For the past 16 years, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Andrew Sonn, Ed.D. ’10, has called the George Washington University home. His career spans from early years managing GW Housing to now leading the Office of Parent Services.

Though Mr. Sonn previously oversaw the Office of Parent Services, he will now take a more hands-on role, working directly with GW parents and caregivers to address their needs and concerns.

George Washington Today writer and editor Brittney Dunkins talked with Dr. Sonn about his experience at GW and vision for the Office of Parent Services.

Q: You’ve led many offices at GW. What has been the greatest lesson you’ve learned from your experiences?
A: The greatest thing I have learned is that it is crucial for us all to focus on the reason higher education is in place: to educate future citizen-leaders. Prioritizing students' academic and intellectual development is at the core of my philosophy as an educator. I believe that as long as the administration prioritizes student learning and holistic development, we are using our time well and spending university resources wisely. What sets our institution apart are the students. They are individuals who are truly committed to serving the local community, region, nation and world. All that we do is aimed at supporting student journeys.

Q: Why are parents so valuable to the GW community?
A: GW parents and caregivers play an important role in the GW community. Like a coach, parents should be aware of university resources to advise their students, yet parents should also allow their students to problem solve on their own and develop self-reliance, resilience and grit—attributes that will help in their career and life journeys. We encourage parents to have those important educational conversations with their students about their career aspirations, the dangers associated with drugs and alcohol, balancing challenge and support and fostering self-efficacy.

Q: You worked with the former Executive Director of the Office of Parent Services Rodney Johnson for many years. What do you hope to continue from his legacy?
A: I recall meeting Mr. Johnson during my first week working at GW more than 16 years ago and his support of me as a colleague, and his passion for and commitment to GW made an everlasting impression. I hope to carry on this important legacy for the next generation of GW parents and caregivers by fostering a similarly warm atmosphere in the Office of Parent Services and in our outreach. A personal touch is important to me, and I welcome any calls, emails and communications from parents and caregivers if they need to vent or talk about a problem with someone with a caring ear. I can empathize well because I am a parent with three kids—two girls and a boy—who range from middle school to kindergarten age.

Q: What advice do you have for GW parents who would like to become more involved in the campus community?
A: One great way for GW parents and caregivers to get involved is to support career education and development by hosting GW student interns, holding informational interviews with GW students and hiring GW graduates. GW’s Center for Career Services has great resources for these opportunities. GW parents and caregivers may also volunteer during Colonial Inauguration. Each year, 20 to 30 returning GW parents share their wisdom with new parents.  After CI, they may also volunteer to host one of many summer send-off events, which unite students, parents and alumni in scores of international and U.S. locations. In November, we send a call for nominations for PAAC members to the parent listserv. PAAC elections will be held in December for the open seats on the council.

Q: Can you share any new or upcoming events, initiatives or continuing traditions for GW parents?
A: This year marks the 22^nd annual GW Colonials Weekend and parents and caregivers are encouraged to attend Colonials Weekend, one of GW’s greatest traditions, and join us for academic, community-building and cultural events. My favorite part of the weekend is seeing students and families reuniting in person after being apart for about two months since move-in.

What is the role of the Parent Association Advisory Council?
A: The PAAC has been a very active contributor to the GW community for over two decades. The PAAC includes two international parent representatives and members representing 14 states—who have made a big difference at GW. For instance, PAAC members were instrumental in the smoke-free residence hall initiative, which transitioned to the Smoke-Free GW campaign. PAAC members have also been great champions of the career services and mental health services.

Q: What are you most looking forward to in your expanded role leading the PAAC , an elected body of 30 GW parents and caregivers who lead parent involvement at GW?
A: I look forward to working with the PAAC addressing the evolving needs of students, as well as the changing needs of GW parents, caregivers and family members. The university is experiencing a shift from “baby boomer” parents to parents who are members of Generation X. As a Generation X parent, I am looking forward to working with this new crop of parents as we tackle new issues and offer different resources to support student achievement and parent/caregiver education and engagement.

Q: What is on the horizon for the Office of Parent Services?
A: The Office of Parent Services is embarking on several initiatives to review our resources and offerings. We are benchmarking our communications infrastructure, website and events against other parent services offices nationally. At the same time, we seek to expand our social media initiatives to reach the changing generations of college parents and caregivers. It is exciting, and I am honored and humbled to be leading the office during such a critical time for parents and caregivers. 

By C.J. Trent-Gurbuz 

Health care and health policy experts discussed childhood obesity, access to mental health care and the importance of community health partnerships during the third annual Rodham Institute Summit last Friday in Southeast Washington, D.C.  But it was the first-person narratives of those dealing with these challenges that made the topics more tangible.  

Marcus Andrews’ family enrolled him in academic courses and church activities to keep him safe from neighborhood crime, but he said they were powerless in guarding the sixth-generation Washingtonian against the foods offered at the corner store near his grandmother’s home.

The four-for-$1 chips, $2 pizzas and Little Debbie’s snack cakes took their toll on the youthful Mr. Andrews. By the time he was 16—and a student at the George Washington University—Mr. Andrews’ weight problems led to him being placed under medical supervision. So, he got help.

“I was able to lose over 100 pounds,” Mr. Andrews said, as the summit audience of community stakeholders applauded. “Ultimately, I want to take my life experiences and my academics … and go back to communities that are disadvantaged, like mine, to really work with the community on designing and implementing culturally sensitive health initiatives.”

Mr. Andrews participated in the Rodham Institute Summit’s panel, “Addressing Childhood Obesity." The summit, held at THEARC in D.C., also included discussions on health equity in D.C.

For panel members Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, and Howell Wechsler, chief executive officer of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Mr. Andrews’ story exemplifies an ongoing movement toward healthier lives.

“We need to have a sense of urgency,” Ms. Clinton said. “We deserve to have different options, healthier options and healthier pathways.”

Ms. Clinton and Dr. Wechsler cited advancements in partnerships, particularly with food and beverage corporations, in steering standards in a healthier, more beneficial direction. The alliance has worked to improve the quality of food and physical education in schools and emphasizes the education of parents and teachers on healthy habits. It is a route that Ms. Clinton believes her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham, would approve.

“The work of the Rodham Institute closely aligns with my grandmother’s belief in the transformative power of education to achieve social change,” she said.

The Rodham Institute, which was established in 2013 in honor of the late Ms. Rodham, uses education to achieve health equity in Washington, D.C., and partners with the community to cultivate the next generation of health care providers.

“I’m just so grateful that the work that the Rodham Institute and GW are doing now is in the same line that everyone should be able to determine their own paths, and that so often things like childhood obesity really are questions of social justice and equity,” Ms. Clinton said.

In an earlier panel on mental health care in the District, personal stories again cut through to the heart of the issue.

Between tears and hugs, mental health advocates Kristi Coles and Melinda Hasbrouck related their struggles and successes.

Ms. Coles was attending a bachelorette party when her friend was shot. The bullet traveled through his neck and caught Ms. Coles’ earring. “I think I just went into shock right then and there,” she said. Ms. Coles battled with trauma until a breakdown ultimately forced her to seek medical treatment in 2010.

Ms. Hasbrouck, meanwhile, suffered from mental illnesses, including bipolar disorder and suicidal tendencies, during law school. After a couple of suicide attempts, she sought help from her law school’s counseling center, in addition to other programs.

Both Ms. Coles and Ms. Hasbrouck, who is now the executive director of Our Door, believe access to mental health—and reducing social stigma associated with mental illness—is critical.

That is a position that former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, who spoke during the summit’s luncheon, supports. “There are few issues that touch the lives of people more than mental illness,” he said. The Rodham Institute, he added, has helped, both with mental health and other illnesses affecting the community. “What they do at the institute is making an important difference, every single day.”

The Rodham Institute, which is housed within the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences and supported by the GW Medical Faculty Associates, has partnered with several organizations, many of which presented on successful outreach programs during the summit. Additional posters on research projects, including those from the institute’s Health Education and Leadership Programs, a comprehensive program designed to cultivate student interest in diverse health professions among underrepresented minority youth, were also included in the presentation line-up.

In encouraging partnerships, Jehan “Gigi” El-Bayoumi, M.D., RESD ’88, founding director of the Rodham Institute and professor of medicine at SMHS, awarded three small grants, totaling $35,000, to collaborative projects.

“This summit was not only about celebrating the great work that's being done every day by silent heroes in our community that lifts people so that they can be healthier and able to lead happier lives. It's also about sharing and exchanging experiences and maximizing the collective work being done to improve our city's health,” Dr. El-Bayoumi said.

“To hear about individual stories of people who have transcended incredible hardships and to learn about how various organizations address issues from food insecurity to mental health or HIV was truly inspiring.”

