American University Annual Report

BuildingKnowledge

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY 2009–2010 YEAR IN REVIEW

About the Cover

The 75,000-square-foot School of International Service building, designed by renowned architect William McDonough and Partners, opened May 14, 2010, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the Board of Trustees. The eco-friendly building is constructed for LEED Gold certification—the benchmark for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Panels inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion map adorn the building’s exterior. Fuller’s flat map more accurately portrays the world than the traditional Mercator projection.

Table of Contents

From the Chairman of the Board of Trustees 2

FromthePresident 3

Building Knowledge 4

Building a Community of Scholars 7

Building a Stronger City 21

Building Global Connections 31

University Administration 38

Board of Trustees 38

2 B U I L D I N G K N O W L E D G E

From the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

Atatimewhenmanyofthenation’stopuniversitiesarefacingcaution,cutbacks,andretrenchment,AmericanUniversityismovingforwardwithconfidence,commitment,andresults.

Ourfinancesaresolid—asoutlinedinthisannualreport.AU’screditrating(Standard&Poor’s)hasbeenupgradedtoA+,theCampaignforAnewAUhasreacheditssuccessfulconclusion,andAUwasrankedfirst(CambridgeAssociates)among150reportinginstitutionsforthehighestcalendaryearinvestmentreturnsonourportfoliolastyear.

Insupportofourstrategicplan,avigorousacademiccommitmenthasbeenlaunchedtostrengthenAU’sprocurementofresearchgrantsandexternalsupportandtoidentifyareaswithstrongpotentialforacademiccollaboration.Meanwhile,ourfacultyscholarshipandcreativeachievementscontinuetoreachnewlevelsofprominence.AndwehavejustopenedournewLEEDGoldhomefortheSchoolofInternationalService.

Equallygratifyingisthat,inadditiontotheirdailyeffortstobuildthebestuniversitypossible,AUfacultyandstaffdonatedmorethanahalfmilliondollarsduringthelastyear’sannualfaculty-staffcampaign—provingtheystronglybelieveinwheretheywork.

Theinfrastructureissolid,theachievementsimpressive,andthefacultyandstaffcommitted,aswecompletethefirstdecadeofthenewmillennium.Thebestisyettocome.

GaryM.Abramson

A M E R I C A N U N I V E R S I T Y 2 0 0 9 – 2 0 1 0 3

From the President

ItwasanotherimpressiveyearforAmericanUniversityaswebegantoimplementourstrategicplanandcontinuedourincreasinglyoutstandingrecordofachievement.

AUstudentsearneddistinctionasTrumanandUdallscholars;asPickering,Boren,Skadden,andRobertBoschFoundationfellows;asaRhodesScholarshipfinalistandastudentEmmyawardwinner.AUstudent-athletesearnedacumulative3.37GPA,andourmen’sandwomen’sdivingteamandwrestlershadthehighestGPAinthenationintheirrespectivesports.

AUfacultyearnedprestigiousgrantsfromtheNationalInstitutesofHealthandtheNationalScienceFoundation;welaunchedpartnershipswithNBCNewsandGannett,hostedprogrammingwiththeSmithsonianInstitution,andunveiledtheCenterforLatinAmericanandLatinoStudiesasanaturalfit,sincemorethan65facultyareinvolvedinLatinAmericanissues.

OurnewhomefortheSchoolofInternationalServicemakesastrongstatementaboutourenduringvaluesandinternationalcommitment.Ashometothenextgenerationofinternationalleaders,thebuilding’sLEEDGoldstatus,greenattributes,useofsolarenergy,andwaterconservationpracticesallunderscoreastronginstitutionalcommitment—aswehavepledgedtobecomecarbonneutralby2020.

AmericanUniversityisproudofitsachievementsandcaresaboutitscommunity—locally,nationally,andinternationally.Enjoytheexamplesofthatcommitmentinthepagesthatfollow.

CorneliusM.Kerwin


earning from leaders has long been the cornerstone of the American University

experience. Professors such as intellectual property expert Michael Carroll,

cofounder of the landmark online licensing site Creative Commons, bring real-world

knowledge to the classroom. AU students, too, actively seek experience to complement

their academic studies. Most undergraduates pursue internships in Congress, at federal

agencies, and in nonprofit groups across our nation’s capital.

Carroll and AU’s dedicated students teach another important lesson about American

University: our recognition that as a community of scholars we have a duty to make the

world a better place. That lesson is also brought to life by many alumni. Jeff Franco,

executive director of City Year Washington, D.C., leads tutors, mentors, and role models

to make a difference in children’s lives while transforming schools and neighborhoods.

Anne Mahlum, founder of the nonprofit running club Back on My Feet, helps recovering

addicts lift their bodies, minds, and spirits.

Learning from leaders. Making the world a better place. That’s the foundation American

University is built upon. To think. To explore. To know.

Building Knowledge

We give students access to a faculty of learning, stature, curiosity, and influence. . . . Students in turn question us, push us, and make us better at what we do.” —Neil Kerwin, president of American University

“


America reaps incredible economic rewards because we remain a magnet for the best and brightest from across the globe.” — President Barack Obama, speaking July 1, 2010, at American University

“


partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. A commitment to world-class research.

A solid financial foundation and a campus plan that carefully balances the university’s

future needs with those of its neighbors.

Those are some of the highlights of the 2009–2010 year at American University.

It was also another banner year for student achievement. Students won a record number of

prestigious scholarships, including Boren, Bosch, and Truman awards. And in a year culminating

with the opening of the new School of International Service building—home of the largest such

school in the nation—every school of the university can justifiably point with pride to outstanding

academic accomplishments.

This year saw the Kogod School of Business jump 30 places in a national ranking and scholars

from the College of Arts and Sciences win Guggenheims and federal grants. The School of

Communication partnered with such organizations as NBC News, and a School of Public Affairs

research center captured an important national grant.

With the establishment of new cutting-edge research centers at the School of International Service

and the Washington College of Law—along with a groundbreaking interdisciplinary Latino studies

center—AU continues to expand on its tradition of scholarly excellence.

a Community of Scholars


a Solid FoundationAmericanUniversity’sscholarlypursuitsrestonasolidfinancialfoundation.

InSeptember2009,Standard&Poor’s(S&P)upgradedAU’srevenuebondsanditsissuercreditrating.S&Pboosteditslong-termandunderlyingratingsfromAtoA+onDistrictofColumbiarevenuebondsissuedforAUwhilegrantingthesameupgradetoitsissuercreditrating.Atthetimeoftheupgrade,onlyoneotherprivatecollegeoruniversityhadbeenupgradedbyS&Pthatyear.

Otherfinancialindicatorsarejustassterling.DonMyers,AU’sCFO,vice

presidentandtreasurer,announcedinApril2010thatCambridgeAssociates,inits“ComparativeAssetAllocationandTotalReturnReport”forcollegesanduniversitiesforthecalendaryearendingDecember31,2009,rankedAmericanUniversityfirstamong150reportinginstitutionsforthehighestcalendar-yearinvestmentreturnonitsportfolio.

ThisnewscameasAUsurpassedthe$200milliongoalofitsAnewAUcapitalcampaign,inpartthroughthegenerosityofa$1milliongiftfromGaryCohn,Kogod/BA’82,chairoftheFinanceand

InvestmentCommitteeontheAUBoardofTrustees,andpresidentandchiefoperatingofficerofGoldmanSachs.

Asforthefuture,apriorityforAU’sdeveloping2011campusplan—the10-yearfacilitiesplanrequiredbytheD.C.government—isstudenthousing.AUnowhas200studentsintriplerooms,200otherslivinginuniversity-leasedhousingnearbyonMassachusettsAvenue,almost500morelivingontheTenleyCampus,andothersscat-teredinthesurroundingneighborhoods.

Toaddressthisdemand,theplanproposeshousing

for4,900undergraduatesby2020,about900morethantheuniversitycurrentlyhouses.TheuniversitywouldexpandNebraskaHallandbuildfourresidencehallsontheeastcampus(currentlytheNebraskaAvenueparkinglot),threeresidencehallsonthesouthcampus(neartheLetts-Andersonpavilion),andtworesi-dencehallsattheClarkHallsite.

Allproposedhousingwouldbewithinthecurrentuniversityfoot-print,andplansarebeingdiscussedinmeetingswithmembersofthesurroundingcommunity.

Participation in the faculty-staff campaign rose by 13 percent, from 596 donors last year to 685 this year. Total gifts were $517,764.

American University took part in the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs’ (VA) Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program. During the first year of its participation in the program, AU agreed to support up to 18 veterans. With a matching grant from the VA, veterans will be able to attend AU at little or no cost.


FIGHTING COPYRIGHT CHAOS

“We’re in the middle of a big transformational period in our culture and history, and we won’t even really know what it means until some later time. . . . It’s really thrilling.”

Michael Carroll sees the artistry in copyright law.

“Every copyright lawyer I know has a creative side,” said the Washington College of Law professor, himself an amateur guitarist. “It’s the area of law that deals with popular culture. Music, movies, books. They all realized they weren’t going to be professional creators, but they wanted to stay involved in creativity.”

