Addressing the 590 graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences at this year’s commencement ceremony on May 11, Dr. Paul Farmer did what he has done his whole life: surprise and inspire people.

The surprise for many hearing the MacArthur Foundation “genius” award winner and internationally renowned public health advocate was that he avoided the traditional platitudes about graduates embarking on a new chapter in their lives. Instead, he told a “tale of two cities”: Boston and Mirebalais, which is in central Haiti.

“If anyone embodies the American University ideal of active citizenship it is Paul Farmer,” said Peter Starr, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “He has devoted his entire career to helping people in some of the poorest places in the world get the kind of health care they not only need but deserve.”

Farmer is chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He also serves as U.N. Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community-based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti.

He is perhaps best known as the cofounder of Partners In Health, an international nonprofit organization whose main goals are “to bring the benefits of modern medical science to those most in need of them and to serve as an antidote to despair.” He received an honorary doctor of science degree at commencement.

Tale of Two Cities

In his tale of two cities, Farmer started with Boston, home to Brigham and Women’s Hospital, social where Farmer is chief of the Division of Global Health Equity. In nearby Cambridge is Harvard Medical School, where he teaches and started his medical studies 30 years ago.

In Boston, after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the city’s marathon, Farmer noted, a safety net of world-class hospitals and highly trained physicians and caregivers sprang into action. Three people died and more than 260 were injured. But not a single patient who reached the hospital alive died, even though many had suffered massive trauma. Doctors began operating on the injured within half an hour of the blast.

The system worked.

Compare that with Mirebalais, one of the poorest places in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. That’s where Farmer has chosen to live and to help the people who need his help the most.

Farmer first visited Mirebalais in 1983, after he had graduated from Duke and was about to enter Harvard Medical School. In the first few years of conducting health surveys in Haiti, he recounted, he’d lost three close fellow workers in ways that would have been unimaginable in Boston. One died of misdiagnosed cerebral malaria, another from typhoid fever complicated by an ileal perforation, and a third of sepsis caused by infection just days after giving birth to a boy. Her death could have been avoided by the kind of hygiene practiced routinely in hospitals in places like Boston.

Farmer’s conclusion was a fitting charge to the Class of 2013.

“Martin Luther King was right when he told us the year before his death by martyrdom that anyone can be great because everyone can serve. All of us can serve by helping to build or support the safety nets our species needs.” Not everyone can survive devastating disease or disasters, he said. “But how many survive serious illness or injury depends heavily on what sort of safety net we build for all those who share our neighborhoods, cities, states, nations, planet.”

When WAMU 88.5 began its life in the early 1960's as American University’s public radio station, it was a scrappy 4,000-watt operation outfitted with equipment from donations and military surplus stores.

The small outfit still managed to cover big moments, including the United Nations debate on Cuban missiles live, President John F. Kennedy's 1963 speech at AU, and the March on Washington.

Over the years, the station has grown to 50,000 watts and today reaches an estimated 805,000 listeners a week as the only NPR affiliate in Washington, D.C.

WAMU is now the metro area’s most listened to station, according to Arbitron, the radio industry’s primary data collection service.

Of people listening to radio in the region, more tune in to 88.5 FM than any other station, including talk, sports, and commercial music stations like WTOP and Hot 99.5, WAMU’s closest competitors.

But achieving the top spot in the D.C. market didn’t happen overnight, said Caryn Mathes, general manager of WAMU.

"It was the culmination of a lot of years of investment," she said. "We put together a strategic plan and asked how can we be relevant and significant."

Washington, D.C., is the seventh largest radio market, but WAMU is number one nationwide in average quarter hour listenership and number two for the share in average quarter hour, according to the Fall 2012 Arbitron survey. A Corporation for Public Broadcasting survey about public radio stations’ quantitative worth showed that WAMU’s impact was "huge," Mathes said.  

"WAMU's success over the past eight years has quite frankly been stunning," said David Taylor, President Neil Kerwin’s chief of staff who oversees WAMU.

In the first seven years of Mathes’ tenure, the station invested $7 million in new content and $500,000 to build out the digital department. She says they are now starting to see the payoff of that investment.

In the digital age, radio stations can no longer only provide terrestrial services. A revamped website, as well as a variety of podcasts, a robust streaming service, and on-demand archives have helped meet listeners where they are.

It’s not just about building up WAMU’s digital services, though. Mathes, who has been the station’s GM for eight years, thinks the station’s success is due in large part to its positioning as a community resource.

Not only does WAMU provide regular traffic and weather updates — utility services that listeners rely on — but that station has also invested resources in its local reporting. When Mathes came on board in 2005, WAMU had only five reporters in its newsroom. 

Now, there are 25 covering Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., politics, the environment, coastal affairs, and the federal government, among other beats. The station will also move this summer to a seven-story building, located at 4401 Connecticut Ave., NW, offering WAMU 88.5 more than twice its current operating space.

"One of the bedrock things we try to do is support lifelong learning and make the local to global connection," Mathes said. "We want to cover federal Washington and neighborhood Washington."

To that end, WAMU recently instituted a Public Insight Network, which encourages locals to share stories and knowledge about particular areas. So far, more than 2,000 people have registered and their contributions have led to more than 50 stories.  

WAMU also relies on a Community Council, an advisory board made up of a diverse group of people from the station’s coverage area. The council advises the station on programming and helps select a topic for the station to pursue in depth. This year, they decided to focus on the Affordable Care Act and its implications around the D.C. metro area.

WAMU would not be where it is today — the third largest public radio station in the country — without its anchor shows. The Diane Rehm Show and The Kojo Nmamdi Show have been on the air nearly a combined 50 years. NPR and Sirius XM Radio syndicate both shows. NPR Worldwide also broadcasts Rehm’s show. In this year's Washington City Paper Best of D.C. poll, Nnamdi is the readers choice for best radio personality and WAMU is the best radio station.

"We want to continue to be a national syndicator," Mathes said.

To that end, they’ve created Animal House, a show about animal science, pet behavior, and wildlife conservation. The show is broadcast on 30 stations. They recently piloted another show called The Big Fix — a forum for listeners to offer ideas on how to solve the country’s domestic issues. Mathes said they’re hoping to find funding to make that show a regular offering.

More people listening to the syndicated shows potentially means more donors, which is critical since the station is largely listener supported. While hundreds of thousands of people listen to WAMU every week, only about 52,000 are members. This is troubling to Mathes.

"The monetization model still isn’t figured out. Some people still feel that they don’t have to pay for our services," she said.

Still, annual giving keeps going up. That’s a good thing for WAMU, but it’s also a good thing for AU. The better the station does, the more people are exposed to AU’s name when the hear the station ID, "WAMU 88.5 American University radio. Where the mind is our medium."

"When WAMU is strong, thriving, and influential, that represents an extension of AU's role in the nation's capital and beyond," Taylor said. "So it is important for that rapport to be very strong and mutually supportive."

Mathes recalls meeting a listener once who encouraged her child to apply to AU because she was an avid Rehm listener.

"It’s a way to get our name out there and a way to get AU’s name out there," Mathes said of the station’s national and international reach. "It’s a huge advantage for the university to have a public radio station."

Like many young graduates, Taylor Saia, BSBA '13, will be moving over the summer. But unlike his classmates, he'll be moving halfway around the world.

Saia will begin a nine-month Fulbright scholarship to teach English and begin a community music project in Indonesia in August.

"The anticipation is a bit nerve-wracking, but that's part of the experience," he said. "I can't wait to go."

Business to Backpacking

Saia, who is currently a marketing intern at the National Geographic Society, has always enjoyed traveling; he spent his junior year abroad in France at the SKEMA Business School, located just outside Nice. It was this experience, he said, that inspired him to find a way to continue exploring other cultures.

"Fulbright gives you the opportunity to get off the beaten path, and that really excited me," Saia said. "Southeast Asia drew me in; it's just so culturally diverse."