By Lauren Ingeno

The 2013 documentary film “Girl Rising” should inspire viewers to ask, “What’s Next?” actress Freida Pinto told an audience Friday at the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

“We don’t tell these stories to make you feel further despondent or discouraged. We want to tell them with an element of inspiration. We want to be able to uplift these girls and not view them as victims,” she said in the full auditorium.

Ms. Pinto—best known for her role in “Slumdog Millionaire”—joined “Girl Rising” producer Martha Adams for a screening and discussion of the film, in celebration of the International Day of the Girl on Oct. 11. The Milken Institute SPH, the Global Women’s Institute (GWI) and Girl Up co-hosted the event.

An estimated 62 million girls across the globe fail to reach their full potential because they are denied the right to an education, Ms. Pinto said. “Girl Rising” and its accompanying campaign aim to address that problem by building awareness through storytelling.

The film tells the stories of girls from nine developing countries who have overcome enormous obstacles to pursue their dreams. The stories are a mix of documentary filmmaking and re-creations that involve actors and the girls themselves. Ms. Pinto is one of nine actresses who narrate the girls’ tales.

The audience at Friday’s event watched two chapters of the film. The first, narrated by GW alumna Kerry Washington, B.A. ’98, featured a girl from Nepal named Suma who writes songs to escape her grueling life as a bonded laborer. The second, narrated by Anne Hathaway, depicted the life of Amina, a child bride whose parents sell her into marriage for $5,000 when she is 11 years old. When she gives birth to a son soon after, Amina is still determined to finish her education.

Following the film screening, Milken Institute SPH Dean Lynn R. Goldman sat down for a conversation with Ms. Pinto and Ms. Adams, the producer, about their mission to give more girls access to education and to better their status in oppressive societies.

As a Girl Rising ambassador, Ms. Pinto is now working with the Girl Rising: ENGAGE INDIA campaign, which brings the film to over 14,000 children from communities in Bihar and Rajasthan.

(From left) Lynn R. Goldman, Diane Robinson Knapp, Freida Pinto, Steven Knapp, Martha Adams and Amita Vyas. (Photo: Matthew Golden) 

At the GW event, Ms. Pinto welcomed attendees with a story about her trip to a school in Ethiopia two years ago. During the visit, she fielded questions from parents and students with the help of a translator. Then, to her surprise, a young girl stood up and addressed the actor in English.

“Ms. Pinto, I thank you very much for coming to our school, for listening to our stories, for trying to find out how you can help. But with all due respect, I really wish you’d come on a Saturday or a Sunday, because I had to miss my chemistry class for you,” the girl told her.

“I was told off right to my face. I stood up, and I started clapping. And I said, ‘You go girl.’ Because that is really what we want to hear,” Ms. Pinto said with a big smile.

Friday’s question and answer session provided audience members a chance to share their thoughts with the actor and the producer.

When asked by GWI Director Mary Ellsberg what story Ms. Adams would tell if she were to feature an American “girl rising,” the producer said it would be someone from a Native American tribe.

Amita Vyas—an associate professor of prevention and community health who served as a producer of the Hindi version of “Girl Rising”—said that the film led to an “inspirational conversation” with her then nine-year-old daughter, who asked her mother what she “could do” to help the girls she had watched in the movie.

“What I love about the film is that it inspires action. It’s the spark,” Dr. Vyas said. “But what that action is, is up to you.”

At the end of the event, Ms. Pinto charged the audience members to take action by participating in First Lady Michelle Obama’s #62MillionGirls campaign. The social media project, which is part of the Let Girls Learn initiative, asks supporters to post selfies on Twitter and Instagram with a message about what they learned in school, along with the statement, “#62MillionGirls don’t have that chance.”

“This is only going to create the initial spark. We know that the actual change at the grassroots level is not going to happen just by us taking a selfie,” Ms. Pinto said. “But let’s make this commitment and find ways in which we can help.”

By Lauren Ingeno

A walk-in freezer in Science and Engineering Hall houses more than 650 mammalian brains—from tigers, elephants, giraffes, gorillas and lots of chimpanzees.

Chet Sherwood, a professor of anthropology at the George Washington University, oversees the collection, which comprises the brains of animals that have died from natural causes at zoos and research centers. The light pink organs are key to understanding what makes human neurobiology unique, Dr. Sherwood said.

Among the animals represented in the assortment, chimpanzees may be the most essential research subjects. Sharing more than 98 percent of their DNA with humans, they are our closest living relatives. That makes their brains ideal for studying recently evolved neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, like autism, Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.

“The fact that chimpanzees are the closest living relatives of humans puts them in a really unique position to help us understand the evolutionary context of neurobiological traits that are elaborated in our species,” said Dr. Sherwood, a member of the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, the GW Institute for Neuroscience and director of the GW Mind-Brain Institute.

For the past two decades, chimpanzees housed in National Primate Research Centers have been the subjects of intensive cognitive and behavioral research studies. Recently, however, the National Institutes of Health stopped breeding chimpanzees and significantly reduced their use in NIH-funded biomedical research. So opportunities for scientists to take advantage of these rich resources are fading.

Dr. Sherwood and his colleagues saw this as an opportunity to gather and organize longitudinal data from years of NIH-funded chimpanzee studies, as well as to develop new tools for deeper analysis, in an effort to promote the wider study of chimpanzee brains for future generations.

“As chimpanzees are retired out of research, the captive population is declining,” Dr. Sherwood said. “So this is a really critical and unique time to invest in preserving as much information as possible about chimpanzee brains for the research community.”

A new grant from the NIH—totaling around $1 million—will allow Dr. Sherwood and his research team to do just that. The funding will support the creation of the first National Chimpanzee Brain Resource that will be based at GW, Georgia State and Emory universities.

GW will serve as a brain repository, where scientists can request tissue samples from the university’s collection to be sent to their own labs. The project team also will make available their assemblage of high-resolution MRI scans of chimpanzee brains along with observational data collected from studies on chimpanzees’ motor, social and cognitive skills. With this information, the researchers plan to create an online, searchable database that scientists can easily access. They also will build a detailed chimpanzee brain atlas and gene-expression map that can be used for research on the molecular pathways related to cognition and brain disease. (There are no chimpanzees housed at GW.)

“Right now there is a very small community of people who are focused on chimpanzee neuroscience research,” Dr. Sherwood said. “We are trying to catalyze the use of what we view to be incredibly valuable, scientifically interesting materials that are underutilized.”

Chimpanzee brain tissue and data have an expansive range of research possibilities, he said. Dr. Sherwood’s own lab uses brain scans to understand topics like the role of genetics in shaping brain anatomy and the neurobiological basis of human language and social learning.

His latest project—funded by a $1 million INSPIRE award from the National Science Foundation—will use post-mortem MRI images, brain tissue, behavioral observations and studies of genetic variation to examine differences in vocal learning and sound-symbol associations among chimpanzees.

Chimpanzees show much variation in facial motor control that allows some, but not others, to learn new vocalizations. To understand these neurobiological differences, Dr. Sherwood and Brenda Bradley, an associate professor of anthropology, will use genomic analyses to determine how certain genes play a role in establishing brain circuitry critical for communication skills in primates. The researchers say their results have the potential to better understand language and learning abilities in both humans and chimpanzees.

“If you want to start thinking about the evolution of language in humans, you need this broader biological context, which studying the brains of chimpanzees can offer,” Dr. Sherwood said.

“That is what the NIH has invested in us to do—to make it easier for all neuroscientists to incorporate data from chimpanzee studies in their research if they wish to do so.”

Updates on several university initiatives and a scheduling change for the annual Faculty Assembly were featured at Friday’s meeting of the Faculty Senate, which included remarks from George Washington President Steven Knapp, Provost Steven Lerman and Charles Garris, chair of the Faculty Senate executive committee.

Faculty Assembly, usually held in October, has been scheduled for Nov. 10 at Lisner Auditorium to accommodate a larger crowd than in previous years. Of key importance at that event will be a vote on a proposed change to the Faculty Organization Plan.

The Board of Trustees passed three resolutions in June aimed at aligning shared governance with the university’s Vision 2021 strategic plan. The first of those resolutions concerns participation on the Faculty Senate. In September, the senate passed a separate resolution regarding participation on the Faculty Senate that differs from the resolution passed by the Board of Trustees.

Both resolutions represent a change from the current Faculty Organization Plan, which allows only full-time, tenured faculty to serve in the senate. Dr. Knapp was asked to delay calling the Faculty Assembly in an attempt to either create the appropriate parliamentary procedure to introduce two different resolutions or to allow time for one resolution to be withdrawn, Dr. Garris said Friday.

“The idea is to have the Faculty Assembly after the Board of Trustees meets,” said Dr. Garris, who will present to the board’s Committee on Academic Affairs on Oct. 15. “The Faculty Assembly agenda will clarify all of this and will include the actual resolution or resolutions. The Faculty Assembly is likely to be a very important meeting, which will have a large impact on the future of shared governance at GW.”

