Charles Center in the news

In writing her English honors thesis, Shawna Alston ‘25 calls upon many muses, including renowned scholars and artists — from Lucille Clifton to Toni Morrison — as well as faculty and students in the William & Mary Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE) community who provide invaluable support and inspiration each day.

More than 65 faculty, staff, students, and family members attended an evening program Nov. 14 in which this year's Catron Scholars shared stories, discoveries, and creations from summer experiences dedicated to exploring their artistic interests.

Students attending the second Charles Center journalism masterclass were faced with the gravest of hypotheticals: how does one cover a newsroom shooting ethically, responsibly, and respectfully, while working under a tight deadline, in competition with other news outlets?

The 1693 Scholars Program celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, honoring two decades of dedicated faculty mentoring, research support, and vibrant hands-on programming.

Since 2015 Dr. Carol Clayman Woody '71 and Robert Woody have supported William & Mary students’ passion for public history, art history, and museums through the Charles Center's Woody Internship in Museum Studies.

For Monroe Scholars Max Kaminski ‘26 and Sabine Mead Mexia ‘26, research is more than an intellectual enterprise – it is driven by their passion for illuminating Indigenous narratives that continue to be underrepresented.

Dedicated to supporting student research across an expansive range of disciplines, the Charles Center is hosting a gallery exhibition celebrating the artistic development of last summer’s Catron scholars in the Sadler Center’s Hart Gallery from Nov. 11 to 22.

Sophia Heilen ’26 is uncovering evidence of a new kind of unnatural shapeshifting quietly occurring around us: many of the state’s coastal forests are being killed in a transition to saltwater marshes due to recent sea level rise.

During the 2024-25 academic year, the Charles Center is sponsoring a new Arts Masterclass series in partnership with Arts at William & Mary dedicated to creating opportunities for artistic exploration and discovery across disciplines, from music to dance and everything in between.

Hundreds of students, alumni, faculty, and staff attended the Oct. 19 celebration of the renovation and reopening of Monroe Hall.

Since 1924 more than 12,000 William & Mary students have called Monroe Hall home, making memories, forging friendships, and in more than a few cases, finding future life partners in the iconic dorm adjacent to the university’s Historic Campus.

Encompassing all major disciplines and spanning over 36 departments, William & Mary’s honors program saw a record number of applicants this year, with 198 students seeking the opportunity to design their own research and write an honors thesis.

Aspiring William & Mary journalists now have an additional avenue to hone their craft – a new summer internship program with mentorship from award-winning reporters and editors from the Daily Press, Virginian-Pilot, and other outlets belonging to Norfolk-based Virginia Media, Inc.

Each summer William & Mary students from different backgrounds with diverse academic interests come together in a vibrant community centered on a shared passion for research.

Though William & Mary undergraduates often pursue summer internships with specific goals in mind, perhaps the greatest benefits of gaining hands-on experience in a potential career field are the zigs, zags, and unexpected life lessons that inevitably arise.

Through the Charles Center's Woody Internship in Museum Studies, ten William & Mary undergraduates spent last summer exploring potential careers in the field alongside mentors at nine host museums.

With more than 1200 students, faculty, staff, and community members participating in the Charles Center's annual Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium Sept 20 in Swem Library, William & Mary's thriving undergraduate research community was on full display.

Learning flourishes at the intersections of class, community, and research – where knowledge and discovery mutually thrive in collaborating relationships. This is the philosophy behind the Sharpe Community Scholars Program, according to its director, Dr. Monica Griffin, who has been involved with the program since 2004.

First-year Stamps 1693 Scholar Aliyana Koch-Manzur ’28 served as New Hampshire’s youngest delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Aug. 19 to 22 in Chicago.

Stephanie Hanes, climate reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, and medical journalist Caleb Hellerman of the Global Health Reporting Center kicked off the 14th Sharp Journalism Seminar challenging students to be inspired by their curiosity.

More than 200 William & Mary undergraduates will reveal their research results Friday, Sept. 20 in Swem Library’s Read and Relax room at the Charles Center’s annual Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press features editor Denise Watson has joined the growing list of professional journalists invited to campus this year by the Charles Center to help educate the next generation of storytellers and reporters at the university.

For the more than 270 undergraduates who received 2024 Charles Center summer research grants, May through August is a period of profound discovery, personal mentorship, and meaningful connection.

Charles Center summer 2024 interns are trailblazers, not only for being the largest cohort to date, but also for pioneering a new program – Sharpe Action Research Internships.

Dr. Dennis Taylor, Professor of Marine Science and faculty in the Sharpe Community Scholars Program, retires this summer after more than twenty years of teaching and mentoring students in community-based research.

