McDaniel College graduates the Class of 2026
Among family and friends, 388 bachelor’s candidates crossed the stage to receive their degrees on Saturday, May 23, during McDaniel College’s 156th Commencement ceremony. Robert Pick ’92, P’25, current McDaniel College Trustee and executive vice president and chief information officer for Tokio Marine North America, addressed the graduating class, talking to them about the twists and turns of professional life, the value of a liberal arts education, and the adaptability required to take advantage of opportunity. An Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree was also awarded to Dr. Péter Sótonyi, rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine in Budapest, Hungary.
Cheered on by family and friends, 388 bachelor’s candidates crossed the stage in the Robert Joshua Gill Center to receive their degrees on May 23. President Julia Jasken welcomed the Class of 2026 and their guests.
"Class of 2026, your path to this moment has been shaped by a world defined by rapid change and reinvention," Jasken said. "Throughout your time on the Hill, you learned how to build and nurture meaningful new relationships and how to navigate a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, evolving technologies, and constant streams of information."
From nine countries, 18 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, the graduates completed studies in 34 programs, the most popular of which were Kinesiology, Business Administration, Psychology, Biology, and Health Sciences. Two students graduated with three majors each. Twenty-three members of the Class of 2026 were legacy graduates, meaning that a parent, stepparent, or grandparent also graduated from the Hill, and graduates ranged in age from 20 years old to 44 years old.
This class is full of global citizens, with 25 students studying abroad for a semester and 37 students traveling internationally during a Jan Term; three of those students studied abroad multiple times. The most popular destination was the college’s campus in Budapest, Hungary. Seventeen students also received the designation of Global Fellows on their diplomas, indicating their completion of the program designed to enhance students’ understanding of global issues, develop heightened intercultural competency, and cultivate the skills and attitudes important to leading successful lives in a global context. The fifth class of National Security Fellows also crossed the stage, with seven students having completed the program that provides them with robust knowledge, skills, and experience in national security.
"You are innovators and collaborators, problem solvers and bridge builders — individuals prepared not only to adapt to the future but also to help define it," Jasken continued. "Today, we celebrate far more than your academic accomplishments. We celebrate your perseverance, your curiosity, your character, and your belief in the possibility of making a meaningful difference. Those qualities will continue to guide you long after you leave the Hill, and they are exactly what the world needs from the Class of 2026."
McDaniel College Trustee Robert Pick ’92, P’25 addresses the 2026 graduates.
President Jasken then welcomed Robert Pick ’92, P’25, a current member of the McDaniel College Board of Trustees and executive vice president and chief information officer for Tokio Marine North America, to address the graduates. At Tokio Marine North America, he leads the team providing full-suite digital and technology services, and is the global deputy chief information officer for Tokio Marine Group, one of the largest insurance companies globally with businesses in 57 countries and $50 billion in annual revenue. For Tokio Marine North America, he also oversees a global team of more than 1,100 technologists for Philadelphia Insurance, Tokio Marine America, First Insurance Company of Hawai’i, and Tokio Marine Global Services, and also supports Tokio Marine Mexico.
Pick is an author and regularly speaks at conferences and on podcasts about topics ranging from insurtech and insurance trends to legacy modernization, cybersecurity, and generative artificial intelligence. In 2024, he authored the foreword for Paul Warburton’s book, “The Mobility Society.”
His daughter, Reagan, is a 2025 graduate of McDaniel, and Pick and his wife, Heather, recently donated to establish the new STEM Center in the Learning Commons @ Hoover Library.
"The liberal arts education gives you the ability to understand people, organizations, and cultures — and adapt to them as all of them change," Pick told the graduates. "Your degree will serve you well — just not always in the ways that you expect or in the ways that you plan."
He went on to recount how his professional life underwent tremendous shifts after graduating from McDaniel (formerly Western Maryland College) in 1992 as a dual major in History and Political Science. His career pivoted from focusing on architectural history to being fully steeped in technology, with pit stops at Price Waterhouse and "the 'Devil Wears Prada' company," Condé Nast. "Curiosity, flexibility, and maybe the ability to explain things a little bit better than the average nerd found a career for me which was completely outside of my discipline, never on my mind through college or graduate school, and for which I had no formal education," he said.
The liberal arts education gives you the ability to understand people, organizations, and cultures — and adapt to them as all of them change," Pick told the graduates. "Your degree will serve you well — just not always in the ways that you expect or in the ways that you plan."
Pick then emphasized the value of a McDaniel education and reassured the Class of 2026 that their skills would not be eclipsed by the rising prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI). "With AI, the pace of change is very fast, the impacts increasingly real, while the future is even still to be written. But for the same reasons I just described, I am extremely optimistic for McDaniel students and those coming from the liberal arts traditions," he said. "The challenges of AI hit on your strengths. You can write and analyze. You understand ethics and bias. You know how to read through fluff ... to find truth, or at least traverse that process earnestly. And all of you have cross-discipline exposure, which is critically important when setting context for AI and interpreting the results. Harnessing AI is fully within your grasp."