Vice President for Human Resources Sabrina Ellis addresses the senate during a discussion on university benefits. (William Atkins/GW Today)

Resolution on benefits

The senate passed a resolution Friday that calls on the university administration to increase spending on benefits.

The resolution comes amid a national trend of costs increases on employer sponsored benefit plans and stems from a long discussion on university efforts to benchmark, analyze and enhance benefits for employees, which includes GW’s benefits changes for 2016 and short-term recommendations outlined by the Benefits Task Force, created in January to review GW health, retirement and tuition benefits and compare them with those offered by peer institutions.

Friday’s resolution requests that the university increase funding to the benefit plans citing concerns that benefits have been reduced. Discussion focused on differences in methodology and findings between the short-term recommendations of the task force and those of a September benefits report prepared by Mercer, a global leader in consulting on human resources, on behalf of GW. The task force recommendations compared GW to seven peer institutions based on benefits spending. The Mercer report used a list of 18 peer schools and compared plans at those schools. Five schools—American University, Boston University, Georgetown University, New York University and Tufts University—appear on both lists.

The Mercer report allows GW to track its employee benefits with those of peer institutions over time, said Sabrina Ellis, vice president for human resources. Most if not all of GW’s peers are facing the same pressures related to rising healthcare costs, she said, and using the university’s market basket provides a consistent set of schools to make those comparisons.

“This list is used for endowment, financial aid, faculty pay and many other metrics that the university uses to track progress,” she said. “It’s very purposeful to have a consistent set of schools. That list of schools can change, but the challenge is, if we’re benchmarking our faculty pay or other very important metrics against that list, why would we take a different set of schools for which to benchmark the benefits? The goal here was to ensure we’re not switching schools every year and therefore creating more difficulty in really making comparisons.

Later, Ms. Ellis said, “We recognize that benefits are very important and we will continue to engage faculty and staff through the Benefits Task Force, the Benefits Advisory Committee, and other committees to broaden the conversation and seek input.”

A resolution introduced and passed Friday calls on the university administration to increase spending on benefits. (William Atkins/GW Today)

Update on university events

Dr. Lerman informed the senate that the university already is seeing a positive effect of its five-year budget cycle process for long-term financial planning. The new process makes it easier to forecast and create budgets on an annual basis, he said. Dr. Lerman also provided an update on Teaching Day, held Friday on the Foggy Bottom Campus and on finalizing changes to the Faculty Code approved over the summer. One of the adjustments to the code changes appointment, promotion and tenure criteria for faculty.

“The current proposal is to have a period of time for those coming up on tenure to operate under the old criteria of their schools and departments, so that those who have insufficient time to adapt to changes in the criteria are not subject to a code that changes too rapidly,” Dr. Lerman said. “There will be a period of time—we’re still trying to finalize that. It’s a work in progress, and it’s near a resolution.”

In his remarks to close the meeting, Dr. Knapp added several other updates, briefing the senate on the arrival of Ambassador Reuben E. Brigety II, on last month’s Alumni Weekend events and on several early October programs, including the third annual Rodham Institute Summit and the Friday screening of “Girl Rising.”

He also noted the university’s longstanding safety and security efforts in the wake of campus shootings in Oregon, Arizona and Texas over the past few weeks.

“We do a lot of work here with the local police jurisdictions in drills to prepare for what we all hope never happens, which is an active shooter scenario,” he said. “This is something we pay a lot of attention to. These are unpredictable events, and they seem to happen with great frequency. We have done a number of things here regarding safety and security including bringing on board this year RaShall Brackney as our new police chief.”

By Ruth Steinhardt

The George Washington University held its fifth annual Teaching Day on Friday, gathering 200 faculty members for a daylong exploration of the techniques and philosophies of effective pedagogy, sponsored by the University Teaching and Learning Center (UTLC).

Provost Steven Lerman said the day served as a reminder that GW’s growing strength as a research institution was not an indicator of decreased focus on teaching. “I have never believed that good research and good teaching are necessarily in conflict,” he said. “But I think it takes a degree of intentionality to avoid messaging, either intentionally or unintentionally, that we don’t care about teaching. We do.”

For the second year, participants from across the university could join faculty-led sessions over the course of the day. More than 20 faculty members facilitated the 12 workshops, which covered issues including writing in the disciplines, project-based service learning and cross-disciplinary research. Teaching Day attendees also visited the second annual Teaching Support Fair, where representatives from campus groups that support teaching and learning provided information about the resources they offer.

“[Teaching Day] always helps open us to new ways we can engage our students,” said Karen Wright, an assistant professor in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and interim chair and program director of the Physician Assistant Studies program who has attended Teaching Day for several years.

Keynote speaker Elizabeth Barkley, an expert on collaborative learning techniques, had faculty assume the role of students for an experiential presentation on group learning. A professor of music at Foothill College in Los Altos, Calif., Dr. Barkley has developed a set of 35 collaborative learning techniques, designed “to expand [teachers’] repertoire of group activities,” she said. 

Keynote speaker Elizabeth Barkley. (Photo: Logan Werlinger)

At tables throughout the Marvin Center Grand Ballroom, groups of six to eight faculty members were given the comprehensive list of the collaborative learning techniques. They fall into six categories—discussion, reciprocal peer teaching, problem solving, graphic information organization, writing and games. Dr. Barkley designed the techniques to maximize engagement and to combat problems like self-consciousness.

Building on a common practice called “Think-Pair-Share,” for example, participants considered a question individually for a few minutes. Then, they discussed and compared responses with a partner before sharing with the entire class.

When collaborating, students are required to either speak or listen for one minute, after which speakers are required to listen while the listeners speak.

“This might be difficult for us, because we’re all professional talkers,” Dr. Barkley joked before launching faculty into the exercise.

The usefulness of Think-Pair-Share in its fullest form, she said, is in reducing the risk associated with class discussion. It gives students, particularly those who are shy or uncertain of their language skills, a chance to rehearse their comments before sharing with a larger group.

Each of the 35 collaborative learning techniques has a similarly specific and practical purpose, she said, making them a useful toolbox for faculty across every discipline.

At their tables, faculty brainstormed and recorded how to incorporate the techniques into their teaching. The results will be collated by UTLC staff into a “group knowledge repository” and will be accessible online.

“[The repository means] we’re going to be able to continue the conversation, which we’ve never been able to do at Teaching Day before,” said Patricia Dinneen, UTLC director.

Nancy Falk, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing, said the group activities provoked her to think about how to engage her mostly online student base.

“It made me think about how I might change the way I use the face time I get with them,” she said.

For new faculty, the day served both as a learning experience and a chance to get to know colleagues whose paths might not otherwise cross.

Visiting professor Jennifer Wall, also in SMHS, sat at a table with colleagues from the School of Nursing and the School of Media and Public Affairs.

“I liked learning how other departments are troubleshooting,” Dr. Wall said. “It’s kind of a shared commiseration, and it gets you thinking about how to apply their techniques to your own students. I’m new, so I’m a sponge for this stuff.”

The university’s summer long dependent eligibility verification project ended, and more than 95 percent of dependents enrolled in a George Washington University health plan have had their eligibility confirmed.

“We sincerely appreciate everyone’s participation in the verification process,” said Sabrina Ellis, vice president for human resources. “While the process may have been inconvenient for most of us, reviews such as this are important over the long-term to ensure the plans are administered correctly.”

The outcome of the verification process resulted in about 4 percent of dependents previously enrolled in a GW health plan either voluntarily dropped or removed from coverage for failing to meet the health plan eligibility criteria.

“Dependent verifications, typically conducted every five to seven years are a standard way of periodically reviewing the plans as part of our fiduciary responsibilities as a plan sponsor,” said John Kosky, associate vice president for human resources talent management. “As a result of the project, GW can expect to save approximately $700,000 in health care costs.” 

The verification process, conducted by Secova Inc., assessed more than 1,800 university employees with dependents covered by any combination of GW’s medical/prescription, dental or vision plans.

By Ruth Steinhardt

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), also known as COP21, will gather in Paris this November with the aim of setting a new international agreement to keep global warming below about 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

In anticipation of that global event, several dozen college activists gathered at the George Washington University for the UNFCCC Intercollegiate Climate Negotiation Simulation, where the students assumed the roles of countries that will attend the Paris convention.

The French Embassy, which has a longstanding relationship with GW, hosted the students at a reception where French Ambassador Gérard Araud delivered a career diplomat’s candid, often humorous advice on negotiations as well as an inside preview of the issues facing the COP21.

Gérard Araud. (Photo: Logan Werlinger)

As negotiators, he reminded students, they need to think first of the national interests of the countries they represent. “They’re not fighting for the good of humankind,” he said.

