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An Update from the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences

December 2012
Contents

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Interior Design and Architecture: Change in Name and Culture
What’s in a name? For the Interior Design Program—which is changing its name to include architecture—a new name reflects not just a change in programming, but a change in culture. “We are pushing our students to think more conceptually and architecturally; to design more complex spaces and build more models,” said Stephanie Travis, director of the program.

Both the undergraduate and graduate programs will adopt a studio-based core curriculum and increase from 45 to 60 required credits, beginning fall 2013 and fall 2014 respectively. And, thanks to recent and planned renovations, the space will match the new studio culture. Read more.


A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Thinking Green
For “green” policy expert Peter Linquiti, who was recently named Director of Graduate Studies of the Environmental Resource Policy Program, the program’s multi-disciplinary approach to environmental and sustainability studies is critical to its success.  

“In an increasingly complex world, with deep and subtle connections between human activity and environmental conditions, our graduates can draw on their cross-cutting training to analyze and understand issues like climate change, fracking, urban sustainability, and the environmental impacts of industries like transportation, agriculture, and energy,” said Linquiti. Read more.


$2 Million Grant Funds Study of Growth Patterns in African Children
Robin Bernstein, assistant professor of anthropology, received a $2 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund research on growth disparities among rural African children under the age of two. The study will track 200 newborn babies whose growth has been monitored since the 13th week of gestation. The research will be among the most detailed of its type ever conducted, with biological data collected on growth patterns, health, and physiology. Read more.


Exploring the Lure and Action of Objects
Not far from the fake palm tree on Jeffrey Cohen’s desk sits a fist-sized fossil that visitors can’t seem to stop touching. The intricately coiled, shelled creature made the journey from flesh-and-blood to cold stone tens of millions of years ago. Life is long gone. And yet still the fossil calls out to people. “As dead as it is, as inert as it is . . . there’s something about it that makes us want to hold it and touch it and think with it,” said Cohen, a professor of English and editor of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Ethics and Objects—one of 44 books written or edited by Columbian College faculty this past year. “This seems to be an irresistible thing on my desk.” Read more.


Service-Learning in Southeast DC
For 22 years, the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration has partnered with the Anacostia Public High School in Washington, D.C., to tutor and mentor high school students who have an interest in public service, leadership, community development, and politics. This year, master of public policy students Ana Jara and Rachel Evans are spearheading the volunteer efforts of the Anacostia Public Service Program, an outgrowth of the partnership with the school. Read more.


Drought Stress Could Challenge Vulnerable Hydraulic System of Plants
The hydraulic system of trees that delivers water to the leaves is so finely-tuned that predicted increases in drought due to climate change may lead to catastrophic failure in many species, according to a paper co-authored by Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Amy Zanne and published in the prestigious journal Nature. The research found that those systems in plants around the globe are operating at the top of their safety threshold, making forest ecosystems vulnerable to increasing environmental stress. Read more.


A Dedicated Man: Guenther Receives Award for Service Excellence
Last month, the university community came together for the annual Service Excellence Celebration to recognize employees who have gone above and beyond their job descriptions. Among them was Roy Guenther, executive associate dean in the Columbian College, who was honored with a Faculty Service Excellence Award. In bestowing the honor, Guenther was described as “careful, deliberate, and proactive” and one who “shows commitment and care for everyone in the university.” Read more.


Alumna Named Marshall Scholar
Stephanie Figgins, BA ’11, has been named a 2013 Marshall Scholar—the first GW recipient of the highly competitive scholarship since 2006. She learned the news of her selection while in Cairo, where she has worked as a journalist for Voice of America since graduation. The  scholarship program, open only to U.S. citizens, selects up to 40 scholars each year to pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom. Figgins plans to study at the University of London, pursuing a MA in postcolonial culture and global policy, as well as a degree in Middle East studies. Read more.


Awards and Recognition
Stephanie Leigh Batiste, PhD ’02, received the Modern Language Association’s William Sanders Scarborough Prize for her first book Darkening Mirrors: Imperial Representation in the Depression-Era African American Performance (Duke University Press, 2011). Batistse will return to campus on April 5 as the keynote speaker of the Department of American Studies’ annual Collected Stories Conference.

Grigsby Crawford, BA '08, authored his first book The Gingo: A Memoir.

Ramzi Fawaz, PhD '12 , and an American studies professorial lecturer and postdoctoral fellow, received the 2012 Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Fellowship Award from the City University of New York Graduate Center.  

Garett Howardson, doctoral candidate in industrial/organizational psychology, wrote the essay “Assessing Self-Regulatory Constructs in Personnel Selection: A Possible Solution to the Proximity Generalizability Tradeoff,” which was selected by the Personnel Testing Council of Metropolitan Washington as the Outstanding Student Essay on the Science and Practice of I/O Psychology.

Llewelyn Hughes, assistant professor of political science and international affairs, won an Abe Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council for his project on firm structure and the politics of climate change.

Jason Jorgenson, PhD student in economics, received a U.S. Association of Energy Economics Fellowship and National Capital Area Council Fellowship to present his research on "A Meta-Analysis of U.S. Residential, Industrial, and Commercial Electricity Demand” at  the 31st USAEE North American Conference in Austin, Texas.

Kimberly Morgan, associate professor of political science and international affairs, and graduate student Alexander Reisenbichler, co-authored "From 'Sick Man' to 'Miracle' : Explaining the Robustness of the German Labor Market During and After the Financial Crisis 2008-09" in the most recent issue Politics and Society.

Kim Munsamy, the 2010 International Emerging Filmmakers Fellow from South Africa, is a finalist in the Focus Forward Film Competition for her work, Bones Don't Lie and Don't Forget. The competition will award $200,000 in prizes ($100,000 for the Grand Prize Winner) to be announced at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. The GW Documentary Center's new instructor, Chithra Jeyaram, was a semi-finalist.

Assistant Professor of American Studies Elaine Peña's first book, Performing Piety: Making Space Sacred with the Virgin of Guadalupe (University of California Press, 2011), was named the Honorable Mention recipient for the 2012 Association of Latina and Latino Anthropologists Book Award.
 
University trustee Deborah Ratner Salzberg, BA ’75, was honored at the 9th Annual Women Who Mean Business Award Program. The event, presented by the Washington Business Journal and Capital One Bank, recognizes the region’s most influential business women of 2012.

Mike Suh, master’s candidate in the High Technology Crime Investigation graduate program, placed 21st in the National Cyber League Challenge.

Akos Vertes, professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology, won the Chemical Society of Washington's Hillebrand Prize. Vertes is the fourth member of the Department of Chemistry to receive the award; previous winners are Professors Nicholae Filipiscu, David Ramaker, and Akbar Montaser.

Tristan Volpe, a graduate student in political science, has been named a Lawrence Scholar at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Cheryl Wood, professorial lecturer of communication, received Professor of the Year Award from Catholic University.


 

 

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