From the Editor

Fall on a college campus is more than falling leaves and pretty foliage. It is a time of beginnings and reunions, as friends, teammates, and colleagues reunite after the summer, and a new cohort of students arrives.

This year felt more like a new beginning than most. The semester kicked off with a new interim president in place to greet and help families on move-in day. We welcomed more new students than we’ve had in five years. We had a new budget process in place from the start of the financial year that will ensure fiscal sustainability going forward. The tennis courts have undergone a facelift and are newly lined and painted. And perhaps most ambitious of all, the site of the new Warehime School of Business has been leveled and prepared for construction to begin in the new calendar year.

If the College feels like it is on a new and exciting path, our alumni continue to astound with their accomplishments. In this issue, you can read about Phaedra Michelle Scott ’14 adapting a much-loved biography for the stage. Raph Koster ’92 was and is a pioneer in online gaming and is so influential that many of the gaming and social media terms that are entering the broader lexicon were coined by him. Speaking of coins, Sulolit “Raj” Mukherjee ’00, a leading expert in digital assets and cryptocurrency, talks about where the industry is headed. And as experts go, few are better positioned than Ryan Sweet ’03, the chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, to share insights into the increasingly divided American economy.

If our alumni are doing extraordinary things, our students are mapping out their own unique paths. Three interns spent a soggy summer spotting and tracking field sparrows in the name of science. Peyton Baldwin ’26 spent her summer as an intern helping to rebrand the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Observer Program (NOP). Students refreshed the Campus Garden, were recognized with national awards, recorded local history, and donated thousands in Dining Dollars to local food banks. 

Not to be outdone, our faculty have published papers and books and presented at major conferences. Richard De Prospo, the Ernest A. Howard Professor of English and American Studies, published his fifth book, which details how the acceptance of inequality as the natural order colored the views of the Founding Fathers and played a significant role in shaping the Constitution and the path the new nation took. Andrew L. Oros, a professor of political science and international studies, analyzes the profound effects of population shifts on countries in Asia and the Pacific in his new book. And last but not least, Martin Connaughton, biology professor, outlines his career in terms of the fish he has studied. He also does amazing imitations of the sounds fish make, and if you ask him politely, he may perform his repertoire of fish calls at your special event. 

I hope you enjoy this issue. As always, I’d love to hear from you.

Yours sincerely,
Darrach Dolan, Managing Editor

Volume 73 No. 1
Fall 2025
ISSN 2995-2573

Managing Editor
Darrach Dolan

Editor
Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven

Executive Editor
Brian Speer

Contributing Writers/editors
MacKenzie Brady ’21, Tim Corrao,
Darrach Dolan, Dominique Ellis Falcon, 
Courtney Hardy,  Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven,
Dylan R. Poulsen, Christine Sinatra,
Emily Kate Smith ’10, Brian Speer,
Ryan Sweet ’03

Design
Jennifer Quinn

Contributing Photographers
MacKenzie Brady ’21, Tim Corrao,
Pamela Cowart-Rickman, Darrach Dolan,
Joan Eddis-Koch, Dominique Ellis Falcon,
Mark Jolly-Van Bodegraven, Caroline J. Phillips, Andraya Sudler 

Administration
Bryan Matthews ’75 M’86 P’12
Interim President

Brian Speer
Vice President for
Marketing and Communications

Susie Chase ’90 P’21
Chief Advancement and Revenue Officer

Emily Kate Smith ’10
Associate Vice President for 
Alumni and Constituent Engagement

The Washington College Office of Marketing and Communications publishes Washington College Magazine (USPS 667-260) four times a year. Periodical postage paid at Chestertown, Maryland, and at other offices. 

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