factor allowing for the increased capacity is the sharing of fixtures within suites. Previously, the plan accounted for one student per suite only, in order to fully eliminate sharing of bathroom fixtures in suites. By lifting that one restriction and instead proceeding with limited sharing — while still housing all students in single rooms – the College is able to invite back all students plus maintain the 10% reserves for quarantine.

In benchmarking other colleges’ efforts to return students to campus and following best practices as laid out by various departments of health, three conditions essential to safely reopening campus were identified. They are:

  • House every student in a single room
  • Have sufficient space available for quarantine and isolation
  • Have a robust testing plan, to include both gateway testing and regular surveillance testing throughout the entire semester

Even with this revised housing model, the Washington College spring plan accounts for all three of these conditions, in addition to a large number of other equally important safety measures and protocols. These include but are not limited to: Physical/social distancing measures, enhanced cleaning protocols campus-wide, required daily use of an app for symptom attestation, mandatory face coverings (indoors and outdoors) on campus, mandatory flu shots for all returning students and heavily restricted visitor and travel policies.

This decision was made in close consultation with the Kent County Health Department and in accordance with guidance issued recently by the Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) in Maryland Department of Health’s Guidance for Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs).

Decisions about many services and other campus operations will be announced much closer to the start of the spring semester. These decisions remain contingent upon where things fall within the Key Indicators Chart that is currently in development and the Alert Level at which the College is operating within at any given time.

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu. 

Washington College 237th Commencement Exercises Set to Premier on October 17

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The official premier of the College’s 237th Commencement Exercises is set for Saturday, October 17 at 10:30 AM. This event marks the institution’s first-ever virtual Commencement ceremony, a response to COVID-19 and the pandemic that has left its mark on much of 2020.

The virtual ceremony link will be posted here.

Despite the virtual format, the elements included in the ceremony are in keeping with a traditional commencement. Among other things, there will be greetings from select speakers, such as Ryan Zwier, the 2020 senior class speaker, and Steve Golding, the Chair of the Board of Visitors and Governors.

Sylvia Acevedo, former CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA delivers the keynote address and will be awarded with an honorary degree, Doctor of Public Service. Two Alumni Citations will be presented to Judith Lynn Brucker ’86 and John Dimsdale III ’73. Interim President, Dr. Wayne Powell, will preside over the ceremony. The new name of Harford Hall — which was selected by the 2020 graduates – will also be announced.

The highlight of the ceremony will be the public conferral of degrees. Dr. Powell will officially confer the degrees earned and Interim Provost and Dean Michael Harvey will individually present each graduate. The virtual ceremony showcases a slide that includes each graduate’s name, photo and key activities.

Official Program for the 237th Commencement Exercises

In an email address to the Class of 2020, Harvey had this to say about what it means to receive a college diploma: “…represents an incredible achievement on your part: You navigated four years of living on your own, meeting all kinds of people, building relationships and friendships, learning new skills, trying and sometimes failing, learning how to succeed, gaining confidence, finding your voice, and discovering your passion.”

The virtual format does also offer viewers who log into a YouTube account the opportunity to post comments as the Commencement proceeds, giving spectators the chance to virtually cheer and send support to the graduates. Comments will stay up on the page.

All of the graduate awards normally announced in the ceremony were previously presented in a virtual ceremony held in May, but the commencement awards will be highlighted again. One other change is that the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Teaching Award was presented at First-Year Convocation in August, instead of during Commencement.  Dr. Alisha Knight was the recipient of that award.

The ceremony is pre-recorded, which was an intentional decision made for a few key reasons, including eliminating any potential technical issues that might disrupt the ceremony. It will be posted on Saturday 10/17 at 10:30 AM and remain there for an extended time so families, friends and others may watch it at their convenience.

Over the past two weeks, the College has been running a countdown that included “20 Things to Love about the Class of 2020” and photos of a “Wild Gus Chase” around campus, as Gus failed to read his invitation and had to search high and low for the ceremony. The countdown and his adventures are featured on the graduation webpage as well (spoiler alert: he found it!).

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu. 

 Washington College Announces Fiscal Reductions

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Washington College has experienced a period of financial stress for some time, due to parallel declines in enrollment, revenue per student and total revenue. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on college operations in 2020 has added urgency to addressing these long-term challenges.

As such, the Board of Visitors and Governors (BVG) charged the College with making significant reductions in expenditures on the academic side to address structural deficits. Clearly no one relishes being charged with such a mandate.  However, given the circumstances, we have a responsibility to identify the appropriate reductions in services, with a focus on those that do not affect the student experience, but instead positively position us for strategic growth on the other side.