The dawning of the digital age has led the arts and the law to a crossroads, and Carroll, a teacher, scholar, and cofounder of the landmark nonprofit online licensing site CreativeCommons.org, is helping direct traffic.

The son of William Carroll, a government lawyer and now adjunct professor at AU, Michael Carroll worked as a journalist, teacher in Africa, and in the nonprofit world before going to law school in the ’90s.

“The story is I fought the law and the law won,” he said. “I didn’t really want to pursue that as a career.” But in the nonprofit world, he discovered, you need an advanced degree, and a law degree was both the most flexible and the one he was best suited for.

It was critically important to Carroll that no matter what he studied, it somehow be intertwined with the budding technology of the time, the Internet. He quickly immersed himself in cyber law, an umbrella term for the myriad ways the law responds to the Internet.

Seeking to bring some order to the Wild West of information the

Internet had become at the turn of the century, in 2001 Carroll cofounded Creative Commons. The nonprofit creates online legal and technical tools that enable people to copyright their work for free.

“The copyright licenses that we created have six basic options. The most open is you can do anything you want with this, as long as you give me credit. The most restrictive is you can use this and make copies and share it, but only if you give me credit, you’re only doing it noncommercially, and you’re not changing it.”

Copyrights from Creative Commons have become ubiquitous on the Web. More than 200 million links lead to its license page, and in 2008 President Obama’s online campaign page used one of the organization’s copyrights.

“For me there were different moments of fulfillment,” Carroll said. “The first one was when the New York Times started telling people their content was under a Creative Commons license.”

The organization is now delving into the worlds of education and science, hoping to make it easier for people to share their research in a legal manner.

“We’re in the middle of a big transformational period in our culture and history, and we won’t even really know what it means until some later time. This is as powerful as the introduction of the printing press. It changes the way we communicate, it changes the way we think. It’s really thrilling.”


Ifastructurecanepitomizewhatauniversitystandsfor,theSchoolofInternationalService’snew75,000-square-footbuildingamplyillustratesAU’svalues.

“Ournewhomewillgoalongwaytowardsinspiringourcommunitytoreachnewlevelsofglobalresponsibilityandpublicunderstanding,”saidSISdeanLouisGoodman.“Itwillalsoinspirestudentsonmultiplelevelstoengagewiththegreatissuesofourtime,includingsustainability.”

Thedistinctivebuildingfeaturesathree-storyatriumandundergroundparking.Environmentallyfriendly,ithas3,230squarefeetofphotovoltaicsolarpanelsontherooftoreducerelianceonnonrenewablesources;a

passivesolarairheatingsystemthatwarmsupairbroughtinfromtheoutside,reducingtheneedforheating;naturaldaylightandoperablewindowsineveryoffice,whichalsolowerheatingandcoolingsystemuse;anda60,000-galloncisterntocollectwaterforflushtoilets.

Thenewbuildingisaperfectfitforoneofthenation’smostenvironmen-tallyconsciousinstitutionsofhigherlearning.AUwasthefirstuniversityinWashington,D.C.,toenrollinSTARS(SustainabilityTracking,Assessment,andRatingSystem),anefforttoencouragesustainabilitypracticesatcollegesanduniversitiesacrossthecountry,andsincethe1990shasfollowedapathtowardenvironmental

responsibility.Afterarededicatedfocusontheoriginalcampusplan,createdbyFrederickLawOlmsted,AUwasrecognizedin2004bytheNationalArboretumandBotanicalGardenAssocia-tion,whichdesignatedthecampusasapublicgardenandarboretum.Commit-mentstoenvironmentalsustainabilityfollowed,andinMay2010AUpledgedtobecarbonneutralby2020.

“Wealreadyoffsethalfofouremissionsbybuyingrenewableenergycertifi-catesinthesameamountasourelectricity,whichputsusleapsandboundsaheadofourcompetitors,”saidChrisO’Brien,whowasnameddirectorofthenewlycreatedOfficeofSustainabilityin2009.

a Sustainable Future

Victoria Kiechel, who teaches Sustainable Cities and Sustainable Design/LEED Training at AU’s School of International Service, received the 2009–2010 Most Innovative Green Teacher of the Year Award in recognition of her efforts to highlight building design from the perspective of sustainability and find practical applications on the AU campus.

James Girard, who teaches chemistry in AU’s College of Arts and Sciences, was named a Franklin Fellow in the U.S. State Department. His role is to coordinate the U.S. report on sustainability—focusing on transportation, chemicals, mining, and waste—to the United Nations.


A re people “the poorest of the poor” if they live on less than

a dollar a day?

Is a country developing if its economy is booming?

The answers might seem obvious. But sometimes, numbers don’t tell the whole story. Robin Broad and John Cavanagh have questioned many of what they call the “myths of development” in their effort to understand how decades of development policy have sometimes done more harm than good.

The husband-and-wife team brings both practical and scholarly expertise to their recent book, Development Redefined: How the Market Met Its Match. Broad is a professor in AU’s School of International Service with a strikingly wide-ranging background. She has, for instance, conducted fieldwork among farmers in the Philippines and also worked as an economist at the World Bank and the U.S. Congress.

Cavanagh is director of the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank, and an expert on Third World

debt. Together, they set out to analyze the fashions and failures of decades of development policy.

The problem they found is that numbers can be misleading. A country pushing to join the developed world can appear on paper to be making progress if aspects of its economy are prospering. “Unless you look at figures of inequity,” Broad observed, “it can look good.”

Subsistence farmers, for example, may not contribute much on paper to a country’s economy. They may be tilling a few acres of vegetables and rice, but the harvest goes mainly to feed their families—with, perhaps, a few extra tomatoes or bags of rice sold to neighbors at local markets. They may earn so little in cash that it amounts to less than a dollar a day.

Money isn’t circulating much. On paper, it’s a grim picture. If their land comes into the hands of the local business elite or international corpora-tions, things can start to look better. Many small farms may combine into a vast tract of sugarcane or pineapples grown for export, bringing in foreign currency and raising the gross national product. The farmers, meanwhile, may move to the cities and earn more than a dollar a day.

Far away in Western offices the numbers can be encouraging. But Broad and Cavanagh have also done fieldwork together, and they know that those one-time farmers may end up being squeezed into sprawling and crime-ridden slums, struggling in unhealthy conditions to earn cash that doesn’t actually buy as much food as they once grew. When that happens, has a country truly improved?

Cavanagh and Broad have written numerous articles together, and this was their second book. “I love collaborative writing,” said Broad. “We don’t literally sit there and write every word together, but you read every word. You fight over every word. You can’t get away with anything.”

REDEFINING DEVELOPMENT

Is a country developing if its economy is booming?


ItwasanotheroutstandingyearforAmericanUniversitystudentswinningpresti-giousscholarshipsandfellowships.StudentswonarecordnumberofBorenandBoschscholarships,andAUcelebratedits10thTrumanscholarsince2000.

“Atatimewhenmoreandmoreapplicantsacrossthecountryarecompetingfornationallycompetitivescholarships,AUstudentscontinuetoexcelinanimpressiverangeofcompetitions,”saidPaulaWarrick,directoroftheCareerCenter’sOfficeofMeritAwards.

AUstudentswonadozenBorenfellowships,whichprovideupto$30,000toU.S.graduatestudentstoaddareaorlanguagestudiestotheireducation.TwoAU

studentswonawardsfromtheRobertBoschFounda-tionFellowshipProgram,adistinguishedtransatlanticinitiativethatannuallyoffers20accomplishedyoungAmericansthechancetocompleteahigh-levelprofessionaldevelopmentprograminGermany.

KelseyStefanik-Sidener,apoliticalsciencemajoranda2010HarryS.TrumanScholar,planstopursuegraduatetraininginlawandpublichealthinpreparationforacareerinhealthlaw,communica-tions,andadvocacy.AlexanderThorpe,astudentintheSchoolofInternationalServiceanda2010Udallscholar,willfocushiscareeronadvocat-ingformoresustainableandlivablecities.

Asusual,scholar-athletesdistinguishedthemselvesaswell.Forthespring2010semester,student-athletesearneda3.37gradepointaverage,matchingthehighestsingle-semesterGPAinprogramhistorysincerecordsbeganbeingkeptin1995.Overathird—88outof235student-athletes—werenamedtothedean’slist,and13earnedperfect4.0GPAs.

AmongotherscholarshipsAUstudentswonwereaFulbrightgrant,GeorgeC.Marshallundergraduatescholarship,MorganStanleyScholarshipforStudyinJapan,CriticalLanguageScholarship,andPublicPolicyandInterna-tionalAffairsFellowship.AnAUstudentwasalsoaRhodesScholarshipfinalist.

Student Scholars

AU president Neil Kerwin made a rare double selection for the President’s Award at commencement: Seth Cutter (right) served as student trustee to the AU Board of Trustees during the 2009–2010 academic year and also served a year as president of the student government. Allison Gold (left) melded her interests in environmental advocacy, government, conflict resolution, and the Middle East in the Negev desert in Israel, where she studied rainwater harvest-ing and wastewater management. Both students were political science majors in the School of Public Affairs.

