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A Guide to Arts and Sciences' News, Events and People | February 2012 |
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Contents Habits of Honeybees Understanding Criminal Minds Alumni Valentines A Spotlight on Postwar Urbanism Endowed Professorship and Center for Study of Churchill Museum Studies Moves Downtown A Global Learning Experience Documentary Wins Best Film Award Student Athletes Name Professor of the Year Alumni Association Accepting Nominations New Books Awards and Recognition
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The Habits of Honeybees
Have you ever hosted a backyard cookout and wondered why all the honeybees in the neighborhood suddenly found your fruit salad? Ever pondered how a hive produces that delicious honey you add to your tea? The answer lies in the fascinating habits of honeybees. Approximately 20,000 species of bees are found on every continent except Antarctica and, though many of them are solitary, the honey bee (Apis mellifera) can only survive as a member of a colony. Professor of Biology Hartmut Doebel and Senior Biology Major Heidi Wolff
are taking a hard look into colony life at the urban apiaries on the rooftops of Bell and Lisner Halls to learn more about the habits and communication patterns of these insects that are so critical to our daily lives. Read more.
Understanding Criminal Minds: New Grad Program in Forensic Psychology 
Agencies involved in homeland security, law enforcement and the criminal justice system are increasingly relying on professionals skilled in forensic psychology to help solve crimes and prevent future criminal behavior. To address this need, Columbian College has launched a new graduate degree program in forensic psychology to train the next generation of criminal profilers, competency experts, psychological evaluators, counselors, and related positions."Serial criminals, terrorist agents, psychopathic individuals-the desire to understand why these people commit crimes is reflected in the popularity of the CSI television series and movies like Silence of the Lambs," said Richard Cooter, PsyD '04, the program's lead faculty member. "This graduate program will help meet the demand for a workforce skilled in forensic psychology." Read more. Alumni Valentines 
Columbian College as matchmaker? As is often the case with colleges and universities, Columbian has played a "sweet" role in bringing strangers together in wedded bliss. Meet the Barkins (pictured at left), who met through a Hebrew professor and, on their 20th wedding anniversary, provided support for an academic scholarship in Jewish studies; the Garbers, varsity athletes, who return to GW every year for team reunions; and the Shihs, who both attended Columbian College thanks to scholarship support. Read more.
Award-Winning Book Spotlights Postwar Urbanism 
Until moving to the District a few years ago, Professor of History Christopher Klemek said his life was as that of an "academic nomad," roaming between cities on the East Coast, as well as Berlin, London, and Toronto. The result of all that wandering and pondering-and doubtless tons of hours otherwise spent-is an in-depth look at the plight of the cityscape in his first book, The Transatlantic Collapse of Urban Renewal: Postwar Urbanism From New York to Berlin, which recently received the
Paul Davidoff Book Award. In cities, Klemek also perceived prisms through which whole nations (in this case, the United States, Canada, England and Germany) can be better understood, individually and comparatively. Read more.
Endowed Professorship and Center for Study of Churchill Coming to GW 
The National Churchill Library and Center-the first permanent American home for the studies of the 20th-century leader Sir Winston Churchill-will be established through an $8 million pledge to GW from the Churchill Centre. The agreement includes a $2.5 million endowed professorship in Columbian College on Churchill and 20th-century British history. Additionally, the partnership will provide $2.5 million endowed curatorship for the center, an endowment to fund a wide range of lectures, seminars, programs, and exhibits, and funds to renovate the ground floor of Gelman Library, which will house the new library and center. Read more.
Museum Studies Moves Downtown 
The Museum Studies Graduate Program kicked off 2012 with a move into the heart of Washington, D.C.'s museum district. Now located at 13th and G Streets, NW, the new space provides much needed growing room for one of the largest museum studies programs in the country, and affords students easy access to practitioners in the field."We're much closer to the Smithsonian-where some of our classes are hosted and a lot of our students do their internships-and in a great community of other museums," said Kym Rice, director of the Museum Studies Program. Read more. Summer Abroad: A Global Learning Experience 
Ready to open your mind to new cultures and learning environments? Here's your chance to immerse yourself in the indigenous communities of the Amazon region; explore the ethnic frontiers of China's interior regions; dive into a deep analysis of London's masterpieces; or take a field course on urban sustainability and development in Panama. Registration is now open in these and other short-term, for credit summer abroad programs that promise to transport participants from the lecture hall and into the global classroom! Read more.
Documentary Named "Washington's Best Film" 
Eight student filmmakers from Columbian College's Institute for Documentary Filmmaking were honored with the inaugural "Washington's Best Film" award by independent film distributor SnagFilms and the D.C. Office of Motion Picture and Television Development. The competition was created to celebrate talented local filmmakers and to share dynamic stories that focus on improving the world. The students' winning documentary short, Released to Life, follows the journey of several D.C.-area ex-offenders as they emerge from prison and struggle to re-enter society. Read more.
Student Athletes Named Morris Professor of the Year 
Adjunct Professor of Women's Studies Bonnie Morris was named the student-athletes' Professor of the Year. A graduate from the State University of New York at Binghamton, Morris has taught at GW for more than 14 years, including
teaching the specialized course Athletics and Gender. In
addition to her teaching efforts, she is the author of five books and
her other works have appeared in more than forty literary collections."It's a tremendous honor to be identified by my student-athletes as their choice for Professor of the Year," said Morris. "The many student-athletes who I've taught over the years here are all-stars in my book, as they balance coursework and competitive athletic performance. I'm a huge fan of our program, and I'm proud to help create a positive and supportive atmosphere for all GW students." Read more. Alumni Association Accepting Nominations for Board Leadership, Achievement Awards The GW Alumni Association (GWAA) is now accepting nominations for at-large members of its board of directors and president-elect. Board members help develop strategy for the association, guide programming decisions, and provide insight into the university's alumni relations and development programming. For more information, click here. GWAA is also accepting nominations for the Distinguished and Recent Alumni Achievement Awards. These awards honor GW graduates who have attained notable achievements in their field. For more information about eligibility and nomination instructions, click here. New Books Eric Cline, chair of the Department of Classical & Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, co-authored the book The Ahhiyawa Texts. Thomas Mallon, director of the Creative Writing Program, wrote the novel Watergate, which was featured in this month's Washingtonian magazine and recently made Newsweek's list of 12 books "not to miss" in 2012. Awards and Recognition Donna Betts, assistant professor of art therapy, authored the article "Positive Art Therapy Assessment: Looking towards Positive Psychology for New Directions in the Art Therapy Evaluation Process" in the book Assessment in Art Therapy. Alexis Boyd, a student in the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, won a grant from the Cosmos Club for her work in the development of an in vitro model of invasion by the infective L3 of Brugia malayi in human skin. During the Homecoming game on February 18, five Columbian College alumni-Tina Brown, BA '90, MFA '96; Ingrid (Wicker) McCree, BA '89; Chris Monroe, BA '04; Shawnta Rogers, BA '11; and the late Jim Tarr, BA '60-will be inducted to the GW Athletic Hall of Fame. Michael Komo, BA'11, former president of Pi Sigma Alpha, received a Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from GW for his outstanding service, leadership, and embodiment of the values and the dream of Dr. King. Pravin J. Mishra, a student in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, received the 2012 National Cancer Institute (NCI) Director's Innovation award of $10,000 for her research during the NCI Intramural PI Retreat. Svetlana Roudenko, assistant professor of mathematics, received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program grant of $450,000 for five years. Amir Stepak, a graduate student in political science, received a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation's World Politics Statecraft and Fellowship Program.
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