A number of fiscal reductions have already been enacted to help the college reshape its structural budget, including furloughs, RIF’s, the elimination of staff positions, senior staff salary reductions, benefits reductions and other smaller items. But additional actions were still required in order to bring the budget into balance.

Therefore, members of the senior administrative team have met regularly, worked with faculty representatives, received input from many faculty members, communicated regularly with the leadership of the BVG, reviewed governing and personnel documents, and consulted with legal counsel to weigh various options and arrive at a decision as to what those cuts will be.

These reductions have been unanimously endorsed by the Executive Committee of the Board of Visitors and Governors. The plan has been formally announced to the Washington College faculty and staff and is effective immediately. The entirety of the reductions will take two years, but these actions do permanently resolve the current structural deficit, and position the College for long-term fiscal health, normal operations, and growth.

Ignoring our general financial stress – particularly in light of the extra pressure created by a national health crisis – simply will not make it go away. Hope is not a plan, but taking thoughtful steps to navigate through this and re-evaluating all facets of our services is. We are confident that these are the right decisions – however painful – at the right time.

We have every reason to remain optimistic about the future of our beloved institution, but the way forward requires that we confront our present reality, embrace the opportunity to reimagine our offerings and begin to rebuild in such a way that guarantees that we can continue to provide the finest liberal arts experience possible for generations to come.

Washington College Announces Plans for Spring Semester 2021

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Washington College today officially announced the plan for the upcoming spring semester, which includes bringing about 450 students back to campus, initially continuing with online learning — with the possibility of a transition to in-person learning at the midway point; and a focus on programming and activities that foster social connection and engagement, whether online or in a socially-distanced and safe format.

“We are pleased that in a few months’ time, we have progressed to a point where we have protocols, processes and a structure in place that combine to allow us to be equal parts optimistic and pragmatic as we prepare for what is still an uncertain future,” said Washington College Interim President Wayne Powell, Ph.D.  “What we do know for certain is that we are forging ahead with a plan that offers positive academic and social experiences for all and we are looking forward to a great semester.”

Key takeaways from the plan announcement include:

  • All first-year students will first be invited to return, prioritizing students who have not yet experienced life on campus. Upperclassmen who support first-year students’ social and academic transition will also be invited and any student who was living on campus in the fall will be able to remain. An application process will be used to fill the remaining on campus spots.
  • For those students invited to live on campus, returning to campus is optional.
  • All classes will remain online to start the semester. This format allows students to stay together while some remain at home, some will continue living off campus but local, and another group will reside on campus. Online instruction guarantees continuity of instruction in what continues to be a very uncertain time. This approach will be re-evaluated at the midway point to determine if key indicators support a transition to in-person learning.
  • Students who will reside on campus will be moving into the residence halls in phases in late January.  Classes will now start one week later, on February 1. Spring Break has been reduced to a 4-day weekend later in the semester (March 25-26). As of now, Graduation is still scheduled as an in-person event on May 23.
  • There will be a focus on programming and activities that encourage social connection and interaction. This will be a mix of socially-distanced in-person events and virtual activities and opportunities designed for increased social engagement.
  • A COVID Dashboard will be published by the end of this calendar year, along with the Key Indicators/Alert Level chart.  This data-driven approach will guide operational decisions as it relates to services, building access and potential in-person activities.

The full announcement can be found here.

Taking this data-driven approach and factoring in adequate space for quarantine and isolation needs for when positive cases of COVID occur is how Washington College officials arrived at the decision to proceed with the low-density residential and online academic model. At this head count, every one of the 450 students on campus will be in a single room and there will be minimal sharing of bathrooms and fixtures.

Washington College’s Health Services Team has worked diligently to establish protocols and procedures around testing, contact tracing and on-campus isolation and quarantine, to include routine health checks for individuals who are isolated.

These measures are all in line with the guidance issued recently by the Institutes of Higher Education (IHE) in Maryland Department of Health’s Guidance for Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). In addition to detailing out proper preventive measures, and recommendations for managing quarantine and isolation, this resource defines an outbreak and provides for what should be reported to the local health department.

By bringing students to campus and maintaining online learning for at least the first half of the semester – when winter and flu season risk factors are at their peak – the College expects to be better able to maintain a healthy community and then be in a position to potentially pivot to in-person learning.  Any transition to in-person instruction will be a high-flex model, as the online component will continue for students not on or near campus.