Indonesia's more than 300 ethnic groups and more than 700 native languages are sure to keep Saia on his toes—but he's looking forward to the challenge.

"I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos and using Rosetta Stone to get the hang of some basic phrases," he said.

Saia's program will begin with a three-week course in basic Bahasa, the official language of Indonesia, and Indonesia culture before he moves to his yet-to-be-determined provided housing.

"[Scholars] are provided with a place to live, but that's the only guarantee," Saia said. "I could be assigned to a hut or a palace, it's just part of the adventure."

Forging His Own Trail

Saia, who is specializing in marketing at Kogod, will be the first to admit he is far from the typical business student. "I've definitely done my own thing," said Saia, who is also a member of the AU a cappella group On a Sensual Note. "But at the same time, Kogod has definitely helped me prepare for Indonesia."

He credits the faculty and overall diversity for encouraging his creativity during the past four years.

"The incredible exposure I got to internationalism while at Kogod only made me more interested in traveling," he said. "I definitely wouldn't have been accepted by Fulbright without the encouragement and recommendations I received from my professors."

Saia encourages other students to follow their own interests.

"It sounds cliché but the best advice I can give is to take risks," he said. "Find a way to make what you're passionate about fit in with school and a career, not the other way around."

While Curtis Burrill may have a seat at AU as assistant director of Student Activities for Fraternity & Sorority Life, he’s just landed a new chair off campus. Well, a co-chair.

As recently elected co-chair of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ (NASPA) Fraternity and Sorority Life Knowledge Community, Burrill will guide 1,700 colleagues from institutions across the country.

NASPA, a national organization of student affairs administrators in higher education, promotes the advancement of its more than 13,000 members in the student affairs profession. One way NASPA supports its members is through 27 knowledge communities, one of which Burrill now leads.

“It’s really all about creating knowledge [and] providing opportunities for our members to find resources for specific communities, subject matters that pertain to student affairs,” he says. “Trying to get people engaged and connected is really the point of the knowledge community just as much as building that knowledge around the specific topic area.”

After spending the past two years as a regional representative in his knowledge community, Burrill will serve the next three years – one as co-chair elect and two in the post – organizing and engaging members of institutions ranging from places like Penn State to Kennesaw State Universities. He will officially take over as Co-Chair at the 2014 NASPA National Conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

At its core, the work is all about enriching fraternities and sororities as a whole by collaborating on successes, short-comings, and trends.

“[We’re] trying to get an understanding of what our communities look like in different places. Obviously, every school is different, but overall there is a fraternal movement, and we really try to support it,” he says. “We have an association of fraternity and sorority advisors that we partner with, trying just to have the dialogue about the fraternal movement and how to progress it in a way that’s positive and in line with our organizations.”

Other knowledge communities exist around topics such as LGBT issues, assessment, and indigenous peoples, and Burrill is certain to collaborate with them. Still, his new post and its duties are right in his wheelhouse, right where his heart is.

“My work in fraternity and sorority life and advising is where my passion is in student affairs,” he says. “I just want to make sure that we’re furthering our work and making sure that I can help push the work we’re doing forward and maintain our relevancy on our campuses, making sure we’re doing the right research and providing the right information for campus professional as well as our colleagues in the different national organizations that we partner with.”

Not only will he be helping others further their campus communities, he’ll also be bettering AU with each step as co-chair, whether in examining new research, organizing an annual national Greek Life conference, or just learning through conversation with the scores of NASPA members now looking to his leadership.

“It will definitely help me to be much more engaged with the current research and trends,” he says. “It will help our community also. We’ve been growing dramatically over these last few years. Bringing up our current trends and needs and bouncing them off of my colleagues is really great.”

With a Greek letter population at AU of more than 1,200 students that’s expanded by 40% over the past five years, Burrill is all ears when working with organizations like the Association of Fraternity & Sorority Advisors and the American College Personnel Association.

For him, improving is all about connections.

“It’s really important to build those relationships and bring that knowledge together so that we can all benefit from it. When we’re working in our little silos, a lot of us forget that there are others who could benefit from what we’re doing,” he says.

A five-year member of the AU community and six-year professional in the field, Burrill has dedicated a lot of time to promoting fraternity and sorority life as part of the university experience. Still, this new move, this new chair, is something he’s more than happy to take on.

Just like the students at AU, he’s ready to serve where he can best make an impact.

“It’s going to be a great experience. I’m excited for it,” he says. “It’s going to be some good challenges and opportunities for me to give back to the community.”

Samantha Amberg, CAS ’13, is one of few American University students to have worked in an operating room as an undergraduate.

Amberg, a biology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, found out about an internship opportunity at DaVinci Plastic Surgery during her junior year and couldn’t pass it up.

Though most of her time at DaVinci was spent tracking supply inventories and maintaining medical records, for Amberg, watching and assisting with surgeries was the most valuable part of her experience.

During operations, she prepared surgical tools and materials, scribed and kept track of the time, and served as a general assistant for physicians—tasks most medical students don’t get to do until their second or third year of medical school.

Amberg quickly learned that a day in the operating room can be quite stressful, typically starting at 6 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m.

"Being in the operating room is like running a very stressful marathon," Amberg said. "The first few times I assisted with surgery, it was a deer-in-headlights situation. But I learned quickly and eventually was able to be of greater help to the team, while also learning how to deal with this crazy schedule."

American University is known for fostering an environment that promotes active internships like Amberg’s. The class of 2012 set a new school record, with 88 percent of students completing at least one internship before graduation. 

Like Amberg, they’re not all interning in fields like politics, international service, and communications—traditional strengths of AU. They’re interning in all corners and sectors of Washington, D.C.

"Internships help [students in smaller programs] achieve professional goals in the same manner as any other student by adding specific skills and accomplishments that supplement in the classroom experience," said Sue Gordon, director of career development in the Career Center.

When Maria Schneider, CAS ’13, tells people she majors in American Studies, the first questions she has to answer are "What’s that?" and "What do you want to do with that?"

Luckily, Schneider has a response for both questions. Throughout her coursework, she has focused on education reform, specializing in programs for disadvantaged youth. To supplement her studies, she currently interns at City Kids Wilderness Project, a nonprofit that focuses on outdoor education and leadership for D.C. middle and high school students.

As part of her internship, Schneider organizes weekend retreats that focus on topics like diversity and social justice with the students.

"Most people don’t even think of something like this as a possibility for an internship," Schneider said. "I think it’s important that students know that there are opportunities in D.C. to satisfy every possible interest."

Schneider’s work with City Kids reminds her every day why she is pursuing a career in the education field. Her internship has also helped her land a job teaching middle school Spanish in New Orleans through Teach for America following graduation in May.

"Through internships, students hone their skills and capabilities to build a strong resume and become a more competitive job applicant," Gordon said.

Swathi Nuli, CAS/SPA ’14, is taking advantage of another D.C. institution—the National Institutes of Health. Like Amberg, she interns in the science field, but their internships and long-term goals couldn’t be more different.

Nuli, a pre-med student majoring in psychology and justice/law, interns at NIH’s Institute of Allergens and Infectious Diseases. At NIH, Nuli helps proofread manuscripts from around the world, creates visuals for scientific publications, and assists with HIV research.

"My job [at NIH] has been one of the most influential opportunities I have had as a pre-medical student at AU," Nuli said. "I think a lot of political science and School of International Service majors at AU come to D.C. to work with the top politicians in the world, and I feel similarly fortunate to be working with the top scientists."

Nuli said that her NIH experience inspired her to bring a chapter of Phi Delta Epsilon, an international medical fraternity, to AU. She points to engaging and helpful mentors as the most important resource for pre-med students. 

Nuli will be extending her HIV work by volunteering in South Africa this summer and said she hopes to stay in this field for the long run.

Amberg, on the other hand, decided to pursue a new field after her time with the plastic surgeons. After interacting with patients and hearing their individual stories, Amberg discovered that her true passion is in psychology. She is grateful for her internship experience and the fact that it gave her a clearer vision of her future goals.