In 2010, women’s basketball team standout Michelle Kirk was named to the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association Scholar-Athlete Team. The public communication major was one of only 10 female basketball student-athletes from around the country to win the honor.

Boren scholarship winners Malina Keutel, Amber Jolla, Grant Livingston, Monica Sok, and Amanda Osborn


Classes at AU’s School of Public Affairs don’t generally involve

poetry, fiction, and art.

But Robert Johnson (above, left) has found an unusual way to engage students with the disturbing realities behind bars. The professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Society, who began using fiction in his courses several years ago, coedited a book with student Sonia Tabriz, SPA/BA ’10 (above, right), that features writing by AU students along with fiction by prisoners and other writers.

Lethal Rejection: Stories on Crime and Punishment is grim, poignant, and chilling. The prisoners’ tales provide an unvarnished look at what it is to live and perhaps die in prison, exactly the kind of insight Johnson was trying to offer his students when he began using fiction in his SPA courses.

He often offers students the option of replacing a traditional term paper or take-home exam with creative writing, and he has students in most classes do ungraded “free writes,” a standard creative writing exercise, in response to readings and documentaries.

Some of his students have gone on to publish their work in literary

magazines. Tabriz is one of them. An honors student, she was so moved by a freshman field trip in Johnson’s class to a high-security prison, the Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, that she began working extensively with Johnson. She now serves as volunteer manag-ing editor for BleakHouse Publishing, a small press Johnson founded that focuses on justice.

“In my teaching, I try to give voice to prisoners and others on the fringes of society,” Johnson said. Much of his research has been based on extensive interviews and participant observation as he has tried to gain a deeper understanding of the prisoner experience. A few years ago, however, he began feeling that using research alone in the classroom wasn’t enough.

So he started sharing the writings of prisoners. He saw it as an extension of a good interview: a way to connect with the prisoners’ own voices and points of view. The point wasn’t to get students to sympathize with the prisoners or argue their innocence but to add depth to their understanding of incarceration.

Students connected with his work, and Johnson decided to try his own hand at writing. It became, he found, a means to express personal opinions in a way that wouldn’t be appropriate in scholarly writing.

As he began publishing in literary journals, he also began to give students the option to do creative writing in class. One student, Dagny Von Ahrens, CAS/BS ’10, even performed an interpretive dance as her final for his honors class. Another student, Thais Miller, CAS/BA ’09, wrote a play that later appeared in Lethal Rejection.

“A lot of time it’s easier to understand people if you force yourself to be them and take on their voice,” said Tabriz.

Johnson is also the author of two collections of original poems, also on justice issues, and has edited several collections of stories and poems.

TURNING THE KEY ON LIFE BEHIND BARS

“. . . it’s easier to understand people if you force yourself to be them and take on their voice.”


By2050,oneoutoffourpeopleintheUnitedStateswillbeLatino.Thatdemo-graphicfact,highlightedbyLatinosreplacingAfricanAmericansin2004asthecountry’slargestminoritygroup,hasledtoanexplo-sionofacademicresearchonLatinAmericanissues,fromU.S.foreignpolicyintereststoimmigration.

Withmorethan65AUfacultymembersresearch-ingLatinAmericanissues,thefoundingoftheCenterforLatinAmericanandLatinoStudiesisanaturalevolution.Thecenterwillprovidecutting-edgeresearchonissuesconfront-ingLatinocommunitiesintheUnitedStatesandLatinAmericansocietiesfromMexicotoArgentina.

“TheCenterforLatinAmericanandLatinoStudiesatAmericanUniversityisarareexampleofaregionallybasedinstituteorganizedonacampus-widebasis,ratherthanundertheauspicesofasinglefaculty,”saidEricHershberg,thecenter’sdirector.“AUwillbeattheforefrontofeffortstoforgeatrulyinterdisciplinaryintellectualcommunitydevotedtoissuesinLatinAmericaandLatinostudies.”

Lastfall,anothernewlyestablishedinternationalresearchcenter,AU’sASEANStudiesCenter,sponsoreditsfirstevent,aconferenceonthestrategicrelationshipbetweentheUnitedStatesandMalaysia.

TheSchoolofInternationalServicepartneredwiththeAssociationofSoutheastAsianNations(ASEAN)toestablishthecenter,thefirstofitskindintheU.S.

Twootherschoolshaveestablishednewcentersorinstitutes.Lastyear,theWashingtonCollegeofLawinauguratedtheCenteronInternationalCommercialArbitration,whiletheKogodSchoolofBusinessfoundedtheKogodGlobalManagementInstitute,anintensiveone-weekprogramthatfocusesonthecriticalimportanceofemergingmarketsintheglobaleconomyandthebusinessopportunitiestheypresent.

New Centers and Institutes

The School of Communication formed a strategic partnership with NBC News and NBC4 that will enable faculty and students to collaborate with NBC staff on media projects and academic programs. SOC has also partnered with such organizations as Gannett.

The Center for Democracy and Election Management in the School of Public Affairs received a $250,000 grant, making AU the first-ever university to implement the State Department’s Global Connections and Exchange Program, which links U.S. high school classes with overseas counterparts to tackle universal issues such as gender equity, health, environment, diversity, and human rights.


Amid the grim statistics that litter the ominous journalism

landscape—5,900 newsroom positions cut in 2008 alone— flickers a glimmer of hope: flourishing nonprofits producing exemplary stories.

At the nexus of this new world order in journalism sits AU’s School of Communication (SOC) Investigative Reporting Workshop—recent winner of a MacArthur Foundation grant. With a bifurcated mission of producing top-rate journalism while incubating new models intended to shape the future of the craft, the two-year-old workshop already has established itself as a key player in the changing journalistic ecosystem.

“There is a kind of adventurism going on. It’s really a thrilling time,” said SOC professor Charles Lewis, the work-shop’s cofounder and executive editor. “I don’t know what it all means, but we’re clearly on the cutting edge of whatever is unfolding here. I hope that we help shape the future of journalism. If we do anything less, I’ll be disappointed.”

If anyone can figure out where investigative journalism is headed,

it’s Lewis, a former 60 Minutes producer and the expert on journalism nonprofits. Two decades ago he founded the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit dedicated to “producing original investigative journalism about significant public issues.” It was a game changer. No longer would investigative reporting be the exclusive purview of big-city dailies and television networks, whose executives often target the investigative desk when they set out to trim newsroom fat.

Lewis went on to found other journalism nonprofits, and today there are upwards of 30 similar organiza-tions churning out investigative news.

“There’s a diaspora of immensely talented journalists with nowhere to work,” he said. “They’re starting these things themselves and becoming publishers. It’s happening directly because of the implosion of commer-cial newsrooms. The profession and business of journalism are in crisis, so it’s our job to assist.”

At SOC, Lewis hopes not only to continue his life’s work effectively, as he said, “investigating the bastards,” but to create new ways

for investigative journalism to survive, and possibly even thrive.

“We’re the only investigative reporting or nonprofit center looking at new models devoted to the future entre-preneurialism of investigative journal-ism,” he said. “I hope we become a beacon of information about what people are trying, and also create new models that are useful around the world. I have great hopes and ambitions.”

So what makes a good investigative journalist?

“As I look back, I think there was something in my craw,” he said. “Mike Wallace, when I quit 60 Minutes, said that all investigative reporters are angry. We started screaming at each other using expletives, and I realized there is something about investigative reporters, that there’s a sense of injus-tice that things are not as they should be. I always loved the description John Kennedy gave of himself, ‘an idealist without illusions.’ Investigative journalists are not the grim reaper; they actually do have a sense of idealism because their sense of idealism is offended. The gap fascinates us.”

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM

“I hope that we help shape the future of journalism. If we do anything less, I’ll be disappointed.”


AUhasseenayearofrenewedcommitmenttoresearch,startingwiththeworkoftheResearchandGrantInfrastructureTaskForce,demonstratingthatworld-classscholarshipcontinuestobeafocalpointattheuniversity.

ConvenedbyScottBass,provost,andDonMyers,CFO,vicepresidentandtreasurer,thetaskforceisakeypartofmaximizingAU’sresearchpotential.Thegrouphasbeenassessingthecurrentenvironmentforresearchbytalkingextensivelywithfacultyandstudyingbestpracticesatpeerinstitutions.Morethan300peoplehavebeeninvolvedinmeetingssponsoredbythetaskforce,includingaseriesoftownforums.

Onenewinitiative,asexplainedbyRosemaryWander,viceprovostforgraduatestudiesandresearch,istothinkoutsidethetraditionalframeworkofschoolsandcollegesandidentifyareasofcommoninterest—suchastheenvironment,community-basedresearch,orLatinAmericanstudies—thatfacultycan“clusteraround.”

Commitmenttoresearchisalsoreflectedingrantsthatuniversityresearchershavewonoverthepastyear.AmongthemarqueegrantsAUreceivedwasa$1.5millionNationalScienceFoundation(NSF)awardtotheSchoolofEducation,Teaching,andHealthintheCollegeofArtsandSciences(CAS)todevelopmathteachersforDistrictofColumbiaschools.