Additionally, no new off-campus waivers will be granted, therefore the number of students living within the Chestertown community is expected to remain the same.

Washington College will also be supplementing the semester with a focus on activities that allow for increased social connection and engagement. These opportunities will be extended in a socially-distanced and responsible format for those on or near campus and virtually for students who will remain at home.

Decisions about many services and other campus operations will be announced much closer to the start of the spring semester. These decisions remain contingent upon where things fall within the Key Indicators Chart that is currently in development and the Alert Level at which the College is operating within at any given time.

Washington College Hosts Timely Panel Discussion

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Washington College is hosting a special online panel discussion titled “Taking Stock of the 2020 Election: How Gender, Race and Ethnicity Will Shape the Presidential Race”, and that looks ahead to next month’s Presidential election, with a special emphasis on how race, ethnicity and gender may shape the outcome. The highly anticipated discussion will be led by Drs. Melissa Deckman, Flavio Hickel and Eric McDaniel.

The 2016 Presidential Election was decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three critical states: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Many analysts believe that crucial to that outcome was a lack of turnout by minority voters-and the surprising fact that a majority of white women voters backed Donald Trump.

Hosted by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, this webinar-style event will offer critical insights into this important and timely topic. The event is scheduled for 7-9 PM on October 15, and includes a panel discussion, followed by a Q&A session with the panelists. This discussion is open to the public, though registration is required.  Interested attendees can register here.

About the Panelists

Melissa Deckman is the Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs and Chair of the Political Science Department at Washington College.  She also chairs the board of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).   Deckman recently shared her insights about the Republican and Democratic national conventions on Maryland Public Television’s “Direct Connection,” hosted by Jeff Salkin.

Dr. Flavio Hickel is a Professor of Political Science at Washington College.  Hickel earned his Ph.D. in American Politics from Rutgers University in 2016.  His research and teaching interests are in American Political Institutions and Development, Identity Politics, and Public Opinion.  His current research explores the exclusionary and polarizing potential of national identity politics with a substantive focus on the Latinx community and Immigration policy.

Eric L. McDaniel is an associate professor in the Department of Government and a fellow of both the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis and the Population Research Center at the University of Texas. He is also an affiliated scholar with Public Religion Research Institute. He is the author of Politics in the Pews: The Political Mobilization of Black Churches (University of Michigan Press, 2008). He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu. 

WC Rises in Ranks of Top Institutions on Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education and US News & World Report Lists

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Washington College has been ranked higher on both the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education’s Best Colleges in America list – coming in at No. 189 – and U.S. News & World Report’s ranking of National Liberal Arts Colleges, earning a spot in the top 100 with a tie for No. 96.

Released earlier this month, the WSJ/THE ranking marks a rise in score for Washington College, which was at No. 221 on the 2020 list.  Among Maryland colleges, WC is 4th overall, ranking only behind JHU when compared to other private institutions in the state. The WSJ/THE Best Colleges in America 2021 list ranks the top 800 institutions.

Previously at No. 105, Washington College jumped nine spots in being named No. 96 (tie) for National Liberal Arts Colleges as part of U.S. News & World Report’s 2021 education rankings. The college also earned a No. 60 ranking for Best Value Schools and a No. 173 ranking for Top Performers on Social Mobility, which recognizes success at advancing social mobility by enrolling and graduating large proportions of disadvantaged students awarded with Pell Grants.

One notable component within the WSJ/THE ranking are the survey results, which show that nearly 8/10 respondents feel that Washington College was the right choice, and that if given the opportunity to choose again, they would make the same decision.  And 7.6/10 felt that Washington College provides an environment that is both inspiring and motivating.

This recognition follows the recent news that WC was once again named one of Princeton Review’s 386 Best Colleges, and its inclusion on their list of Great Schools for Psychology Majors.

The WSJ/THE rankings are based on 15 factors across four main categories: Forty percent of each school’s overall score comes from student outcomes, including graduates’ salaries and debt; 30% comes from academic resources, including how much the college spends on teaching; 20% from student engagement, including whether students feel prepared to use their education in the real world, and 10% from the learning environment, including the diversity of the student body and academic staff.

Some other college rankings focus on the quality of incoming students at a university, examining standardized-test scores and how students ranked in their high-school class. But the WSJ/THE College Rankings take a different approach, emphasizing the return on investment students see after they graduate. Schools that fare the best on this list have graduates who generally are satisfied with their educational experience and land relatively high-paying jobs that can help them pay down student loans.