Each country, he continued, has a role to play and specific resources to bring to a worldwide climate agreement. While industrialized nations with high gross domestic products may immediately have to start reducing their carbon emissions, developing countries might need to stay at their current emission levels in order to maintain their economies—as many now economically powerful nations did a century ago.

“In a sense, what we are asking [developing nations] is not to do what we have done,” Mr. Araud pointed out. “We have to accept that one size doesn’t fit all. You can’t ask Germany and Burundi to make the same amount of effort.”

Mr. Araud took questions from students who—already adopting the roles they would play for the rest of the weekend—asked questions from the perspectives of parties such as the Alliance of Small Island States and the Coalition for Rainforest Nations.

GW student Erin McDevitt, who represented the Alliance of Small Island States, poses a question to French Ambassador Gérard Araud. (Photo: Logan Werlinger)

Though it might take decades to see the changes implemented at the COP21, Mr. Araud said, “the momentum is there” to make a difference. “All the countries want a success,” he said.

“We see Paris not as the end of the road, but as the beginning of one.”

Eleanor Davis, a senior in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences who helped bring the event to GW, said the event gave students new perspectives that will help them to bridge the gap between academic exercise and collective action.

“Climate change is the biggest problem in our generation’s lifetime, and international collaboration is the only way to find solutions to it,” she said. 

GW student Eleanor Davis with Mr. Arnaud. (Photo: Logan Werlinger)

By Brittney Dunkins

George Washington University students will have a new anonymous outlet to express their hopes, concerns and worries with “GW Listens,” the university’s first peer support program.

A Monday announcement from the GW Student Association, Mental Health Services and leadership from the Division of Student Affairs, outlined the details of the program, which will operate as an after-hours call center staffed by anonymous student volunteers.

“As our university and community have shifted toward recognizing and fighting mental health issues and stigma, students have expressed a desire to get involved and support one another,” said SA Director of Health and Wellness Chris Evans. “This program shows that at GW this is an issue on people’s minds, and we are ready to step up.”

“We can support our roommates, and we can support our friends, but they might not be the people who need our help. With GW Listens, students who want to help can get the tools and training to reach the people who need help the most.”

Volunteer positions within the SA-run program are open to all undergraduate and graduate students. The application includes basic questions that assess a student’s interest, problem-solving skills and past preparatory experiences. The online application is open until Oct. 30.

Students will be interviewed in November. Training for volunteers will begin during the spring 2016 semester. The call line is slated to open at the start of the 2016-17 academic year.

George Washington President Steven Knapp announced the program at the opening of the Colonial Health Center last January.

According the Mr. Evans, GW Listens peer supporters will provide “an open ear” and referrals to university and outside resources when necessary. Students interested in volunteering should possess three important qualities: active listening, empathy and problem-solving skills.

“We welcome all students to apply,” Mr. Evans said. “We’re looking for people who want their time at GW to be dedicated to students in this way.”

MHS Assistant Director of Training Amber Cargill will lead weekly training for volunteers during the spring semester. Training will include active listening skills, a review of university and external resources, education about the concerns of college students and a structure for recognizing warning signs and referring students to licensed professionals.

“There will be a large emphasis on making sure that peer supporters are well-trained,” Ms. Cargill said. “The most important function is for them to be good listeners who offer support and know when to refer callers to licensed professionals.”

GW Listens is designed to maintain the anonymity of both the caller and the peer supporter. The location of the on-campus call center also will be confidential Mr. Evans said that peer supporters are encouraged to participate for the duration of their time at GW. During their final semester, anonymous volunteers will be able to reveal their involvement and transition to a recruitment and advocacy role.

Representatives from the SA have collaborated with Senior Associate Dean of Students Mark Levine and MHS and DSA staff members to create a program based on research, available resources and student need.

GW joins institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern and Cornell that have had success establishing peer support initiatives.

 “We have spent the last several months collaborating on a program that we believe will truly enhance our Healthy GW efforts for years to come,” Mr. Levine said. “It has been wonderful working with SA members to get this exciting program off the ground.”

In the coming weeks, the SA will meet with student organizations to share details about GW Listens. For more information email gwlistens@gwu.edu.

George Washington President Steven Knapp has been named the inaugural chair of the 100,000 Strong Academic Advisory Council, which will advise the 100,000 Strong Foundation on issues related to U.S.-China educational engagement.

The foundation is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the number of U.S. students studying in China and learning Mandarin.

The Academic Advisory Council, which Dr. Knapp chairs, is made up of more than a dozen current and former leaders from a diverse group of educational institutions, including two- and four-year colleges and universities and academic organizations. Members include presidents of New York University, Xavier University, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and the American Councils for International Education.

Dr. Knapp, who also serves on the Council of the Confucius Institute Headquarters, said that GW “has long been committed to deepening educational ties between the United States and China.”

“I am honored to help guide the growth of the 100,000 Strong Foundation, the premier people-to-people platform between our two countries,” Dr. Knapp said.

Carola McGiffert, CEO of 100,000 Strong, said, “We are honored to have such a prominent group of educators join us in our ongoing efforts to reach more—and more diverse—students who are interested in learning more about China.

“We must build a generation of leaders who value the U.S.-China relationship and have the skills to steer it on a steady path,” Ms. McGiffert said.

By Lauren Ingeno

In Robert Donaldson’s hour-long introductory biology course, his lectures rarely last more than 20 minutes.

“That’s about as long as students can pay attention,” said Dr. Donaldson, a biology professor at the George Washington University.

After giving a quick Powerpoint presentation on a Thursday in September, he turned off his microphone, passed out a worksheet and handed the class over to his students. Suddenly, the Monroe Hall classroom, where 81 undergraduates were seated around nine round tables, buzzed with excited chatter.

When freshman Nurbanu Davaz struggled to name the smaller molecules that are used in the process of transcription, junior Paige Tripp came to her aid.

“If you think it’s amino acids, then what is the product of transcription?” Ms. Tripp asked.

“Oh,” Ms. Davaz said after a pause. And then something visibly clicked in her head. “Oh, I see. I mixed it up.”

Ms. Tripp, a psychology major, is one of five learning assistants in Dr. Donaldson’s Biological Sciences 1111 course (their so-called “host classroom”). Her job is not to prepare homework, grade quizzes or guest lecture. Instead, she and the other learning assistants—or “LAs”—facilitate group discussions, encourage their peers to overcome learning challenges and provide feedback to their host instructor.

Since the peer instructors have all taken and passed the course in previous semesters, they have a pretty good understanding which parts of the material are the trickiest and how to help their peers master it.  

The GW Learning Assistant Program—now in its third year at the university—is changing the way Dr. Donaldson teaches. And just one month into the semester, the LAs seem to be affecting how his students are learning as well.

“Paige really likes to work your brain,” said Ms. Davaz, who is studying biophysics. “She doesn’t just give you the answer, but she helps you re-think what you’ve learned and work through the problem. That’s how you comprehend the information. Biology isn’t just memorization. It’s comprehension.”

Throughout the semester, Ms. Tripp will stay assigned to the same 15 or so students. Not only does she help out in class, but she also makes herself available outside of the classroom.

“I think the biggest and most helpful thing I do is serve as a person that the students are more comfortable going to with questions,” she said. “I know that with a lot of my students, as soon as Professor Donaldson comes over, they just become silent.”

For self-described shy students, like Ms. Davaz, having a knowledgeable peer to turn to is a relief.  

“Being able to ask the learning assistants questions, emailing them and talking on a normal, informal basis helps a lot,” Ms. Davaz said.

The Death of the Lecture

Recent studies have shown that lectures, especially in large science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) courses, aren’t just boring, they are ineffective. On the other hand, “active learning,” which includes group work and answering handheld clicker questions, can boost grades and help students retain material longer.

“Lectures can be good to inspire students and get them excited if we do a good job. But each time students are asked to take a quiz right after a lecture, they mostly fail it,” said Hartmut Doebel, who also teaches introductory science courses at GW. “Students have to work with the material, digest it, repeat it and look at it from different angles.”

A longtime biology professor, Dr. Doebel was accustomed to traditional lecture-style classes. But when he started noticing his students were spending more time scrolling through Facebook and Amazon than paying attention to his lessons, he, like many college professors throughout the country, began searching for a new, innovative teaching strategy.

In 2012, he teamed up with fellow Columbian College of Arts and Sciences Professors LaKeisha McClary and Jerry Feldman, and Tiffany-Rose Sikorski, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development. Together, the faculty co-founded GW’s Learning Assistant program, based on a model developed at the University of Colorado Boulder. After a year of planning, the GW LA program launched in fall 2013 with funding from the Teaching and Learning Collaborative. The following year, the program received a grant to expand to foreign language classes with the help of Margaret Gonglewski, an associate professor of German.