Otherimportantgrantsincludea$1.2millionmulti-institutionalgrant(AU’sportionis$520,000)fromNSFtothreeprofes-sorsinCAS’sDepartmentofMathematicsandStatistics—JeffHakim,JoshLansky,andJeffAdler—toexplorewithcolleaguesatotherinstitutionsaprojectinrepresentationtheory.

SeparateNationalAero-nauticsandSpaceAdmin-istrationgrants,totalingmorethan$1million,wereawardedtoCASphysicsresearchersRichardKayandRichardBerendzen.A$200,000FordFoundationgrantwenttotheSchoolofCommunication’sPatAufderheideoftheCenterforSocialMediaforthecenter’sFutureofPublicMediaProject.

Research

Several programs at the Kogod School of Business have leapfrogged their way up national rankings, including a jump of nearly 30 places for Kogod’s undergraduate programs, in the 2010 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” ranking.

James Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at the School of Public Affairs, was selected for the 2010 Walter Beach Pi Sigma Alpha Award by the National Capital Chapter of the American Political Science Association. Past winners include Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Wisc.) and former ambassador to the United Nations Jeane J. Kirkpatrick.

CAS professors Josh Lansky, Jeff Adler, and Jeff Hakim


RE-ENVISIONING A LIFE’S WORK

American University painting professor Don Kimess was out

of town when water began spewing from a burst pipe. For two weeks, it filled his home until, with more than four feet of water sloshing through his painting studio, it burst through the walls and into the yard. That’s when a neighbor realized what was happening.

His life’s work was under water. Kimes, who has taught at the College of Arts and Sciences since 1988, had long engaged his students in discus-sions of time, nature, culture, and the importance of embracing the acciden-tal. Suddenly, “it was not an academic abstraction. It jumped up and bit me in the face.”

Everything was gone. All of his artwork, family photographs, video-tapes of his children, even the slides of his artwork. “Nature took everything back. It did not feel beautiful.”

What would he do? The answer came as a question during a lecture: Have you ever painted through pain? Kimes decided to embrace the pain of the flood and its aftermath by, in essence, re-envisioning his life’s work.

He would use the destroyed images—the washed out photographs, the waterlogged slides—to create images based on the “strange beauty” that remained.

He had always been intrigued by the intersection of nature and time with culture, and had found inspiration over the years in his regular visits to Pompei.

Now he had his own ruins. What could he make of them?

“The destroyed photos are almost white. They have a little bit of struc-ture, hints of color—but almost nothing is left on them that can be recognized,” he said. “I decided to digitize that destroyed image, blow it up, and print it out on canvas.

“If an area is white, I might say, ‘That ought to be yellow.’ If an area is blue, I might push that darker.”

By taking what life handed him and making it his own, he created lush abstractions where colors seem to swirl and bleed into each other. The images are both meditative and insistent, with names that reflect the notion of transience: “We Once Were You.” “It Was.” “Promise and Conclusion.”

“There’s a line from a play that says every creative event that ever hap-pened in the history of the world was an interruption, unexpected and unplanned. That idea about chance and change—I talk about that in terms of [my students’] lives, their work, and a way to approach making things.”

It’s a lesson he forced himself to take to heart, as well. The result has been a series of critically acclaimed paintings that are both masterful and inspiring.

“The flood turned out to be a gift,” he said. “This is the strongest work I’ve ever done.”

“The flood turned out to be a gift. . . . This is the strongest work I’ve ever done.”


Afterthecripplingsnow-stormlastwinterthatallbutshutdownWashington,D.C.,AUpresidentNeilKerwinthankedtheAUcommunityforitsresilienceinkeepingtheuniversityrunning,largelythroughutilizingAU’sdigitalinfrastructure.

“Wehaveseenasignificantincreaseintheuseoftechnologyandonlineservices,aspeoplehavecontinuedtoworkfromhome,”Kerwinnoted.“TheOfficeofInformationTechnologysupportteamhascontinuedtoworkatthe24/7NetworkOpera-tionsCenteroncampusandalsoathomethrough-outthestorm...andtheCenterforTeaching,

Research,andLearninghasbeenworkingwithfacultytosupporttheirneeds.”

Indeed,duringthestormKogodSchoolofBusinessstudentsheldaSkypecallwithadoctorwhoplannedtobuildamedicallabinTikrit,Iraq;SchoolofPublicAffairsprofessorHowardMcCurdycarriedonhisScienceandTechnol-ogyclassonlineusingBlackboard’sdiscussionboard;andprofessorsandstudentsacrosstheuniver-sitykeptworkingwhilemostoftheregiongroundtoahalt.

Suchtechnicalsavvyreflectstheuniversity’sever-evolvingonlinesophistication.Whetherit’stheAUhome

pageaddingincreasedvideocapabilityandtheuser-generatedAUpedia,ortheuniversity’sever-widerforaysintosocialmedia,exemplifiedbyeventssuchasAmericanForummeetingabroaderaudienceonTwitterandFacebookandthefirst-everstreamingofcommencementspeeches,AU’sinteractivepresencehasexpandedexponentially.

TheWebMarketingAssociationrecognizedtheinnovativeamerican.edusitebynamingit“BestWebSiteofIndustry”intheeducationcategory.AUwasthefirstinstitutionofhigherlearningtowininthiscategorysincetheaward’sinception.

a Digital Future

In July 2009, Peter Starr, formerly a professor of French and comparative literature at the University of Southern California, became the new dean of AU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Composer Fernando Benadon of the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Performing Arts, was awarded a 2009 Guggenheim fellowship, in part for his debut album Intuitivo, in which he took improvised solo recording sessions from seven musicians into the studio and wove a series of cohesive compositions.

David Gregory ’92 (left) at SOC’s American Forum Students tweeting and texting at commencement


GIVING ARTFULLY: ROBERT AND ARLENE KOGOD

Students tweeting and texting at commencement

The generosity of Robert Kogod ’62 and his wife, Arlene, has left

an indelible imprint on the cultural landscape of Washington, D.C. But nowhere is their philanthropy more important than at American University, where the recently expanded Kogod School of Business doubles as a cutting-edge educational facility and a a world-class art museum.

Indeed, the Kogod School of Business is one of only a half dozen other business or professional schools— including Harvard, Columbia, and the London School of Economics—that can boast their own art collections.

Last spring, the $14 million building expansion, which included a substan-tial gift from the Kogods, became the first AU structure built entirely with philanthropic dollars. More than 25 donors funded the expansion.

The 20,000-square-foot expansion more than doubles the size of the business school. The expansion includes the following:

• the Financial Services and Information Technology Lab, equipped with a trading wall that features a stock ticker and news feed, and 37 workstations

• the Kogod Center for Career Development, the focal point of the first floor

• seven new classrooms, two of which are outfitted for video conferencing and other modes of connectivity, and three new breakout rooms and three student lounges

Now, with an art collection newly donated by the Kogods for the building expansion, the business school has more than 200 pieces of art gracing its classrooms, halls, and public spaces.

“I wanted to appeal to a younger audience and expose students to the highest-quality works possible, by some of the best modern and contemporary artists,” Robert Kogod says. The best way to accomplish this

within the budget for the project, he decided, was to build a collection of limited-edition prints.

The art gives an overview of postwar schools and styles: conceptual, mystical, minimalist. The range of artists represented is also broad: art world “names,” emerging talent, and the accomplished but lesser-known, drawn from the United States and around the world.

On the wall of the main staircase, lyrical, earth-toned abstractions by American master Robert Mangold softly glow. Across the way, the exuberant, hard-edged colors of two works by Sol LeWitt introduce a very different aspect of abstraction. This contrast in mood and method is repeated throughout the corridors and larger spaces, where pieces by artists already in the history books hang with compelling works unfamiliar to all but hard-core art lovers.

“The question is,” says Kogod, reflecting on the collection’s ultimate impact, “students are surrounded by art—will that give them a wider frame of reference?”

The 20,000-square-foot expansion more than doubles the size of the business school.

Sol LeWitt’s “Stars” (above) hang in a classroom in the new Kogod School of Business expansion.


Our teaching uses the city of Washington as a laboratory for learning, and the service that we do as part of our mission touches every community . . . ” —Neil Kerwin, president of American University

“


t’s called AU Park for good reason. American University fits in perfectly with its leafy, well-

manicured neighborhood. With its beautiful, open campus—graced by more than 2,000 trees

and a garden-like setting—AU is Washington’s only university arboretum. As neighbors who visit its

weekly farmers’ market on the quad or enjoy its wide variety of cultural offerings can attest, the

campus offers a rich, inviting presence.

Cultural attractions range from an award-winning play at the Greenberg Theatre or a world-class

concert or exhibit at the Katzen Arts Center to a stimulating lecture at the Osher Lifelong Learning

Institute at AU or a Pulitzer Prize–winning author speaking as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s

Resident Associates—and they’re all available to American University’s neighbors.