"My time at DaVinci has given me so much more than another bullet on my resume," Amberg said. "I’ve gained plenty of practical skills, but my most valuable takeaways are intangible: how to behave in a professional environment, how to interact with clients, and how much I can accomplish if I push myself."

One day, Stephen Casey was sitting at his kitchen table while his teenaged daughter and her 11 friends sat in a different room, chatting away and using their cellphones.

“I was thinking that there’s no way, with the way that we think about communication, that we’ll keep up with that generation,” the mathematics and statistics professor said. “Because what happens is that they talk in these incredibly rapid bursts of communication. It is also rich, multilayered communication.” 

Casey said this “art” of allowing information to be communicated electronically is called signal processing. 

“I was sitting at the kitchen table, in essence hiding. I was the adult in charge at this time, and I was trying to let them do their thing and just trying to remain invisible,” he added, “while thinking about this signal processing innovation.”  

What resulted from that day was an idea that led to a $145,537 award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for a three-year project called “New Techniques in Time Frequency Analysis: Adaptive Band, Ultra Band and Multi-Rate Signal Processing,” which led to an invention that now has a pending patent. 

“My invention is to take blocks of the signal and project that into what is called frequency space,” he said. “The method that I invented is called the projection method.” 

Casey already has two provisional patents for this method and said he is currently under review for a full patent.  

When he applied for the Air Force Office of Scientific Research award, he described all the different ways his method could provide solutions for the different problems the Air Force works on.  

“One is a very interesting phenomenon called ultra wide band communication,” Casey said. “This came about because of high-level radar and sonar signal processing, which obviously the Air Force is interested in.” 

Casey explained ultra wide band communication through a civilian use, referring to the earthquake that shook the Washington, D.C., area in the late summer of 2011. 

“We noticed that the first thing to go down was cellphone networks,” he said. “So the projection method actually solves the post-earthquake communication problem. Because if we communicated with our cellphones via ultra wide ban communication and used the projection method, we could layer the communications in hierarchy so that the low-level communication would get through.”  

Casey said text messages would go through first, followed by voice messages, then followed by video uploads or Facebook statuses about where a person was when the earthquake happened. The projection method is also energy efficient, Casey said, because when there is less complicated communication, it operates more efficiently and at lower energy levels. In the three years that Casey has to work on his idea with the award money, he said he will continue to write papers and think about a few other ideas that branch off of his projection method.

“I am amazed at how useful and how interesting mathematics is,” he said. “Even though I’ve been teaching for 25 years, I still feel like a student. I’m just very excited and enthused by the wonderful collection of things I get to work on, and I am thankful for having the opportunity to teach the great students we have in the AU Mathematics and Statistics Department.”

Presenting a semester's worth of work in front of your professor and classmates is stressful enough, but add in a real client and it's a different ball game entirely. That's exactly what students faced in Assistant Professor Cristel Russell's Advertising and Promotion Campaigns class.

The Concept

Student teams worked with one of two clients—the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) or media start-up SocialRadar—to develop a strategic campaign designed to meet the client's needs.

"I think it was a really great experience for the students to work with real clients on a real campaign. There's so much more to learn than what can just be read in textbooks," said Russell.

For SocialRadar, teams worked to develop a traditional launch campaign of a new smartphone app. But for CSPI, the challenge was to develop a campaign to encourage consumers to demand less marketing of unhealthy foods aimed at children.

Working on the same project throughout the semester gave students the opportunity to tie together principles learned across the marketing curriculum, according to Russell. Despite seeming like apples and oranges on the surface, marketing an idea versus a traditional product required the same steps in the end.

"Some of the students struggled a bit in the beginning…but once they realized the same principles applied, you could really see the lights in their eyes as they started coming up with ideas."

More Than Homework

From the student perspective, they were able to take away even more from Russell's class—now they have tangible evidence of their abilities.

"It was incredible to have a real client and do real work, not just deal in hypotheticals," said Kristianna George, BSBA '13. "It's been really helpful when I've applied to jobs because I have this project to hand over and say 'Here, I did this,' and it's exactly what I gave [my client.]"

Working with real clients also allowed students to overcome difficulties that may not be covered in a textbook.

"We definitely had struggles, but really learned what the [campaign presentation] process can really be like," said Kurtis Gobencion, BSBA '13. "There was more pressure because we had a real client, our materials had to be professional, we couldn't just say 'Good enough.'"

Professional Quality

Students may have been producing the work, but the final campaigns presented were anything but student quality, according to the clients.

"Everything I saw was top-notch," said Michael Chasen, CAS '94, and CEO of SocialRadar. "I couldn't have gotten better results going to an outside contractor."

Chasen, who has worked with several schools in the area, enjoys engaging with his alma mater and hopes to continue to work with Kogod in the future.

"I found the students to be very entrepreneurial. It was obvious they inherently understood the online media world, and they really stood out among schools I've worked with."

Lindsay Vickroy, nutrition policy coordinator for CSPI, echoed Chasen's positive experience.

"It was obvious to me that the students were very committed to the project and worked diligently to provide us with a product that would work," she said. "I know it wasn't easy to develop a campaign to market an idea instead of a product, but they really rose to the challenge."

Not so long ago half of humanity was all but invisible in history books. Bit characters in male narratives of wars and diplomacy, the best women could hope for were cameos, the occasional “woman worthies” who somehow transcended the limitations of the fair sex.

The odd chapter on Joan of Arc or Marie Curie notwithstanding, women have never been content to be written out of the narrative. They’ve been writing women’s histories all along. 

How those histories have grown in sophistication to the field’s more nuanced transnational approach is, in part, the subject of 10 essays collected in AU history professors Pamela S. Nadell and Kate Haulman’s new book, Making Women’s Histories: Beyond National Perspectives. 

In Making Women’s Histories, which Nadell and Haulman coedited, the perspective ranges from the experiences of women in Tsarist Russia and the British empire in Egypt and India to Qing dynasty China and the 1960s-era United States. 

In her essay “Women’s Past and the Currents of U.S. History,” essay contributor Kathy Peiss of the University of Pennsylvania cuts to the chase on what many women historians consider the political role of women’s history. 

“When I began work as a women’s historian,” Peiss writes, “we all promised each other a revolution. If the original goal was to write women into history, we have made amazing progress—from exclusion to inclusion, from private to public, from attention to ‘women worthies’ to an extraordinary exploration of women from many different origins and all walks of life, in the United States and around the world . . . Now, women’s history and gender analysis are shaping the comparative, transnational, and international histories that are beginning to revise anew how we understand the . . . past.” 

Women’s history’s often explicitly politically engaged mission, coeditor Nadell maintains, makes it no different from other kinds of history—African American history, say, or her own field of Jewish history. Nor are all women’s historians writing today “engaged in the same kind of political project,” she says. 

Women’s history now enjoys much more public awareness. But progress hasn’t always been linear. Take the growing popularity of Women’s History Month. 

Nadell’s coeditor, AU history professor Haulman, is at best ambivalent about the annual recognition of women’s accomplishments.

“I’m not a huge fan of Women’s History Month,” Haulman says. “It had utility for its time. But every month is Women’s History Month. Women’s history is everywhere. Segmenting it into its particular month can have a marginalizing effect.” 

And that old heroine, the woman worthy, has hardly faded away. News of the first woman this, or the first woman that, is a TV and newspaper staple. 

“I just got something today, the first female rabbi chaplain in the U.S. Air Force,” Nadell says. 

Even so, she agrees that women worthies can serve a positive purpose. 

“For somebody not trained as a historian, they’re manageable, they’re understandable,” she says. “They’re an individual life within your particular capacity to understand. The kind of more theoretical and sophisticated work we do in terms of women’s history isn’t always so accessible. So I understand the reason for it.” 

An important benefit of women’s history coming to the forefront is its effect on historians in general. It’s no longer acceptable to pretend that half the human race doesn’t exist, says Nadell. 