Each learning assistant is a talented undergraduate chosen by his or her professor to participate in the program. STEM learning assistants receive a small stipend after completion and foreign language learning assistants receive course credit.

This semester, there are 35 STEM learning assistants paired with 11 host instructors across six different departments. By December, the program will have trained 91 learning assistants in total. GW is one of more than 80 LA sites across the country.

Learning Assistant Hannah Kopydlowski, a Columbian College junior, helps a student with a problem. (Zach Marin/GW Today)

A key difference between learning assistants and teaching assistants is the training aspect of the LA program. During their semester as peer instructors, all STEM learning assistants are simultaneously enrolled in a graduate-level pedagogy class taught by Dr. Sikorski, an assistant professor of curriculum/pedagogy and a former high school science teacher.

“The learning assistants are specifically prepared to understand students’ ideas about science, how they reason and how to facilitate high-quality discussion,” Dr. Sikorski said.

The foreign language LAs—five, this semester—are enrolled in a pedagogy class with Dr. Gonglewski. Though the language learning assistants function differently from their STEM counterparts, they provide an equal level of aid to their peers. There are no lectures in language courses, but the LAs share the responsibility of keeping students actively engaged in their learning during class, interacting with them during group work and serving as role models.

“I’ve received a lot of feedback from my students who have said it is a relief to have someone in class who has been in their shoes,” Dr. Gonglewski said.

For both the language and STEM host instructors, having learning assistants often means relinquishing a good bit of classroom control. In addition to cutting down lecture time, Dr. Donaldson has done away with multiple-choice exams and instead assesses student learning with short answer questions, similar to the worksheets he hands out in class. In Dr. Doebel’s classes, students are permitted to work in groups during tests.

Anecdotally, Dr. Doebel said he has noticed more enthusiasm and participation from his students since the LA program began. And the data show that peer instruction improves student grades.

Based on tests taken at the beginning and end of a Physics II course, a 2014 study from the University of Colorado Boulder showed that students enrolled in classes with learning assistants demonstrated learning gains double, or in some cases triple, that of their peers in traditional lecture courses. Preliminary studies conducted at GW have yielded similar results.

“I like that we, as instructors, are forced to create a horizontal structure. We need to listen to the feedback of our learning assistants. They have ideas. They are able to guide the students sometimes more than we are,” Dr. Doebel said. “That’s a wonderful experience to see how that works.”

The Benefits of Teaching

Earlier this semester, Dr. Sikorski, who teaches the pedagogy course for STEM learning assistants, assigned her students to film their host classrooms. During her Thursday evening education course, the LAs took turns reviewing a transcript from one of the videos and identifying different “mental models” or the way students think through problems.

For some LAs, the program offers an opportunity to become better students.

“I plan on hopefully studying more languages after German. And having the awareness of different teaching methods and how different people learn certain languages will definitely be helpful when I decide to take up, say, French or Swedish,” said Cody Van Dussen, a senior and German LA who is studying international affairs.

The program also has deepened learning assistants’ understanding of the subject matter they are teaching and strengthened relationships with their professors.

“You really have to know the content well enough to teach it,” said Danny Oler, a sophomore studying electrical engineering and an LA in a biophysics II course.

For others, the experience offers a fresh perspective on the classroom.

“You see how easy it is to know when someone hasn’t done the reading,” Ms. Tripp said. “I always thought you could kind of get away with not reading, and the professor wouldn’t know, but nope, it’s pretty easy to tell.”

Many also said that being a learning assistant has sparked an interest in becoming a teacher.

“Most students in my class are really excited. It really feels good when you see something click in their minds,” said Emily Mascarenas, a senior studying international affairs and a German LA. “I definitely want to teach now, though probably not right away.”

Dr. Sikorski said her team of faculty members is hoping to expand the Learning Assistant Program significantly over the next few years to reach more host instructors in more departments. This year, the LA professors are processing hundreds of hours of video data, surveys and assessments to assess the health of the program.

“I am so committed to this program,” said Dr. Sikorski, the excitement palpable in her voice. “I think all students should have the experience to really think deeply about what they’re learning and to collaborate with others, and the LA program facilitates that.”

By Brittney Dunkins

George Washington University alumni Peter Kamocsai, M.P.A. ’15, and Jay Yang, B.A. ’15, have been selected for the inaugural GW Fellows Program at the Partnership for Public Service (Partnership)—an experience that will bring to life the motto of university namesake George Washington, “Deeds not words.”

The Partnership is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to revitalize federal government by inspiring a new generation to serve. Its goal is to transform the way government works by strengthening civil service and the systems that support it.

George W. Wellde Jr., M.B.A.  ’76 a member of the Partnership’s and GW’s boards of trustees, and his wife, Patricia, endowed the two-year professional fellowship to promote careers in public service.

“We are pleased to support this exciting collaboration between GW and the Partnership for Public Service,” Mr. Wellde said. “Civic engagement is a cornerstone of the mission of both organizations, and our hope is that students will be inspired to contribute their energy and talent in the public sphere.”

Ms. Wellde added that the endowment is “an investment in two high-achieving GW alumni who have the potential to excel among the next generation of leaders.”

Both George and Patricia have a history of public service in their families. George’s father worked for the Department of State and Patricia’s father worked for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“George and Patty Wellde’s generous gift will help create a new generation of citizen leaders and honor the memory of their fathers, both of whom served our nation as career civil servants,” said GW President Steven Knapp.

As a research associate, Mr. Kamocsai is investigating how innovation in the federal government saves money and makes processes more efficient.

Mr. Yang is working with college students to support federal recruitment as a program associate for education and outreach.

Max Stier, president and CEO of the Partnership, said that motivating a new generation to serve is a critical part of the organization’s work. The Partnership’s  diverse initiatives include partnering with federal agencies and other organizations to build more effective government, advocating for reforms that support civil service, promoting awareness about the value of civil service and connecting with students and job seekers who wish to pursue careers in public service.

“We are grateful to George and Patricia Wellde for their support of public service careers,” Mr. Stier said. “The GW fellowship raises awareness about the important work of our federal government and helps educate top talent about the wide-range of opportunities available in public service.”

The GW Center for Career Services collaborated with the Partnership to identify Mr. Kamocsai and Mr. Yang for the fellowship. 

Assistant Provost for University Career Services Rachel Brown said that the Wellde’s leadership gift provides the opportunity for GW alumni to pursue their professional aspirations in public service and reinforces GW's strategic commitment to preparing citizen leaders. This unique and generous program will have a lasting impact that will extend for generations, Ms. Brown added.

While growing up in the small Eastern European town of Kolárovo, Slovakia, Mr. Kamocsai never dreamed he would have the opportunity to work closely with federal agencies in the United States and watch as they implement strategies to improve the lives of citizens. He is currently researching how federal agencies integrate modern technology to improve programs, services and operations.  

“I look at my research and reports as tools to make a change, and that’s exactly what the Partnership reports do,” Mr. Kamocsai said. “It’s really about federal employees reading these reports and taking our advice.”

“Contrary to what many people believe, the government is still a transformative and powerful place—I know because I see every day during my interviews that federal employees are working hard to make changes,” he added.

Mr. Yang said that he was initially inspired to pursue public service following an internship at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

“Working at the VA opened my eyes to how veterans of the armed services are not getting what they deserve—it made me want to do more,” Mr. Yang said. “I think helping students get more exposure to government work will encourage them to pursue public service.”

In his role at the Partnership, Mr. Yang is training students to lead recruiting efforts on college and university campuses. He also is working with college and university communities to prepare students for careers in public service through workshops specific to the interview process and navigating USA Jobs, the federal government job website.

Mr. Yang encourages students who are interested in public service to research their options and find an agency that fits their personal mission and values.

“I am definitely optimistic because the government is changing, and federal employees are changing the way they think about their work,” Mr. Yang said. “There are a lot of jobs out there just waiting for young people.”

Mr. Kamocsai agreed, saying that the federal government offers a wider variety of opportunities than people realize.

“There is a federal agency for you, whether you are passionate about the environment, health, education or safeguarding the nation,” Mr. Kamocsai said. “I am excited to let people know that the federal government is still about the power to change things for the better.”

For Colonials, fall in D.C. isn’t just the start of cooler evenings and snaking lines at “Gelbucks.” It’s also a time to raise high at Colonials Weekend, the annual celebration of university pride for George Washington University students, parents, alumni and friends.

Held Oct. 16-18, the high-energy series of events will feature university traditions such as the Colonials Invasion spirit rally, the Vern Harvest and the 13^th Annual Foggy Bottom/West End Neighborhood Block Party. 

The weekend will culminate in two sold-out performances by comedian and retired “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart.

George Washington Today writer and editor Brittney Dunkins spoke to university community members about their favorite Colonials Weekend memories. Check out their responses and a roundup of highlights from the upcoming Colonials Weekend below.

