St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM) is a public liberal arts college in St. Mary's City, Maryland.Maryland State Archives, Online Manual, "St. Mary's College Of Maryland: Origin & Functions" http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/25univ/stmarys/html/stmarysf.html Established in 1840, St. Mary's College is an honors college that claims to "offer an experience similar to that of an elite liberal arts college". With about 1,600 enrolled students, the institution offers bachelor's degrees in 21 disciplines, as well as a master's program and certification programs.
The college shares much of its campus with Historic St. Mary's City, the site of Maryland's first colony and capital. It is also the site of the fourth colony in British North America. The Historical Archaeology Field School is jointly operated by St. Mary's College of Maryland and Historic St. Mary's City."Historic St. Mary's City Wins Archaeology Award", Baynet, Baltimore, MD - January 23, 2012, The campus and the rest of St. Mary's City combined are considered to be one of the premier archaeological sites in the United States.
History
St. Mary's College of Maryland is located on the original site of Maryland's first colony, St. Mary's City, which was also the first capital of Maryland"ST. MARY'S COUNTY, MARYLAND: HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY", Maryland Manual Online, Maryland State Archives, Government of the State of Maryland, http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/36loc/sm/chron/html/smchron.html and is considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in America.
Colonial St. Mary's City was actually only a town, and at its peak had between 500 and 600 residents. However, as the colony quickly expanded and settlements spread throughout what is now eastern Maryland, the town remained the capital. Representatives would travel from all over the colony to participate in the Maryland General Assembly, the colony's first legislative body.
The Colony was founded under a mandate by the colonial proprietor, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, that the settlers follow religious tolerance of each other.Cecilius Calvert, "Instructions to the Colonists by Lord Baltimore, (1633)" in Clayton Coleman Hall, ed., Narratives of Early Maryland, 1633-1684 (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910), 11-23.Dr. Lois Green Carr, "Margaret Brent (ca. 1601-1671)", MSA SC 3520-2177, Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series), http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/002100/002177/html/bio.html The first settlers were Protestants and Catholics during a time of persecution of the latter, and this mandate was unprecedented then as England had been wracked by religious conflict for centuries.
The college's name, "St. Mary's," commemorates Maryland's first colony, "St. Mary's City", which once stood where the college stands now. It has been coeducational since 1949.
Academics St. Mary's College offers 21 majors (with 5 additional in development), 29 minors, seven pre-professional programs and it has a master's program in education. It is a public honors college, one of only two such colleges in the United States. As such, it maintains a core honors-level curriculum that all of its students, regardless of major, must complete.
The college underwent its first ever large-scale program review or program prioritization process in February 2021, resulting in the discontinuation of several majors and minors.
It has an 81% overall graduation rate (including longer than four years). The college has a 70% four-year graduation rate, the highest of any public institution in Maryland and third highest in the United States among public colleges."State Legislature Approves Tuition Reduction Measure for St. Mary's College of Maryland", April 11, 2014, Southern Maryland Online http://somd.com/news/headlines/2014/18073.shtml 69% of students pursue dual concurrent degrees or dual minors, which may take longer than four years, in some cases. 10% of students transfer from St. Mary's College to other institutions and 83% of students enroll for a second year.
79% of students are receiving financial aid, with 66% of students receiving grants or scholarships.
The school is a member of Phi Beta Kappa society.
Tuition According to the Maryland Higher Education Commission, St. Mary's College, despite being a public institution, competes mostly with elite private colleges."R14D00, St. Mary's College of Maryland: Analysis of the FY 2015 Maryland Executive Budget -- 2014 Operating Budget Data Analysis in Brief / Major Trends", Garret T. Halbach, Analysis of the FY 2015 Maryland Executive Budget, 2014; Page 2, Maryland Higher Education Commission, http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/Pubs/BudgetFiscal/2015fy-budget-docs-operating-R14D00-St-Marys-College-of-Maryland.pdf The commission reported in 2014 that the cost of obtaining a degree at St. Mary's College is $30,000 less when compared to the average costs of the elite private colleges that it competes with.
Accreditation and charter The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Although it is a state-operated institution, St. Mary's is independent of the University System of Maryland as it opted out of the system in 1992. However, in early 2006, St. Mary's College joined the University of Maryland Academic Telecommunications System (UMATS), which interconnects the University System of Maryland with several other networks, including the Internet and Internet2 networks.Net Services.
Administration
St. Mary's College's current president, Rhonda Phillips, was appointed in 2025.
The school has 150 full-time faculty, 14 of whom are current Fulbright scholars (the college faculty has earned 30 Fulbright research awards in the past 20 years). There is a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio, one of the lowest in the nation.