Community service has always been part of the university’s DNA, starting with the thousands of

hours students spend each year preparing meals or fixing up houses or painting schools, engaging

in a variety of volunteer activities during the annual Freshman Service Experience. Whether it’s the

College of Arts and Sciences boosting the number of D.C.’s qualified math teachers or alumni from

all the schools getting involved in organizations such as City Year Washington, D.C., AU enriches,

and is in turn enriched by, its neighbors and the greater Washington community of which it is

such a vital part.

a Stronger City


IfyouthinkAU’sannualFreshmanServiceExperi-enceisaone-offopportunityfortheschool’sincomingstudentstogetatasteofcommunityvolunteering,youmaywanttothinkagain.Notthatthe19theditionoftheprogram,whosethemewas“OurHome,OurD.C.,”wasn’timpressive.

Arecord640studentsputinmorethan14,000hoursofhardworkat46sitesbeforeclassesstartedlastfall.OverthreedaystheycanvassedD.C.neighbor-hoodswithopinionsurveys,preparedmeals,

cleanednationalparks,andworkedwithseniorcitizensandchildren.

Allinall,animpressiveperformanceforaprogramthatstartedin1990withonly30students.

Butforafewfreshmen,thatwasnotenough.

LastOctober,sevengroupsreceived$500grantsfromthestudent-runEagleEndowmenttocontinuetheirvolunteerworkinthecommunity.Amongthefundedventures:

•AtBancroftElementarySchoolinMt.Pleasant,

AUstudentsplannedavegetablegardentoteachkidsaboutsustainability.

•AtCityGate,acommu-nityorganizationthatservesWashington’sTrinidadneighborhood,theycommittedtomentoringyoungsters.

•InColumbiaHeights,theLatinoFederationofGreaterWashingtongothelpinmanaginggentrificationthroughgrassrootsactivities.

•InSoutheastD.C.,FacilitatingLeadershipinYouth(FLY)atBarryFarmbenefitedfroma

pledgetohelpbuildastudiowherekidscanexpressthemselvesthroughpoetryanddance.

TheopeningoftheschoolyearalsooccasionedanotherAUvolunteertradition:theWashingtonCollegeofLaw’sseventhannualInMyBackyardserviceday.Morethan200WCLstudents,faculty,andstaffvolunteeredtheirservicesatD.C.organiza-tionsandnonprofitgroups,includingtheCommunityforCreativeNon-Violence,Martha’sTable,andD.C.HabitatforHumanity.

a Tradition of Volunteerism

AU’s School of Communication joined with New America Media to organize the first Washington, D.C., Ethnic Media Awards, to honor excellence in reporting.


WAMU 88.5 FM’s Diane Rehm may be a nationally known

interviewer with an audience of 2.2 million, but she’s first and foremost a Washington treasure and an important member of the American University and D.C. community.

In 2009, the Peabody Award– winning Rehm celebrated 30 years on the air. Yet her ascension to media stardom was an unlikely one. As a 37-year-old wife and mother, she started volunteering at WAMU, the NPR station licensed to American University, in 1973. Six years later she became host of Kaleidoscope, a local show geared toward people in the home.

“I inherited the program from a woman I respected a great deal,” Rehm said. “For the first few years I was hesitant to do anything other than what she had done. Then I kind of got bored and I thought, ‘Either I’m going to make this program my own or I’m going to get out,’ because it was just not grabbing me.”

In 1984 WAMU hired a producer for the newly configured broad-cast, and The Diane Rehm Show was born.

“I began to concentrate far more heavily on current affairs, be they political, scientific, historical, medical, everything that was in the news,” said Rehm, who now has five full-time producers and one half-time one. “It is an attempt to be conversational, it’s an attempt to be inquisitive without being impolite, it is an attempt to inform the audience and represent the audience.

“The key to being a good inter-viewer is not only to prepare, but

then to be prepared to listen so that you’re not jumping ahead to the next question you have in mind, but rather to create a genuine conversation by listening to what that person has had to say,” Rehm said. “If I can do that, I think I’ve done my job.”

Each week, Rehm’s producers pour through up to 250 books, searching for subjects important to her audience.

“Even though my voice is different, even though the pace is different, even though I don’t allow the hotheads to take over, people tune in because it’s reliably informative,” Rehm said. “People know that when they tune in, they’re not going to hear people yelling at each other. They’re going to hear thoughtful conversation.”

Just as strongly identified as an important voice for the D.C. community is Rehm’s WAMU colleague Kojo Nnamdi, host of the award-winning The Kojo Nnamdi Show. Nnamdi has been named a “Washingtonian of the Year” and one of the “150 Most Influential People in Washington” by Washingtonian magazine. His show often focuses on local and regional politics.

In 2010, Nnamdi’s show won the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting and the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Webcast or Radio Show, which recognizes the show’s focus on culinary topics. Awards in 2009 include Best Talk Show and public affairs awards from the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association and the Gracie Award for Outstanding Public Affairs Program in a local market from the American Women in Radio and Television.

CELEBRATING 30 YEARS ON THE AIR

“Even though my voice is different, even though the pace is different, even though I don’t allow the hotheads to take over, people tune in because it’s reliably informative.”


ThestoryofWashington,D.C.,ismorethanCapitolHillandKStreet.Therearehundredsofstoriestotell,asstudentsininnovativecoursesandprofessorsconductingresearchbeyondthemarbledhallsofCongresswellknow.

That’swhyProfessorAngieChuangofAU’sSchoolofCommunication(SOC)sentstudentsinherRace,Ethnic,andCommunityReportingclassallovertheD.C.area,fromLangleyPark,Maryland,toAnacostiaandColumbiaHeights,insearchoftherichhumanstoriesthatwouldbringtheseplacesonthemaptolife.

ThissamesearchforD.C.’sstoriespromptedfilmmaker

inresidenceNinaShapiro-Perl,inherDocumentaryStorytellingcourse,toteamupwithanthropologyandfilmstudentstohelpsmallnonprofitorganizationstelltheirstoriesthroughthewordsofthepeopletheyserve.Thefilmswillhelpthenonprofitsraiseawarenessabouttheirprogramsandraisefunds.

ChuangandShapiro-Perl’scoursesgaverisetoAU’sCenterforCommunityVoices,linkingSOC,theDepartmentofAnthropol-ogyintheCollegeofArtsandSciences(CAS),andtheUniversityLibrary.ThecenterlooksforinnovativewaystocaptureanddocumentthevoicesofWashington,D.C.,ofthe

“workingpeople’sWashing-ton,”saidShapiro-Perl.

ItisthisotherWashingtonthatalsointerestsSabiyhaPrince,ananthropologyprofessorinCAS.Aculturalanthropologistwhoserecentworkhasfocusedonherhometown’schangingneighborhoods,suchasShaw,Trinidad,andPetworth,Princesaid:“Frequentlyhowyoufeelabout[changingneighbor-hoods]isaffectedbyhowitimpactsyou.Ifyou’reamiddle-classblackpersonandyoushareincertaintastes,youmaybehappytoseetheimpact.Butyoumayalsobeveryresentfultoseethetraditionalcommunityyougrewupinbecomewhiter.”

Community Voices

Last summer, AU’s School of Education, Teaching, and Health partnered with the United Planning Organization to bring 12-year-olds from low-income neighborhoods in D.C. to campus for two six-week sessions. The goal: inspire the students to attend college.

SOC professor Angie Chuang Students in the community voices classStudents watching firsthand documentaries


T he math is discouraging: In 2007 only 9 percent of eighth-

graders in D.C. public schools qualified as proficient or above proficient in mathematics. Perhaps as disconcerting, only 43 percent of “core subjects” math lessons in D.C. public schools are taught by qualified teachers, according to the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

But a new partnership between Math for America D.C. and American University aims to change that equation. With a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the partners will make qualified math teachers available for D.C.’s public and public charter secondary schools.

“AU has a long history of educating and placing exceptional teachers in Washington, D.C., schools,” said Sarah Irvine Belson, dean of AU’s School of Education, Teaching, and Heath, or SETH.

“Partnering with Math for America strengthens our connection to D.C.

schools and underlines AU’s commit-ment to serving our community,” Irvine Belson said.

AU is the only D.C.-area school to partner with Math for America and one of only 10 partner universities nationwide.

James H. Simons, mathematician and president of Renaissance Technolo-gies Corp., founded Math for America in 2004 to improve math instruction in U.S. public schools through recruiting, training, and keeping successful secondary school math teachers.

“The support from NSF will be a huge boost for math education in D.C.,” said Maxine Singer, Carnegie presi-dent emeriti and principal investigator of the grant. “Research shows that rigorous mathematics education in secondary school correlates with success in jobs and college.”

The grant, made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, covers tuition, stipend, and mentoring costs for the first 14 fellows who are college graduates

with degrees in math or related disciplines. The fellows were selected in a competitive process.

Fellows commit to teaching in D.C. public and public charter schools for four years after their training. The program plans to recruit 34 fellows between 2009 and 2013.

As a program partner, AU—through SETH and the Department of Mathematics, also a part of AU’s College of Arts and Sciences—will provide fellows with an intensive graduate education culminating in an MA in secondary school math teaching and certification to teach in D.C. schools.

