St. Mary’s College of Maryland is launching a new institutional platform this fall aimed at bringing scholarship, dialogue, and public leadership together under a single banner: the St. Mary’s Athenaeum.
Named for the historic tradition of institutions devoted to literary and scientific learning, the Athenaeum is designed to reinforce the college’s identity as the National Public Honors College. Its first year will be organized around the college’s 2026-27 Essential Question, “What is community?” — a theme meant to run through programs and activities across the college throughout the academic year.
“The St. Mary’s Athenaeum reflects what it means to be the National Public Honors College,” said President Rhonda Phillips. “It gives us a way to bring scholarship, dialogue and different perspectives together around questions that matter.”
The initiative carries particular resonance for Phillips, who became SMCM’s eighth president in July 2025 after previously serving as founding dean of Purdue University’s John Martinson Honors College and, before that, as president of Chatham University in Pittsburgh. She was formally inaugurated at SMCM in April 2026, with U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer delivering the ceremony’s keynote address.
The Athenaeum launches with two components. The President’s Colloquium Series will bring nationally recognized scholars, artists, scientists, authors, jurists, diplomats, and public leaders to campus for conversations viewed through the lens of the liberal arts and the public good. It opens Nov. 10 with the Goodpaster Lecture, featuring Henrik Syse, a Norwegian philosopher and research professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo whose work examines the ethics of war, peace negotiations, free speech, and religion. Syse served on the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the Nobel Peace Prize, from 2015 to 2020, including four years as vice chair. His visit builds on a growing relationship between SMCM and Oslo institutions: Phillips and three faculty members took part this summer in the inaugural Partners in Peace Oslo Peace Congress at the Nobel Peace Center.
The second component, SMCM Community Hour, begins in September as a recurring public forum. Its inaugural session features students reflecting on an interdisciplinary study visit to Buenos Aires earlier this year, moderated by Phillips alongside Argelia González Hurtado, associate professor of Spanish and Latin American studies, and students Daniel Biller ’27, Stella Manns ’28, and Pillar Dyson ’27. Starting in October, Community Hour will meet monthly on Tuesdays through May, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Daugherty-Palmer Commons, open to students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members.
“The Essential Question is not something we intend to ask just once and be done,” Phillips said. “It is an invitation to keep exploring throughout the year.”
College officials said additional programming details will be announced throughout the academic year, with the Athenaeum expected to grow into a platform for showcasing faculty and student scholarship and connecting the college with distinguished thinkers and public leaders.
