Academic Affairs

The search for a new president of Howard Community College is nearly complete.The Columbia institution's board of trustees has selected two candidates from a pool of 67 for the position held for 16 years by Dwight A. Burrill, who retired in September.The finalists are Mary Ellen Duncan, president of the State University of New York at Delhi, and Alex Johnson, provost and vice president of Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland -- the same school Burrill left for Howard Community College.

Q: Is tuberculosis a contagious, or "catchy" thing? Can you get it if you have sexual relations with a person who has tuberculosis? If someone does this, should he or she see a doctor for a TB test?A: Tuberculosis is contagious but it is not one of the diseases transmitted through sexual relations. The explosive problem of sexually transmitted diseases includes AIDS, syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes simplex, chlamydia, lymphogranuloma venereum, chancroid, granuloma inguinale, condyloma acuminata (genital warts)

In Baltimore County Community college trustees to meet on Dundalk campusDUNDALK -- Trustees for the Community College of Baltimore County will meet at 7: 30 p.m. today at the Dundalk campus, 7200 Sollers Point Road, in Room 800 of the Business and Industry Center.The board's Student and Academic Affairs Committee will meet at 3: 30 p.m. in Room 525 of the Career Building, and the Budget and Finance Committee will meet at 4: 30 p.m. in Room 800A of the Business and Industry Center.Information: 410-869-1222.

Q: What makes the corners of the mouth sore?A: A number of deficiencies can cause soreness, reddening, superficial erosions and cracking of the skin at the corners of the mouth, where the mucus membrane of the lips meets the skin of the face. The medical terms for this condition include angular stomatitis or cheilosis.B vitamin deficiencies, especially riboflavin (vitamin B2) but also niacin and pyridoxine (vitamin B8), can produce angular stomatitis that will generally heal or improve with adequate vitamin intake.

College administrator named to state panelDr. Diane. K. Troyer, vice president of academic affairs and student services at Harford Community College, was appointedrecently to the Maryland Higher Education Commission's Student Transfer Advisory Committee.Ms. Troyer, chief academic officer of Harford Community College, provides the academic and administrative leadership required to achieve excellence in instruction, academic programs, and services. She is responsible for curriculum, instruction and student services.

The School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University has received a $75,000 grant from the General Electric Foundation for a program designed to increase the number of women and minorities pursuing academic and research careers in engineering and the physical sciences.Morgan State University will participate with Hopkins in the program, called "Faculty for the Future." Participants in the program, which will begin in January, will be chosen by a panel of Hopkins and Morgan engineering professors.

Marguerite Ross Barnett, 49, the first black woman to head a major U.S. university, died of cancer Wednesday while onvacation in Wailuku, Hawaii. A political scientist, she took over as the eighth president of the University of Houston in 1990. She had been on the faculties of the University of Chicago and Princeton, Howard and Columbia universities. She was vice chancellor for academic affairs of the City University of New York and later chancellor at the University of Missouri at St. Louis before moving to Houston.

Q: I was shocked and frightened by the sudden death of Jim Henson, the Muppets creator, from pneumonia. With all the progress that has been made in the treatment of infections, how could this happen to a healthy young man?Henson's pneumonia was produced by an exceptionally virulent strain of group A streptococcus, a bacteria best known for causing strep throat. This particular aggressive strain of streptococcus has now been recognized as the cause of a new type of severe illness called toxic shock-like syndrome (TSLS)

The Calvert School, a private day school with a nationally recognized homeschooling curriculum, will welcome a new headmaster in July, the school announced Thursday. Andrew Holmgren, currently the head of the Middle School at Collegiate School in New York City, will become the North Baltimore school's seventh headmaster. He will replace Andrew Martire, who has been headmaster of the Calvert School since 2004. Martire had accepted the job of Head of School at the Kinkaid School in Houston.

Towson University's provost will become its interim president after the departure next month of Robert L. Caret, a spokeswoman for the state university system confirmed Monday morning. William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, appointed Marcia G. Welsh, who has served as provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2009 at Towson. The decision was announced to the Towson community in an email Monday, said system spokeswoman Anne Moultrie. Welsh will begin her new duties on April 20, the day after Caret is scheduled to depart Towson.