Jonathan Tsipis
Head Coach, GW Women’s Basketball

Q: What is your favorite Colonials Weekend memory?
A: My favorite moment at Colonials Weekend happened last year at Colonials Invasion. We started a new tradition, where family members of players and coaches introduced them to the crowd. My family from across the country recorded an introduction for me that was shown at Colonials Invasion. It was a nice surprise to see the tape of my family supporting me, while my team and the crowd cheered.

Q: What are you most looking forward to in the coming basketball season?
A: I'm looking forward to the opportunity to prove how good our team can be. We won the Atlantic 10 championship last season and achieved a program record win of 29 games. We are excited to go one step further this year.

Q: How would you describe Colonials Weekend in three words?
A: Celebration, tradition and family.

Geneva Henry
University Librarian and Vice Provost for Libraries

Q: GW Libraries will discuss “the 21^st-century library” during Colonials Weekend. How does the modern library’s mission differ from the past?
A: The modern library is here to help students and researchers not only to locate but also to organize, visualize and analyze the information they need. You should replace that old image of rooms full of books with rooms full of technology: computers, 3-D printers and specialized software packages. 

Q: This is your third Colonials Weekend, what are you most looking forward to?
A: It is always a pleasure to meet the parents and families of our students. As the mother of a college senior, I know how exciting it is to visit campus and share the day-to-day experiences of my daughter. One of my favorite events at GW is “Celebrating the Creative Process” at Eckles Library, which brings together the winners of the Eckles Prize with musicians and artists from the Women's Leadership Program.

Zinhle Essamuah, B.A. ‘15
Presidential Administrative Fellow, First-Year Graduate Student

Q: As a PAF and graduate student this year, do you anticipate that the experience will be enjoyable in a different way?
A: This year will be different because I'll be watching many of my undergraduate friends participate and help facilitate the events. It was fun helping with the Vern Harvest as an RA in West Hall my sophomore year, but now I'll have the pleasure of enjoying the weekend differently. For the first time, I'll be in the audience for Acapellapalooza, so I'll need to get in line early to get a good seat.

Q: What Colonials Weekend activities do you recommend to a first time visiting parent or alumnus?
A: Acapellapalooza and the Colonials Weekend Jazz Brunch are a good treat. I encourage a first time visiting parent or alumnus also to attend the "Classes from GW's Best." I'm hoping to stop by Leslie Jacobson’s class, “The Power of Story—Theatre as a Catalyst for Societal Change." Leslie Jacobson is one of my mentors at GW, and it is always a joy learning from her. I'm also planning to attend the class taught by Bernard Demczuk, “The Black History of Foggy Bottom within the Context of the Black History of our Nation’s Capital.” I appreciate any opportunity to learn more about the important contributions of blacks in our nation's capital and on our campus. These classes are great opportunities to put "knowledge in action," as we say at GW.

Ambassador Reuben E. Brigety II
Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs

Q: This is your first Colonials Weekend, what event are you most looking forward to?
A: I am thrilled to participate in my first Colonials Weekend so soon after starting in my role as dean of the Elliott School. I am most looking forward to meeting Elliott School students and parents at the “Meet the Dean” breakfast I am hosting on Saturday morning to kick-off the weekend.

Q: Is there a specific message you hope to share with students and parents during the event?
A: The breakfast is an ideal way to connect with our students and learn about the issues that matter to them. I am excited to have an opportunity to engage with our community on this level and share my vision for the school, which prioritizes scholarship, teaching, ethics and practice. To move our already highly-ranked program forward, we need opportunities like these that bring faculty, students and parents together to collaborate.

Robert Pagoni
GW Parent, President of the Parents Association Advisory Council

Q: Why is Colonials Weekend a special time for GW parents?
A: As the father of two GW alumnae and a current student, I have so many great memories of attending Colonials Weekend, such as meeting the families of my daughters’ roommates for dinner or brunch, bidding on great items at the silent auction with other parents and taking a picture in the Marvin Center with my daughters.

Q: What is your favorite Colonials Weekend memory?
A: Over the years there have been so many great events at Colonials Weekend, from watching the late Robin Williams perform to seeing Whoopi Goldberg on stage and dancing on the floor in front of the Beach Boys. It’s truly a time to make lasting memories.

Britany Waddell
Director of Community Relations

Q: What can the GW and Foggy Bottom/West End communities look forward to at the block party this year?
A: The Miller Band, featuring Associate Dean of Students Tim Miller, will headline the block party again. They are a crowd favorite, and I consider them a highlight of the event.

Q: What is your favorite Colonials Weekend memory?
A: My favorite memory of Colonials Weekend was when the marching band from Ballou Senior High School in Ward 8 performed.

The university announced Wednesday that it is teaming with the Posse Foundation, a nationwide college access and youth leadership development program, to offer full-tuition leadership scholarships to select Atlanta-area public high school graduates. 

The Posse Foundation identifies students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential that may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes and prepares them for admission to the nation’s top colleges. Ten Posse scholars will join GW each year, beginning with the first cohort in fall 2016. By the fourth year, 40 scholars will continuously be part of the GW community. Posse Foundation scholars achieve a 90 percent graduation rate.

“The Posse Foundation has created a powerful model for expanding college access to students from diverse backgrounds and supporting them in ways that ensure their success,” said George Washington President Steven Knapp. “This exciting partnership will enable us to enrich our campus with a new source of talented students and broaden the network of citizen leaders we provide to this nation and the world.” 

Last month, the university announced a partnership with the nonprofit organization Say Yes to Education to provide full-tuition scholarships for public high school students from participating chapters in New York and North Carolina. To qualify, the students’ annual family income must be $75,000 or below.  

In July, the university announced it would no longer require most undergraduate applicants to submit SAT or ACT test scores in response to recommendations from the university’s Task Force on Access and Success. The task force was formed in January 2014 after Dr. Knapp participated in a White House summit on college opportunity. 

GW is one of Posse’s newest partners, joining schools like Boston University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University. The Posse program offers students the opportunity to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams—posses—of 10.

“Our goal is to connect outstanding students who have the drive, passion and intelligence to attend the best schools in the country and become our next generation of leaders,” said Deborah Bial, president and founder of the Posse Foundation. “We’re thrilled to have the support of President Steven Knapp and excited to have the George Washington University join us in this mission. GW has distinguished itself nationally for having an environment that pushes the boundaries of intellectual inquiry where students are actively engaged in putting their knowledge into action. GW is an ideal community for Posse scholars.”

From September to December each year, the Posse Atlanta team and GW staff will identify students who they believe can excel at the university. A three-part selection process offers students an opportunity to demonstrate their leadership abilities, skill at working in a team setting and their motivation to succeed. Finalists will be evaluated and selected by GW’s admissions office in early December and welcomed into the GW community at a celebration in Atlanta.  

The concept of sending posses to college is rooted in the belief that small, diverse groups of talented students carefully selected and trained can serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community development. For 26 years, the foundation has realized this goal by working with its more than 53 partners at the nation’s top colleges and universities to award $806 million in leadership scholarships to young people.

“Posse Scholars reflect a great combination of smart, hard-working students who have challenged themselves in high school,” said Karen Stroud Felton, dean of admissions at GW. “We believe our future scholars will have the motivation and desire to flourish within the community.”

Following the selection process, Posse Scholars meet weekly with foundation staff and their posse for workshops focusing on team building, support and leadership development. Once at GW, Posse Scholars will participate in the foundation’s “Campus Program,” which works to ensure the retention of scholars and to increase their impact on the university. Posse staff will visit GW three times a year to meet with scholars, university liaisons and on-campus mentors. Once on campus, Posse scholars will team up with faculty, staff and other students for an annual retreat.

Other college access initiatives the university participates in include D.C. College Application Week, which is part of a national effort to increase the number of first-generation and low-income students who pursue a postsecondary education; an Early College Program at School Without Walls where students can pursue associate degrees from GW while still in high school; and workshops for high school juniors and seniors to provide tips on how to prepare and submit their college applications.

Nearly 70 percent of GW students received some form of financial aid from the university in academic year 2014-15.

By James Irwin

Hillary Clinton went on the offensive, Bernie Sanders employed his trademark frustration, and Joe Biden was absent at the first Democratic Presidential Debate in Las Vegas.

A look at the moments that mattered from Tuesday:

Clinton was commanding

It was a good night for the former secretary of state. She was poised and polished and will benefit from more debates, Graduate School of Political Management Assistant Professor Matt Dallek said, because they will give her the opportunity to chip away at uncertainties regarding her trustworthiness.

“I think what you saw at the debate is Hillary Clinton, by far, is the most experienced political figure on the stage and has, by far, the most experience in national politics,” he said. “She’s also the most experienced debater. All of that came through very clearly. At this point, more debates and more competition—anything that enables her to speak directly to the country—are highly beneficial for Hillary Clinton.”