The book is dedicated to the memory of Robert Griffith, who was responsible for the spring 2008 AU conference on women’s and gender history from which the idea for the book was born. 

Nadell and Haulman write in the book’s acknowledgments, “[T]hat this book is now in your hands is due in part to the efforts and encouragement of our colleague, friend, and then department chair, the late Professor Robert Griffith. When a fund created in the 1890s for the ‘education of young women alone,’ unexpectedly fell into his lap, Bob, with his characteristic grand vision, imagined a series of projects which would advance the field of women’s and gender history . . . American University’s Clendenen Fund for Women’s and Gender History was born.” 

Asked which of the book’s essays they liked best, Nadell and Haulman both smile. 

“We love all of our children equally,” Haulman says. 

Making Women’s Histories: Beyond National Perspectives (NYU: 2013) contains essays written by Arianne Chernock (Boston University), Anna Clark (University of Minnesota), Barbara Engel (University of Colorado–Boulder), Jocelyn Olcott (Duke), Kathy Peiss (University of Pennsylvania), Lisa Pollard (University of North Carolina–Wilmington), Claire Robertson (Ohio State), Mytheli Sreenivas (Ohio State), Ulrike Strasser (University of California–Irvine), Heidi Tinsman (University of California–Irvine), and Cristina Zaccarini (Adelphi). Nadell and Haulman wrote the book’s introduction.

People say they live and breathe art, but three AU master of fine arts alumni and one current student really do—they opened an art exhibit in the living room of their Columbia Heights row house.

Delicious Spectacle is an experimental gallery space where artists can show their work and meet other artists, according to Sam Scharf, MFA ’12 and one of the founding members of the exhibit.  

Scharf said his fellow housemates—who include Victoria Greising MFA ’11, Camden Place MFA ’12, Dan Perkins MFA ’13, and Megan Meuller (a 2008 Virginia Commonwealth University BFA grad)—decided to host a different art show at Delicious Spectacle each month.  

“I thought it might be a nice way to show work that might not be getting shown,” he said. “It’s nice to have a space where artists can feel free to kind of explore, and maybe try something they can’t do in a traditional white-wall space.” 

Since its opening, Delicious Spectacle has hosted more than 20 different artists, some of them AU students or alumni. The founders do not show their own art on principle.  

“You know there’s going to be good work up,” Scharf said. “It’s new, contemporary, and innovative. We try to focus on that to come through.”  

The Washington Post has featured the exhibit space twice, bringing a flood of people into the house for exhibit opening parties. Between 100 and 150 people came to the opening of the first exhibit, but the past couple shows were jammed with 200 to 250 people. There was literally no room to move in the two exhibit rooms.  

“I’m happy that people are there,” Scharf said. “Yeah, some of them are there to get free drinks, but at least they’re surrounded by art.”  

Scharf said house art exhibits are relatively new to the D.C. area.  

“It is a house, and we can still show really good work,” he said. 

The housemates all have their own assignments when it comes to Delicious Spectacle. They divvy up who will curate the different exhibits, as well as who will promote the shows, construct and deconstruct the exhibit space, and buy drinks for the opening and closing parties.  

“There’s a lot of effort and energy being put into it, and we’re not getting paid for it,” Scharf said. “The best thing is that it’s possible.” So what is the spectacle, and why is it delicious? 

“A spectacle is a concept that has to do with the larger system that we live in,” he said. The group originally wanted to do an art critique blog and was talking about spectacles in art late one night.  

“We were talking about how delicious it is, how we just wanted to soak this up,” he said. “It is very tasty in a way.”  

Delicious Spectacle’s next opening is May 24, when the work of artist Matt Rich will be presented.

Students have often reported that the temperatures in the library can be very cool in summer and very warm in winter. The library and university are addressing this situation with a summer construction project to upgrade the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and cooling) system in the Bender building. AU’s Facilities Management office will work to improve temperature consistency and to save energy.

Library users may be slightly affected by the construction, which will be done overnight and began Monday, May 13. The work is expected to last for eight weeks and will begin on the library’s third floor and continue downward floor-by-floor. The areas, which may experience uncomfortably warm or cool temperatures, will be cordoned off. This will also protect visitors from any materials that may have been dislodged from the ceilings during the process. Books located in these areas may be retrieved by visiting the Borrowing Desk on the first floor.

Library staff members are taking all measures to ensure this project affects visitors as little as possible. Please contact the Information Desk in the lobby with any questions or comments at 202-885-3232.

The library and partners hosted the Final Perk on the spring study day, April 30. Intermittent drizzle meant the event had to be held in the Mud Box, but a lively crowd attended this exciting hippy-themed event—Peace, Love, & Finals. Students filled up on the traditional cookies and coffee, as well as retro-candies, such as Atomic Fireballs and candy buttons.

Students also enjoyed fun giveaways and activities, including color-changing “mood” stressballs, florescent mini-frisbees, and “Future AU Alumni” mechanical pencils and highlighters. After loading up on gifts and goodies, students lined up to take their picture with the AU sheep, who definitely dressed for the occasion! Unfortunately, the bad weather meant the planned tie-dye activity had to be postponed, but students should keep an eye out for a future tie-dying opportunity, courtesy of the Final Perk sponsors!

This marks the eighth academic year that the library has sponsored this end-of-semester study break. Important campus partners in this event include the Mud Box Café, Student Government, the Residence Hall Association, Auxiliary Services, the Graduate Leadership Council, Student Activities, Friends of AU Library, and the American University Alumni Association.

What a great semester it's been, full of fantastic student work, faculty achievement and some new faces, all capped off by a wonderful commencement. Check out video and text of speeches from 2013.

Nationally-Recognized Experts Join SOC

SOC is proud to welcome Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist John Sullivan, New Media Expert Expert Andrew Lih and Gaming Guru Lindsay Grace.

 

 

Brokaw and Clooney 'Remember JFK'

AU’s School of Communication and The Newseum joined forces on May 1 to present “JFK Remembered,” an event held in the Newseum’s Walter and Leonore Annenberg Theater. Read more

 

Chris Matthews Joins AU for JFK Speech Panel

The Hardball host paid tribute to JFK's "A Strategy of Peace" speech at SOC's event. Read more

 

 

Student and Alumni Achievement

Experiencing Cuba Through the Lens

Students saw the effects of the United States’ 50-year blockade of Fidel Castro’s Cuba, as well as the island nation’s culture, politics, and socio-economics. Read more

 

Meet Inaugural Google Journalism Fellow Jan Boyles

SOC PhD student Jan Boyles was one of 8 students selected for the prestigious Google Journalism Fellowship. Read more

 

 

AU Teams Up on International Sustainable Home Competition

American University has joined two other D.C. schools to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Read more

 

 

Faculty Success

360 Learning: Professor Recruits Students to Work on Museum Exhibition

SOC's Maggie Stogner invited students to work on her latest project, Roads of Arabia. Read more

 

Professor Explores Changing Face of Midwifery in New Film

Maher's film follows DC-based nurse midwives, their patients, and the doctors they work with over a two-year period, documenting their stories along the way. Read more

 

Workshop Journalists Join A-List Celebrities and Producers on Showtime Series

Investigative journalists Mishi Ebrahim and Chuck Lewis work with A-list celebrities and producers on climate change documentary series. Read more

 

'From the Fields' to Capitol Hill

Professor Carolyn Brown took her film From the Fields on a national screening tour, from coast to coast and to Capitol Hill. Read more

 

Nisbet Explores Role of 'Knowledge Journalists'

Nisbet's paper examines Bill McKibben's career and impact on the debate over climate change. Read more

 

 

The Digital Future

NPR's Matt Thompson Teaching New Media Entrepreneurs

The School of Communication’s newest incoming adjunct instructor, Professor Matt Thompson learned media technology on the fly.
Read more

Digital Media Student's Work Gets Noticed

iTunes highlighted Pam Willenz's JuiceQuest podcast as "New and Noteworthy". Read more

Kristina Bell was one of three graduate students to receive the 2013 William K. Reilly Scholarship from AU’s Center for Environmental Policy. The new scholarship, named for the pioneering environmentalist and former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will help Bell pursue her interests in the environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development.