He closed his remarks by encouraging the graduates to embrace opportunity with an open mind. "Whatever your path, my advice is to cherish every complicated, intricate moment," he told them. "Your curiosity is fuel. Your flexibility and adaptability are superpowers. And your comfort working across subjects, disciplines, and cultures is an increasingly rare skill that you as McDaniel graduates almost uniquely have. All of these will serve you very well in your years ahead."
President Jasken asked graduates and guests to join her in a moment of remembrance for two Class of 2026 members: Sebastien R. Breton, who passed away in 2025, and Asa Nugent, who passed away this past March. Breton and Nugent were both posthumously awarded their degrees.
During the ceremony, the Edith Farr Ridington Writing Award was presented to Josephine M. Otremba, a History major from Bel Air, Maryland. The Argonaut Award for the highest cumulative grade point average in the class was given to four graduates: Ethan H. Brown, a Criminal Justice major from New Market, Maryland; Liam F. Estell, a Computer Science and Political Science major from Ellicott City, Maryland; Marina Jean Ferriola, a Psychology major from Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania; and Sarah Grace Kreh, a Sociology major from Frederick, Maryland. Read the full write-ups about each of these graduates below.
McDaniel College Board of Trustees Chair Bruce Preston '75 addressed the 2026 graduates.
In addition to celebrating the Class of 2026, two faculty members were recognized for their election to emeritus status. Professor of Political Science and International Studies Christianna Leahy retired after 42 years teaching at the college, and Professor of Communication Robert Lemieux, retired after 30 years.
One faculty award was also presented at the ceremony. Professor of Chemistry Dana Ferraris, Ph.D., was awarded the 2026 Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award. Read the full write-up below.
After being officially welcomed into the Alumni Association by James A. Felton III ’95, M.S. ’98 and singing the Alma Mater for the first time as alumni, the new graduates were invited to ring Old Main bell, just as they did as new students on the Hill during Orientation.
The Edith Farr Ridington Writing Award
Established by the college’s Phi Beta Kappa Chapter in 1990 to honor Edith Farr Ridington, long-time member of the faculty and charter member and historian of the Delta of Maryland Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. The award goes to a graduating senior whose capstone paper is deemed outstanding. In the tradition of the liberal arts, the paper must make a contribution to knowledge and understanding of past, present, or future human concerns. The topic of the paper may be in any field and may employ any methodology appropriate to academic discourse.
The Edith Farr Ridington Writing Award was presented to Josephine M. Otremba.
The Edith Farr Ridington Writing Award for the best senior paper was awarded to Josephine M. Otremba of Bel Air, Maryland.
Otremba, a College Scholar, graduates magna cum laude with departmental honors in History. Her research paper, “Christian Violence in Europe During the Black Death: A Product of Religious Tension and Economic Opportunism” won the top writing award.
The paper resulted from research Otremba conducted with mentorship from Associate Professor of History Qin Fang, Ph.D., P’18 and Senior Lecturer of History Jakub Zejmis, Ph.D., who describe her as an "archival detective." They say that Otremba "treats historical texts not as passive records, but as vital frameworks to reclaim forgotten memories and amplify the voices of those silenced by the past."
Otremba examined “the deliberate nature of Christian violence against Jewish communities in medieval Europe.” After analyzing primary sources including papal writings, ecclesiastical decrees, civic records, and eyewitness accounts, Otremba argues that “the persecution of Jews was not merely an impulsive reaction to fear or plague mortality but instead a product of continuous ideological, legal and religious framework rooted in anti-Jewish policy.”
“Anti-Jewish violence during the plague followed a worldview in which Jews were imagined as a spiritual and physical threat to Christian order,” Otremba writes. She argues that understanding the intentional nature behind the violence during this period in history provides important context for how societies can transform prejudice into state-sanctioned brutality, “as part of the broader history and pattern of marginalized groups becoming targets of deliberate, organized destruction under the guise of public safety and divine justice.”
During her time on the Hill, Otremba was a peer mentor, a McDaniel Local leader, a student ambassador for the Center for Experience and Opportunity, football tutor, member of the history club, member of the inaugural women’s wrestling team, and president of Alpha Phi Omega, for which she earned 2025 President of the Year at the Office of Student Engagement’s Impact Awards.
In addition to the Honors Program, Otremba is a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society, the Trumpeters Leadership Honor Society, and the Phi Alpha Theta national honor society in history.
The Argonaut Award
Established in 1971 and awarded to the graduating senior(s) with the highest grade point average in the class. It was originally given by the Argonaut Society, founded in 1935 to honor the college’s most accomplished students. Although the society last inducted members in 1979, the year that the college obtained its Phi Beta Kappa Chapter, its memory has been retained by the continued inclusion of the Argonaut Award in the Commencement Ceremony.