U.S. News calculates its ranking based on six categories which are each weighted differently: student outcomes (40%), faculty resources (20%), expert opinion (20%), financial resources (10%), student excellence (7%) and alumni giving (3%).

For the first time, U.S. News considered student debt in their ranking. The student outcomes category now takes into account the average amount of accumulated federal loan debt among full-time undergraduate borrowers at graduation and the percentage of full-time undergraduates in a graduating class who borrowed federal loans.

Washington College continues to climb in the ranks of colleges and universities by providing a combination of academic quality and economic value, while embracing our vision of the transformative power of the liberal arts.

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu. 

Alisha Knight Is Washington College’s 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award Winner

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Alisha Knight, an associate professor of English and American Studies at Washington College who draws her inspiration from social historian Earl Lewis’s assertion, “Intellectual work is the foundation of social change,” was chosen to receive the Alumni Association’s 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award.

Provost and Dean of the College Patrice DiQuinzio made the announcement during the First-Year Convocation, held virtually on Aug. 21. Professor Knight will offer the keynote remarks during Washington’s Birthday Convocation on Feb. 25, 2021.

Knight, who specializes in African American literature and print culture at the turn of the twentieth century, says she aspires to empower students to become change agents. To that end, she developed a course, “Black Men & Women: Images of Race and Gender in American Literature and Culture,” to help students read racialized images much like literary texts. Her students learned to do this by identifying and analyzing contemporary versions of historical racial stereotypes in popular culture. Their work is represented in a digital exhibition available here.

Her own research focuses on the African American book publishing trade at the turn of the twentieth century. Specifically, she is researching the Colored Co-operative Publishing Company, a black-owned publisher based in Boston in the early 1900s.  Her work examines the peculiar nature of disseminating literature to African Americans at a time when many publishers either took this reading audience for granted or simply assumed it did not exist. “Putting them on the Map” is a digital humanities component of her larger project.

Her service to Washington College includes serving as the founding program director for the Black Studies minor, chairing the Service & Scholarship Committee, advising Cleopatra’s Sisters, and serving on the Tenure & Promotion Committee, the Honor Board, Phi Beta Kappa’s Members in Course committee, as Faculty Secretary, and as Faculty Moderator.

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu. 

WC Announces Michael Harvey as Interim Provost and Dean of the College

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Michael Harvey

Michael Harvey, the John S Toll Associate Professor of Business Management, has been announced as the Interim Provost and Dean of Washington College.  Harvey succeeds Patrice DiQuinzio and is expected to serve a three-year term in this important role.

As the Interim Provost and Dean of the College, he will be working in close partnership with incoming Interim President Wayne Powell in setting the overall academic priorities for Washington College.

“I am well acquainted with the high praise that Michael’s teaching earns from students, alumni, and colleagues,” said President Kurt Landgraf. “He has routinely demonstrated in key service positions — such as department chair and Faculty Council chair — that he is deeply committed to the support of faculty and students required for great teaching and learning in the liberal arts and the need for strategic growth in our academic programs. “

Harvey holds a bachelor’s degree in English from University of Maryland, master’s and doctoral degrees in government from Cornell University, and a master’s degree in international business from University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. He joined the Washington College faculty in the Department of Business Management in 1998. In recent years he has spearheaded the department’s Summer Seminar in International Business.

An accomplished scholar, Harvey’s work centers on leadership and organizational studies. In addition to authoring The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing, a must-read for his students, he is co-editor with Prof. Ronald Riggio of Claremont College of Leadership Studies: The Dialogue of Disciplines (Elgar, 2011), which the International Leadership Association recognized as one of the year’s best books in leadership studies.

In assuming this critical post, he will be building upon the excellent leadership and strong foundation that Patrice DiQuinzio has provided as Provost and Dean since 2017.

“I have worked with Michael Harvey for more than 12 years and I’ve always been impressed by his great ideas, his energy, and his thoughtfulness,” DiQuinzio says. “Michael will make an excellent provost, and I will do everything I can to help him in taking up this office and to smooth his transition as much as possible.”

Harvey is very active within the local community, having served as a member of the Kent County Public Schools Board of Education from 2009 to 2014 and most recently, advocating for the Black Lives Matter street murals that are to be installed in the heart of Chestertown.

On the lighter side, he has a self-professed love of chess and a fascination with the history of the game – so much so that he even published a chess primer.  He enjoys sharing this passion with others by serving as a volunteer chess coach in the local schools, churches and the library.

Harvey and his wife, Sabine, have two children.

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu.

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