As the academic year draws to a close, McDaniel College bids farewell to David Herlocker, Samuel Alspach, William Sapora, Jack Clark and Sue Singer. The five professors, with a combined 164 years of service to the college, are retiring. They have been approved for emeriti status by the college’s trustees.

Over the past 40 years, David Webb Herlocker (right) has built a distinguished career at McDaniel College; teaching chemistry, serving as a long-time department chair and as a faculty leader, and making contributions to the profession both in the region and nationally. Most importantly, he has inspired many students who will remember him with great respect and affection.

George Samuel Alspach Jr.’s (left) 38 years of service to McDaniel College’s Biology Department have been marked by distinction, commitment to students, and to a rich collegiality from which the entire campus community has benefited. He taught Marine Biology and Oceanography, Physiology and Nutrition, Invertebrate Zoology, and many others. Alspach served as department chair from 1992-1997, pre-medical adviser since the late 1980s, and adviser and mentor of the Biology Honor Society Beta Beta Beta from 1980-2001.

Robert William Sapora (right) arrived on the Hill in 1971 as a Medievalist, teaching such critical courses as Chaucer, Beowulf to Mallory, and Linguistics. In the mid-1980s, his dual skills in script writing and filmmaking led to his being selected for a joint appointment in both the Communication and English departments. As the founder and director of the Filmmaking Apprenticeship at McDaniel in 1998, he supervised nearly 50 student apprentices in film and video production.

Jack Elman Clark (left), who taught in the Mathematics Department since 1978, inspired passion in his students for problem-solving, music, outdoor cycling and mountain climbing, as well as the Japanese game of Go. He also transported countless students to performances of Bach's B minor mass and Mozart's operas in Baltimore, D.C., and Philadelphia. He taught Mathematics topics ranging from Elementary Calculus to Advanced Special Studies in such wide-ranging topics as Dynamical Systems, Bifurcation Theory, Special Functions of Mathematical Physics, and Queueing Theory.

D. Susan Singer (right) joined the faculty as a professor of Economics and Business Administration in 1983 after working as an accountant and tax specialist. Singer led the first group of students to study in Budapest in 1998. She has served as affirmative action director for the faculty, as faculty representative to the long-range planning committee of the Board of Trustees, and as adviser to the Jewish Student Organization. In 1996 was appointed by Gov. Parris Glendening to the Maryland State Board of Public Accountancy, which oversees certified public accountants practicing in Maryland.