May 2, 2023 Advancement Update ​Since joining Saint Mary’s 18 months ago, I have been motivated and inspired by this close community of students, parents, alumnae, faculty, and staff. Leading the Advancement Division fills me not only with gratitude for the high-caliber work of this team but with excitement as we wrap up several months of hosting alumnae on campus and traveling on behalf of the College! May 2, 2023 Avenue News Read about what's happening around campus. Detailed in the spring issue: a new books program launching with the Class of 2027, the expanded offering of summer camps and pre-college programs at the College, and a round-up of renovations to Reignbeaux and the Student Center. May 2, 2023 A Campus of Prayer Email connects a group of faculty and staff who offer prayers for their colleagues May 2, 2023 Therapy Providers Ready for Today’s Field SMC’s speech-language pathology program continues to be the best in the Midwest. Its graduates are changing the world. May 2, 2023 Four Poems I think that a writer having to explain his or her poem is a lot like a comedian having to explain a joke: if the words can’t stand on their own legs in their moment under the spotlight, then there’s a problem. That being said, I acknowledge that for the under-initiated, reading a poem can be as challenging as reading a wine list or a racing form or a recipe or, for that matter, the diagrams in a football playbook or the notes on a sheet of music—poetry is not the mainstream discourse of our place and time. Beyond that generalization, any given poem—the way it sits on the page, the concentration of its language, the elusiveness of its allusiveness—may prove daunting even to experienced readers of poetry. So in sharing these poems of mine with the Saint Mary’s College family, I want to offer some reading handholds from the trove of “touchstones” that I have accumulated over my years of both reading and writing poems. May 2, 2023 Ask Yourself...Am I Open to Dialogue? What if no one is right, and no one is wrong? How can that be possible? When debate is the goal, there is a winner and a loser. With dialogue, the emphasis is on the conversation and how freely the participants can share opinions, listen thoughtfully, and be willing to learn. The Dialogue Project at Saint Mary’s is empowering students to have difficult conversations with respect and empathy. Megan Zwart, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy at Saint Mary’s, is leading the project. May 2, 2023 Upon Reflection I am grateful to have this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Provost and Senior Vice President at Saint Mary’s. I am so appreciative of the wonderful welcome I have felt from this community. I am also thankful that many of my experiences thus far resonate with my past experience in higher education. This provides comfort: I know I am in the right place. May 1, 2023 Creativity Is In Our DNA At Saint Mary’s, April and May are the months when we see many culminating projects that demonstrate “vigorous creative activity” of different kinds. This month, President Conboy takes a look at the breadth of creative works that emerge from the Saint Mary's community. April 28, 2023 First-year Student Takes a Top Prize Sofia Dolan ‘26 entered Saint Mary’s College with a desire to fully immerse herself in the campus community. In late September, an invitation to participate in the McCloskey New Venture Competition from Stacie Jeffirs, director of the Career Crossing Office, piqued her interest. Her eagerness to be an engaged student on campus led her to submit an idea to the competition hosted by the Idea Center at the University of Notre Dame. Dolan’s answer to the call provided a transformational experience for her as a first-year student, and, on top of that, the EquiCorp Award for the Best Undergraduate Venture