Student Affairs

ST. MARY'S CITY -- On an unseasonably warm afternoon last week, a flock of giggling St. Mary's College students joined ducks for a dip in a pond. Chatter among those heading to class concerned exams and weekend plans. Traffic stopped to let pedestrians and bicyclists cross Route 5, the main road that bisects the small campus.Earlier in the week, a Guatemalan court had convicted three men of raping and robbing a group of St. Mary's students on a study trip there in January of last year, handing down 28-year sentences.

For the first time in the history of the Johns Hopkins University, the image of a non-white person now looks out from a wall on the Homewood campus. And for many, yesterday's unveiling of a portrait of Thurgood Marshall was symbolic of deeper changes in the institution.The ceremony comes amid a surge in the hiring of non-white faculty, the creation of an inter-departmental major designed to look at the African diaspora and a rise in activism by committees and groups dedicated to diversity on campus.

The long search for a full-time athletic director at Morgan State ended yesterday with the hiring of Garnett H. Purnell, who has served the past five years as a compliance representative for the NCAA.Before that, he was an assistant athletic director at the University of Cincinnati from 1985 to 1991.Purnell, 45, is the 10th AD at Morgan State since 1929. His hTC contract becomes effective March 13."One of my professional aspirations was to be a Division I athletic director," he said yesterday from his office in Overland Park, Kan. "I've been on a campus for 14 years, and this experience [with the NCAA]

When Rick Perry, Morgan State's vice president of student affairs, introduced Stump Mitchell as the university's football coach on Dec. 7, he said a full-time athletic director would be named within the next couple of weeks.As it turns out, the hiring of a new AD won't be announced until after the first of the year.Tanya Rush, the acting AD and head of the 11-member search committee, said the appointment should come in January. "That's what we're hoping," she said.Rush, who also serves as an assistant vice president of student affairs, said the committee has made its recommendations to Perry, who then will forward his recommendation to the university's president, Dr. Earl Richardson.

Ken McBryde, who took over as the director of a troubled Morgan State athletic department 19 months ago, has been fired and reassigned to the student affairs office."

Though students say they've been horrified by several racial incidents at Western Maryland College this semester, they say the incidents provide an opportunity to challenge the anger that has been simmering below the surface at the usually placid campus."

Morgan State will begin its search for a new athletic director during the current school year, although school officials say a timetable to replace Ken McBryde has not been determined."

Though students say they've been horrified by several racial incidents at Western Maryland College this semester, they say the incidents provide an opportunity to challenge the anger that has been simmering below the surface at the usually placid campus."

A racially charged speech by Dr. Leonard Jeffries Jr. last night at the Johns Hopkins University brought a hail of protest, some applause, a few tears and a long, tense evening to the school's Homewood campus.Dr. Jeffries, a black tenured professor at City University of New York known for speeches denigrating whites and Jews, was a guest of the Black Student Union.RTC His topic was "Assessing Current Political Interaction and the Role of Student Activism in the Political Arena."A group of about 75 student protesters, many of them Jewish and a few of them black, were angry that the university's Office of Multi-Cultural Student Affairs gave the Black Student Union $1,500 to bring Dr. Jeffries to Baltimore.

Yesterday was filled with landmarks for Carroll Community College as the board of trustees met for the first time and appointed the Joseph F. Shields as the first president.Dr. Shields already had been running the college for two years -- to the day -- but his title had been executive dean. Until July 1, the college was a branch campus of Catonsville Community College.After the board came out of a brief closed meeting to announce the appointment, one staff member applauded the decision that most had expected.

As teachers fuss over lesson plans and college freshmen fret over meeting their roommates, K-12 and university administrators are preparing to deal with another, less familiar back-to-school worry: swine flu. Though local public school systems and universities survived last spring's initial spread of the H1N1 virus with few interruptions, fears that a mutated flu could strike with renewed vigor have them formulating plans to deal with outbreaks....