This honor sparkles atop Bell’s record of scholarship and a variety of learning experiences and challenges.

Bell, SPA/MPA’14, doesn’t see the world through a single window. Nor does she approach her own calling—helping create sustainable opportunities in the developing world—from a narrow path.

On her journey to a master’s in public administration, Bell has worked for an international nonprofit organization, the Egyptian arm of a private multinational company, and a local DC government agency – experiences she all sees as complementing her formal education.

“I’m interested in global policy and international development – for example how global governance structures can help promote international development through economic and social standards,” said Bell. “But there are many different routes to that. If I’ve learned one thing, it’s not to narrow my options or my outlook.”

Since arriving at AU, Bell has taken on three internships that have helped enrich her classroom learning with real-world experience. In 2011, Bell joined PriceWaterhouseCoopers Egypt, working as a corporate engagement manager on an initiative to encourage blood donations through corporate partnerships.

“It was challenging, being an American intern cold calling companies like Coca-Cola Egypt,” said Bell. “I had to work through language and cultural barriers, but it was a tremendous learning experience.”

Bell also interned for the Global Business School Network, a nonprofit that aims to level the playing field for higher education. Bell helped develop and implement a survey of about 300 schools worldwide to gauge the demand for an online PhD program.

To round out her experience, Bell took on an internship this spring at the DC Department of Housing and Community Development.

“I wanted to understand how the public sector operates. It was a totally different experience, working with a government bureaucracy,” said Bell.

Bell, who played Division I basketball as a business major at Fordham, also managed to find time to play on an intramural league to blow off steam in between classes.

“Basketball has taught me a lot of valuable skills. You have to know how to manage your time and energy, maintain your work-life balance, and plan ahead,” said Bell.

“Teamwork is also important, especially learning how to bring out your teammates’ strengths and help them realize their value. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle.”

This summer, she will pack her bags for Malaysia and Indonesia, as part of an SIS class, Globalization, Governance and Human Security in Southeast Asia. She and her classmates will spend three weeks in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, taking classes and conducting cultural and professional site visits.

These experiences have all enhanced the multi-faceted education Bell has received at AU.

“The diversity of professors and their eclectic professional backgrounds has been extremely valuable,” said Bell. “So has being in the classroom with students with experience and knowledge about different issues. I learn just as much from my classmates as from my professors.”

Congratulations Class of 2013!

The 2013 College of Arts and Sciences commencement ceremony took place on May 11 at 4:30 p.m. View photos of the ceremony.

Speeches

Renowned medical anthropologist and physician Paul Farmer spoke to graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences and received an honorary doctor of science degree. Known for his work on health, human rights, and the consequences of social inequality, Farmer is chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and also serves as U.N. Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community-based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti. "Your paths will lead to unexpected engagements," Farmer said. "The connections you made here will last a lifetime." Watch video.

Student Mariam Sameh Aziz also spoke, telling graduates, "Let us not forget our own voices and that they matter. In this age of globalization, do not become lost in the sea of people." A native of Egypt, Mariam completed her baccalaureate degree this past December, with a double major in economics and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. During her time at AU, she spent six months in Ghana working with abandoned children; helped to organize an Egyptian diaspora group in support of the Arab Spring; and participated in an alternative break program in Haiti studying development efforts after the 2010 earthquake. Watch video. 

Awards

• Andrey Verendeev received the University Student Award for Outstanding Scholar at the Doctoral Level.
• Andrew Paul Merluzzi received the University Student Award for Outstanding Scholar at the Undergraduate Level.
  
• Carley Rose DeFranco received the Evelyn Swarthout Hayes Award.
• Mohamed Nazran Baba received the Carlton Savage Award.
  
• Stephen A. Bronskill, who also graduated from the School of Public Affairs, was recognized as the winner of the Stafford H. Cassell Award and the President's Award. The President's Award is the highest honor awarded at commencement. It is given to an undergraduate senior who has displayed a longstanding commitment to building community and promoting AU’s ideals of academic achievement, integrity, selflessness, leadership, and service.

American University has a long-standing tradition of educating the world's leading contributors in motion pictures, music, television, theater, public communications, and journalism.

With more than 10,000 alumni presently working in entertainment and media, AU introduces the Entertainment and Media Alumni Alliance (EMAA), a new alumni engagement effort that allows alumni and current students working and studying in these fields to strengthen their bonds to one another.

AU is excited about this new alumni effort; and along with a dedicated list of host committee alumni, we want you to share in the celebration.

Join us for the EMAA Launch Party on Wednesday, June 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the W Hollywood Residences Rooftop in Los Angeles, California.

Whether you are interested in career connections, social events, advocacy, student mentorship, exposure, or simply a unique way to give back, EMAA is a great place to start.

Additionally, we want to continue to build our volunteer leadership base in L.A., New York City, and eight additional major entertainment and media markets, including Chicago, San Francisco/San Jose, Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston, Houston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

Interested in volunteering? Email us at auemaa@american.edu or complete the Alumni Volunteer Form online.

We look forward to having you join us in L.A. on June 19.

Visit the new Entertainment and Media Alumni Alliance web page to view our host committee or to sign up to be an EMAA volunteer.

As president of the Alumni Association, I have the opportunity to attend lots of great events and meet many of the talented graduates of our alma mater. Recently, we hosted an event in Alexandria, Va. for alumni featuring our alumnus-in-chief, Dr. Neil Kerwin. As one of us -- and now president of American University -- he clearly enjoys these events, and I know that the alumni who turn out enjoy the chance to engage with him.

I also had the opportunity to attend a dinner hosted by the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress that honored AU alumna and current member of the Board of Trustees, Margery Kraus, for the corporate statesmanship of the firm she founded several decades ago, APCO Worldwide. Margery's vision and leadership helped drive the success that APCO has had in the public affairs industry and in giving back to the community.

As the academic year draws to a close, the activity at AU does not. Over the hot summer months, the transformation of the campus will continue as the finishing touches are put on the new Cassell Hall dorm and work continues on the renovation of McKinley Hall as the new home of the School of Communication.

Over the weekend, this year's senior class donned their caps and gowns to receive their diplomas at Commencement, and they formally joined our ranks as alumni of American University. As we do each year, we sponsored a Toast to Graduates event honoring the graduates as we welcomed them to our community. It marks a real milestone in the lives of these young people -- and not just because it's the first time they can attend an official AU event and be handed a glass of champagne!

Please take a moment to welcome these new members of our Alumni Association as you cross paths with them. Continue to be generous with your time as you offer career advice -- or even hire a fellow alum!

- Chip

Naomi Baron spent the past year exactly the way you would expect the winner of the Betty T. Bennett award to do.

The Betty T. Bennett award was established by the family of former College dean Betty Bennett in memory of her service to the university from 1985 to 1997 and in particular to recognize a member of the College's faculty who is both a superior scholar and an exemplary leader in an administrative role.

Baron has split her time this year between Washington and California. She spent a month in the fall at Stanford, where she is a visiting scholar at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and two months there this spring, all the while continuing her “day job” as executive director of AU’s Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning.

Baron is at Stanford as part of a group of five scholars working on new media language, put together by Georgetown professor Deborah Tannen. Each member of the group is pursuing his or her own research agenda, but they “talk a lot,” according to Baron. They test their theories and bounce ideas off one another and other colleagues at the Center.

Baron is working on a book that already has a title, Words Onscreen: The Fate of Reading in a Digital World, a publisher, Oxford University Press, and a publication date, 2014.