“The mission of the Math for America–D.C. program is aligned with AU’s strategic commitment to improving D.C. schools, and we are thrilled to be involved,” said Irvine Belson.

ADDING MATH TEACHERS TO D.C. SCHOOLS

Students in the community voices class

Sophia Lallinger (above), a 2010 Math for America fellow, teaches a numeracy class at Oyster-Adams Bilingual Middle School in D.C.


AUgraduateshaveawayofgravitatingtocommunityservice,whetherit’sguidingmentorsandrolemodelstowherethey’reneededordirectingavitalpartofD.C.’sartisticlandscape.

TakeJeffFranco,SIS/MA’97,Kogod/MBA’05.AsexecutivedirectorofCityYearWashington,D.C.,Francoleadstutors,mentors,androlemodelsintheirmissiontomakeadifferenceinchildren’slivesandtransformschoolsandneighborhoods.CityYeargivespeopleages17to24anopportunitytoprovideayearoffull-timeservicetothecommunity.

“Ihavealwaysbeenattractedtotheideaofleavingtheworldbetter

thanyoufoundit,whichiswhatdrewmetointerna-tionaldevelopment,aswellasvolunteeropportunitieswithinmycommunityandchurch,”Francosaid.

ThepassiontogetinvolvedalsoledCourtneyMcSwain,SPA/MPP’06,tojoinLocalInitiativesSupportCorporation(LISC),anonprofitorganizationthattacklesissuesfromcommunitydevelopmenttoaffordablehousingtoeducationalaccess.AtLISC,McSwainisresponsibleforproposaldevelopmentandcorporatedonors.

“It’sgreattoknowthatevenifI’mworkinginanofficeinWashington,D.C.,it’shelpingstudentsacrossthecountryget

excitedaboutchangingtheircommunities,”shesaid.

CommunityservicetookonanotherformforMollySmith,whoin1976earnedanMAinperformingartsfromAU’sCollegeofArtsandSciences.ShetookonacampaigntobuildanewtheatrecomplexatArenaStage,culminatingintheArleneandRobertKogodCradleinfall2010.Thenew200-seatperformancespacewillcomplementArena’stwoexistingstages,whicharebeingsubstan-tiallyrenovated.

“ThisisadefiningmomentinthehistoryofoneofAmerica’smostimportantculturalinstitutions,”saidSmith,ArenaStage’sartisticdirector.

Back Locally

AU’s Washington College of Law hosted a moot court competition for local high school students to teach them about their constitutional rights.

After the District of Columbia government cut Sunday hours at public library branches, the local Shakespeare Readers Group found itself without a home. AU stepped up and offered the group space at Bender Library.

Jeff Franco ’97, ’05 (left) with two members of City Year Washington, D.C.


P erhaps no program better epitomizes American University’s

dedication to the community than OLLI at AU—the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The program, founded in 1982, offers study groups and classes on topics from politics to music to history.

For the second consecutive year, the institute offered a series of School of International Service–themed classes. Ambassador Anthony Quainton, distinguished diplomat in residence, spoke on foreign policy challenges facing the Obama administration and summed up his experience with OLLI students this way: “The audience is made up of a broad cross-section of well-informed senior citizens, most of whom have had extensive experience in international relations. Many are former government officials. They are smart, articulate, and engaged.”

Clearly, OLLI at AU, part of a nation-wide network of institutes across

the country, lives up to its motto: “Curiosity Never Retires.”

The organization, formerly known as the Institute for Learning in Retirement, was renamed in 2005 after an initial $100,000 grant from the Osher Foundation. The grant

helped buy equipment such as hearing assistance for classrooms, large-screen TVs, computer projectors, and laptop computers.

Funds from a second grant were devoted to advertising the program.

“All of a sudden we started growing by leaps and bounds,” said Anne Wallace, OLLI’s executive director. “This really started to propel us in new directions.”

Those grants were a prelude to a much larger gift, a $1 million grant in 2008 from the Bernard Osher Foundation that allowed a wider range of class offerings in more locations for a growing number of students. OLLI at AU became eligible for the gift by hitting the target of 500 enrolled participants. The organization will become eligible to request an additional $1 million when it doubles that size.

FOSTERING A PLACE WHERE CURIOSITY NEVER RETIRES

“The audience is made up of a broad cross-section of well-informed senior citizens . . . They are smart, articulate, and engaged.”


AtAmericanUniversity,communityinvolvementisasmuchapartofthecurriculumasresearchpapersandfinalexams.That’swhyhistoryprofessorKathleenFranzandherstudentstookonthetaskofdevelopingaplantocreateupto25exhibitsatArlingtonNationalCemeteryandArlingtonHouse,whereRobertE.Leeoncelived.

“PeoplecomeandtheyknowaboutArlingtonHouseandtheyknowaboutKennedy’sgraveandthechangingoftheguard,buttherearesomanysectionsofthisplacethatnobodythinksaboutvisiting.We’dliketotell

thestoriesofthenurses’section,orthechaplains’section,ortheastronautswhoarehere,”saidEmilyWeisner,CAS/MA’07,nowaparkrangeratArlingtonHouseandaformerstudentofFranz’s.

AnotherAUclassprovidedpublicityassistanceforJustNeighbors,aNorthernVirginianonprofitthatprovideslegalservicestolow-incomeimmigrantsandrefugees.GemmaPuglisi’sSchoolofCommu-nicationclassdevelopedapublicrelationsstrategyforthegroup,creatingadatabaseofmediacontacts,apromotionalvideo,andasocialnetworkingsite.Theclassevenlandedan

interviewwiththedirectoronalocalTVnewsshow.

AndtheinvolvementoffiveKogodSchoolofBusinessstudentsandtheirprofessor,H.KentBaker,wasvitaltothelaunchofSunflowerBakery,anonprofitbasedinPotomac,Maryland,devotedtohelpingdevelop-mentallydisabledadultslearnnewjobskills.TheKogodteam,partoftheAppliedBusinessPracticum,developedabusinessplanandmarketniche:produceonlyproductsthatmeetthehighestkosherstandards.

AtAU,nowasinthepast,communityinvolvementremainsthehigheststandardofall.

Community Involvement a Class Act

Talented young opera singers and accompanists from around the country have the opportunity to study with professionals at an annual summer workshop that started last year at AU. The Washington National Opera Summer Institute at American University is part of a partnership between AU and the Washington National Opera.

This year, more than 140 AU students volunteered several hours a week at seven sites across D.C. as part of D.C. Reads.

Park ranger Emily Weisner ’07 giving a tour at Arlington House

Sunflower Bakery cofounder Sara Milner (right) with a trainee


In the darkness and drizzle of a dreary March morning, life was

looking bright to Chris Moskowitz.

Though the sun had yet to rise, his forehead was drenched with sweat. He had just returned to Clean and Sober Streets, the shelter he currently calls home, from a jog with Back on My Feet, a nonprofit running club founded by AU alumna Anne Mahlum, SOC/MA ’03 (above, center), to help recovering addicts lift their bodies, minds, and spirits.

Started in Philadelphia in 2007, the organization unveiled its Washington chapter in March 2010 with an early morning run through the empty streets of the capital.

“I used to be in excellent shape,” said Moskowitz, 38. “I’m really looking forward to getting back to where I was—in everything. I’d like to get back in shape and find a job.”

Running as a catalyst for substantive social change may strike some— particularly nonrunners—as odd. But Mahlum learned the sport’s therapeutic power as a teenager dealing with her own problems, and it’s a lesson she never forgot.

“There are so many metaphors that surround it,” she said. “The discipline it takes to be a runner is extraordinary. If you’re going to go out and run 10 miles and you haven’t trained, you’re not going to make it. If you’re going to take shortcuts, it never works. The same thing holds true in life. You just have to keep moving forward.”

Washington is Back on My Feet’s third chapter. Mahlum conceived of the idea while living in Philadelphia, where her running route took her past a group of men hanging out near a shelter every morning.

“I remember looking back at them and thinking, ‘I’m cheating them,’”

she said. “I’m running by these guys every morning, moving my life forward physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. This is the best part of my day, and I’m leaving these guys in the exact same spot.”

And so she contacted the shelter to see whether any residents would like to join a running club, and she sent out e-mails to everyone she’d ever known asking for donations of shoes, shirts, or money.

As it turned out, nine of the shelter residents signed on. From those nine and one volunteer—Mahlum—has grown an organization whose budget was more than $3 million last year. Before the D.C. chapter opened, 650 volunteers and 200 shelter residents were Back on My Feet members. Washington joined Baltimore and Philadelphia, with Boston soon to follow and one day, perhaps, New York and Los Angeles.

RUNNING FOR HOPE

Sunflower Bakery cofounder Sara Milner (right) with a trainee


”America reaps incredible economic rewards because we remain a magnet for the best and brightest from across the globe.” —PresidentBarackObama, speaking July 1, 2010, at the new School of International Service building

Democracy is a system of freedoms . . . let us not be afraid of participation . . . let us not be afraid to give up power, because in reality, we are not giving it up. We are giving it back.”— Michelle Bachelet, first female president of Chile, speaking at commencement 2010

“


ake a stroll across AU’s bustling campus, with students gathered from more than 140

nations, and the whole world fills your ears. French, Spanish, German. Korean, Chinese,

Arabic. All within sight of the School of International Service’s stellar new environmentally sustainable

building, home of the largest school of international service in the country.