The Morgan State University band struck up "Pomp and Circumstance" when Clayton Stansbury waved his white-gloved hands from atop the promenade at the other end of the football field. The faculty - flanking him on his left and right - paraded off the promenade and down the steps when he said, "OK. Go." The soon-to-be-graduates turned to the left when he turned and sat when he motioned them to sit. And they moved their gold tassels from right to left as he moved his tassel for the 35th consecutive year, as the students took a symbolic step into adulthood with yet another class.

* Dr. Gina M. Perez, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, has been named assistant dean for student affairs at the school. Perez will advise and mentor medical students on a variety of issues to promote their physical and mental wellness, including help in managing their finances, keeping a strong support system, balancing demands on their time and keeping physically active. Perez will also continue to see patients and teach.

Lloyd G. McDonald, retired director of student affairs for the Baltimore public school system, died Oct. 6 of congestive heart failure at Northwest Hospital Center in Randallstown. He was 95. During a 30-year career in the city schools, McDonald founded a nationally recognized anti-poverty program at Harlem Park Junior High School in 1965 that enabled ``parents to earn high school diplomas. The program, called the Neighborhood School for Parents, also educated parents about nutrition. It provided child care while they attended classes and balanced meals for the whole family.

In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, it is the "if onlys" that bombard us for days afterward. For me, as a psychiatrist who has worked in college health for more than 25 years, the crucial hypothetical is: "If only the killer had gotten appropriate help." In attempting to make sure that someone like Seung-Hui Cho gets the critical assistance he needs in the future, we may wish to dissect the lines of responsibility for providing that intervention. In our culture of self-reliance, the essential responsibility for getting help when distressed lies with ourselves.

William L. "Bud" Thomas Jr., longtime vice president of student affairs at the University of Maryland, College Park, died of complications from a stroke Monday at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The Silver Spring resident was 74. Dr. Thomas was born and raised in Knoxville, Tenn. He served in the Army in the early 1950s, and as an active reservist attained the rank of captain. He earned a bachelor's degree in social studies and secondary education in 1955, and a master's in education administration and supervision in 1966 -- both from the University of Tennessee.

As college students buckle down to research papers and problem sets, another subject - health-insurance plans - deserves study as well. Full-time college students frequently are covered under a parent's policy or university-offered plan. As a result, just 20 percent of full-time students ages 19 to 23 go uninsured, while 40 percent of non-students and part-time students lack coverage, according to a study this year by the Commonwealth Fund. Even so, experts say that students' insurance often is inadequate, for several reasons: Services are not within network.

Ed Kilcullen has been awakened countless times to the sound of college students hollering at 2 a.m. Corinne Becker routinely finds beer bottles and other trash in her neighborhood when students gather for parties at a nearby apartment complex. And Don Gerding says he and his neighbors sometimes see students vomiting and urinating on lawns and in the street. They and other Towson community leaders say such annoyances are why they're so eager to hear how Towson University plans to deal with disruptive students off-campus.

MRS. DORIS MARIE KNORR, 74, of Frederick, formerly of Charlottesville, VA and Baltimore, MD died Sunday, July 9, 2006 at the Frederick Memorial Hospital. She was the wife of 55 years to Dr. Norman J. Knorr. Born in Baltimore, MD on January 9, 1932 she was the daughter of the late Felix H. and Ida Weinel Morrison. Doris attended Catholic University, the University of Maryland and the University of Virginia taking courses in architecture, art and psychology. In Charlottesville she volunteered to work for Recording for the Blind.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Rummel, Klepper & Kahl LLP announced that Sonya Y. Brown and Eric M. Klein have been named associates of the regional engineering and consulting firm headquartered in Baltimore. McLean, Koehler, Sparks & Hammond elected Kathleen M. Davis a partner. She has been with the regional accounting and business consulting firm since 1990. The Hunt Valley firm also appointed Renee A. Curreri as a vice president in its Evergreen.cfo consulting division. Forest City Enterprises named Suzanne Warren a vice president in the science and technology group and as project director for its New East Baltimore Community, a joint venture with local builders and developers.