Baron’s central research question is whether reading on digital screens—computers, tablets, e-readers, mobile phones—is changing our notion of what it means to read. Since the invention of writing, the medium on which we record written words has affected how we read. Books are easier to read than scrolls; printing introduced active use of page numbers; and so on. Digital technologies are also affecting how we read, but in new ways. Probably the most important is that reading on screens urges us to keep seeking new bits of information but discourages more serious, contemplative, deep reading. Baron is concerned about the consequences of this shift.

Baron joined the College of Arts and Sciences in 1987 as associate dean for undergraduate affairs and thus began her relationship with Betty T. Bennett. Baron then became associate dean for curriculum and faculty development, spending a total of seven years in the Dean’s office.

Baron says she was fortunate to be able to work so closely with Dean Bennett. “During that time I learned an enormous amount about how to juggle full-time administrative responsibilities with a continuing research agenda.” While she was associate dean, Baron wrote two books and “a slew of articles and book chapters.”

After she left the Dean’s office, Baron’s administrative posts have included four years as chair of the Department of Language and Foreign Studies (now the Department of World Languages and Cultures) and 15 years directing the TESOL program. In July 2011, she assumed the leadership of the Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning. Throughout that time she has been a prolific scholar, having now published seven books, along with scores of articles and book chapters. She is a popular media figure, sought out by major news outlets to discuss new media and her research.

Baron’s interest in how we read—and how new media are affecting the reading process—reflects her longstanding commitment to figuring out how to best structure higher education. A personal goal throughout her professional career has been to inform her thinking about education by research—both the work of other scholars and her own.

Writing is another of Baron’s passions—as it was Betty Bennett’s. Crafting language well is a vital aspect of professional scholarship but it is also the backbone of a liberal arts education. Describing Bennett’s love of language, Baron says, “She took very seriously her word choice in everything she produced, every speech she gave, every report she wrote. It was, I think, part of her own way of demonstrating the integration of scholarship and administration. And of course, teaching was also a vital part of the mix.”

Bennett modeled the integration of scholarship, administration, and teaching. The same can be said of Naomi Baron, this year’s winner of the Betty T. Bennett award.

The American University Museum has quite a treat for D.C. art buffs. On the second floor gallery is a collection of master’s thesis work from MFA students in AU’s Department of Art. The exhibit showcases well-refined talent and diversity in subjects and techniques from 11 artists: David de Bol, Angela Esteve, Emily Francisco, Lisa Marie Jakab, Ryan Carr Johnson, Shahdeh Khodavandi, Dan Perkins, Anna Prezioso, Heather Ravenscroft, Jenny Sawle, and Harini Thyagarajan.

Each artist’s processes, inspirations, and final products described in the gallery talks were fascinating. Here is a conversation with three of the artists, starting with Harini Thyagarajan, an artist from Chennai, India. Her piece was an experiential artwork made of 17,500 pounds of salt on which she invited viewers to play.

Steven Dawson: Why salt?  
Harini Thyagarajan: “I have a personal history with salt. My family had our own salt farm back in Chennai, India, on the southern coast by the sea. My hometown is the saltiest place I’ve ever been. You walk outside and you can feel the salt on your tongue; that’s how salty it gets in the summer. The material just started making its own work for me.”

SD: What kind of salt do you use?
HT: “When I started working with salt, I started experimenting with the different origins. Was it rock salt? Was it sea salt? And then experimenting with their functions. Was it ice melting? Used for cooking? And then slowly the origins and history began to vanish because the salt itself was overtaking those aspects. It didn’t matter where it was from; it didn’t matter what history it had. I think the presence of the material itself would speak for itself. That’s when I realized that we would have a sort of play on words with ‘all purpose salt,’ which is what I used.”

SD: Where do you get 17,500 pounds of salt?
HT: “This is actually restaurant-grade salt, so I get it from large wholesalers and depots. I received quite a few suspicious looks.”

SD: Tell me about the experience of creating it and then showing it.
HT: “The experience was very satisfying because I moved every single salt bag individually. So it was 50 pounds at a time, and opening each bag was like opening Christmas presents, it was so satisfying.”

SD: What is next for you?
HT: “I have to move back to India. But I am currently in the process of exploring these works. Initially, I wasn’t interested in gallery exhibitions or anything because I feel like I should wait and just enjoy the experience of making these experiential works. To me, it is all about the experience with the art.”

Next, I talked with Angela Esteve, who works with shredded paper to form themed collages whose ambiguity allows viewers to project their own meaning onto the work.

Steven Dawson: How did you arrive at using shredded paper as your material, and what do you shred?
Angela Esteve: “I tried a lot of different things, using paper; ripping it, tearing it, and eventually shredding it. Then I tried putting together photos of my children, because they’ve all left home, and I wanted to reconstruct the feeling of having them there. But then I realized that you couldn’t have that, so I started using children’s books that I read to them as children. Then I thought I would use my own work, since that is something else from the past. So it’s a combination of children’s books, my work, and new prints. Anything related to my life is in the work. For example, I like reading the Financial Times, so that’s in there.”

SD: What do you want a person to get out of looking at your piece?
AE: “It’s all very representational. I like to start off with something real and recognizable and then make it into an abstract work. It could mean anything to the person looking at it.”

SD: What are your plans after graduating?
AE: “I already have two degrees, and a post-graduate certificate in education, and now a master’s degree. So I am going to get teacher certification. I’d like to teach while still carrying on making work.”

Finally, I had a conversation with Anna Prezioso, who created clothing from denim material that was intentionally meant to constrict the movement of the person wearing it to explore the limitations that trauma survivors experience.

SD: Why did you use denim as your primary material?
Anna Prezioso: “I’m really interested in the material for a couple of reasons. I love how people have tons of different associations with denim, so I’m interested in what the viewer brings to the piece. For me, I always found that jeans can be so comfortable, but if you don’t have your right size, you can’t force yourself to fit in them. It doesn’t stretch like spandex or cotton. So I enjoy pushing the limitations of the material itself, to see where that breaking point is. So I like playing with that duality of the material.”

SD: You mentioned in your Gallery Talk that this is the first time you have introduced performance into your art. What was that like?
AP: “Performance is a new thing for my work, and it was great getting feedback from the live models that I tailored the outfits for. I feel like having people interact with my work, and having someone actually wear my work opened new doors for my work. I will definitely keep creating work with a performance aspect.”

SD: What are your plans after AU?
AP: “I am going to Berlin for six weeks in AU’s MFA summer program out there. There is a wonderful art community over there, so I am interested to see what that’s like over there versus New York or LA or D.C. After that I plan on returning to teach. I get a lot out of working with students, and working with them feeds my own work.

The MFA Thesis Exhibition, Crossing the Bifrost, will be at the American University Museum through May 26. For more information, visit the MFA thesis gallery website.

If there’s a single word that describes Eric Rodriguez, it’s focus.

For the AU anthropology major and 2012–13 Udall scholarship winner, that focus begins and ends with his identity as a descendant of the Yakima Nation in Washington state and an enrolled member of the Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana. 

Rodriguez was one of only 50 new Udall scholars nationwide out of more than 400 applicants, and one of eight Native Americans. American University, which has had 12 Udall scholars in the past seven years, ranks second in the nation in producing Udall winners. 

Particularly in Indian Country, where the Udalls’ family history in Congress and the Department of the Interior and their work as champions for the environment loom large, winning the scholarship "is really prestigious," Rodriguez says. 

Helping his people 

From an early age, Rodriguez strove to help his people. But one event sharpened his focus. 

"I grew up in the housing projects, with all the effects of the reservation, all the domestic violence, the teen suicides, the alcohol and drug abuse. That was my world; that’s what I was surrounded by," he says. "And so growing up I wanted to help my community and became a volunteer firefighter and EMT after graduating from high school." 

By the time he was 21, he said, he wanted to do more than put out fires and "patch everybody up" as a volunteer firefighter/EMT. He was accepted as a tribal police officer in the Yakima Nation Police Department. 

Then came the experiences that changed his life. 