Programs
Overseas programs Approximately 46% of St. Mary's College students study abroad, half of them for a full semester or more. The Institute of International Education has recognized St. Mary's College as being 17th in the nation (public and private schools combined) for the percentage of its undergraduate students who study abroad for at least one semester."U.S. Study Abroad: Leading Institutions by Undergraduate Participation and Institutional Type" Open Doors Data, Institute of International Education, 2011/2012, http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/US-Study-Abroad/Leading-Institutions-by-Undergraduate-Participation/2011-12
Fulbright program
St. Mary's College has had many students and faculty win Fulbright awards. In the 2009–2010 academic year, the college had the second highest number of student Fulbright winners of any public liberal arts college in the nation.
In the 2011–2012 academic year, the college had the third highest number of faculty Fulbright winners in the United States among public and private baccalaureate colleges (undergraduate colleges).
Historical studies Since 1840, the school has been charged by the state in various capacities in researching,"Center for the Study of Democracy: Purpose and Inspiration for Our Work", St. Mary's College of Maryland, CFSOD, interpreting and memorializing Maryland history at the site of Maryland's first colony and capitol, St. Mary's City, Maryland, which is also where the college is located.
Historical Archaeology Field School In this capacity St. Mary's College of Maryland, in partnership with Historic St. Mary's City, also runs the Historical Archaeology Field School which is an internationally recognized institution. The field school has worked on over 300 archaeological dig sites in the St. Mary's City area over the last 40 years.
School's inspirational historic grounding This research also includes a special focus and draws inspiration from local milestone historical events related to the struggle for establishment of democracy in Maryland, in many of its aspects, including:
The early development of representative legislature in Maryland. The struggle for the establishment of religious freedom in America. The beginnings of the quest for women's suffrage in America. The struggle for minority rights in America. The beginnings of freedom of the press in the Southern colonies.
Institutions
The Center for the Study of Democracy
The Center for the Study of Democracy is an interdisciplinary joint initiative of St. Mary's College of Maryland and Historic St. Mary's City."Pax Defense Forum to Focus on China Seas" Lexington Leader, Thursday, April 11, 2013 · http://lexleader.net/pax-defense-forum-focus-china-seas/
The James P. Muldoon River Center
The James P. Muldoon River Center is a biological research center located along the Saint Mary's River. The center administers the Saint Mary's River Project and the university's geothermal operations.
The Slackwater Center The Slackwater Center studies the current events, culture and history of St. Mary's County and other rural Chesapeake Bay and Southern Maryland communities."SlackWater takes St. Mary's oral histories, essays online: Project continues, but future of printed journals uncertain", Jason Babcock, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, "More Than Oral History: The Slackwater Center Investigates the Meaning of "Rural", J. A. King, 10/21/2005, Bay Net, Its focus is interdisciplinary and it studies the region from both an historical and contemporary point of view."More Than Oral History: The Slackwater Center Investigates the Meaning of "Rural", J. A. King, October 21, 2005, Bay Net,
The center studies, records and documents as well as interprets and reports on current and historical life in Chesapeake Bay communities. The center also has a public education mission. Students engage in historical research and historical interpretation as well as documenting oral histories"Archaeology, Narrative, and the Politics of the Past: The View from Southern Maryland", Pages 68 and 41, Julia King, University of Tennessee Press; July 30, 2012, , of living residents. The center utilizes interdisciplinary collaboration and also fosters public education and debate.
It also publishes the Slackwater Journal and maintains an extensive archive.
Historic St. Mary's City Commission Historic St. Mary's City, which sits next to the college, is a State-run archaeological research, historical research, preservation and interpretation center and an indoor and outdoor museum complex. The area managed by the commission also includes a reconstructed colonial town and sailing ship, located on the historic site of Maryland's first colony.
St. Mary's College and Historic St. Mary's City jointly coordinate programs of study in archaeology, history, museum studies, African American studies, political science and theater. This includes both classroom and also hands-on opportunities in archaeological excavations, museums, and historic interpretation work.
The commission and its grounds are considered to be is a major center for colonial archaeological research and historical research in the United States. There have been over 200 archaeological digs in St. Mary's City worked on by the school over the last 30 years.
All St. Mary's Students may also attend St. Mary's City's public access historical sites and all of its museums for free, year round.Virtual Campus Tour .
The Maryland Heritage Project The Maryland Heritage Project is also a collaboration between St. Mary's College of Maryland and Historic St. Mary's City. It focuses on the reconstruction of colonial buildings in the Historic St. Mary's City living history area, ongoing development of St. Mary's museum exhibits, and also indoor and outdoor historic interpretation.