At the crossroads of the campus, the Campus Center offers a wide range of activities and services including dining, meeting rooms, lounges, a café, the campus store, student activity offices and a movie theater. Apartment-style residences opened in 2003, and suite-style student residences opened in 2001, 2003, and 2007 to complement existing townhouse and residence hall student housing. The library, overlooking St. John’s Pond, houses state-of-the-art media and computer centers that serve the needs of students as well as faculty and staff. Academic buildings feature computerized classrooms, modern laboratories, and specialized instructional spaces. Our newest academic building, Goodpaster Hall, opened in January 2008. In the fall of 2008, Parris N. Glendening Hall opened, providing student services, as well as the James P. Muldoon River Center, which expands our waterfront offerings and biological research facilities. To ensure that development preserves the natural beauty and Tidewater charm of the St. Mary’s campus, the College has adopted a campus master plan calling for courtyards, walkways, and gardens that enrich the landscape. In addition, the environmental fragility of its waterfront combined with its historic location inspires the College to approach campus development with special sensitivity to the ecology of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the archaeology of Maryland’s 17th-century capital.
Library, Archives, and Media Center
The St. Mary’s College library houses a collection of over 200,000 print and electronic items, including books, periodicals, videos, DVDs, CDs and microforms. The Maryland Collection includes books and documents on the state’s history and culture. The College Archives contains unique materials related to the history of the school and region. The library is open seven days per week with extended hours during exams. Study areas include group-study rooms, individual carrels, computer work-stations and audio/video equipped work-stations.The College’s library is a member of USMAI, a state-wide consortium of 16 academic libraries. Direct borrowing of books through this consortium is supplemented by interlibrary loan and document delivery. Networked computer workstations and a pool of laptops provide access to the consortial online catalog and over 120 research databases and full-text online resources. These resources are also accessible from residence halls and from off-campus. The library also maintains a small recreational reading collection in print and on a pool of e-readers.
The Media Center features a digital sound/video production and editing studio, multimedia laboratory, and classrooms equipped for media presentations. The lab provides access to multimedia authoring software, scanners, and other equipment. Digital still and video cameras are available for student use.
Information and technology literacy goals are achieved through the skills outcomes of the Core Curriculum and through classroom and individual instruction by library, archives, and media center staff. Instruction is provided in research techniques, database use, digital equipment use, and multimedia software applications.
Technology
St. Mary’s College of Maryland provides high-speed access to the Internet as well as access to the Academic Research Internet (Internet 2) to each resident student. All enrolled students are provided with St. Mary’s College email accounts, web space, and College network access. Many electronic and learning tools are available in the library, the computing center, and each academic building. In addition, the College provides 24-hour access to computers in Baltimore Hall, Kent Hall, and the library. Computer classrooms in each academic building support instruction and research with the best available technology tools. St. Mary’s College hosts a website at www.smcm.edu for public access to current news, events and information, and a secure student Portal at https://seahawks.smcm.edu/ for personalized access to student data and academic management tools.
Schaefer Hall
Schaefer Hall includes general classrooms and teaching laboratories in biology, biochemistry, computer science, geology, and physics. Research space is furnished with sophisticated laboratory instrumentation, including electron microscopes, a liquid scintillation counter, and many other scientific instruments. Marine biology studies are enhanced by the specialized aquatic studies laboratory that pumps estuarine water into the building from the St. Mary’s River.
Kent Hall
Kent Hall with its dramatic windows and views of the St. Mary’s River, houses most of the departments associated with history and the social sciences. There, classrooms are fully computerized and an anthropology laboratory includes state-of-the-art equipment. Computers are an important part of each academic building, and computer laboratories throughout the campus feature blocks of computers for the exclusive use of students.
Goodpaster Hall
Goodpaster Hall opened in January 2008 as the newest academic facility. It is home to chemistry, psychology, and educational studies. Goodpaster Hall is a LEED-certified environmentally green building, using recycled building materials for more than 75% of its construction, and incorporating energy-conserving features like stormwater runoff systems. Students and faculty enjoy extensive laboratory spaces for both chemistry and psychology. Each academic building, including Montgomery Hall described below, provides faculty office spaces that are readily accessible by students as one means of encouraging intellectual and advisory interaction.