"Being a police officer was a great opportunity," he says. "But what really put me on the path was all the teen suicides I had to handle. Within a few months’ period I had to handle three suicides. That was me showing up first on the scene, having to cut them down, start CPR, and stuff like that. The trials and tribulations I experienced really focused me on wanting to accomplish my goals because I know that developing tribal policies you can help prevent these things. You can’t solve everything. But building stronger tribal nations is where you can help them, giving them different opportunities." 

Building stronger tribal nations also means learning from the elders, Rodriguez says. The desire to understand his culture better is why he became an anthropology major at AU, for his tribal identity is very important to him. 

"It’s what makes Indian people their own sovereign entity," he says. "It reinforces our self-determination." His life experience, Rodriguez acknowledges, is worlds apart from most college students’. 

"To me, it’s like studying abroad, living here in D.C.," he says. "Usually I’m part of the countryside, being able to go somewhere without seeing all the concrete buildings. I’m used to a lot more trees, a lot more open space."

The next step 

Before coming to AU, the desire to do more for his people led Rodriguez to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, New Mexico. After returning to his community in Washington state, he was recruited by the Pojoaque Pueblo (tribal police department) in New Mexico as a tribal police officer. There he continued to learn about the jurisdictional complications tribal police encounter in incidents involving non-Indians, as well as working with different police agencies such as the sheriff’s department and the state police. 

It was his decision to return to the Yakima Nation, with its new approach to policing, that allowed him to pursue a more proactive course. Instead of just keeping the peace he could address problems before they spiraled out of control. 

"It’s a different philosophy for the Yakima Nation for community policing," he says. "Instead of just showing up at the scene of domestic violence, teen suicides, or alcohol abuse, you work with the community to figure out what’s going on to try to fix it. This different approach was our ability to use the community, their own resources, to solve problems. And so what I did was work with the outlying community to establish a community coalition." 

That entailed setting up joint patrols with other police agencies to work on jurisdictional problems, but also working with students to educate them about suicide prevention, to teach them to watch out for signs that a classmate or friend might need help. 

The program saved lives. 

As an AU student, Rodriguez continues to teach tribal police officers about community policing via webinars he conducts through his internship at the Department of Justice, where he is a Tribal Meth fellow. (Methamphetamine addiction is a big problem on and off the reservation in many communities.) 

Rodriguez previously interned at the U.S. Census Bureau, a position he got through AU’s Washington Internships for Native Students (WINS) program. There he worked on a project to develop life tables—actuarial tables that show the likelihood of someone in a particular group dying before his or her next birthday—for indigenous peoples. No such life tables exist for Native Americans. 

The long-term plan 

Rodriguez came to D.C. to learn as much as he could about federal agencies and processes that have an impact on Indian tribes. His next step: law school. 

"I want to become an assistant U.S. attorney," he says. "After getting that experience, I want to go back and become an in-house counsel for my tribe. This [his life away from the reservation] is just leading up to getting the experience and contacts so I can go back and use them and develop new policies within the tribe to strengthen it." 

The prestige of winning the Udall scholarship, beyond the $5,000 it provides for tuition and the opportunity to network with other scholarship winners in August in Tucson, Arizona, should go a long way toward helping him succeed. Half of the Native American/Alaska Native Udall scholars are pursuing tribal public policy careers and half health care. At AU, Rodriguez is the first Native student pursuing a career related to public policy. In winning the scholarship, Rodriguez is quick to credit the help he received from Joan Echols, associate director of the Office of Merit Awards in the Career Center. They worked together on dozens of drafts of his application. 

"I truly enjoyed working with Eric on the Udall scholarship," says Echols. "I have no doubt that he will make a significant contribution to his Yakima tribe and more broadly on tribal policy and justice. His demonstrated leadership as a tribal community policing officer was impressive." 

The Udall Foundation, an independent federal agency established in 1992 to support college students seeking careers in environmental protection and Indian students interested in tribal public policy or health-care careers, has provided about $6.8 million in scholarships.

“We need to communicate more about death. It’s inevitable. So, the more we talk, the less scary it will be.”

So says alumna Linda Daly, CAS/BA ’90, about her book, The Last Pilgrimage: My Mother’s Life and Our Journey to Saying Goodbye, a celebration of the life of her mother, Nancy Daly, who was a prominent children’s advocate, philanthropist, and arts leader in Los Angeles. Their family lived what seemed a perfect life.

Nancy Daly was married to the head of Warner Brothers, Bob Daly, and following their divorce, became the ‘first lady’ of Los Angeles during her marriage to its former mayor, Dick Riordan. Her life seemed ideal until the day in 2006 when she received the diagnosis of stage four pancreatic cancer.

The Last Pilgrimage recounts Nancy’s courageous fight against an incurable illness. After receiving the best medical care, investigating every imaginable treatment option (even a faith healer), the story concludes with Nancy passing away during a cross-country journey home to Los Angeles in a rented RV with her children.

Linda wasn’t planning to write a book about her mother’s struggle with pancreatic cancer. “I originally thought I would just write all the details and save it for my kids so they could read it one day,” she said. “But once my editor at the Los Angeles Times Magazine got wind of me writing about it, she wanted to see it and told me it would be a fantastic book.”

Linda was a special education teacher for 10 years, a contributing editor to the now defunct Los Angeles Times Magazine, and she’s now a Los Angeles County Master Gardener, philanthropist, and founding board member of two charities: Vintage Hollywood and the Global Hunger Foundation.

According to Linda, one of the best parts of writing this book was “reminding ourselves of how strong our family is. We show up for each other when we need support.” On the other hand, Linda states that, “putting words to the emotions I felt” was one of the hardest parts of chronicling her mother’s story. “I was great about discussing which kind of coffee I got for everyone when we stopped at gas stations, but couldn’t put words to the emotions until my editor pushed me to dig deeper.”

When reflecting on her mother’s visits to AU during her freshman year, Linda jokingly says, “I think she was astounded that I actually kept my dorm room clean, since I was not in the habit of doing that at home.” While sharing aspects of her AU experience that have stuck with her since graduation, Linda recounts how grateful she was to her professors. “My favorite memories were when I took classes with Sally Smith and learned how to teach. She was such an inspiration and I think about her classes to this day,” Linda said.

Linda still returns to the AU campus at least once a year to visit friends in the area and a goddaughter who attends AU. She says, “The campus is so much more beautiful than it was when I was there, I would have a college do-over so I could experience it now!”

As Linda begins a book tour this month, she contemplates her mother’s reaction to the book: “Nancy would be thrilled that she was the subject of such a wacky tale. She would laugh at all the good parts and probably throw in some others that she observed and I didn’t. She had a very black sense of humor sometimes, and that got us through the worst of her cancer at times.”

Los Angeles-area alumni: Join Linda for a reception and book signing on May 30 at the Petit Ermitage in West Hollywood.

This fall, game designer Lindsay Grace will join American University’s School of Communication faculty as an associate professor of persuasive gaming. Grace is an internationally exhibited game artist and designer whose Critical Gameplay collection has been exhibited in Asia, Europe, North and South America. He will play a lead role in shaping a new gaming initiative developed by SOC and the College of Arts and Sciences.

SOC Dean Jeff Rutenbeck is thrilled to have Grace join the faculty. He says, "Lindsay Grace is the ideal person to lead our multi-disciplinary game development initiative here at American University. His wide range of experiences and his proven track record of developing cutting-edge applications, courses, programs, relationships and collaborations will prove to be invaluable as he leads AU to the forefront of public-purpose gaming."

Grace comes to AU from a Miami University of Ohio, where he directs the Persuasive Play Lab within the School of Creative Arts and co-directs the Games Center within the Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media. He has taught 81 courses over 9 years in game design, interactive media design, programming, web design, writing narrative scripts and graphic design. At Miami, he taught Game Design, Interaction Design, Digital Prototyping, and the Design of Play.

Grace says, “I’m exceptionally excited to lead American University to a superlative position in persuasive play and public purpose games. I can think of no other institution as well poised to deliver such an innovative program.”

