Annapolis Guide 8.30.26 - Flipbook - Page 30
30 Annapolis Guide | Sunday, August 30, 2026
EDUCATION
CAMPUS TOUR
Anne Arundel is home to the Naval Academy, St. John’s College, Anne Arundel Community College
By Tanisha Bhat
Higher education has its mark all over
Anne Arundel, with two historic fouryear colleges and the county’s community college. St. John’s College, the
third-oldest college in the country, and
the Naval Academy are both located in
Annapolis. Anne Arundel Community
College’s main campus is based in Arnold. It has satellite locations in Hanover, Glen Burnie and Fort Meade.
NAVAL ACADEMY
The Naval Academy, founded in 1845,
is one of the nation’s five federal service
academies. It trains and educates young
people in preparation for service as officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. Students have the rank of midshipmen and
commit to serve following their graduation.
Every June, the campus welcomes
about 1,200 new students, known as
“plebes,” on Induction Day. The event
marks the beginning of plebe summer,
an intensive training program that prepares midshipman candidates for the
official school year.
The campus, called The Yard, is open
to members of the public. Visitors must
show identification at the Gate 1 entrance near City Dock. Everyone 18 and
older must have a U.S. government-issued photo ID or current passport to
enter.
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, which seats 34,000 people, is
home to the service academy’s football
and lacrosse teams, as well as the Annapolis Blues men’s and women’s soccer
teams.
A look around Anne Arundel Community
College. PAUL W. GILLESPIE/STAFF
U.S. Naval Academy on the Severn River in Annapolis. JEFFREY F. BILL/STAFF
ANNE ARUNDEL
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE
This private liberal arts institution
was founded in 1696 and has two campuses: the original Annapolis campus
and a second location in Santa Fe, New
Mexico. In contrast to other colleges, St.
John’s undergraduate students, also
known as “Johnnies,” all pursue a single
integrated bachelor of arts in liberal arts
through the classic Great Books Program. The curriculum focuses on writing from Western civilization. However,
the school offers three different master’s degrees: liberal arts, Middle East-
dean on campus.
Sterling’s main goals are to boost enrollment numbers and tackle financial
issues troubling liberal arts colleges nationwide. In recent months, the college
announced two master’s degree partnerships with international universities:
the Pascal Institute in the Netherlands
and the Cambodia University of Technology and Science.
In April, the college unveiled about
500 new solar panels installed on the
roofs of two campus buildings. The
green investment is expected to produce over 340,000 kilowatt-hours of
electricity annually, enough to power
the entire campus for three weeks.
McDowell Hall, which includes Great Hall, left, and Pinkney Hall, which houses public
safety, right, at St. John’s College in Annapolis. JEFFREY F. BILL/STAFF
ern classics and Eastern classics.
The college’s top leadership is divided
into three roles: Annapolis president,
Santa Fe president and collegewide
president. J. Walter Sterling was already
the interim collegewide president and
the Santa Fe campus president. He was
named interim president of the Annapolis campus in June, giving him all three
top leadership roles. Susan Paalman, the
interim president before Sterling, returned to her previous position as a
Anne Arundel Community College
was established in 1961 and has more
than 27,000 students across its four
campuses in Arnold, Hanover, Fort Meade and Glen Burnie. Students can pick
from 160 degrees and certificates.
In May, the college named Tanya
Millner as its new interim president,
making her the college’s first Black
president. However, Millner’s appointment came two months after faculty issued a no-confidence vote in her previous role as provost and vice president of
learning.
Millner succeeds Dawn Lindsay, who
retired at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year after a 14-year tenure. The
college said it will continue searching
for its next permanent president and
hopes to name one by the end of 2026.
