McDaniel College has once again been chosen as one of the “Best Colleges in America” by Money Magazine and is the highest ranked small college in Maryland. This is the sixth consecutive year that McDaniel has been recognized for providing an affordable, quality education that leads to alumni success.
The best part of Ashley Pritchard’s job as education coordinator at Marineland in St. Augustine, Fla. — a job that often finds her swimming in crystal clear water with playful dolphins and other marine life — is motivating young people to make a difference, however small, in the health of the planet. The 2016 Environmental Studies alumna loves teaching but her ultimate goal is to provide connections to the environment and conservation issues that result in action.
More than 1,200 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors returned to the Hill over a six-day staggered move-in period. McDaniel also welcomed its largest incoming class in the College’s history with more than 600 new first-year and transfer students. The Return to the Hill Task Force met regularly throughout the summer to develop the College’s Fall 2020 reopening plans based on guidance by state and county health officials to ensure a healthy and safe residential and academic experience.
McDaniel is also recognized as a "Best Northeastern" college and a "Best Value" college, which stem from institutional and student survey data. The college is among the nation’s four-year colleges identified as best in four regions – Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West – that are considered academically outstanding.
Renamed the Roj Student Center for 1970 alumni Mary Lynn Durham and Bill Roj, who supported the project with a $5 million gift. The $11 million renovation modernizes McDaniel’s student center located in the middle of campus and is the first overall renovation of the structure since it was built in 1978.
New partnership expands McDaniel’s student health services. McDaniel students can receive routine medical care and telehealth appointments through LifeBridge Health as an expansion of the college’s Wellness Center offerings.
More than 40 students participated in McDaniel College’s Student-Faculty Collaborative Summer Research Program. The Student-Faculty Collaborative Research experience is a 10-week program for undergraduate students at McDaniel to pursue research, which is supported by donors. Thirteen faculty members have been leading projects virtually, while two Chemistry professors received special permission to perform COVID-19 research in labs on campus.
The FDA just approved cedazuridine, the cancer drug Chemistry professor Dana Ferraris invented more than a decade ago when he worked in the biotech industry as a medicinal chemist. In its approval announcement, the agency says the combination of cedazuridine with the cancer drug decitabine in pill form is “an important advance in treatment options for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a type of blood cancer, who previously needed to visit a health care facility to receive intravenous treatment.”
McDaniel College is highlighted among the “Best Colleges in Maryland for 2020” by College Consensus and is the top small college on their list, ranking at #3 just behind Johns Hopkins University and University of Maryland, College Park.
In the face of the deadly global coronavirus pandemic, pharmaceutical data vaults have been unlocked and shared – an unprecedented move in research that McDaniel Chemistry professor Dana Ferraris seized to give his students the opportunity this summer to discover drugs to fight COVID-19.
News, experts, trends, research, interesting classes and fascinating people. It’s all here at McDaniel College – let us help you find what you’re looking for.
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