Professor Grace, who will be in the Film and Media Arts Division, received a BA in English and an MS in Computer Information Systems from Northwestern University. He received an MFA in Electronic Visualization at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Art and Design.

His areas of research include human-computer interaction, creative and critical gameplay, and web design and he is an expert in computer graphics, interface development, and middle-tier programming. Professor Grace has written a number of peer-reviewed book chapters, including “Critical Gameplay: Design Techniques and Case Studies” in Designing Games for Ethics: Models, Techniques and Frameworks. He writes regularly about interactive media design and education.

In addition to his impressive record in academia, Grace has been an independent consultant, web designer, software developer, and entrepreneur. Professor Grace utilizes both theory and practice when he creates his own games. Among the software he has developed are “My Child Knows Chinese,” “Mindtoggle,” and Polyglot, an educational game for learning language.

Joe Bohannon grew up on environmental films.

“I would travel from Antarctica to outer space – all from my seat in the theater. I would get woozy from the aerial shots, but I also fell in love with film and filmmaking,” he recalls.

Now, as a grad student in the School of Communication (SOC), Bohannon, 41, is making his childhood dream a reality.

“This is the next chapter in my career evolution and my personal journey,” said the MFA student.

Bohannon works as an operations manager and producer for NBC News in Washington – a gig that not only informs his work in the classroom, but allows him the flexibility to juggle classes and extracurricular activities.

“I wanted to continue to work while I learned,” said Bohannon, who’s been with the network since 1993, covering everything from the Emmys to the White House. “I wanted to learn the theory, while still refining my skills. You can always learn how to light things or do audio a little better.”

The Fairfax, Va., resident has also honed his skills through SOC’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking (CEF). Along with CEF director Chris Palmer, Bohannon has shot a documentary on the Chesapeake River for Maryland Public TV; mingled with alligators in the Florida Everglades; and shot atop glaciers in the Alaskan wilderness.

“I experienced things I never would’ve imagined – things I couldn’t have learned just sitting in a classroom,” says Bohannon, who also traveled to five states to help a classmate shoot a documentary about parrots, A Place to Land. He served as director of cinematography and sound technician on the film, which won a Student Academy Award.

And while he says it’s tricky to juggle school and work – “it’s difficult to wear so many hats when you’re just one person” – Bohannon wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

“Being able to go to untouched areas of the world to practice your craft is just amazing.”

Before he was one of the 30 coaches at the pinnacle of professional basketball, Ed Tapscott '80 led AU to one of its biggest basketball wins.  

Tapscott, now  head coach of the NBA's Washington Wizards, was on the sideline 26 years ago when his unheralded Eagles shocked the college basketball world by taking down the mighty Georgetown Hoyas.  

Despite coming off back-to-back 20-win seasons, AU was a prohibitive underdog to a Georgetown team ranked fifth in the nation and stocked with future NBA all-stars. Those Hoyas teams didn't just beat their opponents, they scared them into submission. But AU refused to be intimidated.  

"We knew we could play with them," says Gordon Austin, who scored some huge buckets for AU that night. "Coach Tapscott treated it like it was a normal game. He made the point to respect them, but not to fear them. We started off playing very well, and they were not. They were playing right into our hands, shooting long jumpers—and we were getting all the rebounds."  

AU took a double-digit lead into the locker room, but Georgetown mounted an expected second-half comeback that AU scrambled to hold off. When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read American 62, Georgetown 61. 

 "I was happy to see that clock wind down to zero, that's for sure," says Tapscott, who went on to a long and distinguished career as an NBA executive before taking over the Wizards head coaching job earlier this season. "It was a wonderful moment for our program. I think it gave us some sense of appreciation at AU that basketball could play a significant role on campus."

This is a ghost story that starts with a fishing net that gets loose from its moorings. It drifts in the ocean, entangling sea turtles, trapping seals, snagging fish that act as bait to lure other fish, which are trapped in their turn. Or maybe it damages a fragile coral reef.

Fortunately, that's not the end of the story. Science has its ghostbusters, and they're in pursuit of these derelict nets known as ghost nets, along with the wildlife-killing garbage dumped at sea by freighters and fishing fleets.

The ghostbusters are people like marine biologist and AU environmental science professor Kiho Kim, who goes after marine debris as a member of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council. Their weapons are data, meetings, long hours analyzing research, and ultimately, a national report and testimony to Congress on the changes needed in marine policy and regulations.

The sight of marine debris is familiar to Kim, who spots it whenever he dives around the coral reefs that are the focus of his research. "Every time I go diving, I come back up with a pocket full of weights and lines," he says.

Some of it washes into the sea. A plastic bottle chucked into a clump of water weeds by a Georgetown fisherman can end up in a sea turtle's belly. "Plastic can lacerate intestines. Animals can choke, or their intestines can be blocked up so they can't eat any more," Kim says.

On weekend cleanups at a seemingly pristine Georgetown park he's led AU students to do what they can, in practical ways, to stop trash on the shoreline from washing into the seas.

 But the debris problem, particularly in the ocean, is too big to eliminate with weekend actions. That's why Kim and his colleagues have spent almost two years examining the situation and, in the end, proposing specific solutions.

The National Research Council is, in essence, the research arm of the federal government. Its Ocean Studies Board includes experts in a variety of areas, such as lawyers who looked at regulations, along with some leading marine biologists—including Kim.

The council's report called for the United States and the international maritime community to adopt a goal of zero discharge of waste, a goal that could be closer to reality thanks to a series of policy and regulation changes recommended by Kim and his colleagues.

And that could make a real impact in saving the seas from the specter of wildlife-killing debris.

Adapted from the article "Report to Congress: Tackling Marine Debris," American magazine, Winter/December 2008.

 The Dead Sea is dying.

With each passing year the sea's depth drops by 1.2 meters, almost 4 feet, yet Gidon Bromberg refuses to consider its demise inevitable. His goal: the ecosystem will be restored, and it will be done by Jews, Christians, and Muslims working in concert.

In a part of the world with no shortage of problems, the environment often takes a back seat. It has a champion, however, in Bromberg, WCL/LLM '94. Working from a blueprint he developed at AU, he has devoted his life to restoring the Jordan River valley.

"There is no place on the planet similar to the Dead Sea," Bromberg says from his office in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he runs the organization EcoPeace. Stunningly beautiful, the Jordan valley has desert, mountains, green oases, and a heritage 12,000 years old. "For all three religions the river has a high importance, and yet we've completely destroyed it."

The sea's main water source is the Jordan River, today in a great state of peril. Littered with sewage, agricultural runoff, and pilfered of its water primarily for use in farming by Israel, Jordan, and Syria, the river's diversion is directly responsible for 70 percent of the Dead Sea's water level decline. The rest stems from mineral mining.

The Dead Sea was 80 kilometers long a half-century ago, about 50 miles. Today, it's only 31 miles long and shrinking fast.

Bromberg's Washington College of Law thesis on the environmental implications of the Middle East peace process intrigued many people around Washington, leading to a conference on the topic in Egypt and the founding of EcoPeace.

Today, its 38 staff members and hundreds of volunteers work in offices in Tel Aviv, Bethlehem in the Palestinian West Bank, and Amman, Jordan, lobbying governments to adopt environmentally favorable policies and trying to stimulate public awareness of the ecosystems at the grassroots level.

"He's committed to bringing Palestinians, Jordanians, and Israelis together to see how they can cooperate," says Nader Al-Khateeb, EcoPeace's Palestinian director. "He's a citizen of this region and cares for its future."

Like the obstacles to peace, the prospects of rejuvenating the Jordan River and the Dead Sea are daunting, yet Bromberg is convinced both can be achieved.

"The environment is a great impetus for peace building," he says. "What we do in our work is turn things around and look at how we could all benefit if we cooperate."

Adapted from the article "Saving the Dead Sea," American magazine, spring 2007.