The 2026 Argonaut Award Winners with Bruce H. Preston '75, McDaniel College Board of Trustees chair.
This year, four graduating seniors were recipients of The Argonaut Award:
- Ethan H. Brown of New Market, Maryland, graduates summa cum laude with a major in Criminal Justice and a minor in Sociology.
- Liam F. Estell of Ellicott City, Maryland, graduates summa cum laude with departmental honors in Computer Science and Political Science. He is a College Scholar and a National Security Fellow and was inducted into the Pi Sigma Alpha international honor society for political science. Estell represented McDaniel at the National Model United Nations 2026 conference held in New York City last month, where he participated in the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference and received the Outstanding Position Paper award. Estell completed an internship with defense contractor Peraton Inc. as a systems engineer intern. He is a founding member of the Magic: The Gathering Club and the house master electrician for McDaniel College Theatre.
- Marina Jean Ferriola of Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania, graduates summa cum laude with departmental honors in Psychology. Ferriola was a writing fellow in the Psychology Department and a Step Ahead mentor for Student Accessibility and Support Services. She was a member of Psi Chi, the international honor society in psychology; Intervarsity Christian Fellowship; and Support for the Chronically Ill and Disabled. In the summer of 2024, she was a recipient of a Summer Intern Fellowship and interned with Child Guidance Resource Centers in Philadelphia as a mental health worker intern.
- Sarah Grace Kreh of Frederick, Maryland, graduates summa cum laude with a Sociology major. She was inducted into the Alpha Kappa Delta International Society of Sociology and received The James P. Earp Sociology Award at the 2025 Undergraduate Awards Ceremony and was named the recipient of the 2026 Mary Ward Lewis Prize at last night’s Honors Convocation. Kreh has also worked at the circulation desk in Hoover Library and is a member of Finetuned Presents, the Debate Club, the Circle of Green and Gold, and Creative Threads.
The Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award
The Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award recognizes inspired classroom work and dedication to students. Established in 1995 through the generosity of Charles E. Moore Jr. ’71 and Carol Hoerichs Moore ’70, the award memorializes the beloved faculty member Ira G. Zepp ’52, Hon. L.H.D. ’15, who taught in the Department of Religious Studies until his retirement in 1994.
Professor of Chemistry Dana Ferraris, Ph.D. shakes hands with Provost Flavius Lilly.
The 2026 Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award was presented to Professor of Chemistry Dana Ferraris, Ph.D., who joined McDaniel as a visiting assistant professor of Chemistry in 2015 before being hired full time as an associate professor in 2017. Ferraris is known for his sense of humor, bringing fun into the classroom and laboratory, and encouraging his students to think outside the box. It is not uncommon to smell fresh coffee or hear the wisdom of Master Yoda coming from his office or classrooms, or to see him playing a round of bocce ball with his students on a spring day, all things that have earned him the nickname of “Uncle Dana” with many of his students.
Ferraris earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Lafayette College in 1994 and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 2004. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School and is the co-owner of Kismet Café and Kismet Go in Eldersburg.
Prior to his career in academia, Ferraris was an accomplished scientist in the pharmaceutical industry for Guilford Pharmaceuticals, MGI Pharma, and Eisai Pharmaceuticals. In 2009, he joined the Johns Hopkins University Brain Science Institute Drug Discovery Program as principal scientist leading drug discovery research teams, a passion that has continued in his career here on the Hill.
President Jasken with Dana Ferraris, Ph.D., recipient of the Ira G. Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award.
During his time at McDaniel, Ferraris has mentored over 40 undergraduate students toward completion of four medicinal chemistry projects addressing cancer therapy, acute myeloid leukemia, and the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Two of this year’s graduating seniors who are featured in our annual senior profiles project acknowledged the impact that Ferraris had on their academic and professional trajectories while on the Hill. Hira Khan, who enrolled at McDaniel with the intent to go on to medical school after graduation, credits Ferraris for her passion for scientific inquiry and discovery. Now, Hira plans to work in industry as a researcher before pursuing a Ph.D.
Kate Principio majored in Health Science with a plan of going on to physician assistant or nursing school after graduation. “Dr. Ferraris’ passion for learning and chemistry is contagious, and working in his lab made me fall in love with the idea of medicinal chemistry,” Principio says. After graduation, she will be completing a summer internship at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague, Czech Republic, conducting research in medicinal and organic chemistry.
Recognized for his engaged teaching and service on the Hill, Ferraris has also previously received the college’s Ira G. Zepp Teaching Enhancement Grant, a Charles A. Boehlke Jr. Engaged Faculty Fellow Award, Faculty Scholarly Publications Awards, and the Nora Roberts Award for Community Outreach. In 2021, he received the Career Impact Award from Johns Hopkins University and the George L. Braude Award from the American Chemical Society, Maryland section.