The field is weak

This has been covered for months, but it really showed Tuesday, Dr. Dallek said. Sen. Sanders, he said, is an impressive and experienced politician, but is extremely unlikely to be president or win the nomination. As for the other three candidates—former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (Va.), former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee—Dr. Dallek doesn’t see a path for them to the nomination.

“Other than Sanders, I’m not sure what the other three guys are doing up there,” he said. “Jim Webb left the Senate after one term, Lincoln Chafee is a former Republican, and Martin O’Malley couldn’t even get his would-be successor elected in Maryland. I don’t know if they have a rationale for why they are running."

Struggles for Sanders

Sen. Sanders (Vt.) was involved in two big moments Tuesday, Dr. Dallek said. The first centered on gun control, an area where Sen. Sanders has a more moderate voting record. He voted against the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act several times as a member of the House of Representatives in the early 1990s.

He struggled Tuesday on the topic.

“It really is an area where, because of the state he’s from, he has all kinds of problems with his supporters,” Dr. Dallek said. “And the fact he voted for a bill that would shield gun makers from being sued, essentially, that does not sit well with a vast majority of Democrats, especially in the wake of all these mass shootings.”

Later, Sen. Sanders took an issue he could use against Ms. Clinton off the table when he said people were “sick and tired” of hearing about the private email server Ms. Clinton used while serving as secretary of state. It was an admirable moment, Dr. Dallek said, but one he—and Sen. Sanders—said was probably not good politics. It allowed Ms. Clinton to pivot to a familiar refrain of the email hoopla being a partisan attack from Republicans on Capitol Hill, Dr. Dallek said.

“I think it was a striking moment, I don’t know if it was great politics,” he said. “I think [Ms. Clinton] was relieved that her chief rival came to her aid on the issue that has dragged her down so much.”

No Joe?

Beyond Ms. Clinton and Sen. Sanders, the most prominent figure during Tuesday’s debate wasn’t on the stage. That would be Vice President Joe Biden, who will decide to either enter or not enter the race at some point in the near future.

The debate likely didn’t do anything to clarify that decision, Dr. Dallek said.

“I don’t think a single debate fundamentally changes anything—if anything, it bolstered Clinton’s standing instead of taking her down a notch or two,” he said. “At this point, Joe Biden is the only viable person who could conceivably enter the race so late in the game. He’s still going to make his decision based on all the factors he’s considering.”

A tale of two parties

Perhaps the most notable contrast wasn’t between the candidates on the stage, but between the five-person (in many ways two-person) Democratic debate and the double-session overcrowded Republican debates held in August and September.

The primaries are being driven by different issues, Dr. Dallek said.

“The dynamic on the Republican side is this sprawling field and this intense anger at anybody who has basically ever held office, and it’s reaching a boiling point,” he said. “You have an incredibly strong field—number of candidates, name recognition, experience. And yet, Scott Walker is out, Rick Perry is out, Jeb Bush is flailing even though he’s raised a lot of money.

“On the Democratic side, one of the most unusual things is instead of a sitting vice president, you have a former rival of the current president who essentially is taking on the role of the incumbent. And yet, at the same time, she’s not a sitting president. [Tuesday’s] debate in many ways was about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s record. The dynamics of both primaries are pretty unusual.”

GW Professor of English Thomas Mallon has written historical fiction for years. He has received praised from John Updike, and his novel “Watergate,” was shortlisted for the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award.

He takes on a new challenge with his latest release, “Finale: A Novel of the Reagan Years,” by examining the hotly debated legacy that the cryptic Ronald Reagan left behind. “Finale” takes readers through Mr. Reagan’s career in Washington and captures his negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev in the final years of his presidency.

As part of Colonials Weekend, Dr. Mallon will participate in a book signing and discussion about his ninth novel. George Washington Today writer Julyssa Lopez interviewed the award-winning writer in advance of his Saturday event on the Foggy Bottom Campus about the process of putting together his newest work.

Q: What was the research process for this novel? What sources and documents did you pore through to paint this portrait of President Reagan? 

A: There was an enormous range of materials to ponder: the President's daily schedules and public papers; memoirs written by administration figures, opponents and family members; transcripts of congressional investigations. Don Regan, the President's chief of staff, and Pamela Harriman, the British-born Democratic activist, are important characters in the novel, and the papers of both of them are available at the Library of Congress. The official notes from the October 1986 Iceland summit meeting—which in some ways is the heart of the novel—are in the National Security Archive right here at GW. I went to Reykjavik to spend time in the little white frame house where the President met for two days with Mikhail Gorbachev, so that I could get the look and feel of things right. I also traveled to the Reagan Library in California, and to Walter Annenberg's "Sunnylands" estate, where the Reagans spent every New Year's Eve and where the last chapter of the book is set.  

Q: Your other novels have revolved around the political world. What was the impetus for focusing on Reagan? Your website mentions that "Finale" is the book your work has been building toward for years. Had you always wanted to do a book on him?

A: Whether you liked them or not, the Reagan years were enormously consequential, and I don't think any President in modern times, for all his surface charm and sunniness, has been more personally mysterious, harder to grasp, than Ronald Reagan. (The Reagans had a famously close marriage, but even Nancy Reagan would admit that there were parts of her husband's mind and personality with which she could never quite connect.)  All of this was catnip to me as a novelist.  A fiction writer is concerned primarily with action and character; here was a combination of huge events and psychological mystery.

Q: The New York Times writes that your novel is a reminder "that today’s statues commemorate yesterday’s frail and fumbling mortals." Was it difficult to portray Reagan in his weaker moments when he is so revered today? How did you keep him from being the canonized, two-dimensional figure sometimes featured in textbooks?

A: I dislike the Rushmoreization of Reagan by conservatives; he had plenty of flaws and shortcomings, and his administration had its share of unappetizing aspects. But I dislike the left-wing cartoon of Reagan even more—that he was some daft featherbrain, or a warmonger, or just laughable. That caricature is far more prevalent in the smugly liberal American university, and if I were intent on disabusing my students of false notions about Ronald Reagan, those are the ones I'd start with.  And then, yes, I'd get around to excessive reverence for Ronald Reagan on the other side.

Q: Your writing jostles between fiction and non-fiction. How do you decide which narratives should be told straight (à la “Mrs. Paine’s Garage”) and which require a fictionalized approach?

A: Most of my nonfiction has been literary criticism; I've done some reporting and nonfiction narrative, but comparatively little of that.  The book you mention, “Mrs. Paine's Garage,” began as a long piece in The New Yorker. It concerned Ruth Paine, the young Quaker housewife who became innocently enmeshed in the Kennedy assassination because of her many kindnesses to Lee Harvey Oswald and his Russian wife in the months prior to the President's murder. Nearly four decades after the event, I wanted to reconstruct her experience and explore how she had survived it. 

I thought, in this case, that it would be more important to add something to the actual historical record than to indulge in the speculative pleasures of historical fiction.

The newest senior members of the George Washington University community outlined their upcoming plans at Friday’s Board of Trustees meeting, which also included remarks from President Steven Knapp and an update on the Making History campaign.

Board of Trustees Chairman Nelson Carbonell provided a brief welcome and announced that the university’s Making History campaign has reached a new milestone of $809 million.

Dr. Knapp followed Mr. Carbonell’s introduction with another record: The university compiled 655,192 service hours in the last academic year.

Dr. Knapp introduced for brief remarks Ambassador Reuben E. Brigety II, the new dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs; Sanjit Sethi, the inaugural director of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design; Chief of Police RaShall M. Brackney; and Associate Vice President of Alumni Relations Matt Manfra.

Dr. Brigety presented the STEP strategy he shared with the GW community on his first day as dean. The objective of STEP is to showcase the Elliott School’s quality scholarship, while using specific programs in teaching and applied ethics to help students develop the practical skills they will need in the field of foreign affairs.

“We are here to build leaders—to build leaders for the world. I very much look forward to working with all of you as we implement this vision to take the Elliott School to the next level,” he said.

Mr. Sethi thanked the board for welcoming him to GW and listed several of the questions that will guide planning for the future of the Corcoran School. He said that he is thinking about what the Corcoran means at GW and on a broader international level, and how a groundbreaking art and design school can address the most critical issues of today.

He added that he is also examining how to educate the next generation of “global cultural citizens who embrace critical thinking and community-based problem solving.”

Ms. Brackney said that she and her team of approximately 100 officers are looking forward to engaging more actively, openly and transparently with the GW community. She mentioned that already, she has had several conversations with board members and other stakeholders about how to use resources on campus to address safety concerns.

Mr. Manfra and Alumni Association President Jeremy Gosbee, B.A. '98, M.B.A. '02, provided an update on alumni news and events. Mr. Manfra said that last month’s Alumni Weekend saw record attendance and increased by 15 percent compared to last year.