On such a globally connected campus, it’s no surprise that over half of AU students study abroad.

What might surprise you is the passion so many AU people—students, faculty, and alumni—bring

to global causes.

It could be a Kogod alumna “tweeting” to raise money for a school in Africa. Or Washington College

of Law students and their professor traveling to Copenhagen to participate in climate talks. Or

School of International Service and School of Public Affairs students pitching in to help Haitian

earthquake victims. It could be School of Communication students teaching Middle Eastern high

school kids underwater photography for an ecology project. Or a College of Arts and Sciences

alumna raising the AU flag at a Red Cross station in Baghdad. Whatever cause the AU community

gets involved in, one fact stands clear: American University is building global connections.

Global Connections


WhenAUstudentstravelabroadtostudy,theydomorethansightseeing.

JustaskDavidHunter,whoteachesinternationalenvironmentallawatAU’sWashingtonCollegeofLaw(WCL).InDecember2009,HunterledsixWCLstudentstotheUnitedNationsclimatechangesummitinCopenhagen,wherethestudentssatinonclimate-talknegotiationsandparticipatedinenvironmentalgroupstrategysessions.

Afewmonthsearlier,attheNorwegianPolarInstituteinTromsø,Norway,twoSchoolofInternationalServicestudentswerepartofanewlyestablishedpartnershipbetweenAUandtheNorwegianEmbassytoenhance

Norwegian-Americancooperationtofightglobalclimatechange.

Thisdedicationtotheinternationalcommunityishardlysurprisingforauniversityrankedsecondamongmedium-sizedcollegesanduniversitiesinthenumberofPeaceCorpsvolunteers.Morethan50AUalumnicurrentlyvolunteeraroundtheworld.

AUalsosetsthestandardforalternativebreakprograms.Insteadofheadingtothebeach,manyAUstudentsopttotacklesocialjusticeissuesinsuchplacesasColombia,Bangladesh,Zambia,andNepal.“Socialjusticeisalwayscentraltoourmission,”saidShoshannaSumka,coordinator

ofAU’sGlobalandCommunity-BasedLearning.“Wegobeyondbuildinghouses.”

That’swhytheAUprogram,praisedbyU.S. News & World Report asa“strongexampleofschoolsthatfocusonnewandinnovativesocialjusticeissues,”isamodelforsuchprogramsaroundthecountry.

It’sonlyfitting,then,thatwhenalumnaMichelleRisinger,CASandSIS’07,becameassistantstationmanageroftheRedCross’sstationinBaghdad—ajobshecalls“simultane-ouslyexhaustingandrewarding”—shebroughtalonganappropriatemementotodisplayatthenearbyU.S.Armybase:anAUflag.

on Global IssuesMichael Black of the College of Arts and Sciences won a Fulbright fellowship for teaching and conducting research at Sankalchand Patel College of Engineering in Visnagar, India.

Claudio Grossman, dean of the Washington College of Law, was reelected chair of the United Nations Committee against Torture. He also was reelected to the board of the International Association of Law Schools and is currently the only dean from an American university to serve on the board.


This past spring saw the culmination of a cross-disciplinary

exploration of the arts, history, memory, and identity—all originating from a forgotten play penned by prisoners in a Nazi ghetto.

The project began in 2008, when AU theatre professor Gail Humphries Mardirosian (above, left) was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Soon afterwards, Mardirosian learned of a play written by Zdenek Elias, a playwright who had been imprisoned by the Nazis at Terezin, a ghetto near Prague where Jewish artists, musi-cians, and scholars were clustered and allowed to practice their art, until they died of disease or malnutrition or were loaded onto the transports.

The play, Smoke of Home, couched metaphorically as a story of prisoners during the Thirty Years’ War, was an emotional look at life within walls and the dreams of a vanished home. Astounded by the prisoners’ ability to create and practice their art under such oppressive circumstances, Mardirosian decided to direct the play as the artistic component of her year

abroad, and AU students traveled to Prague during spring break 2009 to participate in the experience.

When Mardirosian returned to AU for the 2009–2010 academic year, she brought with her an expanded vision of what could be done in a year of teaching and learning. Although staging the play at AU was the focal point, the Terezin project reached out well beyond the performing arts.

With the help of Pam Nadell, director of the Jewish Studies Program, Mardirosian developed and taught an honors class that attracted students from all disciplines. Those who were used to academic research papers found themselves stretched in new ways.

The students heard from guest lecturers, read papers, and viewed films from the time and then had to “come up with a creative way to demonstrate ownership of the materials,” incorporating music, movement, and visuals. Students also provided background research to help performers deepen their understand-ing of the play and participated in

aspects of the project beyond their class—acting, singing, helping with production lighting.

Meanwhile, the project grew to include a choral performance of Songs of Children, a musical adaptation of poems written by children of Terezin; discussions with the audience and visiting experts; behind-the-scenes collaborations between AU and the Embassy of the Czech Republic; a workshop for local high-school students; as well as a library exhibit, film screenings, and poetry readings.

At the end of the boundary-stretching experience, the students were steeped in the history and arts of a ghetto they once knew nothing about. But they had also learned much more—about humanity, morality, justice, and education. And the ideas planted continue to seed new projects.

“Teaching this course has been one remarkable journey,” says Mardiro-sian. “This was a multi-layered educational experience. The goal was to reach out internally and externally with the story of Terezin, and we’re still doing that.”

GIVING VOICE TO THE SILENCED


Tocatchaglimpseofhowtheuniversitycommunityrespondstotheinternationalcallforhelp,takealookatthesesnapshotsofhowAUstudentsandalumnireactedtothedevastatingearth-quakeinHaitithatkilledanestimated230,000peopleandleftamillionhomeless:

•PeaceactivistAmyGopp,SIS/BA’94,helpedraise$1millionforemergencyaidinlessthanamonth.“IcreditSISfortheworkIdotoday,”shesaid.“Ilearnedatayoungagewhatitmeanstobepartofaglobalcommunity,andthatIhavearesponsi-bilitytogiveback.”

•RandySmith,Kogod’11,boughtaplanetickettoPort-au-Princewithnoplanorplacetostay.Buthequicklyfoundwaysto

help.Duringhisweeklongspringbreakstay,hehelpedbuildamakeshiftschoolfororphansinthemostlydestroyedcity.

•TheU.S.ambassadortoHaiti,KennethMerten,SPA/MPA’86,onhisthirdtourofthecountrywhentheearthquakehit,defendedHaitiansagainstchargesthattheybecameviolentasthesituationdeteriorated:“Therealityis,theHaitianpeoplehavebehavedwithtremendousgraceanddignity,”hesaid.“Mosthavelosteverythingtheyeverhad.They’velineduppeacefullyforfood,they’redealingwithhugelevelsofuncertaintyandalotofpersonalloss,andI’mnotsurehow

manyothernationsontheplanetwoulddealaswell.”

•SISstudentAriKatzalsowantedtotraveltoHaititohelp.HeendeduphitchingarideonaplanepilotedbyactorJohnTravolta.“IfeltlikeIhadtodosomethingdirectlytohelptheHaitians,”saidKatz,whohelpedmedicalteamssetupoperations.Healsotreatedtraumavictimshimselfbyprovidingfirstaid.

Unfortunately,theearth-quakedestroyedthebuildinginwhichjustayearearlierAU’sSchoolofPublicAffairshadbegunaninnovativepublicpolicyprogramwithHaiti’scentralbank.Fornow,thatprogramisonhold.

to Global Needs

Esther Kisaakye ’09, an alumna of AU’s law school, was named a member of Uganda’s supreme court.

Celeste Wallander, a professor in AU’s School of International Service, serves in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia.

Kenneth Merten ’86 (left), U.S. ambassador to Haiti, at a disaster site in Port-au-Prince

Ari Katz ’11 (left) helping with the Haitian relief effort


To find dedication to interna-tional justice, look no further

than AU’s Washington College of Law (WCL).

WCL professor Diane Orentlicher was named deputy of the Office of War Crimes by the U.S. Department of State. Her office advises Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and helps formulate U.S. policy regarding atrocities and support for war crimes account-ability in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Iraq, and other regions.

Orentlicher is codirector of WCL’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, and from 1995 to 2004 she served as faculty director to WCL’s War Crimes Research Office. (Her colleague, WCL professor Jonathan Baker, also joined the Obama administration. Baker was named chief economist at the Federal Communications Commission.)

“Diane’s pioneering contributions to the law of accountability and war crimes make her a perfect

choice for the Office of War Crimes issues,” said WCL dean Claudio Grossman.

Grossman himself was unanimously reelected as chair of the United Nations Committee against Torture, to which he was first elected in April 2008. The committee monitors compliance with the Convention against Torture, which comprises independent experts elected from 146 countries.

“The Convention against Torture embodies the conviction held by men and women from the most diverse backgrounds and cultures that a world without torture is achievable and depends on us,” said Grossman.