Fine Arts Center
For much of Southern Maryland as well as the College, Montgomery Hall is the focal point for art, theater and music. This facility houses the Bruce Davis Theater, which was renovated in 2009, a dance studio, an auditorium for musical performances, a series of soundproof music practice rooms, and the Boyden Art Gallery where faculty and student curators as well as their colleagues from around the nation thematically exhibit a wide variety of art works. The corridors, lobbies, and lounges of “Monty Hall” also display paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures from the College’s fine arts collection.
Campus Center
This complex is a popular gathering place for students, faculty and staff. The main dining room area, also known as the Great Room, boasts a high-vaulted ceiling, fireplace and servery, and offers complete food services to 400 people. A snack bar and café, also provide customers indoor and outdoor seating. Two private dining rooms and three meeting rooms can be reserved for special purposes. Student clubs and organizations share workspace in the Campus Center. A movie theater and two student lounges are also located inside the building. Lockers reserved for commuter students ease their campus lives, while the more than 1600 student mailboxes ensure uncongested postal services. The campus bookstore is also part of the Campus Center as are the Student Government Association Office and the student media space and radio station.
The Teddy Turner Waterfront and the James P. Muldoon River Center
The Waterfront and River Center are home to our national championship sailing team and to recreational water sports. Our campus is located on the bend of the St. Mary’s River-an ideal spot for sailing, kayaking, paddling and rowing. The College fleet includes rescue boats, sit-on-top kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, several off-shore racing and cruising boats, racing and recreational sailing dinghies, and rowing shells for the crew program. Among the St. Mary’s alumni are more than 150 all-American sailors, six Olympians, and two Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year. The annual Bamboo Boat Race and the Governor’s Cup Yacht Race are just two of the College’s popular water activities. The waterfront is a psychological as well as physical point of reference for the St. Mary’s community as it provides a favorite place for walks, picnics, conversations, and relaxed studying. Students and alumni agree that one of the most unforgettable sights at St. Mary’s College is the sunset over Horseshoe Bend. And the river becomes an academic resource for students studying marine biology, environmental studies, and much more. The College is the home of the St. Mary’s River Project, an ongoing program scrutinizing the ecology of the river as the population and economy of Southern Maryland grow. Students are an active part of this Project.
The James P. Muldoon River Center includes a main building, a storage facility for crew shells and other water equipment, and a system of piers for docking the fleets of watercraft. Its spectacular scenic location makes this complex one of the most beautiful academic settings in the country.
Michael P. O’Brien Athletics and Recreation Center
St. Mary’s College is committed to supporting a strong intercollegiate athletic program while providing a wide range of intramural and recreational opportunities. In 2005, the College’s athletic complex was renovated and expanded from 55,000 square feet of space to 110,000 square feet. In addition, new tennis courts and a new baseball park accompany playing and practice fields for soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey, and an outdoor track were added. The renovation provides an additional arena for basketball, volleyball, and concerts, a 50-meter pool in addition to the 25-yard pool, improved locker rooms, a rock-climbing wall, a larger weight room, a movement room, and new locker rooms and offices.The varsity athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division III level in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC). Teams include baseball for men, field hockey and volleyball for women, and basketball, cross-country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, and tennis for both men and women. Sailing is offered as both a women’s and a co-educational sport. The sailing team competes under the auspices of the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) and has ranked in the top ten nationally since 1991, producing 14 national championships. Students also participate in numerous club and intramural sports, including crew, cross-country and track, flag football, golf, mountain biking, offshore sailing, scuba diving, and rugby, to name a few.
Student Residences:
A variety of air-conditioned student housing is available on campus.
- Traditional style: Caroline (coed), Dorchester (male), Prince George (coed), Queen Anne (female)
- North Campus: Lewis Quad (suites, coed), Townhouses (coed and single-sex), Waring Commons (apartments and suites, coed)
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