This summer, ten undergraduates will scatter across the globe to develop their research and artistic acumen thanks to the Louis E. Catron Grant for Artistic Development, a Charles Center fund honoring Dr. Catron, a beloved professor of theatre at W&M from 1966 to 2002.

As scientists all over the world grapple with the impact of global climate change, biology and environmental science major Olivia Cunningham ’25 and neuroscience major Megan Fleeharty ‘24 are throwing their lab coats in the ring to identify potential solutions to the most pressing environmental concern of our time.

More than 30 undergraduate presenters took part in the 4th annual, day-long William & Mary Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE) Research Conference in Sadler April 12.

Five Honors students competed for the inaugural Barr Prize in public speaking in the Charles Center's "Thesis in Three" event held as a part of the Graduate & Honors Research Symposium March 22 in Sadler.

Students in William & Mary’s incubator for investigative reporting — the Sharp Journalism Seminar — shared insights from their research and writing journeys March 26 in the Grimsley Board Room (Blow 201).

More than 20 William & Mary students have received Research in Motion travel grants since the Charles Center launched the program last fall to expand the impact and reach of undergraduate research.

More than 155 graduate and undergraduate Honors students from William & Mary and several regional universities presented their groundbreaking research at the second annual Graduate & Honors Research Symposium in Sadler Center March 20-22.

More than 80 undergraduates have applied for Charles Center Honors Fellowships for summer ’24, marking surging interest in a program that provides up to $4,000 to rising seniors to conduct ten full-time weeks of research.

Seven undergraduate artists presented their work Feb. 22 in a sweeping Andrews Gallery exhibition that bridged disciplines and spanned media.

Nearly 40 students, faculty, and community members attended “The Climate Generation: Born into crisis, building solutions,” a public talk by journalists Stephanie Hanes and Sara Miller Llana, who shared insights gathered from a year’s worth of reporting in eight countries.

Former W&M Student Assembly President and newly hired WMSURE Program Coordinator Anthony “AJ” Joseph ’21 is paying it forward, helping to grow the program that gave him so much during his time at William & Mary.

A passion for community-centered research among incoming William & Mary students helped triple this year’s enrollment in the Sharpe Community Scholars program, an innovative undergraduate living-learning community centered on engagement, social justice, and collaborative research.

Caroline Leibowitz ’24 and Isabel Pereira-Lopez ’24 wish to understand the unexplainable, to travel down the roads that make the rest of us shudder with fright. They are currently working on separate research projects focused on the historical past and present of witchcraft.

Thanks to the generosity of adjunct professor of business law James Boswell ’86 and husband Chris Caracci, students with a passion for material culture have an unprecedented opportunity to connect with distinguished practitioners and other emerging scholars through two of the nation’s leading decorative arts institutions.

Dire predictions about the future of American journalism are common these days, but not so much at William & Mary, as student interest in the field flourishes amid a renaissance of Charles Center programs aimed to foster and inspire the next generation of reporters.

The Charles Center's City Research Scholars Internship offers undergraduate students hands-on research opportunities with local nonprofits and the City of Williamsburg.

200+ students revealed their summer research results at the 2023 Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium on Friday, Sept. 22.

The research of 200+ William & Mary undergraduates, representing the work of 45 different majors in the arts & humanities, social sciences, and STEM-related disciplines, will be on display this Friday, Sept. 22 at the 2023 Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium in Swem Library’s Read and Relax room.

Thanks to the vision and generosity of Dr. Carol Woody '71 and Robert Woody, William & Mary has been preparing undergraduates for careers in museums since the path-breaking Charles Center summer internship program launched in 2015.

William & Mary's longstanding Graduate Research Symposium returned to Sadler Center this year with a new collaborative twist, showcasing undergraduate Honors projects alongside the work of graduate students.

More than 300 undergraduate William & Mary students were awarded 2022 Summer Research Grants from the Charles Center for Academic Excellence. It's not too early to start planning for next summer!

Caroline Donovan '23 spent the summer unearthing Colonial Williamsburg's hidden history.

Through a summer research grant, Jack Boyd '23 identified 75 potential sites for inclusion in a new African American Heritage Trail in Williamsburg.

New Charles Center Research Ambassadors are on a mission: to make research more accessible and to help more students get involved.

Raven Pierce '23 displays her research on the power of spirituality and expressive arts to help Black Women navigate oppressive experiences.

Anna Arnsberger '25 helps to reveal enduring connections among families, foodways, and place at James Monroe's Highland.

For Chemistry majors Kaleea Korunka '25 and Kyle Lewis-Johnson '25, a summer research project on microplastics has taken on a life of its own.

Freeman Intern Fellowships offer unique summer research opportunities in East Asia to William & Mary undergraduates.