Grossman also received the 2010 Henry W. Edgerton Civil Liberties Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of the National Capital Region. Past winners have included U.S. Supreme Court justices William Brennan, Harry Blackmun, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Salman Rushdie.

AUalumsalsoansweredthecalltoprovideaidforAfrica:

• SocialmediacompanyThankfulfor.com,aWebsitedevelopedbyatechcompanycofoundedbyJennConsalvo,whoearnedanMBAattheKogodSchoolofBusinessandanundergraduatedegreeattheSchoolofCommunication,tookpartina“Tweetsgiving”eventthathelpedraisemoneyforanAfricanschool.

• FormerNBAplayerKermitWashington,SIS’73,AU’smostfamousathlete,fastedforasecondyeartoraiseawarenessanddonationsfortheorganizationhefoundedin1995,ProjectContactAfrica.“Youtrytoidentifywiththepeopleyou’rehelping,”saidWashington.Hisorganizationoperatesaschool,healthclinic,andfooddistributioncenterinKenya.

PURSUING A PASSION FOR INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

“Diane’s pioneering contributions to the law of accountability and war crimes make her a perfect choice for the Office of War Crimes issues.”

Kermit Washington ’73


Ifyouthinkyou’veseenthismoviebefore,you’reright.Onceagainthisyear,internationalfilmlegendswhogottheirstartatAUaddedtotheircredits.

AmongthemwasBarryLevinson,SOC/BA’67,directorofDiner,The Natural, Avalon,andtheAcademyAward–winningRain Man.Levinson,whoreceivedthe2010LaurelAwardforScreenhonoringlifetimeachievementinoutstandingmotionpicturewriting,alsoproducedHomicide: Life on the Street. HereceivedtheawardfromtheWritersGuildofAmerica,West.

AnotherAcademyAward–winningAUalumnus,

RussellWilliamsII,SOC/BA’74,joinedanelitegroupof“Oscar-WinningBlackMen”honoredbytheLosAngelesUrbanLeague.Williams,nowaproduceranddistinguishedartistinresidenceatAU,wonAcademyAwardsforhissoundworkonGlory andDances with Wolves.

TheNew York Times MagazinehighlightedanotherHollywoodstandout,NancyMeyers,SOC/BA’70,directorofsuchfilmsasIt’s Compli-cated, Father of the Bride, Something’s Gotta Give, andWhat Women Want,devotingacoverstorytoher.TheTimesnotedthatMeyersmakesmoviesthat“bothfeatureandspeakto

middle-agedwomen”—rareindeedinamarketdominatedbyyouth-orientedactionmovies.

Studentfilmmakers,too,distinguishedthemselves.Forthethirdstraightyear,aformerstudentfromAU’sSchoolofCommunicationwonaStudentAcademyAward.KimSpurlock,SOC/MA’97,wonanOscarinthenarrativecategoryforherfilmDown in Number 5, whichfollowsthestoryofaterminallyillcoalminer.PreviousSOCstudentfilmwinnerswereLaurenDeAngelis,MA’08,andLauraWatersHinson,MFA’07.

for a GlobalAudience

Five School of Communication students helped mentor a multicultural group of 60 Western and Middle-Eastern high school students, teaching them to videotape their experiences at Ocean for Life in Florida and California.

Olia Onyshko (left) and Sarah Farrhat (right), both SOC/MFA ’09, screened their documentary, Three Stories of Galicia, at the Cannes Film Festival.

Barry Levinson ’67 Russell Williams II ’74


When it comes to ethical behavior, some wildlife photographers are

downright uncivilized. And those same nature-loving photographers can leave behind a messy ecological footprint of trash and chemicals.

Enter the School of Communication’s Chris Palmer (above), author of Shooting in the Wild: An Insider’s Account of Making Movies in the Animal Kingdom and director of SOC’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking, and his colleague, filmmaker Larry Engel.

While praising the high ethical standards of many wildlife filmmakers, Palmer decried the “Shark Week” mentality that demonizes animals, what he calls “Fang TV and Nature Porn.”

“Wildlife filmmakers face three main ethical challenges,” Palmer said. “First, are audiences deceived and misled by these kinds of films, and if

so, does it matter? Second, are wild animals harassed and disturbed during filming, and if so, does that matter? And third, is conservation advanced by these films? Do they make a difference?”

Likewise, some filmmakers are eco-challenged. Fuel for travel, unrecycled batteries, the accumulated waste generated by a crew—it all adds up to a hefty carbon impact. Which got Engel, a filmmaker with more than 30 years’ experience, thinking. After running into a British filmmaker who made the first carbon-neutral film for National Geographic, Engel was encouraged by Palmer and

Pat Aufderheide of SOC’s Center for Social Media to put his ideas on sustainable filmmaking into action.

That was the origin of the Code of Best Practices in Sustainable Filmmaking, created by SOC’s Center for Social Media and Center for Environmental Filmmaking, along with Filmmakers for Conservation.

“Filmmakers want to be sustainable, but few tools exist to help them do this,” said Engels, who helped write the code. The code includes check-lists that provide specific goals and steps to take toward sustainability and a way to add up CO2 emissions and waste produced over the life of a film’s production. That total can then be offset by, for example, funding wind power.

SOC’s film and media division has already adopted the code and actively strives for carbon neutrality. After all, it’s the civilized thing to do.

TAMING WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

“Filmmakers want to be sustainable, but few tools exist to help them do this.”


University Administration

CorneliusM.Kerwin,PresidentScottA.Bass,ProvostDonaldL.Myers,CFO,VicePresidentandTreasurerMaryE.Kennard,SecretarytotheBoardofTrustees,VicePresidentandGeneralCounselThomasJ.Minar,VicePresidentofDevelopmentandAlumniRelationsGailS.Hanson,VicePresidentofCampusLifeTeresaFlannery,ExecutiveDirector,UniversityCommunicationsandMarketingDavidE.Taylor,ChiefofStaff

PhyllisA.Peres,InterimSeniorViceProvostandDeanofAcademicAffairs,ViceProvostforUndergraduateStudiesRichardM.Durand,Dean,KogodSchoolofBusinessLouisW.Goodman,Dean,SchoolofInternationalServiceClaudioM.Grossman,Dean,WashingtonCollegeofLawLarryKirkman,Dean,SchoolofCommunicationWilliamM.LeoGrande,Dean,SchoolofPublicAffairsPeterStarr,Dean,CollegeofArtsandSciencesWilliamA.Mayer,UniversityLibrarian

GaryM.Abramson,*ChairmanJeffreyA.Sine,*ViceChairGinaF.Adams*StephanieM.Bennett-SmithRichardBeyerPatrickButler*EdwardR.Carr*JackC.Cassell*GaryD.Cohn*PamelaM.Deese*JeromeKingDelPinoDavidR.Drobis*MarcN.Duber*HaniM.S.Farsi*RonaldL.Frey*C.A.DanielGasbyThomasA.Gottschalk

GiselaB.Huberman*C.NicholasKeatingJr.*CorneliusM.Kerwin*MargeryKraus*GeraldBruceLee*CharlesH.Lydecker*RobynRaffertyMathias*AlanL.Meltzer*ReginaL.Muehlhauser*LeighA.RiddickArthurJ.RothkopfPeterL.Scher*MarkL.SchneiderJohnR.ScholNealA.Sharma*VirginiaStallings

*alumnaoralumnusofAmericanUniversity

Board of Trustees


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expression, family responsibilities, political affiliation, disability, source of income, place of

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ing persons, located at 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016, have

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Dean of Students, 202-885-3300

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Produced by University Publications, American University

Senior Director, University PublicationsKevin Grasty

EditorsSuzanne Béchamps, Brooke Sabin

Graphic DesignerMaria Jackson

PhotographerJeff Watts

WriterCharles Spencer

Contributing WritersSally Acharya, Adrienne Frank, Mike Unger

Other ContributorsMaggie Barrett, Jacqueline Corbett, Maralee Csellar, Cristina Fernandez-Pereda, Lee Fleming, Casey Jacobs, Annie Lyon, Kissairis Munoz, Sarah Petrie, Ravi Raman, Melissa Reichley, April Thompson, Mary Beth Wood

Additional Photo Creditsp. 9, courtesy of the Washington College of Lawp. 11, photos.comp. 16, bottom, Samantha Salehp. 23, Stephen Vossp. 28, bottom right, Jackie Sauterp. 29, courtesy of Anne Mahlump. 32, bottom left, Knut Espen Solberg and the Royal Norwegian Embassy p. 32, bottom center, courtesy of Michelle Risingerp. 32, bottom right, Shoshanna Sumkap. 33, www.photobybridget.comp. 34, bottom left, courtesy of the U.S. Embassy to Haitip. 34, bottom right, courtesy of Ari Katzp. 35, top, courtesy of the Washington College of Law p. 36, left side, top, Nicolas Lemoine, France (Ocean for Life 2009 Florida)p. 36, left side, bottom, Catherine Slipchenkop. 36, bottom left, Ava Gerlitz/Universal Picturesp. 36, bottom right, courtesy of Russell Williams

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Documents

American University Annual Report