St. Mary’s College of Maryland to hike tuition by 2 percent
Library and garden on campus renamed
St. Mary’s College of Maryland’s board of trustees met Friday and approved a 2 percent tuition increase for the 2017-18 academic year. In-state tuition will increase by $228 to the rate of $11,646, while out-ofstate tuition will increase by $532 to the rate of $27,098.
The increase is the second at the college in four years. A tuition freeze locked rates into place for students between 2013 and 2015, and the state legislature enabled college officials to implement an 8.6 percent instate tuition reduction in 2014, according to a college release.
Chip Jackson, college vice president for business and finance, said, “We’ve worked hard over the last five or six years to keep tuition low. The in-state tuition for next year, the 2017-2018 school year, will be lower than it was for the 20112012 school year.” He said there was discussion but no controversy at the college’s board of trustees meeting prior to voting on the increase.
The 2017-2018 tuition rate increase reflects additional state funding provided by Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and the state legislature to moderate tuition for students from Maryland, limiting the increase to 2 percent, the release states.
“This modest tuition increase for 2017-18 will enable the college to continue to fulfill its mission to maintain our high academic quality as Maryland’s only public honors college while providing an outstanding educational program to our students that is both affordable and accessible,” Tuajuanda C. Jordan, college president, said in the release.
In other business, the board approved the renaming of the college’s library to the Hilda C. Landers Library. This recommendation will now be submitted to Maryland’s Board of Public Works for final review and approval, as required by law.
Landers was a 1923 graduate of the St. Mary’s Female Seminary. She and her husband, Arthur, created two trusts, the Arthur E. Landers Jr. and Hilda C. Landers Trusts, of which St. Mary’s College is one of the beneficiaries. Support to date from the Landers and their trusts is estimated at $6.4 million. Nearly 2,000 students have received merit and financial support through these gifts.
In addition, the space known as the campus farm has been renamed the Kate Chandler Campus Farm in memory of the life and legacy of Kate Chandler, a faculty member with a joint appointment between the English department and the environmental studies program.
Bonnie Green and Harry Weitzel Jr. were awarded Order of the Ark and Dove citations. The citations were originally created in 1972 to honor those individuals who have given distinguished service to St. Mary’s College.
Recommended by the college’s board of trustee governance committee, the board recognized retiring trustees Gary Jobson, Molly Mahoney Matthews and Mike O’Brien with trustee emerita/emeritus status. All have served for 12 years or more, meeting the eligibility requirement for emeritus status.
The following faculty have been promoted to full professor: Jeffrey Coleman, professor of English; Katherine Gantz, professor of French; Pamela Mertz, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; and Sahar Shafqat, professor of political science. The following faculty have been reappointed with tenure and promoted to associate professor: Diana Boros, associate professor of political science; Veronica Arellano Douglas, librarian; Barrett Emerick, associate professor of philosophy; and Liza Gijanto, associate professor of anthropology.