Mr. Gosbee added that the Alumni Association is in the process of selecting candidates to serve as alumni trustee.

He announced a new Colonials Helping Colonials endowed fund, designed to provide stipends to students participating in unpaid internships through the Knowledge in Action Career Internship Fund. Mr. Gosbee said the new initiative is an excellent reflection of alumni reaching out to one another.

The meeting also included updates from Charles Garris, chair of the Faculty Senate executive committee on the work underway with the board to improve faculty governance and a recent Faculty Senate resolution regarding health benefits.

Student Association President Andie Dowd briefed the board on the university’s new peer support program, “GW Listens,” which is currently recruiting volunteers and will launch next fall, and on efforts underway to create a new app for 4-RIDE.

She also explained that the Student Association is focused on ensuring confidentiality for students who utilize the Colonial Health Center  through a consistent check-in process for both mental health services and student health services. Mental health and wellness progress this year has included expanding services to the Mount Vernon Campus and printing safety resources on the back of GW ID cards.

Ms. Dowd said that with construction of District House, the Student Association will be working to ensure students have affordable dining options.  She also noted that the SA will advocate for community-building common spaces and for the Marvin Center to be better utilized as a communal area moving forward.

“It’s essential that students have a place to get to know one another and really flourish during their time at GW,” she said.

Mr. Carbonell shared several executive committee actions, including the naming of the Honey Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service and the Max Ticktin Professorship for Israeli studies and Hebrew language and culture.  He also highlighted the recent gift from Trustee George Wellde and his wife, Patricia, to support the inaugural GW Fellows Program at the Partnership for Public Service.

The open session concluded with an update from the committee on finance and audit. Committee Chair Ellen Zane explained that the university’s financial statements received the highest opinion available from auditors Pricewaterhouse Coopers this fiscal year. 

This is the second Staff Focus, a new regular feature in George Washington Today that will introduce university staff to the GW community. The staff profiles result from feedback gleaned from a GW Today reader survey on ways to better serve our readers. The profiles will be published every few weeks on Mondays. If you want to recommend a coworker for Staff Focus, contact us at gwtoday@gwu.edu. Please put Staff Focus in the subject line.

By Ruth Steinhardt

Maurice Smith was a student at Loyola University when Hurricane Katrina made its devastating landfall, shredding parts of his hometown and leaving whole neighborhoods underwater.

The Saturday afternoon the storm hit in August 2005, Mr. Smith was stuck in creeping traffic on New Orleans’ Twin Span Bridge. He watched from behind the wheel of his Honda Civic as Katrina whirled in from the south.

“I saw the water starting to churn and felt the bridge sway,” Mr. Smith recalled. “I could see a wall of white—that was how hard it was raining, that it made a wall. That was one of the first arms of the storm.”

Mr. Smith evacuated safely to a friend’s home in Tuscaloosa, Ala., his family to the homes of relatives in Georgia and Alabama. But Katrina and the upheaval the storm left behind would change his life.

“People don’t realize that [when Katrina hit] it was the beginning of school,” he said. “People had just dropped their kids off. We were in orientation weekend, school was going to start on Monday. And all of a sudden it was like ‘Oh, change of plans.’”

More like an upheaval. A month after the storm he moved to Chicago, where Loyola had a campus to which it relocated him and hundreds of other students. When he returned to New Orleans in January 2006, it was to a city that needed his help.

“We [Loyola students] were pretty much doing service every weekend of 2006,” he remembered. “We were out cleaning up, rebuilding houses, restoring our own neighborhoods.”

It was a deeply personal, often grim process. Mr. Smith said he and his fellow volunteers found bodies in the rubble more than once.

“The first couple of times, it was very [hard]. But then you become a little bit desensitized. You [learn] the protocol, and then that just kicks in.”

Opting out was not an option. “If we didn’t get out and help rebuild, then we wouldn’t have a place either,” he said.

Ten years later, Mr. Smith is coordinator of academic service learning in the Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service at the George Washington University. It is the latest step in a career of service cemented in post-hurricane New Orleans.

This view of service shaped in the aftermath of Katrina—not so much altruism as something ingrained in personal and communal life—still informs Mr. Smith’s approach. In his current work, he oversees curricular engagement, coming up with ways to incorporate civic engagement and public service into GW students’ academic lives.

One way he does that is as director and coordinator of the Civic House Academic Residential Community, a first-year program for students who want to be active citizens of Washington, D.C.

“We want [GW] to be not just an entity in D.C., but also a neighbor,” Mr. Smith said. “We talk a lot [to students] about how, when you’re here, you are a community member. It’s important where you choose to live, where you spend your time, where you buy your clothes, even where you put your trash. That all affects the neighborhood.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m happy to get up every day and come to work, because I work with people who get that.”

Amy Cohen, executive director of the Nashman Center, described Mr. Smith as “a huge asset” to the center. “The number of academic service-learning classes at GW has doubled since his arrival,” Ms. Cohen said. “He has also been a great mentor and leader for Civic House, providing support for service, academics and civics as well as great life advice.”

In Mr. Smith’s view, service is not a matter of parachuting into disadvantaged communities, but of listening to affected people and forging relationships with them.

“It’s really important for me to work in a place where we are being realistic about the partnerships and relationships that we’re building,” he said. “When we come to the table, we want to offer everyone a space there to plan with us, talk with us, work with us—as opposed to planning at them, talking at them, working at them.”

One example is a physical therapy class Mr. Smith helped link up with Playworks, a nonprofit organization that creates structured, healthy recesses at elementary schools. The students helped craft preventive care curricula, teaching children how to warm up and stretch safely.

“Whether you’re an engineering faculty member or a theater major, everyone can find some form of service that they connect to,” Mr. Smith said. “And when you do find those perfect fits it’s awesome because then people put in a whole new level of work to continue the relationship and even build it to a new level.”

An inveterate traveler—“I love to just get in my car and go,” he says, referencing the same Civic he waited in on the Twin Span Bridge—Mr. Smith said he loves Toronto and hopes to visit London and Australia, but he still has a strong relationship with the city where he grew up. He goes back to New Orleans “as often as possible,” he said, recently returning for an uncle’s 60th birthday.

“It’s still an amazing city,” he said.

The George Washington University and Telos Corporation have signed a five-year agreement to support research and development in big data and data analytics in Northern Virginia.

The industry-academic partnership will support research and development projects that use high-performance computing to focus on key issues of national significance: cyber and physical security, and how research and development on algorithms and analytic tools can solve some of the major challenges facing the United States.

The partnership combines the educational and research objectives of GW with the cybersecurity, secure mobility and identity management capabilities of Telos Corporation.

"The partnership with Telos demonstrates how academia and a leading industry corporation can come together to address issues that affect so many in our society,” said Ali Eskandarian, dean of the GW Virginia Science and Technology Campus. “In Telos, one of our VSTC neighbors and one of the premier companies in the commonwealth of Virginia, we are fortunate to have a partner with equal commitment to advance the economic development of the region."

As part of the agreement, GW will establish a data analytics research center to be housed at the VSTC and will hire research specialists, who will collaborate with Dr. Eskandarian and Richard Robinson, chief technology officer of Telos Corporation, to conduct research to develop and test security threat models, risk modeling and enterprise impact assessment. Telos is supporting the project by providing the technical knowledge and resources to help develop the research center. Mr. Robinson, former chief information officer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will lead various projects focusing on algorithm development for contextual and predictive analytics.

“The American experience clearly shows that collaboration between academia and industry helps to promote more rapid technological advances, which in turn spur economic growth and development,” Telos CEO John Wood said. “In this same light, our partnership with VSTC will lead to real-world solutions addressing the most complex and critical concern of our time—how  to assess risk and maintain security in a world of ever-changing threats—and will help further establish Northern Virginia’s leadership role in cybersecurity.”

The partnership is the latest development in a well-established relationship between GW and Telos. Telos has served as an industry partner in GW’s annual Teachers in Industry Project, offering educators a multi-day externship at its headquarters to show them the skills students will need to get a job with the company after college. In addition, Mr. Wood serves on the advisory board for VSTC. 

Virginia Secretary of Technology Karen Jackson applauded the announcement, saying, “This collaborative research agreement between George Washington University’s Virginia Science and Technology Campus and Telos Corporation represents another big step in Virginia’s efforts to bring together the best and the brightest in the commonwealth to tackle the tough challenges our nation faces in cyberspace. I want to thank GW and Telos for taking the initiative to create this partnership and further help make Virginia a leader in cybersecurity.”

Tom Russo, assistant vice president for industry and corporate research at GW, said that the university’s collaboration with Telos benefits both parties and “is a model of the relationships GW continues to develop with corporations.”

“Telos is a visionary company, and we have identified multiple areas where our interests are aligned,” he said. “We are looking forward to many future opportunities to work together.”