Pablo Solano (‘22) and Julia Gibson (‘22) have been exploring a new avenue to enlighten those in the anti-slavery community: a video game. The two seniors have undertaken more than a year of research to develop what they believe is an innovative outreach and teaching tool.

Sumié Yotsukura ‘22 and Brian Zhao ’23 recently celebrated the installation of the exhibit, “Pu Kao Chen: Thoughts of 1923 U.S. & W&M,” at Swem Library. The exhibit was the culmination of their research project to unearth the stories of the first Asian students to attend W&M.

In the summer of 2021, the Charles Center provided Collin Absher (‘24) with an opportunity for intellectual growth as well as a home at William & Mary for the summer. Absher was awarded a Charles Center summer research grant which he allocated toward his study of Chinese poetry from the Tang dynastic period in China.

In cancer treatment, the end goal is to cure or stop the spread of cancer. Four William & Mary students are calling this finish line into question, however, as they study the survivorship period in cancer patients through the Research Experience in All-around Cardiac Health program, otherwise known as REACH.

William & Mary senior Caroline Duckworth ’21 is among a group of 12 students from across the country to be selected for a 2021-2022 fellowship with the James C. Gaither Fellows Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), a foreign policy think tank in Washington, D.C.

Eight William & Mary alumni and students have been selected to receive U.S. Student Program awards, which will fund their teaching and research in countries around the world during the 2021-2022 academic year.

This semester, Anna Mehlhorn ’22 and eight other William & Mary students worked individually or in pairs to create everything from infographics to music to textile art, demonstrating the diversity within “SciArt,” the fusion of science and art. Last week, to celebrate these student innovations, Mehlhorn facilitated an event where the project participants discussed their works and heard from three professionals in the field.

Since early days of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic, the William & Mary community has engaged in the herculean work of managing and adapting to operations during a global public health crisis.

The Charles Center’s annual research symposium will be virtual this year in response to COVID-19, an adjustment which has opened opportunities for William & Mary undergraduate researchers to be at the forefront of academia’s shift towards succinct, online research communication.

Three William & Mary students have been named Goldwater Scholars, joining a select group of undergraduates studying the natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.

President James Monroe's Highland plantation in Charlottesville, Virginia is becoming a hub for both social and environmental justice. Eileen Dinn ‘23, Grace Breitenbeck ‘21, and Melissa Mukuna ’23 have the task of proposing some next steps for the property, keeping community at the front of their minds and taking careful consideration of the plantation’s history, biodiversity, and business needs.

Over the past four years, Amy Hilla ‘21 spent much of her time in Williamsburg on Scotland Street pursuing diverse research interests as a SOMOS student researcher and a research assistant for AidData. However, Hilla’s crowning research achievement fittingly came just months before she will graduate in May -- a published article in a prominent academic journal.

Two linguistics students, Celia Metzger ’21 and Aubrey Lay ’23, successfully adapted their research projects this summer in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Metzger and Lay, both 1693 Scholars, created innovative project designs that expanded upon their academic pursuits in the classroom – and provided them with a litany of diverse intellectual tasks in the process.

As COVID-19 spread across Virginia and the United States during the summer, geology student Terri Zach ‘21 took social distancing recommendations more seriously than most as she pursued an undergraduate research project in the isolated depths of rural Virginia, taking with her just a research adviser, a face mask, a notepad and an eagerness for discovery.

When COVID-19 upended the spring 2020 semester, all classes had to transition to online coursework in just a few weeks, and research collaborations between faculty and students were thrown into doubt. Fortunately, four students working with English Professor Melanie Dawson were able to translate their passions in class into a summer research opportunity by creating a ‘definitive edition’ of Edith Wharton’s novel The Mother’s Recompense.

Since the middle of the spring semester, safety protocols related to COVID-19 have imposed severe restrictions on lab access at William & Mary, rendering many research initiatives remote. Fortunately, some exceptionally dedicated scholars — Naya Burrow ‘23, Michelle Yue ‘23 and Jasmine Whelan ‘22 — found ways to optimize their research time this summer, commuting to their labs once it was deemed safe, while also producing high-quality research from home.

Many Americans celebrated the centennial anniversary of women’s suffrage in late August, which commemorated 100 years since the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified and women secured their right to vote nationwide. Thanks to a freshman Monroe Scholar summer research grant from the Charles Center, Gracie Patten ‘23 went beyond just celebrating the milestone this summer, delving into a little-known aspect of American womanhood in the waning months of World War One preceding suffrage’s passage

Summer 2020 looked and felt different because of COVID-19 restrictions, but William & Mary students doing research projects using Honors Fellowships thrived amidst change.